The moment Thomas and Minho left, Clara took a piece of paper and a pencil, writing FLOAT and CATCH on the paper and numbering them on the side.

"What are you doing?" she heard Newt ask. She looked up and he was staring at the paper with furrowed eyebrows. Clara felt like the breath had been sucked out of her; this was the first thing he's said to her since their argument.

"I'm writing down the words so they're in order," she explained bluntly. Newt nodded, his eyes moving from her paper back to the maps in front of him, not once looking her in the eyes. Clara felt her heart sink a little, but she didn't want to lose focus. She grabbed the next stack of maps and continued working.

From then on, it was nothing but silence between Clara, Newt, and Teresa, except for the occasional announcing of a new letter, which Clara would add to the list. A while later they uncovered the word DEATH and the letters S and T.

"What time is it?" Newt asked.

"Almost eleven," Clara replied. She was hoping that if she talked to him more that things would go back to normal. Maybe not completely normal, but at least to a point where they could exist without it being tense and sad. It wasn't working very well.

Newt hoisted himself off the chair and stretched. "I've got to make sure everyone is inside. I'll be back."

When Clara's watch read 11:05, a crash sounded from above them, followed by screaming and dozens of footsteps pounding on the floor. Clara tensed and backed further away from the entrance; there was nothing she or Teresa could do if a Griever entered the basement. Teresa was nervous as well, her nails digging into one of her arms.

"They got him!" they heard someone shout. Clara wanted to run up there and make sure her friends were alright, but she couldn't move. She was in too much pain, and she didn't want to get caught in the crossfire of chaos that was probably happening outside. Soon enough Newt came back down the stairs, his face pale, but unscathed. For a moment it was quiet, Teresa and Clara anxiously waiting for his response.

"We better find this buggin' code soon." he muttered "or this'll never end until all of us are gone."

None of them said a word, but the work went by faster as they all wanted desperately for anything to change. Eventually, Clara noticed something.

"Hey," she called, making the other two stop their tracing "I've been writing down all these letters and it looks like the words just repeat. Six different words and then the cycle starts over again."

"What?" Teresa asked, confused. Clara flipped the paper around and pushed it towards them for a better look. Six words: FLOAT, CATCH, BLEED, DEATH, STIFF, and PUSH were repeated about three times before Clara fully noticed.

"They said the maze patterns repeat, I guess the code does too."

Newt looked deep in thought, his lips pursed in his usual thinking face. If it were any other moment in time Clara would have told him how cute she thought he was but it was not the time or occasion for that.

"Time?" Newt asked.

"Seven a.m," Clara replied.

"Minho and Tommy should be back. I'm going to let them know about this." Newt limped up the stairs without a second thought, leaving the two girls alone again with nothing but a piece of paper with a few words on it.

Clara studied it for a while, thinking hard about how the six words were connected, what they meant, and how it gave them any sort of information about how to escape this maze. She came up with nothing, the words were useless to her.

"This code is bull." Clara said to Teresa, tossing the paper onto the table "You can try to figure it out but I don't see anything that could help us right now." Teresa took it and leaned on one of the shelves, pushing her jet-black hair over her shoulder. Newt came back down a bit later, defeated.

"They're back but Minho's throwing a big hissy fit. He said nothing's changed."

"I'll go find him," Clara said, hobbling up the stairs as fast as her healing wound would take her. Newt watched her go, feeling a hollow pit in his chest.

Clara found Minho inside one of the Medic's rooms upstairs. He was sitting on the bed with his shoulders slumped, his head in his hands. When he heard the door, he quickly looked up and away from her, trying to wipe his eyes without her noticing. Clara noticed.

She carefully lowered herself onto the bed and rested her hand on his shoulder. "What's going on, Minho?"

"The Maze." Minho choked "It's a big freaking lie."

"How is it a lie?"

Minho threw his hands up, his sadness turning into frustration "We looked all over creation and it turns out the walls aren't even moving anymore." he gritted his teeth "I think the Creators want us to know there's no way out. They're just playing games with us like this is some sick joke!" his voice broke and he looked away again. "Two years, all for this."

Clara felt a wave of emotions drowning her; anger, sadness, defeat, bitterness. She put an arm around his shaking shoulders. At that moment she knew that she needed to be the one that kept morale going. Regardless of how terrible the situation was, she knew there has to be something positive they could hold onto.

"Minho," she said calmly "We're all doing what we can. Trust me, we all want to get out of here too. And we'll need your help. You can't give up yet. No one's gonna let that happen." She could see the wheels turning in his head as he looked up and took a deep breath.

"Yeah," he exhaled "yeah, you're right. Please tell me you found something."

"A code with six words. Don't know what it means yet, but it's a step in the right direction. How 'bout you come down with me and I can show you." Clara took his hand and they both got up and went downstairs.

It was evening when Clara looked at her watch. She and Minho were eating Frypan's hastily made dinner of biscuits and tomato soup. Clara hated both of those things, but she knew that it was either that or nothing, so she ate.

"So," Minho began "What's going on with you and Newt? You guys haven't been talking since you were hurt."

Clara winced, her hands beginning to shake a bit "Um, he's mad at me. For going out there when I probably shouldn't have. We got into a big argument about it and haven't been the same since. I don't even know what we are anymore. I just want to talk to him but I can tell he doesn't want to."

"I think he does, Clara." Minho's voice was softer "He hasn't stopped watching you this whole time. He looks so... sad. Not a good look for him, really. One of you needs to man up and talk or else nothing will happen."

"Wow, that's the first time I've heard helpful advice from you." Clara joked, making Minho roll his eyes "But thank you for that. Hopefully one of us will soon."

Minho shrugged "Yeah, I can be smart sometimes. But really, he cares about you, Clara. A lot. Even though he seems like a klunk person right now. Deep down in his cold, hard heart, he loves you."

Clara smiled softly, her mood slightly more hopeful about one part of her messed up life.