Author stuff: Ha! Chapter 26 is coming out on 26 July. It's the little things

Puppy update! We're going on longer walks now. Her paw has healed enough that she doesn't need to wear the protective bootie anymore. She still limps, but it's mostly due to the bootie. Also due to grass. It irritates the area. But she's doing a lot better.


Chapter 26

In Which There Is Exercise and Talking. A Lot Of Talking.

Nick sat down in front of Archie the next morning, making him pause in eating his eggs.

"Yes?" he said, a cheek still full. It was… unusual, to say the least.

"So," Nick said, "I was talking to Minho last night. Since he's taking over as Keeper of the Runners, he's looking to recruit some new trainees. After your first day, when you went after Graham, I'd been considering it."

"And you want my opinion?"

"Yes."

"Uh…" What should he say? That he was flattered but no thank you?

"It all rests on whether or not you want to undergo the training. With Newt unable to be a Runner for… who knows how long, we'll need someone else to help with the Maze."

"I want to run, too," Adne said, dropping in on the conversation and the seat next to him. Her hair had been pulled back into a braid – though, it looked a little odd. As if it should have been pulled tighter together.

"I don't think that that's a good idea," Nick said, frowning.

"Why? Because I'm a girl?"

"That's not it, and you know it."

"It actually might be a good thing," Archie said. "It'd get her away from the other Gladers. And you didn't see her when Alby brought Newt back. She ran to and from the Med-hut without breaking a sweat. And she didn't have any difficulty breathing. At the very least, let her go through the training. I'll only do it if she can."

He wasn't sure why he was defending Adne like he was, but she looked relieved that he'd spoken up for her. Nick, on the other hand, was unreadable. After a moment, he spoke up.

"Alright," he said, "I'll permit it. Whether or not either of you makes it as a Runner is up to Minho and Alby. Training starts at sunrise tomorrow."

He tapped the table in front of him and was gone the next moment.

Archie looked around the table at everyone's faces. All of them were shocked.

"What?" he said, shrugging.

"After everything I've taught you," Gally said, "you want to be a shucking Runner? You know what's out there and what they can do. And you still want to – I can't believe this."

Flossy pursed her lips and looked between the two Gladers and then to Adne.

"Gally," she said, reaching for his arm. He shook her off the moment her hand touched him. A flash of disappointment crossed her face before she schooled it away and delicately folded her hands in front of her.

"Adne's meant to be a Runner," Archie said, pointing to the tall Girlie with his fork. "Everyone can see it. I'm just doing it so Nick will give her a chance to prove herself."

"So, you're going to give up two weeks of building to train for running," Gally said flatly.

"Well, when you put it like that…"

Gally slammed his hands against the table, making them all jump, and walked away. Flossy called out after him – as did Clint and Jeff – but she didn't move to go after him. She watched his retreating back with uncertainty.

"Go after him," Adne said, rolling her eyes. "Or are you too caught up in watching his butt."

Flossy gaped at her, ears and cheeks turning a vibrant pink.

"I wasn't," she said, stumbling over her words. "I'm not… He…"

"Just go," Clint said, rolling his eyes.

Flossy sputtered out some incoherent string of words, but she took off after Gally nonetheless. Both hers and Gally's plates were left abandoned. Jeff stole whatever eggs and bacon they had left.

"Don't ever fall in love," Clint said to Adne. "You'd be as pathetic as those shanks."

Adne snorted.

"Trust me," she said, swiping one of the stolen pieces of bacon, "I'm not that stupid."


Nick had recruited a few other Gladers to try out as Runners, not just him and Adne. Alby didn't look happy about her being there, but he didn't object either. He'd been there, too, so he knew quite well what she was capable of.

Archie knew what the rest of them were thinking, too. Adne couldn't be a Runner because she was a Girlie – not because she was weak and couldn't handle herself, she could probably insult a Griever to death if it came to it. They just didn't want to lose her to the Maze.

Sure, a good percentage found her annoying and became agitated when talking to her, but she was just riling them up and pushing buttons. She had to know how much each of them could handle her. Most couldn't, so she wanted nothing to do with them. But the ones who could? They were well worth her time. And friendship.

Oddly enough, Archie found himself in the latter group simply by chance. He liked to think that Flossy had a hand in it, but he was almost absolutely certain it was because got Nick to permit her to try out. And she was grateful for that.

"Right," Alby said, "you shanks are here for one reason and one alone: We need a new Runner. We won't be testing speed. Speed is only a small portion of it. To be a Runner, you have to have endurance, and you have to be able to pace yourself. That's what we'll be keeping an eye out for.

"I know all of you have seen us before we leave in the mornings, so we'll start off simple. Stretching. We don't need any muscles cramping up, and you getting yourself sent to the Med-jacks this early on. Good that?"

A chorus of agreements rose up from the group.

"We'll start off with something simple, a standing stretch. You're going to reach down as far as you can to touch your toes, legs straight and close together. On my count."


Slowly, Alby weeded out the Gladers who wouldn't make it as Runners. Archie wasn't sure how he was doing, but he hadn't been kicked out of tryouts yet. It was a little surprising.

He was using muscles in ways he wasn't used to. Every night, he and the others had to massage their muscles so they wouldn't be tight the next day. He was sore, yes, but it was a good kind of sore. The type of sore that said he was getting a good work out.

In the midst of their training, another Greenie arrived. A beefy shank who went by the name Angelos. Archie wasn't sure where he would end up, as he didn't have much contact with anyone outside of Runner tryouts, but Flossy had reassured him that Angelos was a relatively friendly guy who seemed more interested in the goings on in the Glade than anything else – he was a gossip. He felt fortunate that he didn't have to spend much time around him.

He hadn't spoken with Gally since that fateful breakfast. Stan and Dave were forced to act as go-betweens. It was starting to get annoying. Eventually, he knew that he would have to confront him, but he kept putting it off. Why? What was he afraid of?

Gally had gone out on a limb and given him a chance to do something useful. He'd done what he could to help him and ensure that he didn't feel like he was wasting his time, that he was actually working in the Glade.

It hurt, yes, to not talk to him, but was it necessary to avoid him – even at meals? Not really.

So, after a particularly brutal day, what Archie wasn't expecting was for his Keeper – he still thought of Gally as his Keeper, as he wasn't actually a Runner and he highly doubted he ever would be – to sit down next to him in the grass while he allowed the adrenaline to ebb away and his breathing to even out.

"I'm surprised you made it this far," Gally said, lightly kicking his shoe.

"I'm surprised too," he said. "I'm more surprised Alby and Minho haven't killed me yet."

Gally chuckled. At that sound, he felt a little lighter – as if there had been a physical weight that had been holding him down.

"So," he said, "what's the real reason you don't want me to be a Runner? I've thought about it, and you've trained a lot of shanks to be Builders who eventually became Runners. What makes me different?"

It took Gally a moment, but he eventually spoke. Really, Archie hadn't been expecting him to be so… vulnerable with him. It was odd to hear such sentiment from his Keeper. He was almost positive that he'd imagined the words if there hadn't been such sincerity in his eyes.

"You're important to Flossy," Gally said, not meeting his eyes.

"And Flossy's important to you. I think we all know that."

Gally huffed out a laugh – he was sure it was a laugh and not a scoff.

"Yeah," he said, "I guess… I guess you could say that."

"Look, I know you like her. Like, a lot."

If Gally was surprised, he didn't show it. He sat there, stoically, waiting for Archie to do or say something else.

"If it means anything," he said. Gally held up his hand.

"She's important to me," Gally said. His eyes were intense, focused on the grass by his feet, under his furrowed brow. "And you're important to her, so you're important to me, too. The Maze is dangerous, Archie. You know this."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know."

"You know what happens if you get stung by a Griever."

"I've seen your scar, so… yeah."

"And what happens if you don't make it back."

Archie let out of a huff of air.

"Yeah," he said. "I know."

"And you're still going to go through with it."

Archie swallowed before nodding.

Gally met his eyes.

They sat there for a moment in silence, blinking and waiting to see what the other would do.

Finally, Gally sighed and clapped his shoulder. He stood up and turned to walk away. Only pausing once to say, over his shoulder:

"Good luck."


Author stuff cont'd.: This last convo was rewritten so many times. I decided to rewrite some things and make them happen later, so… yeah. Lots of things were rewritten. BUT that made room for some scenes I wanted to write anyway.