Disclaimer: I don't own The Maze Runner.

Chapter 6

After she'd finished eating, Athena excused herself from the table, which seemed to shock the guys. Apparently most of them just came and went whenever they wanted without ever explaining themselves. Which wasn't exactly terrible, just different.

Everyone was pretty polite in the Courtyard, mainly because there were rules about behavior and disobeying them could mean you spent a night in the Pantry, which was an empty room off the side of the Courtyard's kitchen. Maybe it was harsh, but it had stopped Athena a few times from giving in to the desire to curse some of the other girls out.

She left the dining area and wandered into the Glade. People were watching her closely, she could feel eyes on her, but she ignored the staring. Whatever, she was currently an enigma, and if she had her way, they wouldn't have time to get used to her.

So let them stare if they wanted to.

Athena passed by the paddocks of cows and goats and wandered over to a field where some vegetables were growing. The garden was set on a very slight hill, so she could see out over the glade. Sitting down, she looped her arms around her knees and drew them up to her chest.

It was pretty here. Nicer than the Courtyard. Yes, the Courtyard certainly had a better building, and at least they had their own rooms, but… She took in a deep breath, smelling the growing vegetables and rich earth, and the faint odor of the farm animals. Most of their food in the Courtyard came through the delivery system, except for some potatoes they grew in makeshift garden buckets. There weren't any animals in the Courtyard or the Rust besides the beasts that hunted them at night. She wanted to go over and watch the goats, but she also didn't want to get attached. It wasn't like she was going to be here long.

Speaking of not getting attached…

"What're you doing out here?" Newt sat down beside her.

"You ate fast," she said, not looking over at him but instead keeping her gaze on the Glade and maze walls beyond it.

"It's either that or have Minho try to steal my meal, the shank," Newt said with a good-natured smile. He spread his legs out in front of him and leaned back on his hands, his eyes following hers. "Thinking about your maze?"

"Sort of." Now she looked at him. "I'm going to try to go back in the morning."

He nodded. "Yeah, I know." His fingertips scratched at the earth. "Is it that much better there than here?"

No, definitely not. It was warmer here and the Glade was visually amazing. They had to slaughter and cook their own animals, but they had fresh food all the time instead of the ready-made meals the girls lived with. But… "It sucks, but my friends are there. And I'm the only medic."

"They're probably worried about you," Newt said.

Now that he had brought it up, yeah, they probably would be in a few hours. When night fell and she wasn't there, they were all going to assume she had died somewhere in the Rust. Tightness clenched her chest, and her mouth fell open. She remembered other times when girls hadn't come back and the crushing sorrow at losing another friend has engulfed them all. And now the others would feel that way about her, and she wasn't even dead, she was alive.

"Athena?" Newt stared at her. "You okay?"

"I have to get back," she said, taking in a rushed breath, "I have to let them know."

"I'll try and help you in the morning," Newt said, "If that part of the maze is open, I'll get you there."

Athena took another, deeper breath, trying to calm down. "Your maze changes at night, too?"

"Yeah, it switches around every night. We're trying to figure out the pattern." He stretched his arms. "Me and the other runners. I'm their Keeper, and Minho's my second."

"We have people like that back in my maze," she said, "They go out every day and run the maze while most of the rest of us stay back and try to figure out the info they found or do chores around the Courtyard."

For a while, they sat in silence as the sky darkened, sending streaks of color overhead. Beyond the walls, the maze started to groan and screech as it turned and morphed into a new pattern.

"The people who put us in our mazes must be really messed up," Athena said, "It's cruel."

"I'd like to meet them," Newt said, his expression going dark for a moment, "I want to ask them why they did this. And maybe punch them in the throat, if I don't like their answers." He grinned. "Though I'll probably do that anyways."

"There has to be a good reason," Athena said, voicing an opinion she had given multiple times back in the Courtyard, "We can't just be here. There has to be a purpose."

"Like watching a bunch of kids run around and chased and stung by Grievers?"

"You guys have the weirdest words," Athena said, wanting to change the subject, "Grievers, shank, greenie, shuck, klunk." She numbered them off on her fingers. "I mean, we have a couple different words too, but—"

"Like what?" Newt asked, raising an eyebrow at her, "I haven't heard you use much slang."

"Mmm," Athena said. She tilted her head. "That's because I'm dandy person, but if I wasn't worried about fuzzling your poor little knobs, I'd use a spatch of words you couldn't keep up with, spazz." She smirked at the look on his face and loosened her hold around her legs. "I've never been much into our slang anyways, but yeah, we have it too."

"What all did that mean?" Newt said, "I know dandy means neat or nice-looking."

"We use it more like 'good,'" she said, "And fuzzling means confusing, knobs are heads, spatch is a few or a little, and spazz, well, that's sort of like your greenie word, I guess."

"I think I like ours better," Newt said, "Except spatch. That one's okay. The rest of them are trash."

"Hey, who said you could judge our slang?" Athena teased.

"You've been judging ours, right?" Newt said, smirking back at her, "So just let me have a moment here."

She shook her head and looked back out at the glade. Both of them were quiet for a long time, until Newt broke the silence.

"What if you can't go back?"

The tight feeling rushed back and grabbed her. What would she do? Could she live here with all these boys? How would that even look, being the only girl? But she was a survivor, above everything else. "I'll make it work."

Because that's how you survived. You took what was given to you and made it work.

She was an expert at that.