Joanne didn't sleep very well that night. It could have been a combination of things that had happened over this short period of time, however she was pretty sure that most of the reason could be tied to the fact that she would be entering the Maze with Newt and Minho tomorrow.

She tossed and turned all night, staring at the celling for a lot of it, wishing for sleep to come. To be honest it was quite disorientating when she was being woken up because she really didn't remember when she fell asleep. yet it happened.

Minho was roughly shaking her shoulders, telling her to 'get your lazy ass up' in a firm but hushed tone. Guess he didnt want to wake up any of the other Gladers.

Joanne sighed, which turned into a unwelcome groan halfway through, and rolled over.

"alright alright, Im awake, dont get your panties in a twist"

sitting up she rubbed her eyes, attempting to physically remove the sleep. Minho watched her, probably waiting to see if she'd go back asleep. Realizing that she wouldnt, he finally got up and walked out of the building. He was uncomfortably quiet that morning, she wondered why...

quickly changing her shirt, Joanne followed in foot of where Minho had walked out the doors of the homestead.

Stepping outside, early morning light gleamed across the sky, it looked like it should have been cold, yet the air all felt the same. It had always surprised her how perfect the area was, in some sadistic way it simply was a paradise.

Looking across the field, Joanne could seeing the two figures of Minho and Alby. Newt was nowhere to be seen yet. She decided to make her way over to them, from what she could see, they were in deep conversation and hadn't taken notice of her yet. It wasnt until she willed her feet to move that the fear began to take hold of her. She'd hadn't been here very long, yet she'd always been told that you never go into the Maze. Most of the kids here were terrified of the idea of entering the Maze, and now she was suppose to go into it! Every step she took, more weight was added to her mind.

How am I suppose to enter the Maze when just simply thinking about it scares the klunk out of me! How am I even going to keep up with Minho and Newt!

That one made her stop in her tracks. She new that both Newt and Minho could run long distances and fairly quickly. What If she couldn't run? She'd never tried since she gotten here, what if she'd never been taught.. Then what?!

What if I can't keep up? Will they leave me if something goes wrong?

She wanted to believe that neither of them would leave her if they fell into a state of crisis, but at the end of the day, it's all about survival. Could she honestly say that she wouldn't leave? Leave someone behind if it meant she would survive... She of coarse want to believe that she would never do something like that, but how could she be sure, she was scared. She'd been scared since she had arrived here. She had for sure proven that she wasn't a leader or a hero, so with that being known, had could she blame them if they left her behind, knowing that she would do that same.

Her idea's crushed her, maybe Alby really is right about me...

A voice from behind her, jolted her from her own thought and made her jump a couple of feet. Absolutely shocked, she turned to look at where ever the voice had came from, she hadn't heard anything that the person said because she was so deep in her own mind.

"Are you alright Joan?" Only one person ever called her that, her eye connected with Newt's as she struggled to spit out a response, all ability to make words failing her she just nodded.

"Give me a hand with this then" Newt smiled softly as he passed her a backpack and running shoes. "The shoes are for you, the backpack is Minho's. we thought it would be best if you didnt have to run with one today"

"ya...right, thanks" Joanne replied as they started to walk to the opening in the walls, where the other two Glader's currently stood.

"You nervous..." Newt said his blue orbs finding hers again, it was a rhetorical question

Joanne raised her eyebrow, that was the understatement of the year, she was petrified.

"Sorry, that was a dumb question," Newt said, but there was a smile softly pressed across his lips.

Joanne huffed looking forward again. Newt nudged her arm with his own, "hey, I'd be worried if you said you weren't scared. Beside's everyone is terrified with their first time."

Somehow that was ever so slightly calming, the idea that it was normal to be afraid. However, this feeling of normality and acceptance didn't last long.

Minho's mood hadn't seemed to have lightened since waking Joanne up. If anything it had gotten worse. Whatever Minho and Alby had been taking about, they defiantly had not agreed on the subject. Joanne bent down to deal with the new running shoes after handing Minho the backpack. All conversation had stopped once Newt and Joanne had arrived next to the two arguing Glader's.

"Let's move then" Minho stated before turning away from them and stalking into the Maze.

Joanne looked to Newt, who gave her a reassuring nod. Stepping forward, she took her first step into the Maze, following after Minho. She caught up to Minho, who was using his long legs to his advantage. She couldn't here any footsteps behind her. Newt should have been there, she turned her head, only to see Alby say something to Newt, who looked somewhat shocked, but nodded his head. Alby patted him on the shoulder, before sending him to catch up with Joanne and Minho.

Now, if Joanne was nervous before, she'd hit a whole new level of fear now. Something about this whole situation wasn't right. She had a feeling that things were going to go downhill pretty soon here..

Alby had planned something, she new it in her heart. Minho and Newt must have not agreed with it, which meant that there was no way in hell that she was going to be okay with it. Newt finally caught up and Minho spoke.

"hey Green Bean, try and keep up" Minho said before starting to jog down the corridors of the Maze.

Breathing in the morning air and pressing forward, Joanne got her first real look at the Maze. The walls towered ominously above them on either side, leave a single narrow path for the runners to follow. Ivy covered nearly ever inch of the old brick. It climbed to the top as the traces of greenish moss grew in the corners where the wall connected to the ground.

She could hear Newt's feet pounding softly behind her. Surprising, she hadn't run out of breath yet. Perhaps she was in better shape then she had originally thought, because she seriously believed that she was going to be down for the count within the first 3 seconds of running.

The maze had a creepy vibe to it, just like something was quite right about it. It looked calm and relatively safe, but something lay beneath the surface, waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting. Truthfully, wasn't everything about this place that way? The Glade, in some ways was a screwed up type of paradise; but everything wasn't quite right there either. Joanne did find the Maze to be different. With the Glade, as least part of you was able to let go of all the jacked up stuff and just believe that everything was going to be okay. The Maze was different though, there was something about it that kept every hair on Joanne's body stand on end. It was like a never ending feeling of unease, however it wasn't overbearing, it was just enough that you knew it was there. A ever present underlining feeling...

The Maze was, as imaginable, full of twists and turns. Minho seemed to know where exactly they were going, he never hesitated. Newt stayed close on her heels, so her hopes of slowing down a bit where demolished, she was exhausted to say the least and very, very lost. Did she forget to mention that? yes well, with all the twists and turns that they had taken now, Joanne knew that she wouldn't stand a chance if she lost her traveling companions. She had no idea which way was back.

Finally, just as Joanne's lungs were about to explode, they hit a dead end.

"Okay lets back track a bit then take a break" Minho said, not particularly to anyone as he brushed past Joanne. His mood had been off ever since this morning, and he refused to address her directly. She'd be lying if she said that it didn't bother her immensely.

"Joan, you should drink something" Newt still seemed to be treating her the same, which kept her a bit more at ease.

"thanks" She replied, as Newt, still walking, pulled his bag off his back and dug out a water bottle and tossed it to her.

Water had never tasted so good compared to that moment. She probably would have drank the whole thing if she hadn't been swallowing so fast that it caused a bit of water to splash down her windpipe. For the next while she attempted to cough up a lung, handing the water back to Newt.

They were walking now, which Joanne was ever so grateful for. However, it almost seemed more painful to walk now. Her legs were betraying her, and they felt as though, if she sat down, she'd never get back up. To say that her calves and thighs ached would be a understatement.

Having evacuated most of the water from her system, she began to take in her surroundings again. Not much really looked different from the first time that she looked at the walls from the inside. They were still incredibly tall with vines growing her top to bottom. Staring at the walls her eye caught something shiny in the distance.

"What's that?" She said aloud.

Minho finally stopped on his rampage forward and Newt followed her gaze. Joanne made her way towards it. Her hands pushed away the vines to get a better look at what it could possibly be.

Her eyebrows furrowed together when she read the metal plate. Property of WICKED...

She was truly puzzled, what could that possibly mean?

Newt was by her side now, so close that she could feel his hot breath on her cheek when he spoke,

"We don't know what they are, but they are all through the Maze"

She turned her head to get a better look at him, she became aware for how close that he was then. She was a few inches shorter then him, so she stared up into his blue orbs, becoming lost of a moment. His eyes were so warm and smile so gentle, that it almost made her forget where they were at the moment.

The third part of their party of coarse refused to be forgotten and bluntly broke Newt and Joanne's moment apart.

"Come on love birds lets go"

Minho POV

Minho heard Joanne sigh at the comment. He didn't bother to look at the his two running partners, he knew that they would eventually follow. He'd been in a bad mood ever since he'd talked to Alby this morning, maybe even before that...He really didn't like the idea of bringing the Greanie into the Maze. It was far too dangerous for both her and him and Newt. She didn't have any training or knowledge of the system. But, whatever Alby says, goes.

Not to mention, on top of that, Newt was getting all comfortable with the Newbie. He'd never admit it, but there could possibly be a hint of jealously somewhere in there. He only shook it off, now was clearly not the time to be worrying about such things.

There was absolutely no warning, when suddenly a Griever literally popped out of nowhere and came to crash their party. Minho was standing, basically at a four way stop, with the Griever hurdling down one of the lanes.

So far Minho was the only one that had seen the Griever just because of the way that everyone was positioned in the maze. Newt and Joanne were still down one of the corridors. Minho realized very quickly that this was going to be a major problem in a second.

If the Griever saw Newt and Joanne, they wouldn't stand a chance. They had nowhere to run. They obviously wouldn't be able to run forward to where he was, and if they went back, there was only a dead end. There was only one option. Minho was able to escape the Griever, but he had to make sure that it would chase after him. It really wasn't ideal and was never a good idea to split up, but he didn't see any other way.

He called out to his fellow runner, "Newt! get the green bean out of here!"

With that he was gone, his feet carrying him farther into the Maze with the Griever closely pursuing him. He was going to have to run harder than he'd ever ran before if he wanted to get out alive. But he really had no plans of dying in there so it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

I told you I'd do it :) OKAY, so thank you all so much for the reviews and I hope you enjoy! ptl4ever419 I would love to tell you...if I had that information figured out :/. Also, I couldn't remember what exactly those things in the Maze said! You know what I'm talking about right? Anyone wanna tell me if I'm wrong maybe, please..

Cheers!