Minho's POV
Nightmares had become a regular thing, ever since her attack, sometimes her nightmares were bad enough to wake her screaming, and sweating, with no idea where she was. Sometimes Minho got there first, he would wrap her up in his arms, help fight of her demons. He would rub her back or ruin his fingers through her hair, humming wordless tune that felt familiar. She would fall back asleep with her head on his chest. Newt would come check on her, nod and leave them. Sometimes Newt got there first, he would rub her back, with her head in his lap, whispering quietly to her. Minho would come check, and a little jealous monster would rage, he wanted to be there first. But he would nod and leave the siblings. Sometimes both boys had to wake her up and she would wake up swinging trying to fight them, and it took both of them to help her calm down and come back.
Last night Minho had laydown on her bed, having their daily talks before Minho went off to his shared room with Newt. She snuggled up beside him, and he had fallen asleep in her room. He had fallen asleep with her head on his chest, his had tangled in her hair, and her arms wrapped around his waist. Last night she slept soundly for the first time in almost 3 months! The next morning, he woke up before the sun, he lifted his head off the pillow and looked down, beside him. He smiled as he saw Alex curled up into his side.
Pretty sure Gally is in on some sort of elaborate scheme with Frypan to drag their feet making her her own room. Definitely not a fan of sleeping on the floor...But being here aint so bad, maybe their scheme is working.
She had told him about her experience in the MedHut with Sonya. Then her mind-call with her again that evening with Newt. To say he was a little weirded out at first would be an understatement, she admitted it was weird, too. He got over it pretty quickly though, everything in the shuck place was weird. He was happy just listening to talk. They had fallen asleep talking.
He smiled again as he watched her sleep, a strand of her hair fluttering as she breathed in and out. He absentmindedly ran a hand through her hair, just enjoying the quiet of the morning. He really did not want to get up or wake her up. If he could, he would stay here beside her all day, but they had a job to do. With a sad sigh he gently woke her up.
"Hey Sunshine, it's time to wake up." He rubbed her shoulder. Her eyelashes fluttered and she groaned. She rubbed her eyes with her fists.
"5 more minutes!" She moaned, her voice scratchy from sleep.
Shuck that morning voice is so sexy! Also those sleepy morning eyes, so adorable!
"Sorry Princess, it's your first day as a real runner. We gotta get up."
She huffed and looked up at him with sleepy eyes, and his heart skipped a beat. It took all his will power to not kiss her. Instead he chucked at her, "come on sleepy head. If we hurry you can get some coffee before we leave."
"I do like coffee." She replied dreamly, closing her eyes again.
"Nah ah ah Sunshine! Up ya get!"
And he rolled on top of her being very obnoxious about it and stole the blanket as he kept rolling off the bed, and with some crazy morning ninja agility, landed on his feet with the blankets wrapped around his shoulders.
"MINHO! THAT WAS SO UNNECESSARY!" She yelled at him, throwing a pillow. "BLOODY SHUCK-FACE SLINT HEAD IDIOT!"
"Whoa Mama Newtie was right! You have quite the potty mouth in the morning!" He laughed at her as she curled up trying to stay warm with no cover and pouted.
"I'm going to get ready. I'll be back in ten. You better be ready!" As he closed the door he heard her mutter something about needing extra time for his stupid hair and stealing his stupid gel. He just smiled to himself and closed the door.
Eleven minutes later he knocked on her door.
"Hey, you still awake?"
He heard shuffling around the room and then the door opened to review a fully dressed and ready to go Alex. She had black leggings with a matching black cropped sports top, which showed off her curves. -not that he was looking!
Don't look, don't stare.. Shuck she's hot. Matches her spicy personality.
Her running shoes, and her hair plaited in two tight braids. She had her backpack strapped on already.
"Let's get you that coffee."
She just nodded with a yawn and followed him down to Fry's kitchen. When they got to the counter Fry handed them each a packed lunch and water. As they put their stuff in their packs Fry got them coffee and bacon and eggs.
"Mmmm Fry that smells delicious!"
As she went to take the mug from Frypan her head snapped up so she was looking at the sky and she froze for a second, with her hand still on the mug in Fry's hand. And then she started to shiver, like she was freezing.
Minho saw this once before when they were talking about cheeseburgers, but it still unnerved him. It was only a few seconds, but in that time Frypan freaked out.
"Fry! Slim it, Shank! She's just having a memory resurface! Whatever you said or did caused it. Just wait."
Alex stop shaking and her head snapped back, she blinked and looked at the guys.
"Frypan!" She said excitedly, "Did you always want to be a chef? Cuz you told me before all this, that your dad owned a big restaurant chain! You grew up in a kitchen!"
Fry stood there mouth opening and closing like a fish, still holding the cup of coffee.
"Fry? You ok?" Alex asked a little unsure, she looked at Minho for reassurance. "Did I break Fry?" She whispered to Minho.
"I know it's freaky. I don't know how to stop them."
She looked down to her feet, unsure. "I'm sorry." She said quietly, like she was ashamed.
Frustration and an urge to protect her bubbled up inside him.
She has no control over these. These guys need to get over themselves! Everyone's making her more uncomfortable then she already is!
Minho was about to step in and sweep her away when Fry dropped the cup, smashing it on the floor. He ran around the counter to her and threw his arms around her in a bone crushing bear hug.
"My Lil Lady! Don't ever ever be sorry about anything you can tell me about my past! Also! We were friends before all this? Thank you!"
Alex hugged him back with a smile. She looked at Minho and his heart skipped a beat.
As they walked over to the wall door, Alex was deep in thought. She glanced at Minho. He sensed her hesitation. "What is it? Lay it on me."
"When I have these...memory episodes..what is it like? I don't want to be even more weird than I already am! But I can't control it!"
"Well, it's weird."-
-"wow. Don't hold back."-
-"hey, you asked!"-
-"ya..but you could have been a little nicer. Jeeze."
He held his hands up in defeat. "Okay okay, sorry. But both times I've seen it, your head snaps back, your eyes glaze over, like your not here anymore, zoning out...seeing something far away.. and your body shakes, only lasts a few seconds."
"Oh" replied quietly, playing with the end of her braid.
"Come on Alex, there isn't anything you can do about it, the rest of us wish we could remember a thing or two. Also, you're not THAT weird. Now come on, Ben is waiting."
You're not weird at all. Perfect actually.
"MINHO YOU SHUCK FACE!" She yelled after him as he jogged away, chuckling.
Alex POV
The doors were just about to open when she heard Newt yelling at her. She turned to see a whole group of boys following him towards the doors. Bark trotting beside Newt. They all gave her a hug and words of encouragement.
"Hey guys, Minho here, where are my hugs and goodbyes?" He asked, faking hurt as he held out his arms, waiting for his hugs.
"Aww Min are you jealous?" Alex teased, elbowing him in the ribs.
"No. I'm just fine, thank you! I'm a lone wolf. I don't need you shanks!" He turned to face the wall doors with a small pout. As the doors rumbled open Minho jogged forwards and called for Alex and Ben.
Newt gave her one last hug, "please come back!"
As she neared the threshold she slowed for a split second, took a deep breath and stepped into the forbidden halls. She heard a bark and whine. She turned to see Bark right behind her. She knelt down, and scratched her head, "not this time girl. Stay with Newt and Thomas. I'm fine, I'm with Minho and Ben. I'll be safe. Stay with Newt and Thomas. Go." The dog whined but listened, trotting back to the group of Gladers at the entrance of the door. She waved goodbye, turned and ran to catch up with the boys
It was cooler inside the maze. It was also quieter, and made the slap of their feet echo. It smelt musty and damp, yet fresh. There was moss growing in some parts of the wall and ivy growing on others. She saw big long marks in the stone, like claw marks. She shivered. She tried to see the top of the walls but looking up made her feel dizzy. They ran about 100 meters into the maze when it split into 3 parts, straight, left or right. Minho stopped and turned to look at her.
"Ok, so today you're running with us in section 4. Today we won't make you do too much. More like testing your stamina. But I want you to do your best to remember each turn we make, so when we get to the end, see if you can do it backwards, just like those mind exercises. Good that?"
Alex nodded, feeling very nervous.
Minho nodded and smirked at her, "you'll do fine sunshine. Just run and keep your eyes open. If you have a question, ask. Oh! And one rule: Run! Never stop running!"
And with that he turned and took off, "come on Shank and Shanket, keep up!"
And that's what she did all morning. Run, they never stopped running. Left, right, right, straight, left, right, left, straight, left. Her legs burned, her lungs burned, and she loved it. She was outside the confines of the wall. She didn't have that awful feeling of being stuck in a small space. She felt like she had a purpose. She loved being a MedJack, but there was something else about being a runner. She kept up with Minho and Ben's pace with ease. Which surprised Ben. Everyone in the Glade knew she was fast, but being a runner also ment long distance. By about noon the trio stopped for lunch, the boys stopped and slid down the wall and grabbed their sandwiches. Alex decided it was better for her, because she hadn't done this before if she slowed her heart rate slowly, so she took her water out and slowly walked up and down the corridor.
As she paced she saw little red flashes, "they have beetle blades in here too?"
"Ya, all over the place. They never bug us though" answered Ben. He was a quiet and reserved boy, maybe that's why Minho and him got along. Minho did the talking for both of them.
"Hmm. Should have brought my bow. One less pair of creepy eyes."
She was on her way back down the corridor when something shiny caught her eye this time. She walked towards the wall and moved some of the ivy, it was a square metal plaque with the words 'World in Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department' on it.
"Hey Min" she called "what's this? It doesn't sound good at all!"
Minho got up and came to see. "Oh ya, those are all over the place here. I guess it's the creators." He shrugged.
"Interesting" Alex moved more of the ivy with one hand and brushed the plaque with her fingers. The moment her fingers touched the cool metal she was transported to the past.
*** "Alex WICKED is good" a voice said to her.
*** She was sitting at a big metal desk, with a severe looking middle aged woman with her blond hair pulled right into a bun, she sat perfectly straight and still. There was a small, sharp featured man, with graying hair, his voice was nasally. But both their faces were blurred out, like someone tried to erase them.
"Alex. You know the rules about relationships. We have told you. And we have warned you. We are not going to tell you again. If we catch you together again, there will be ...punishment of the most... severe" said the nasally man, he looked like we would very much enjoy watching her be punished.
The room changed.
*** She was sitting on a bed crying quietly. Sonya was beside her rubbing her back, and there was another girl, with dark raven black hair, sitting on her other side. With her arm around Alex's shoulders.
"They pretty much threatened to torture or kill me and him if we're caught!"
The raven haired girl asked quietly, "what will you do?"
"I don't know, they tried making Sonya and I forgot Newt, and now they won't even let other friendships happen! Deprive us of love, isn't that torture enough? Why is love such a bad thing? Why is family and friendship so horrible for them?" All three girls just hugged each other.
The room changed.
*** She was sitting, strapped to a chair in a dark room, a light above her came on, blinding her. She could feel the anticipation of something awful about to happen. Then out of the dark came a metallic clicking noise like pinchers. And whirring sounds like a buzz saw. Then metal on metal, like metal spider legs walking. And then a squishy squelching noise. Out of the dark stepped a biomechanical monster. It looked like a spider, with pincher claws and a scorpion tail, it had other appendages with various weapons attached. Tiny beedy eyes set in its head, when it screamed, Alex could see rows of razor sharp teeth. Alex whimpered in fear. A nasally voice came crackling through a speaker.
"Alex. Alex. Alex. We did warn you. We warned you what would happen if you got caught." There was a pause, "do you like your creation? We took your ideas and then added a few...extra touches"
Alex gulped, "what are you doing to him? Please don't hurt him!"
"Oh my dear, we won't harm him...yet.. He is here beside me. And he's going to watch this. You need to learn a lesson in obedience."
The monster came to life, a saw blade and some sharp metal points extended out of the creature as it came closer and closer. Alex was crying. She made these things. How could she do that? How could she help these twisted people? How was this helping save the world? The monster didn't stop, slowly creeping closer and closer. She pushed her chair back as far as it would go up to the wall. It still came closer. It only stopped an inch from her throat and face. The creature stopped. It backed up into the dark.
"Did you learn your lesson?"
Alex nodded, crying. "Hmmm. I don't think so. Again" and the creature slowly crept out of the shadows again as it advanced on her again and again and again.
The room changed.
*** Now she was in a control room, being held by 2 armed guards. There was a big window in front of her. Behind the window in the dark room, strapped to a chair was a boy. The twitchy nasally man was beside her.
"You need to learn your lesson for good!"
Her biomechanical abomination whirrled to life and crept forwards towards the struggling terrified boy. She screamed and struggled begging them not to kill the boy she loved with the monsters she was forced to create. As the memory faded she heard the nasally voice again.
"He goes up tomorrow, bump him sooner! Way sooner. And then she will finally know she can't get away with disobedience."
Alex sobbed. They used him to hurt her. It was all her fault.
Minho POV
"Interesting" Alex moved more of the ivy with one hand and brushed the plaque with her fingers. The moment her fingers touched the metal, her head snapped up, her eyes glazed over, but this time her knees gave way, before she cracked her head on the stone Minho caught her and laid her down. Her whole body was convulsing.
Ben ran over, "WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY IS SHE DOING THAT?"
"She's having a memory flashback, but she's never done this before." Minho said worriedly, she's never convulsed, or fallen, or taken this long to come out of it.
"Ben. I need you to run back to the Glade and get Jeff, Clint, Newt and Alby to meet in the Med Hut. I'll carry her, go now. I'm right behind you."
"No dude! We stick together! Rule 2 of the runner code"
"No, ya..ya, you're right. Here take her pack, I got her. Come on Sunshine. Always keeping things interesting."
Minho picked her still shaking body up and started to run back to the Glade praying Jeff knew what to do, and that she would be ok. The boys had just turned their 2nd corner when Alex let out a gasp. Minho looked down at her, her eyes were open. They stopped running.
"Hey Alex, you ok? Can you stand?"
She just nodded. Minho set her down gently.
"Water. Please." She said quietly.
Ben handed her her backpack. Minho was kind of freaked out with what just happened. It looked like some kind of seizure. She sat down and drank her water. She looked exhausted, pale and sweaty. She looked around and then at the boys, "we're heading back? Why?"
Minho scoffed at her. "You just had full body convulsions, collapsed to the floor and didn't wake up for 15 minutes! Of course we're going back! I made about ten different promises to bring you back unhurt." His face softened, and he crouched in front of her. "What did you see?"
She stood up abruptly, not looking at him. "I'm fine Minho. I don't want to talk about it. Let's finish our run." She snapped. Walking past him. Minho glared at her.
"Why wont you tell me what you saw?" he asked, hurt laced in his voice
What was so bad that she wont talk to me...did I do something? Shuck..I did something..
"I don't want to talk about it." She said firmly. They both glared at each other, both stubborn and unwilling to budge.
Until Ben spoke up. "Uh guys? We could go back a little ways, not the whole run. Still show her more of section 4. If she says she's fine..."
"Fine" snapped Minho. He rounded on Ben, "if something happens, I'm throwing you under the bus too. Cuz I said we go back." Ben put his hands up in defense. Minho turned around and ran further into the maze.
As Minho ran, his mind started to attack him.
What the shuck was that? Did I over react? Is she over reacting? She's a big girl, she says she's fine..then fine. But something happened...something awful! What did she see? She was happy before and now she looks...
He glanced at her over his shoulder. Her eyes were empty of emotion, looking straight ahead, nothing on her face. It was deadpanned, a wall of stone, but as he turned back to the front he saw her wipe her check.
Is she crying?! Shuck, she is crying! I wish I could hold her. Well shuck-face, she doesn't want you to hold her, didn't you see the way she shoved you away? What memory could have been so bad? What if I did something? Did I do something before the maze and we actually weren't friends? It must have been awful. I knew it was wrong to open up, I knew I would get hurt. I knew she would never like me. No one ever does, no one ever really cares, just using me for a way out.
His self doubt came back full swing. And kept him mostly occupied, still paying attention to the twists and turns. They got to the end, Alex was a fast runner and had no problems keeping up. He tagged the dead end wall, turned and took off back the way they came.
He called over his shoulder, "that's the end, now we go back and pray we make it before the doors close."
Alex just nodded.
She put on a burst of speed and ran past him. He let her go, watching a few passes behind. Ben ran up beside him, "She always like that after one of her...episodes? She seems pissed."
Minho shook his head. "No. This morning it was like a 5 second one and she told Frypan his dad was a chef and he grew up in a kitchen. It's usually small memories like that, a word or touch or something can trigger it. No idea what happened this time."
Minho was crestfallen.
They had been so good. They started off this morning so happy...what did he do in her past to piss her off?
Alex POV
She led the way back, with no trouble remembering the directions home. Her memory didn't have a problem. Even when it was occupied with what she had seen.
I created Grievers! I actually created the monsters that kill us! How could I ever do that? I must have been an awful person! And now Minho won't ever want to be my friend. I got us caught and then I got us tortured, he won't ever want to be around me.
She could feel a tear fall as her heart broke.
They were almost back to The Glade when she stopped dead in her tracks. Minho and Ben stopped, almost slamming into her. "What the shuck Al-"
"-shhhh!-
-"did you just shhh me?"
-"shut it!"
"Why? What? What's the matter?"
"-SHUSH IDIOT! Be quiet! Listen."
She put her finger to her lips and tilted her head. The boys were quiet. Then they heard it too. Tiny little clicks. And then nothing. They stood silent. Waiting. Then they heard it again. But louder, closer. Alex's face drained of colour, she felt faint. She knew what that was. She looked at the boys, who hadn't figured out what it was.
"Griever" she whispered. "We need to run. Now! Minho, how do we get to the Glade, is there another way?"
He looked at her, his face eerily calm, "Ya, ya it's longer, but we should make it back- if we sprint." He whispered. Taking a glance at his watch.
"Lead the way then!"
They took off in the opposite direction of the Griever noise. Trying desperately to get back before the doors and avoid the Griever. The odds were not in their favor. Beetle Blades were scurrying all over the place, watching them. As they passed a fork, going straight. Out of the side corridor, there came flying a big ugly part animal, part machine and all parts terrifying monster. A second one. They screamed and scrambled to get out of its way.