Frypan escorted her down to the picnic area and he even brought her breakfast over to her. She smiled the whole time, forgetting for the moment, about those black pitless eyes.
After a quick breakfast she ran upstairs to get her backpack and shoes, and jogged over to the West door. Minho was there already giving orders to the other runners.
"Alex, you're late. Don't make this a habit." He barked at her, his arms crossed, he didn't even look at her. Her face went red with embarrassment.
"Oh, it's going to be a fantastic day.." She muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" He rounded on her, she raised an eyebrow at him. She crossed her arms glaring at him.
"Oh it was nothing to worry your pretty face about." The two just glared at each other for a few more seconds. The other runners awkwardly looked at each other, and then down at the ground. Minho finished partnering everyone up, and sent them on their way. He finally turned to her arms folded, her jaw clenched. His mood swings were all over the place.
This was going to be a long shuckin' day if he's this moody already. I should just quit and stick to MedJack...No, idiot! Ya he's a shuck face and we aren't talking... again, but he needs help. And I will be damned if I leave him hanging.
"You're with me again, this time I want to see you cut vines and take notes as you run, and, hopefully if we're not fighting a shuck Griever for our lives, I'll get you to map after we get back. Now come on. He turned to leave but they heard Newt yell.
"WAIT!"
Minho spun around, "What is it Shank?"
Newt called, "Bark goes with you. No exceptions." The dog ran from Newt's side to Alex's.
"Fine. Whatever. Let's go." The new trio ran into the maze. Minho set a fast pace, but Alex didn't have any problems keeping up. Neither did Bark. She seemed to love running just as much as the runners. They made it down the main corridor, in front of them was a rectangular cut in a long wall to the north that looked like a doorway without a door. Minho ran straight through it without stopping.
"This leads from Section Eight—the section beside this one—that way is to section 7. Like I said, this passage is always in the same spot, but the route here might be a little different because of the walls rearranging themselves."
Alex nodded, the workings of the maze slowly making sense. They ran for a few hours. They reached the end of another corridor and Minho slowed to barely more than a walk and reached behind him to pull out a notepad and pencil from a side pocket in his backpack. He jotted a note, then put them back, never fully stopping.
"I rely ... mostly on memory," the Keeper huffed, his voice finally showing a hint of strain, "But about every fifth turn, I write something down to help me later. Mostly just related to stuff from yesterday—what's different today. Then I can use yesterday's Map to make today's. Easy-peasy, Sunshine."
Alex was impressed with the boy. How his mind worked, how calm he was, his runners really looked up to him, the whole glade actually.
Ya he's arrogant, mouthy and sometimes a little harsh..but His shucking memory is crazy! To remember every single turn and corner where every passage leads. Also, his arms, shuck those are are so nice... and when he's laughing his eyes crease into these cute half moons...
She was too busy thinking about the boy beside her she stumbled on a small rock laying on the ground. She tried catching her balance, but at the speed they were running she fell. Before she face planted, arms wrapped around her. They held her up and placed her back onto her feet. She was breathing heavily, but when she turned her breathing stopped. Minho and her were face to face, he still had his hands on her waist and she had hers on his biceps. He was breathing heavily, and she could feel his breath fanning her face. She really hoped he couldn't feel how fast her heart was beating, and it was not from running. He let a small smirk play in his lips.
He quietly said, "Careful She-Bean, you're falling for me already, are ya?"
She smiled, it was what he said to her the day she came up from the box and he had saved her from another epic faceplant.
You have no idea how hard I've fallen, you arrogant shuck face. But after what I saw, what they did to us when they found out...You wont ever want to be with me.
They were only a few inches apart, still holding each other, staring into each other's eyes. They only broke apart when Bark's loud woof echoed off the stone walls, she was at the end of the corridor smelling one of the turns. Minho cleared his throat, his face a little pink, but that could have been from the exertion of running most of the morning.
"Looks like our running partner found something interesting."
He took off after the dog, leaving a cold empty spot beside Alex. She sighed quietly and followed after her dog and Minho. As they took the right path Minho had pulled one of his knives from his belt and, without missing a beat, cut a big piece of ivy off the wall. He threw it on the ground behind him and kept running.
"Bread crumbs?" Alex asked.
"Bread crumbs," Minho replied. "I'm Hansel, you're Gretel"
Alex laughed, "And Tommy can be the witch!"
He pointed at her, "Yes."
They kept running. Bark was leading them now, she was following some kind of smell, and since Minho knew every turn and hallway he figured what's the harm, maybe she could find something different. Still nothing new when they finally decided to have lunch. They both slid their back packs off and slid down the wall. It was a quiet and awkward lunch. Neither saying much, both too stubborn to talk about why they weren't talking. But they both kept taking turns glancing at each other. Alex didn't know how to bring up her memories from yesterday. She also didn't want to see the look on his face when he found out she was the reason he had trauma and near death experiences, she was the reason they sent him sooner into the maze.
They were just packing up to continue when Bark started whining at the end of the corridor, by another split. The runners looked at each other, Alex shrugged her shoulders and walked to her dog. Minho followed. Bark was acting strange, timid almost, whining, or maybe she was trying to warn them. They crept towards the corner and peeked around the wall. Laying in the middle of the corridor was a Griever.
"Holly Shuck!" Minho whispered
"It's the same one from yesterday, look! It has the slash from you and it has my knives still in its face. You think its died?" Alex breathed, looking over her shoulder at Minho. He had an odd glint in his eye.
"I don't know but let's go take a quick look, and get back to Glade and tell Admiral Alby!" Minho straightened up and moved towards the monster cautiously.
"MINHO! YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH!" Alex was whisper yelling.
Minho just grinned at her. "Come on, who can say they ever saw a dead Griever?" Alex huffed and followed the reckless boy, "If I die, I'm going to haunt your shuck butt for the rest of your life!"
Bark followed, but growled the whole time.
I don't blame you!
The Griever just lay there. Nothing moved. They weren't sure if it breathes like an animal or if it was more of a machine, but either way nothing moved or made a sound. Minho's face light up
"Alex! This is the first time we've found a dead one! This is new! Come on! COME ON! We gotta go tell Alby! Something new in over 2 years!" He grabbed her hand and they took off back to Glade.
They were practically sprinting, Minho was so excited. Alex couldn't breathe anymore, her chest was heavy, sweat dropped down her neck and she could feel it run down her back, her legs were burning. The only thing she could think was "breath. In. Out. Breath."
Minho didn't look any better, but he never stopped or slowed down. They both bolted through the doors. Alex could hardly stand anymore, her legs finally gave out and she collapsed to the grass. She closed her eyes, trying to breathe. She heard a heavy thud and assumed Minho collapsed too. They both lay there panting in crumpled heaps, everything hurt to move. Bark lay beside them also panting.
"You guys okay? What happened? Why are you back so early?" Thomas's voice said above them. Alex and Minho opened their eyes and slowly with much groaning.
"Alby." Wheezed Minho.
"Ya, he's coming, I saw you two collapse and yelled for him" he looked over his shoulder, and they could see Alby and Newt running over.
"WHAT HAPPENED? WHY ARE YOU BACK SO SOON?" Alby yelled
"Dude, can we get some water first? We both sprinted back here and our waters are empty." Alby didn't move, he wanted answers.
"Alby! I can barely talk, Alex still hasn't moved. Be useful and get us some shuckin water you shank!" Minho yelled back, his voice raw.
"Alby...water. Now. Chop Chop." Alex rasped with her dry throat, snapping her fingers, then let her hand drop to the grass again. Alby huffed and spun around and jogged away.
"Thomas do not get any ideas. Minho and obviously Alex are the only ones who can boss him around" Newt warned and crossed his arms, giving Thomas a pointed look, but he had amusement in his eyes.
Thomas looked unsure, he looked down at Minho and Alex, "So...did you guys find anything?"
Alex managed to get out a small "ha." Newt face palmed and shook his head. He knew. Minho gave him a look that could kill.
"Know what GREENIE, that is usually the stupidest shuck-faced thing you could ask a runner..." he collapsed back to the ground, closing his eyes, but peaked an eye open and looked at Alex with a big grin
"But not today!" Alex grinned back. They tried to high five, but their arms were too tiered and heavy, wasn't a very good one.
"That was a lame high five." Minho frowned at her.
"PFFT! Speak for your self Shuck Face. That was an awesome high five." She shot back.
"Wait..WHAT? What did you find?" Thomas was looking too excited, his desperate need to ask questions and maybe this was finally an answer to what lay behind these forbidden walls.
Newt's eyes grew to the size of saucers. "You actually found something? What?"
Minho sat up again, leaning on his hands "Hold your horses, wait for Admiral Alby!"
Thomas huffed, "why are you guys so tired? I thought you 2 were the best runners ever?" His question was dripping with sarcasm.
"Well I'm the best runner in the Glade ya. And this guy runs everyday at a slow lazy pace," Alex laughed, still laying flat on the ground.
Minho gasped at that last comment. "So uncalled for!"
Alex rolled her eyes and continued, sassing Thomas right back, "But we both got a little excited and booked it back here as fast as we could. You try sprinting for 3 hours, you Slint Headed Greenie!"
Thomas huffed again. Newt let a little chuckle out, she was as bad as Minho. Frypan was right, his sass was rubbing off.
Alby finally came back with cold waters for the runners and a bucket for Bark. All three chugged the water, it gave them some life. Minho stood up and offered a hand to Alex who took it gratefully, he hauled her up easily.
"Ok, spit it out. What happened?" Alby said his arms crossed. Minho glanced at Thomas, his eyebrows raised. "Whatever, I don't really care about greenie right now." Alby waved a hand.
"We found a dead one." Minho said. There was silence for a second.
"A dead what?" Newt asked.
"Griever. We found a dead Griever, around the corner from where we stopped for lunch." Alex added. Minho nodded.
"You know for sure it was dead?" Alby asked
"Well it was the same one as yesterday," Minho answered, he was excited to share his findings.
"How do you know it was the same one?" Thomas questioned, brave enough to step into the conversation.
"Because shuck face. It had Alex's knife still sticking out of its eye and centre of its shuck head. Any other dumb questions?" Minho sassed, angry with the interruptions.
"In the eye? You threw a knife at it yesterday and hit its eye!?" Thomas asked her, shocked.
"Focus Thomas - dead Griever right now. My amazing ninja knife throwing skills aren't the topic of discussion right now." Alex said, rolling her eyes. She was hot, tired and hungry, this conversation needed to wrap up.
"Why didn't you bring it back then?" Alby asked the pair. Alex actually laughed, and Minho rolled his eyes..
"You really expected us to drag that metal machine back here? Know how big that thing was? How heavy it would have been? I know I got super awesome muscle, but seriously dude? Use your brain! But if you really want, I guess we could go back and take a closer look, if we hurry."
Newt looked at his watch, "No. Doors will be closing in a bit."
"Ya, if it's dead, it can wait until tomorrow. Go take a shower you shanks" Alby ordered. Alex gave him a withering look "Apologies. Shank and ShankET. Got take a shower, you two stink."
"Smartest thing you said all day, Captain." Minho sassed and headed to the showers. Alex opted for more water and food, she hobbled to the kitchen,
Thomas and Newt following behind bugging for more details. Fry handed Alex a sandwich and apple, she sat down only to be bombarded with more questions from Chuck and Thomas. Alex slammed her hands into the table.
"GUYS! Slim it! K?" She left the table to go check on Ben and the MedJacks. She pushed the door open, and heard Ben scream. She shuddered, all sorts of emotions coming to the surface, she had to close her eyes and breath reminding herself that it's Ben and not Chris.
"Hey guys, how was today?" Alex asked, her voice still kind of raw.
Jeff turned around "oh hey Alex- wow. Shanket you look awful!"
"Wow. Sure know how to make a lady feel good, don't cha, Jeffy!" Alex snapped back.
He held his hands up in defense. "Sorry, just...it's true, you look like you're going to drop from exhaustion and your hair isn't exactly ..." he trailed off.
Alex just sighed, "well if you saw a dead Griever and ran your shuck butt off to get back you'd look like this too." She tried running a hand through her tangles. Alex looked at Ben, he didn't look worse, "how is he doing?"
Clint answered her this time, "Better his screaming isn't as frequent, and he's not so green, should be good in a day or so, maybe sooner. But nothing for you to do here, it's been a slow day."
"Alright. Thanx guys. Also, Jeff, sorry for snapping. It's been a long day" Alex said in her way out.
"All good Shanket. No hard feelings" he smiled at her.
She had a quick shower. It was one of those moods where she wanted to be with people but as soon as she was with people she wanted to be alone. If she was alone her mind would buzz with unanswered questions, and then it would fill up with a Keeper and her heart would squeeze. She couldn't figure out what she wanted, her head and heart were struggling against each other. And Minho's swinging emotions didn't help. She was frustrated with herself. Maybe archery in the Deadheads would help. She found Alby sitting by the Homestead.
"Wanna come shoot with me? I'll teach you to hit the target" she teased.
"Oh you did NOT just say that to me! Your ON Shanket." he replied, accepting the checky challenge.
He paused for a second looking her up and down, "Also, we could probably find you your own bow, come on." Alby suggested. He led her to the map room and over to the little hatch under the trunk of maps, and down into the weapons room. They found her a bow that fit, she also grabbed a quiver and made sure it was full. As she was strapping it to her back she saw a brown leather belt that caught her eye, sitting on a table by the knife wall. She walked over and pick it up. Instantly her head snapped up and her eyes glazed over
*** She was standing in a weapons room, a shiny white and metal one, with weapons placed evenly along the walls and tables, each with a label. There was a man in front of her, she couldn't focus on his face, it was all blurred out. But he was quite tall and full of muscle, with a deep commanding voice. "Subject A0, your belt and holster along with your vest. The man was saying, handing Alex the brown leather. "It's custom made for your smaller size, it also has more than one place for your knives. Once it is fitted and your weapons acquired you are being sent for your mission for the week. You leave at first light. Understood?
Alby was snapping his fingers in front of her face "The shuck just happened Shanket?"
"I ...I had I had a memory resurface." She looked down at the leather belt. Without saying anything else she buckled it on, around her waist and around her thigh, she searched around the table quickly and found the chest vest and grabbed a few knives that looked well worn in on the leather handles. They felt...familiar in her hands, the weight evenly distributed and comfortable. She put everything on.
How? Why would I have this made for me? I was sent on missions? What did I do before this? And why would the Creators send this up? What is going on?
"Alex?" Alby was a little unsure what was going on, but seeing their little ray of sunshine decked out in leather and weapons was intimidating.
"Alby. These are mine. The memory? For whatever reason, the creators made this for me. And for some reason, sent them up...because...why else would they be here?! They seem to small for anyone around here." She asked still struggling with the memory. Alby rubbed his neck, thinking.
"Well I can't really let you walk around decked in weapons. However, the belts and harness you can have, you're right, they don't fit anyone here." He smirked "Minho was very upset. He said and I quote 'would make me look even more badass'" Alby laughed at the memory.
Alex scoffed "Poor pumpkin, he's gonna be so disappointed I out badass him." She weighed a knife in her open palm, she tossed it up into the air spinning it end over end caught it spun her body around and tossed the knife into the wall behind her, in one fluid motion.
"Definitely more badass than Minho could ever dream of being" Alby nodded solemnly. "We can go practice, with them, but I take them back and lock them up when we're done. Deal?"
"Good that" Alex agreed.
10 min later Alby and Alex with Bark recovered from their sprint in the maze, beside her, were deep in the Deadheads, away from the other Gladers. They had carved a target into a tree and having a friendly competition. Alex definitely won. It was nice hanging out with Alby, he didn't pry, had good advice when you asked. He definitely had like big brother proud Father feel to him.
"Alby." Alex started then stopped, suddenly kind of nervous.
"Ya Shanket? What's on your mind?" He asked as he retrieved their arrows and knives from the tree.
"Umm, well I just wanted to say Thanks I guess. You have always had my back and believed in me even with everything that's happened. Also, thanks for giving me my first archery lesson."
She said with sincerity, but then added with a cheeky smile, "Even though I'm so much better then you"
He had walked back and placed his rather large hand in her shoulder, "Alex, my little Glade Warrior Princess, it has been an honor to teach you the basic skills I have. You're my little sister. I'll always have your back. And I'll always believe in you!"
He was not a touchy person, but Alex couldn't help it, she hugged him around the waist, he hesitated for a moment but also wrapped his arms around her, patting her back.
"Alright that's enough. Come on best 4 out of 5?"
Alex laughed, "Shank, I've beat you every time! But sure, get ready to have your butt kicked!"
The calm was split by an inhuman animal scream and a very terrified boy yelling for help.