His heart pounded in his chest like a bass drum as he gripped his fingers around her mouth tightly. Minho glanced over his shoulder. The light illuminating from the flashlight panned back and forth as the hoard of boys searched for the girl. The hoard of his closest and only friends.

The girl made a muffled screaming sound.

"Shhh!" Minho hissed, shoving her harder against the tree. "Didn't you here me shank? I'm here to save you. Now slim it." He look at the girl, her eyes were wide, her cheeks were void of color and her body shook. She was terrified.

Minho rolled his eyes. Gently this time, he pulled her behind the tree and motioned for her to crouch down.

"I'm gunna let go of your mouth, just be shucking quiet, ok?"

The girl nodded.

"Ok." Minho said. Hesitantly he lifted his thick callused hand from the girl's pale lips. She kept them pressed together. "Good. Now you need to stay quiet and follow me... with out question. Can you do that?"

The girl nodded again.

He encircled his fingers around her upper arm. The Asian boy surveyed the horizon, watching as the lights moved and flickered. He needed to be careful and stealthy. Most of all, both of them needed to be fast.

"Can you run?" He asked the girl.

She gave a confused nod.

"Good. Get ready to run fast. On my signal." Minho's eyes narrowed. His blood pumped faster, he could feel him self preparing for flight.

Almost... almost...

"Now!" He hissed. He shot up, pulling the girl behind him. Together their feet pounded against the forest floor. They twisted through tree and jumped over roots. The wind ripped through Minho's hair and bit at his face. The girl stumbled, but he continued pulling her behind him with out looking back. She cried out quietly. Still though, she kept up with the Runner. Together, the pair broke through the tree line and into the clearing of the Glade.

No one was around them, but it wouldn't be long before they were spotted. They needed to find cover, quickly. The closest building was the kitchen. It had one window and one entrance. It'd have to be their refuge for now.

"Over here." Minho called. He swerved towards the building and picked up his pace.

He barged through the doors and then whipped around, holding it open for the girl and closing it quickly as soon as she got in.

"Hold it closed." He ordered without a hint of compassion.

The girl obeyed. She pressed her body weight against the wooden door. Minho began rummaging around the kitchen. The adrenaline course through his veins. They were safe, momentarily, but it wouldn't be long before some one decided to check in the kitchen, or even came in for some water.

"What are you doing?" She asked. The boy was almost shocked at the sound of her first words to him.

He ignored her.

"This'll have to do." He muttered to himself, grabbing the crowbar that Fry used to force the crates of fruits and dry goods open.

He walked back over to the girl and shoved her aside with out a word. He cocked backed his arms and rammed the black metal bar into the crack between the floor and the door. Hopefully that would prohibit some one from coming in. It also kept them from going out.

"Please. Tell me what's going on." The girl begged as Minho stood up.

Once again he ignored her. What could he say? No piece of information would help her at that moment. Plus, Minho didn't really want to talk to the girl. In the sickest of way he resented her. Her arrival split him from his friends, his friends from each other, and himself from his own self respect.

Instead Minho went into the actual kitchen part of the dining hall. He grabbed a couple of Frypan's knives and shoved them in his running pack. He'd never gotten the chance to take it off.

His mind was racing. He needed a plan of some sorts. Maybe they coul-

"What. is. going. on." The girl said. She was standing at full height, her feet slightly spread apart, her fists balled, and her eyes full of anger. The girl had gained a fair bit of confidence. Her curly blonde hair was push back, no longer covering her face. Her jaw was clenched tightly. "Tell me right fucking now."

Minho smirked. "Oh that's cute."

"No." She shook her head, "No, I'm not kidding. I am so fucking done with guys and secrets and being confused. Who are you? Where am I? and what. is. going. on?"

He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms across his chest. He nodded slightly at her, "Ok blondie, if you insist I'll let you know. I'm Minho, Keeper of the Runners." She raised a thick, dark brow. "Yah I'm not explaining that. Just know I'm good at running. You're in the Glade. Two years ago the first of us came up here. Each of us like you. No memories, no idea where we were, just a name in our head. Some one put us up here and now they put you up here too. Happy?"

"That answers who you are and where I am, but what's happening?"

"Oh, yah. Everyone is trying to kill you."

She was oddly unfased, "And why aren't you."

Minho studied his shoes, he let out a heavy hearted sigh. "Well..."

"""""""""""""

Earlier

""""""""""""

"Quiet down shanks! This Gathering is being called to order!" Alby cried over the group of teenaged boys.

A dozen of them sat in various places in the Gathering hut, but each of them ended their chatter as the leader took charge. Alby had their full attention.

"This isn't a normal gathering with majority rule. Our decision about the fate of the girl needs to be unanimous. Each Keeper will get a chance to share their opinion and then everyone will vote. If we can't all agree on following WICKED's instructions, then she stays alive. Understand?" He made sure to meet the eyes of each boy in the room. He made it through almost all of them when he stopped. "Where's Minho?"

"Ben just went to get him. The bloody shank is taking his sweet ol' time mapping today." Newt muttered. Alby glance at his second in command. He'd been on edge since the girl came.

"Well we're starting without him, good that?"

Newt nodded. His eyes flicked to the door.

"Alright then, let's start with Gally."

The Keeper of the Builders stood up sporting with the same smug look he wore every day. He waited for a good 5 seconds before speaking, making sure that each and everyone's full attention was on him. "I think we should kill the she-bean. We've been in this shuckhole for 2 damn years. We search the Maze everyday and we've got nothin'. I think we need to consider that this is the way out. Is this one girl worth years of captivity for the rest of us? The Creators are giving us an out. We need to take it."

Alby was shocked at the swiftness and simplicity of the boy's response. It wasn't common for the Keeper of the Builders to be so brief.

"Clint?"

Clint studied his cleanly cut nails. He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again. "I want to say no. I want to say that we should keep her alive... but I don't think we can pass up this opportunity." He looked up, staring directly at Newt and Alby, his slightly wetted eyes flicking between the pair. His voice was desperate for them to understand. "I-i hope it's a respectful death, and I wish it didn't have to be this way. But we can't live here any longer. We've got families, and real homes. And places to go other than this... this hell. So, I'm with Gally."

Alby nodded slowly.

"I agree with Clint. Let's just keep it clean." Winston said quietly. He refused to meet the eyes of anyone else in the room.

Attention turned to Frypan. "I-i don't know. I want to-"

"What the shuck is going on?" Minho stood in the door frame of the Gathering Hut.

"We're having a Gathering," Alby started, "Ben was sup-"

"Yah I get that. I mean, why the shuck are you slintheads even considering this? Murdering a innocent, weak, helpless little girl. Jeez she's probably shorter than Chuck!"

"Minho sit down," Gally order, "Listen to our side. This is about freedom."

"No, this is about not being their little pawns! If we do this then we aren't free, we are doing exactly what those jacked shanks want us to do! The'yre calling the shots and by obeying their twisted rules we're proving that they can control us."

"This is not a game Minho! This is a chance to leave this place!" Gally yelled.

Minho shook his head. "I can't be here. I can't be one of your Keepers." He muttered. Quickly, with out another word, he turned and ran the opposite direction. Rage filled him. Anger drove him. He ran from the building, from his friends and from everything he'd come to know and care about.

""""""""""

PRESENT

""""""""""

"So I left. And I didn't look back or ask them what they decided. And I guess they decided to go through with it." His voice trialed off. "I just can't believe it. Newt, Fry, Alby. They're good people. This place just jacked them up I guess." Minho explained.

The girl was taken aback by the story and the evident hurt on Minho's face. "I'm sorry. But thank you, really, for helping me and all that."

Minho snapped back to his previous state. "Yah, I figured you probably couldn't handle yourself in a place like this."

The girl opened her mouth. Her blood boiled at the obvious sexism, but it was not the time to make an enemy. "Yah. Thanks."

"So, you got a name?" Minho glanced up at her.

The girl shook her head, "No. But I did find this." She walked over to Minho, rolling up her sleeve as she moved. "It's not a name but... I don't know. It feels important." On the middle inside of her right wrist, covered by the watch that was counting down the time to her freedom, was a small, thin, black tattoo. In cursive one word was written.

Green

"Green? Like the color...?" Minho chuckled.

The girl shrugged, "It's something. A place holder till I figure out the real thing."

"Ok then, Green, it's nice to meet you." Minho smirked.

Green rolled her eyes. "Ok. It's a ridiculous name. Got anything better?"

"No, no, I like it. It goes with your eyes."

"Great. A name that matches my eyes. That's just perfect." She flopped against a table. "What is happening to my life!" She cried to the ceiling, throwing up her arms.

Minho almost laughed. But he kept it together. "Cut it out. We need to stay quiet."

On cue, a body slammed into the door. The wood lurched forward but splintered on the crowbar, remaining closed. Green covered her mouth with her hand.

"Holy shit." she whispered.

"C'mon." Minho hissed, grabbing her arm. The door lurched forward again, then another time.

"Come out little Miss. Don't make it harder than this has to be."

Minho recognized Gally's voice.

"Go to the back, there is a window out of the storage closest." Minho ordered. He handed her a knife. "I'll be right behind you."

Minho gripped a knife in his own hand. His eyes steadied on the door. He force oxygen in and out of his lungs.

It's time to man up.

He shot forward and dragged a table in front of the door, propping the crowbar up on the base of the wood, making it even harder to move. Satisfied with his work Minho spun on his heels and darted towards the supply closest where he sent Green.

He was half way out the Window when he saw them.

Thomas, the Newbie before Green, had his hand wrapped around the girl's mouth and the other pinning her body to his.

Green cried for Minho, her eyes filled with fear. She struggled against the boy.

"Get the shuck off her." Minho ordered quietly, prowling forward, gripping the knife.

"Woah, chill. I'm on your side." The boy insisted. He let go of Green. "I just didn't want her to scream."

"What the-" Green began as soon as she was free.

Minho quickly stepped between her and Thomas, "shhhh." He warned her. He looked at Thomas, "Why are you helping us Greenbean?"

"Thomas." He corrected, "and because... well same reason you're helping her. They can't just kill her."

"Green, by the way." Green said, stepping forward.

"Hey that's a cool name." Thomas said with a genuine smile.

"Cut it out shanks, you got a plan Thomas?"

The blue eyed boy nodded, "This might sound crazy but... look around." He gestured to the world around him.

Minho raised an eyebrow. "Not following."

"The doors to the Maze never closed."

""""""""""

AN: Thanks to those who reviewed. I decided to post another chapter. Let me know what you think! Reviews are always appreciated! Oh and how do you all feel about the name Green, I've got an attachment to it.