Chapter 6

Taylor felt sick, angry, and confused. Why did she recognize Minho and Newt and… almost every boy here? Who was the voice in her head? Why did they want her to kill some one? Who did they want her to kill? Why? Where was she? Why was she here? Why was she the only girl? Why couldn't she remember anything? Why? What? How? Taylor didn't have the slightest clue to any of the answers to any of her questions. Hopeless, She thought.

Knowing that someone was going to follow her, she sprinted away from the place the gathering had been held, trying to hold back the tears of frustration that were stinging her cheeks. Running all the way towards the small forest, she found a tall tree and hoisted herself up into it. Climbing like a monkey, she climbed all the way to the highest branch that could still support her weight. She sat there, opening and clenching her fists. Come on Taylor, be strong. Don't cry. Stop Crying. She coached herself. Taylor's small hope of being left alone for a while and not being found were soon squashed when someone by the base of the tree called her name…or rather her nickname.

"Green Bean?" Ugh…Minho… "I know you're here…. somewhere." Minho said. She sighed.

"What do ya' want Minho?" she called back.

"Where the shuck are you?" he asked.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out." She replied, not in the mood to really talk to him, or any one for that matter. Minho soon found her tree and looked up at her slumped against the trunk of the tree about twelve feet above ground.

"Wow. You can climb." He stated.

"Thank you Mr. Obvious." She muttered.

"So are you coming down, or am I coming up?" He asked.

"Hmm…How bout' you stay down and I stay up?" She retorted.

"So, you're not coming down."

"Not planning on it, no." Minho sighed.

"I guess I'm coming up then." Taylor laughed without humor.

"You can try, but don't say I didn't warn you."

"Well, you didn't." he replied, pulling himself easily onto the first branch that hung about five feet above ground. Taylor cracked a small smile. She watched Minho easily lift himself up branch after branch. Not as swiftly and smoothly as she had, but still efficient. Even though he was wearing a sweater, Taylor could imagine the muscles in his arms-Stop it Taylor. She scolded herself.

"Don't go on that branch." She warned as Minho prepared to get on a branch two feet below her. "It's dead and won't hold your weight." He looked around for another close by branch to get on.

"How did you get on there then, there aren't any close branches." Minho said. She smirked.

"Guess you'll have to go around the tree. Cause' I weigh a little less than you, and could get on that branch. But with you…eh…I wouldn't risk it." Minho pretended to look offended.

"Well then." He huffed. Taylor twisted around to watch Minho climb. "Course' most of this is muscle." Minho said, gesturing to his body with a free hand as he looked for a branch to climb on. Taylor scoffed.

"Sure." She responded, dripping her voice with sarcasm.

"Hey. Pretty sure you don't have arms like this."

"You're right. Mine are a little smaller."

"Oh. I was thinking more that mine were stronger." He was exactly one branch below her when he lost his balance and started to fall backwards. Taylor quickly grabbed his hand, pulled him back into balance, and onto her branch beside her.

"Thanks." He said, breathing hard. Taylor laughed, leaning her back against the tree trunk again.

"You should've seen your face when you lost balance. It was rather funny."

"Glad I could humor you." He said with a smirk. They fell into a silence. Minho cleared his throat awkwardly. "So…are you okay? You kind of left the gathering in…. a …. hurry." he asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Sorry for getting all emotional. I was so…frustrated and angry and confused with everything going on…so….um.."

"Hey. It's fine. I get you; everyone felt that way at the very beginning. I mean, while you are a whole different species than the rest of us boys, you still are human."

"Thanks Minho." She responded dryly. He laughed.

"So tomorrow I'll be getting you up early. We'll have to get you all geared up before we go into the maze." He said, clearly switching the subject to avoid any other awkwardness between them.

"So there's a maze out there?"

"Yep. And everyday we runners go out there as soon as the doors open to look for a way out."

"Have you found a way out?"

"Well, no. Obviously, otherwise we wouldn't be here. But we still go everyday…. Haven't found anything for about two years."

"Wow." Was all Taylor could say. "What happens if you don't make it back before the doors close?"

"Then you're stuck in the maze…No one has ever survived a night in the maze." Minho said gravely. "There are things out there… we call em' grievers. They go out every night. No one has ever seen one and lived to tell about it."

"And we're going to be going out there tomorrow."

"Yep."

"Great." She said. "Do you know what Alby wanted to talk to me about?" Taylor asked him, switching the topic again.

"Uh… yeah. He wanted to talk about sleeping arrangements. Newt and Alby, and me, think that you probably shouldn't just sleep in the same room as the rest of those shanks. So he said you could share a room with one of the keepers. He said you could chose who ever you were more comfortable with." Taylor thought on this for a while.

"Who are the keepers?"

"Guys…" Minho answered, quite vaguely, with a rather distracted look on his face. She raised an eyebrow.

"Um…okay then…who has a bigger room?" she tried.

"Um…probably Newt." Minho answered, the look on his face disappeared.

"Then I'll sleep with him." Her face heated up when she realized what she had said. "That's not what I meant." She stammered, and Minho busted out laughing. "You know what I meant. Thanks for being so kind Minho."

"Sorry, it's just…" he broke off laughing again.

"Glad I could humor you." She said, imitating Minho's earlier tone and words. Taylor waited for Minho to calm down before muttering, "Asshole." Minho chuckled. They fell into another silence. Taylor turned her eyes to see the lights of the fire the gladers had put up and lightened around the glade. She felt Minho watching her. His fingers brushed a piece of long hair off of her forehead and she looked back over to him to see him looking at the spot where her stitches were.

"Those are going to leave a scar." He said absent-mindedly. For some reason, Taylor liked this version of Minho better: kinder, having another quality besides humor and sarcasm.

"Ya, well, what ever, I don't really care. Not my 1st one anyway." She responded, watching the emotions on his face, meeting his gaze, and for a split second, she thought she saw a flicker of …something...remembrance maybe.. in his eyes, but it disappeared as soon as she saw it. She looked away.

Taylor shivered in the cold, wishing that she had been wearing a sweater when she came to the glade.

"We should probably get back to the others and tell them that you plan on sleeping with-" Taylor elbowed Minho in the ribs. Hard. "Ow! I was saying that you plan on sharing a room with Newt." And…he's back.Taylor glared at Minho, who was smirking evilly.

"Great." Taylor started her way down the tree. She looked up at Minho. "You coming?" She asked innocently.

"Um…" He looked at her sheepishly.

"Just follow me." Taylor said, rolling her eyes. She swiftly made her way down the tree with Minho close behind. Taylor jumped smoothly off of the last branch that hovered about five feet of the ground and landed with a soft WHUMP. She got up, brushing her jeans off, and looked up at Minho in time too see him jump and land with a not-so-graceful, loud THUMP.

"Smooth." Taylor commented.

"Slim it." Minho replied. "Let's go." And Taylor followed Minho back into the clearing.

Author's Note:

Many of you probably wanna kill me right now for such a late update, but….. I was literally in the middle of no where with no internet and just got back. I types this as soon as I could, and as fast, thus the bad quality: but I'm going back through everything and making edits, so…

Anyways, thanks for the 100 readers!JJJ (at least, there may have been more) JJJ

And thanks to those who favorited, followed, and reviewed. And Please Review and tell me everything I'm doing wrong… or hopefully right….and luv ya all!