Fast As A Bullet {Maze Runner}

n i n e t e e n

They all watch her, waiting for her to speak. It had appeared that with Thomas gone, Lea had taken the spot as a leader. Sure, Minho or Newt would have done way better, but Leanne stood out amongst the group, and since she always had something to say during an argument, people had actually begun to listen to her. Not like in the Glade, where if you weren't a Keeper your opinion was shrugged off. As much as Leanne wanted to miss the Glade, she couldn't bring herself to anymore. Not at the moment anyway.

"Okay." She nods. "Let's go."

"Lady's first." Jorge smiles to her.

Leanne starts walking, but Jorge calls her name out. "Uh, Leanne, we're going that way." He points in the opposite direction and everyone smiles.

Leanne smiles with them. "This is why I don't walk in the front."

•••

Forty minutes of walking was all it took for the group to run into the 'Ghost Girls' as Jorge has called them on the walk.

A few makeshift tents consisting of wood and sheets backed onto the rocky cliff. The sheets were mostly ripped, making it easy to peer into the tents. Bags were still laying around, waiting for their owners to come back for them. The makeshift campsite didn't look like it had been inhabited for a while.

"No one's been here in a long time." Minho points out, walking towards the tents to begin to search the bags.

As some of the others begin do copy Minho, Leanne finds herself rooted to her spot. This had been where the so called 'Ghost Girls' lived, and yet it looked like they hadn't been around in a while. If they were dead, then what chance did Leanne and her friends stand? These were the rumoured women who were able to take down anyone who came their way. If these women couldn't survive, then how would they?

"Hey guys!" Aris calls out. "Look at this! It's a journal."

The teens move to crowd around Aris as he flips it open to the front page.

"Do I— do I read it?" He asks hesitantly.

"Well what do you think we're waiting for!" Frypan exclaims.

Clearing his throat, Aris begins to read the journal. "Day one; the girls and I have escaped WICKED. I'm not quite sure how, but we have. It was a rough fight. After fighting the monsters, we were so tired. When we got out of the maze, there were these people waiting for us. It was suspicious, and I wasn't the only one who thought so. Instead of going with them, we ran. Even though we're safe —for now— I feel guilty. We've already started making a plan to get back into our maze. I promised Juno that I would come back for her and the others." At the familiar name, everyone turns to face Juno, who visibly pales.

"Wha— what?" She stutters, frowning. "What's the name at the bottom of the page, Aris?" The boy hesitates for a moment, so Juno pushes the teens out of her way to stand in front of Aris, who clutches the book tightly. "Aris. What's the name?"

"Rosalyn." He winces when Juno yanks the journal from his hand.

"Junie," Leanne takes a step forward to place a hand on the girl's arm softly. "Who's Rosalyn?"

"She was, um—" June's voice cracks and Leanne moves to wrap an arm around the girl in a comforting manner. Clearing her throat, June speaks again. "She was a girl in my maze." She speaks slowly, almost like she's trying to not fall apart while she speaks. Leanne doesn't keep her eyes off June's face, searching for any kind of emotion, but the girl keep her eyes on the paper. "We were in our maze a lot longer before you. We figured out how to escape, how to turn the monsters in our maze off for a little bit. It would give just enough time to escape. But there were so many young girls, who couldn't fight, so we sent the older girls first to get an idea of what we would do." Juno exhales softly. "They never came back. We thought— well we thought they had died." She shakes her head. "Some girls hoped they would come back for us. But they never did, and so most of us lost hope." Flipping the journal shut, Juno shrugs out of Leanne's arm. "Here I am, three years later, seeing that they really did escape. And they were trying to get back to us. For a little while, at least." Juno looks up and realizes everyone's staring at her. Clearing her throat loudly, she straightens her back. "We should get moving."