I stood at the east entrance, looking out into the slowly brightening corridor. My best friend Minho stood behind me, his arm resting on my shoulder as if I were an armrest.
"Well, shank" Minho said, glancing at his new watch that had come in the Box two nights ago along with the usual monthly supplies. "'Bout time we get runnin' eh?"
I nodded once. "Slow up a bit, though, neither of us's run since the whole 'no Greenie' situation."
He smirked. "All the more reason to make sure you remember who's faster." He tapped his watch before sprinting down the corridor.
"Minho, get back here, you'll tire yourself out!" I called in exasperation. He was always fastest at the beginning, unlike me. But if I got started nice and slow, and sped up gradually, I could run for hours, maybe even days if I wanted.
I started at a faster clip than usual to make sure I wouldn't lose sight of Minho. Sure enough, after around two miles, he started to slow. I scoffed and ran up next to him, still at my usual pace.
"What did I say, mate? You need to run farther, not faster." He glared at me, his face red with exertion.
"Fine," he panted. "You may be...slightly...correct." He slowed to my pace, and we stayed like that for several hours. Around 14:00, according to Minho's watch, we stopped for a quick water break.
We each chewed on some of the dried meat Frypan liked to send with the Runners. Something about "protein." I would've preferred some of his truffles any day.
Minho stood quickly. "Did you hear that?" He whipped his head from side to side. I stood and turned in a circle, examining the area.
"No..." I trailed off, my ears straining for any sound. I heard something a ways away, getting closer. "Wait...I do. Don't sound much like a Griever, though. Sounds a bit like shoes, running on the stone."
"Another pair of Runners?" Minho thought out loud. "I thought we were the only ones assigned to this sector." He jogged slowly to the nearest turn. "Sounds like it's coming from this way."
I nodded. "Onward, then." We ran down the corridor and turned left at the end. We went on like this for a while, until we reached an unfamiliar dent in the wall. "What the bloody hell is this? We've been in this sector a million times, and I've never seen this before."
"Well, the Maze changes every night, don't it? Maybe it is new." Minho shrugged. Then he froze. "Dude." He gestured for me to come closer. I walked over and he leaned in to whisper in my ear.
"There's someone above us. A girl. I am telling you a joke that you find very funny." He leaned away and looked at me, smiling as if he had told a joke. I forced a hopefully convincing laugh in the midst of my confusion.
A girl? Was he being serious? I glanced at his right hand, which was counting down from five. I nodded, gesturing up with my eyes and then pointing quickly at his knife before disguising the move by scratching my neck.
When he reached one, I whirled around with my knife drawn and pointed upwards, Minho doing the same behind me. I almost dropped my knife in shock. There was a girl, clinging to the ivy twenty or so feet up, surprisingly silent. She met my eyes, then Minho's.
"Hello." She said simply. A flash of silver flew down and my knife was suddenly out of my hand and impaled right in the toe of Minho's shoe, pinning it to the ground. He dropped his knife in shock as I waited for him to cry out in pain.
"It missed my foot. Barely." He nodded up towards the girl, who now waved a strangely shaped slice of metal in one hand, holding the ivy in another.
"Well now that that's settled." She leaped down, somersaulting on her landing to avoid injury. Mid-somersault, her hand slipped between my legs to grab Minho's knife. I stepped back instinctively, and the knife was pointed at me. "Don't move." She said, her grime-covered face set severely.
"Who the hell are you?" Minho broke the silence. She didn't lower the knife.
"Name's Ayla. And you two are...?" She flicked the knife back and forth, one hand on her hip.
"I'm Newt, and this is Minho." I spoke this time. "We live in the Glade, a place not too far from here-"
She cut me off. "Out of the Maze?" Her voice was painfully hopeful. She lowered the knife in expectation of my answer.
I shook my head. "Nope. The Maze is as big as our world gets." I tried to ignore the broken look on her face. I didn't want to feel bad for this psycho ninja-girl, but she was undeniably beautiful. Her golden-brown hair was in a sloppy braid that swept down her back, and her green-gold eyes matched it perfectly.
"But you're welcome to come back to the Glade with us. Problem is, it's quite a distance." I worried about how long it would take to get back with a Greenie running alongside us.
She laughed. "Must be, I've searched ten miles in every direction from here." My eyes widened in shock. Maybe we would make it back in time.
"Well then, let's be off. Would you care for some meat?" Her eyes lit up.
"Please? I'm so hungry for something besides roasted vine stalks!" I smirked as I retrieved a handful of dried meat from my pouch. She took it gratefully, chewing quickly as she reorganized the strange blades on her belt.
I had so many questions, but settled for asking one at a time."Would you mind me asking what those are?" I pointed at the star-like discs.
She looked up. "Oh, no, of course not. They're called shurikens, or more commonly, ninja stars." She laughed.
I nodded. "Well, whatever they are, you're pretty bloody good with them."
Her cheeks darkened. "Thank you. I found them attached to a pocket of this little guy here." She patted a pouch that was attached to her belt. She finished adjusting them all into their holsters, then looked up. "Shall we go?"
I nodded, grabbing Minho's forearm to stop him from starting too quickly again. We started slower than normal so we wouldn't lose Ayla, but she stayed right next to us steadily for around four hours.
"We might want to speed up a bit." She said. "It's a pain to run during the night. You need to worry about the Buggers-"
Minho cut her off "They're called Grievers. And we have another reason: the doors close at 20:00. We do need to speed up." He looked at me pointedly.
I nodded. "For once, this shank is right. We've got about an hour and still ten miles more to go."
"Alright, then." Ayla smiled and doubled her speed to a sprint, her braid swinging as she ran. Minho and I looked at each other, impressed, and sped up in turn.
After about half an hour of sprinting, though Minho and I were exhausted, Ayla still ran strong.
"You know...ninja girl...you're pretty damn scary." Minho panted in between breaths.
She glanced back at us, noticing our exhaustion for the first time. "Oh, sorry. Do you guys need a break?" She said with little strain in her voice.
Minho nodded insistently, but I shook my head. "We've only got half an hour and still another five miles. We need to keep up the pace." This was met with a determined nod from Ayla and a groan from Minho.
We continued for around twenty minutes, and Minho glanced at his watch. "Seven minutes. Almost two miles. We must've slowed down somehow."
I cursed. "We need to go faster." I took a deep breath before kicking my legs faster, Ayla and Minho doing the same. My lungs already burned, and this speed made it nearly impossible to breathe.
After a few minutes, even Ayla was panting. "Four minutes. 1 mile left. We need to go." Minho gasped. I nodded and went, near impossibly, faster. Ayla was really struggling now, taking breaths in big gasps and barely exhaling.
"Come on!" Ayla's voice was laced with pain. Minho was nearly crying, clearly in absolute agony. I would've been, if not for the motivation to get my best friend and the beautiful girl running alongside me to safety.
We whipped around a familiar corner to be greeted by the door, still about a quarter mile off. "Less than a minute!" I called, my voice cracking on almost every word.
As if on cue, the walls began to rumble. "Shit!" Ayla spat, speeding up to a point where she almost looked inhumanly fast. Minho and I fell back slowly as the doors started to close, still about a hundred meters out.
"Come on, man!" I shouted. "We're not dyin' today!" I grabbed his hand and sped up even more, the doors growing closer and closer to closing.
Ayla crossed the opening into the Glade, then turned around. Her face was red and her hair flew around it like gnats around a candle, but she was somehow still beautiful.
Her face contorted in fear. "HURRY!" Her cry was so loud it sounded like something in the back of her throat had torn.
Seconds later, I dragged Minho through the tiny gap between the doors just as they ground shut with finality.
I tried to stay on my feet, knowing I would be sore as hell tomorrow if I didn't. I took a single step toward Ayla and fell, taking her to the ground with me. The two of us simply lay there in the dirt, sweat pooling underneath us, both far too tired to imagine standing up.
Before long, Alby's face appeared over me and destroyed the moment of peace. "Who the hell is this chick? You three look like klunk, by the way." His calloused hand drew a line between Minho, Ayla and I.
"Thanks, man." I stretched my hand up to glean assistance. He slapped his palm to mine, twisting his fingers around it and pulling me to my feet. I staggered, almost falling again.
Alby smacked my shoulder, testing my balance. When I didn't topple, he strode over to help up Minho.
I turned to help Ayla up, but she was slowly getting to her feet, legs shaking. I instinctively took her hand, afraid she would fall. She looked up, smiled, and twined her fingers through mine. I smiled in return and swung my arm around her, the two of us leaning on each other for support as we walked toward the Homestead.