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“HELP! Get the med-jacks!!” Alby yells with his arm wrapped around Newt's shoulders. They had just exited the maze after Alby found Newt screaming on the floor of the maze with a broken leg. The door was closing behind them and they had barely made it out. They watch as the Med-Jacks Clint and Jeff run up to them.
“What happened?!” Clint exclaimed as they helped Newt to the homestead.
“I don’t know, ask him! It was his day off from running but I found him on the ground of the maze,” Alby replies, looking over at Newt who’s clearly in pain. He has some guesses on what happened, but none of them good. Newt doesn’t reply as they arrive at the homestead and help him to the room where the Med-Jacks work. Newt pulls himself onto the bed as Alby looks through the door.
“The runners are leaving the map room! Should I go get Minho and Nick?” Alby asks his concern for Newt's wellbeing clearly showing.
“Yeah, We’ll stay here,” Clint replies as Alby sprints out the door.
Minho had just got back from another day mapping the maze. He had just finished drawing his map for the day. He was tired and surprised when Alby ran up to him.
“Minho, Nick, come to the homestead. Newt’s injured!” Alby exclaimed, clearly concerned. Minho was scared, what happened to Newt?
Minutes later Alby rushed into the homestead, Minho in tow, “What happened, are you ok?” The med-jacks were bandaging up Newt's leg.
“Everyone. Out. Except you, Minho.” Newt says harshly before grimacing in pain as he tries to adjust his leg.
“But-” Clint starts before getting interrupted by Newt.
“Out.” At that moment Nick walks through the door and gets motioned to get out of the room with the rest of the people. Jeff looks back at Newt before closing the door behind him leaving Newt and Minho alone in the room.
“I’m so sorry. I can’t take it anymore, Please-” Newt rambles on as Minho interjects.
“Slow down. Tell me what happened. Then apologize for being a slinthead.”
“I - I” Newt studders before pulling himself together, “I climbed up one of the walls in the bloody maze and jumped off,” Newt’s eyes look up at Minho before looking back down at his legs, “I tried to kill myself. I can’t take it anymore. This place. I hate it. Too many people have bloody died, and I could have saved them. The bloody creators have won. I want to die.” Newt looks at the ceiling before taking a deep breath, preparing for Minho’s response.
“You’re a shuckface,” Newt’s face flushes from embarrassment,”And I don’t want you to go anywhere I can’t follow you, good that? And that includes wherever we go when we die,” Minho looks at the door, “This feels wrong to say, but I shucking care about you Newt” Newt looks away ashamed of how much he would have hurt Minho if he died, but also regretting that he didn’t succeed.
Maybe, just maybe my bloody leg will get infected and I’ll die. Newt thought knowing the chance of that happening is unlikely.
“So, are we going to tell them the truth about what happened or are we going to leave it as a mystery?” Minho asks with a touch of sadness in his voice.
“I’m going to tell Alby, I think he may have guessed what I did, but he bloody found me and I think he deserves to know.” Newt turns his head to the door beckoning to Minho to get the others. Minho walks out the door and signals to the Med-Jacks and the two runners to come back in. Clint walks over to Newt and continues bandaging his leg.
“So, I guess you’re off duty for running till your leg works again, unless it doesn’t heal correctly and you can’t be a runner anymore. We’ll get a shank to take your place, don’t worry,” Nick explains before asking the main question, “So what happened? Looks like you banged your leg up real good.”
Newt doesn’t respond so Minho speaks up, “I didn’t catch all the details from this shank but he went into the maze on his day off, fell or something, then seriously injured his leg or something like that.” Newt let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding in.
“I guess we need to hold a gathering and decide which shank we’ll have take Newt’s place. Hope your leg heals quickly,” Nick pats Newt on the shoulder before walking out the door, glaring at Alby all the while. Minho looks back at Newt before nodding to him and walking out the door.
“Hey, Jeff, can you take care of Newt while I head to this gathering?” Jeff nods, which Clint takes as a sign that he can leave and heads out the door.
“I’ll be back,” Alby leans closer to Newt and whispers in his ear,”I know Minho didn’t tell the whole story of what happened, and I think I know how it went down,” Alby stands up and walks out of the room leaving Newt and Jeff alone.
Newt was staring at the ceiling, the sun had set hours ago, and he couldn’t sleep. All he had done wrong was playing over and over in his head when he heard a floorboard creak and the door to his room swung open.
“It’s bloody midnight Alby, shouldn’t you be asleep?” Newt muttered as Alby closed the door behind him.
“I could say the same thing about you, shank.” whispered Alby as he pulled the stool that was next to Newt’s bed closer to him. “So, what happened out in the maze today?”
Newt sucked in a breath before pulling closer to Alby and whispering in his ear, “I jumped off one of those bloody walls trying to k-” at that moment the door swung open and Minho leaded on the doorway.
“You shanks aren’t as quiet as you think.” Alby rolled his eyes as he beckoned Minho into the room. “Continue what you were saying.” Minho closed the door behind him
“So what I was saying before Minho bloody interrupted me, was that I tried to kill myself by jumping off that bloody wall,” Newt sat up in his bed, “You two are the only ones who know what I tried to do, can we keep it that way?”
“Of course shank, now I know something Nick doesn’t” Alby snickers.
“Alby,” Minho gives him a pat on the shoulder, “That’s probably the wrong shucking thing to say.” Minho walks towards the door, “We’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t try that again slinthead.”
Newt stood by the doors to the Maze. The sun hadn’t even come up yet and the doors were still closed. He leaned against the wall for support, his leg wasn’t fully healed. Back at the homestead Minho noticed that Newt wasn’t there. Minho stood up and went outside, a bad feeling in his stomach.
I’m being paranoid, Newt’s probably just up early, no reason for him to be trying again. I’ll just check. Minho thought with his heart sinking as he saw a shadowy figure standing by the door of the maze in the moonlight. Minho approached trying to not scare Newt. Newt looked over at spotted Minho walking up to him.
“Minho-”
“What are you doing here, shuckface? Didn’t you promise?” Newt’s eyes stared at his feet as Minho put a hand on his shoulder, “Come on, let’s head back to the homestead.” Newt started to walk back away from the door with his new limp.
“What if there is no exit to the bloody maze Minho?” Newt looked up and made eye contact with Minho, “what if we’re trapped here?”
“We’ll find a way out.” Minho grabbed Newt’s hand, “I promise.” At that moment Minho sweared to never tell anyone who wasn’t a runner that they had mapped the entire maze and there was no exit. Because if Newt found out- Minho didn’t want to see what might happen.
“I HATE THIS PLACE!” Newt pushes Minho back with his outburst, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Minho stepped back before pulling Newt in a hug. Newt pushed Minho away, his arms flying up, surprised at his friend’s affection before pulling Minho back toward him.
“We’ll get through this,” Minho whispered into Newt’s ear without pulling out of the hug, “and I'll kill whoever put us in here.” Minho heard Newt snicker and a smile formed on his face.