Redamancy (Minho | The Maze Runner)

四 : Assignment

The next morning Qiufeng was awakened by the sounds of boys rising from their hammocks. They were hushed, but the Chinese girl who wasn't yet used to sleeping here was easily awakened. It was a little weird sleeping in a room full of boys, she couldn't really fall asleep in the first few hours after settling in for the night but eventually fatigue took hold of her.

She stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes drowsily, curiously watching the boys pack up their belongings. Yawning, she sat up, startling a few of them before they went back to packing. She assumed these were the Runners. It was pretty easy deducing that from the fact that they weren't there when she arrived yesterday, and only came back at sundown with Minho.

Qiufeng glanced around at the thought of the Korean boy. He was the keeper of the Runners, so he should be up too, but he wasn't around the Homestead and his hammock was empty.

When the boys got up to leave she slowly stood up as well, blanket draped around her and all, and after a moment of hesitation, followed one group of them across the field to the East wall. She felt a little self-conscious of the glances they gave her as they walked along, but didn't say anything. When they reached the large stone doors they stopped right outside, waiting for it to open.

The Chinese girl busied herself by staring upwards and gaping at the looming gates, hugging the blanket close to her body. She had never really seen anything quite like it, it was almost so surreal, to see walls this huge. It was dizzying to look up at them from down where she was, and she struggled to keep her balance in check while stubbornly refusing to tear her eyes away from the top.

"What're you doing here greenie?" a voice from behind her asked and she jumped, almost falling over.

"I- I was just curious," she stammered defensively as she turned back to face Minho, "also my name is Qiufeng if you remember."

"Your name is greenie as long as you're the newest." He smirked. He didn't say anything about her curiosity, as long as she didn't take a step out of those gates he figured.

She frowned, and was about to retort when there was a loud groaning sound. They both glanced upwards to watch the gate slowly pull itself open as did the other three around the glade, making the same cringe inducing grinding noises like yesterday. She peered out even before the door was fully opened, and saw a long pathway down with many other visible paths connected to it. Vines draped across the large stone walls, and ivy flourished everywhere. The Korean looked back at her, slightly amused. "Satisfied?"

"Mm."

"Good that," Minho said as he sent the other boys off first. He glanced up to someone behind her and she looked back to see Alby. They both nodded at each other and Minho turned away from them, running out of sight within seconds. She stared after him, wondering where he was headed to and what was out there.

The dark skinned boy then guided her towards another section of the inner wall that had all the glader's names etched into it. Some were struck out, and it didn't take much to know what happened to them.

Alby handed her a knife. "Qiufeng, was it?" he asked, her name sounding weird in his accent.

She nodded.

"Nick is busy, so I'll be taking you on the tour. Let me tell you a little about the early days..."

--

Later on after the tour, she was sent off to Winston, Keeper of the Slicers.

"We handle the animals, making sure they have enough water, grooming them, cleaning up their klunk..." Winston threw her a packet of seed as he gestured to the pens. "We'll be feeding them now."