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This Greenie’s got spunk, he’ll give him that. Minho doesn’t know why he’s so interested in everything--he’s had the Tour by now, right?--but shuck, if he wants to stick around, let him.
Maybe all Greenies are like this at first. Minho doesn’t usually spend enough time around them to know.
The Greenie--Thomas--looks like he has questions bouncing around his head the whole time, but Alby’s clearly told him to keep his mouth shut, because he doesn’t actually ask any of them.
Minho resolves to keep an eye on him. He might keep things interesting around here.
The shucking idiot runs into the Maze.
“You’re dead, Greenie. I hope you know that.” The kid is saying something, but Minho knows he’s got to move. If the Greenie wants to stay here with Alby, let him. Two easy bodies for them to find in the morning.
Minho’s going to try and stay alive.
When he runs off, he fully expects that to be the last time he sees the Greenie.
It’s not. Instead, he watches from a distance as the kid shucking runs at the Griever, then dives out of its path when it charges.
Smart.
He made an opening, and stunned a Griever at the same time.
He grabs the Greenie when he runs past, not surprised he struggles. For a skinny shank, his blows have some strength behind them. He drags him along, barely allowing him a moment to get his feet under him. Minho keeps one hand tight on his arm as they run--he has the advantage of having most of these paths memorized, the Greenie doesn’t know klunk. He’s not risking losing him when this might be their only chance to both get out alive.
“I saw that dive earlier, we’re going to do the same thing here.” Minho stands back-to-back with the Greenie, feet planted. It’s unnerving, being this close to the Cliff--one wrong step and they’ll probably both go over the edge.
“Now!” He feels the kid push off in the opposite direction.
It worked. It shucking worked!
Minho turns around to watch the last of the Grievers go over the edge, and to celebrate with the kid--Thomas, that’s his name--only to see that he’s sitting against the wall, crying.
He can’t blame him. He sits down next to Thomas, ignoring the wall digging into his back.
Minho’s never been any good at this, that’s why he normally doesn’t deal with Greenies. After a while, Thomas stops crying, but he doesn’t look up.
The sun rises, and they’ve made it.
They survived the night.
“We made it, Thomas. Daylight.” He stands--he’s going to be sore today--and offers Thomas a hand up.
Thomas winces when he takes his hand, and a glance makes it clear they’re scrapped raw.
What had he been doing, climbing the shucking walls?
He’s also favoring his left side, which Minho knows is something to keep an eye on. They’ve got a few miles to get back, and running doesn’t sound good right now. He puts an arm around Thomas’s waist carefully, and pulls Thomas’s left arm around his. He’s not that much taller than Thomas, but if he’s hurt than he’d rather not have his arm at too much of an angle.
“Let’s get out of here, Thomas.”
Thomas asks a lot of questions on the way back, despite sounding exhausted, and Minho answers what he can.
As they get closer to the Doors, Minho remembers that they left Alby out here.
“He’s in the ivy.” Thomas mumbles. “I hauled him up there.”
Correction: He left Alby out here. Thomas somehow hauled him up a shucking wall.
Alby’s not the biggest of them, but he’s certainly bigger than Thomas.
Damn.
When they reach the Glade, everyone is asking questions and watching them.
Minho just goes directly to Newt.
“Thomas and I need bandages, food, and sleep, in that order. We can hold a Gathering later. Alby’s going to need the Serum.”
“Alby’s alive?” Newt’s voice cracks, just the slightest bit.
“Was when I left him up there.” Thomas answers. “I tied him up in the ivy and then distracted the Grievers to get them away from him.”
“Good that.” Newt nods, taking a moment to compose himself before calling to the others. “Work on getting Alby down! I’ll be over in a minute.”
Thomas just keeps getting paler and paler the longer they stay here, and Minho can’t tell if it’s entirely from pain or if some of it is from the noise around them.
“Newt, you’ve got this handled, we’re going to get fixed up.”
Minho notices Gally glaring at Thomas, but Thomas stares him down. It’s almost funny. Why’s Gally got a problem with him anyway? He’s new. He can’t have done anything too bad yet.
Ben.
Shuck, that’s right, Thomas is the kid Ben attacked, isn’t he?
He’s just having a terrible week, isn’t he?
“Minho,” Newt keeps his voice down so he doesn’t wake Thomas up. “What happened out there?”
“I ran.” He admits. “I left Thomas and Alby on their own, fully expecting never to see either of them again. Later, I saw Thomas escape three Grievers by tricking them, and got an idea. Brought him out to the Cliff and did the same thing, the Grievers went over the edge. We stayed out there until sunrise and then made our way back in.”
“Gally wants him punished.” Newt runs a hand through his hair. “How bad is it?” Thomas’s hands are both wrapped.
“Broken rib on the left side. At least one. He passed out before he could really say anything.”
“Tommy’s had a bloody wonderful first week. At this rate, he’s gonna hole up in the Deadheads and ignore all of us.”
“He won’t.” Minho shakes his head. “Kid’s stronger than that. I like him, Newt.”
Newt looks at him seriously. “Don’t you go getting ideas, Minho.”
“I’m not, I’m just saying I like him. Why is that a bad thing?”
“You never want anything to do with the Greenies.”
“Thomas isn’t just any Greenie.”
Thomas is the Greenie who’s stupid enough to run into the Maze and still smart enough to be the first one to survive the night.
He’s going to change things around here, and Minho is going to stick with him.