Keeper of the Runners

Characters: Minho and all.
Genre: Drama/General
Rating: K+
Time Frame: Before The Maze Runner to after The Death Cure.
Word Count: 2,876
Warnings: SPOILERS GALORE FOR THE ENTIRE TRILOGY! Please do not read unless you have read The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure.

Summary: The thing Minho hates most about WICKED is that they're always ripping the ground out from under his feet. The terrain is always shifting, the people are always dying, and the rules are always changing. A collection of Minho-centric snippets.

Author's Note: Minho is my favorite character in the series, and I wrote this because I felt he needed his final say.

Disclaimer: The Maze Runner series belongs to James Dashner. I am not affiliated in any way with James Dashner, Delacorte Press, or Random House, Inc. All lines of dialogue (save the last seven) were written by James Dashner.

At the beginning, it is Minho, Newt, Alby, Frypan, Zart, Skinner, Nik, Greg, Michael, Alex, Louis, Max, and some other shanks—all the original Keepers, plus those who won't last long. Just them. Most of the others die off later, of course—Max becomes Griever meat in the first week. After some reckless shank gets himself killed in the Maze on the first day, the rest of them hide in the middle of the Glade, building a shelter during the day and hiding under the skeleton of the building at night. After a few days, they realize that the Maze's nightly closing walls are really protection for them, that a Griever isn't going to come smashing through at any moment. So they begin to relax some, do more with the supplies that came up with them. They start farming and building. Some animals came up after them at the beginning, but they were all such shuck fools (they were so messed up) that they didn't try to capture them. Some of the animals wandered off into the Maze and never came back. Minho heard one's frantic, dying squeals. At the time he thought it was the most awful thing he had ever heard. Minho has come a long way since then.

The rest of the animals are now always huddled near the trees, eying the boys and Maze with equal fright. Minho and others chase them around the Glade multiple times before herding them into the pen that the guys had prepared. During the chase, the animals refuse to set foot inside the Maze. They shy away from its black openings. All the better for Minho. He certainly doesn't want to have to chase one in there straight into the spines of a Griever. Or whatever Grievers have. Minho isn't about to get close enough to find out.

But the run feels good. It makes him forget his fear. And he is so afraid during that time, ready to klunk in his pants at any moment. Running in the Glade makes him forget that. He pauses for breath, hand on the latch of the pen, and Michael pants, "Dude, you're the fastest runner I've ever seen! We couldn't keep up with you!" And Minho actually smiles (he is such a klunk-head back then), his last real smile for a long time.

Running in the Maze isn't the same as running in the Glade. Minho never forgets his fear here. There might be a Griever—and death—waiting around every corner, and how can he forget that? But they need people to run the Maze, and Minho, after Newt, is their fastest. Plus, he has a head for directions and really, really wants out of the Glade and out of the Maze. He tries to imagine that his fear is behind him and he is running from it. The trick makes him faster—he speeds in and out of the Maze sections like no one else can. But he can never fully forget that the gut-wrenching feeling of fear is inside of him, too.

The guys wonder about Minho's muscular arms. He never has time to work out, they reason. They don't know that Minho spends his time running in the Maze with a weapon clenched in each fist. He starts spending some of his evenings at the weight bench Louis built, just to deflect suspicion. He keeps up this practice even after he's tied his weapons to his belt, switching them for a notepad and a pen. He finds the muscles he's developed are useful, good for intimidating other shanks. Especially Greenies. Minho gets a kick out of that.

The eager hope he carries with him in the Maze dies after the patterns repeat themselves twenty-one times. Now he just keeps on, telling himself that he doesn't care. He is just as smart as whoever made this Maze, and he is going to show them what the other Gladers have already learned—you don't mess with Minho. One day he is going to find a way out, and then he will find the Creators and punch them in their shuck faces.

But until then—Minho runs.

He's more afraid than he has ever been before when the Maze doors shut on him, Alby, and the Greenie, trapping them inside the Maze. That the Greenbean thought his coming in here would help only makes the situation worse. Minho wishes Thomas would just shut up and leave him alone. He isn't ready to die. He hasn't made the Creators pay yet.

When he hears the Griever coming, Minho does something he will regret forever. He loses it and leaves Alby. When the night is over, he's shocked and relieved to find out that Alby made it anyway. Later on, Minho tells Alby how sorry he is. Alby forgives him, but Minho never forgives himself.

"I nominate this shank to replace me as Keeper of the Runners," he tells the others at the Gathering. He half-means it, but he knows the others will never go for it. Thomas showed more bravery and loyalty in one night than Minho has shown in his whole sorry excuse for a life, and Thomas doesn't deserve any punishment.

The Maze incident changes Minho. He'd been starting to lose his focus until then. Now he remembers how important it is to get out of the Maze, not just to deliver justice to the Creators, but also so that all of them can move on to better lives. And no matter what, he will look out for his friends along the way. He will not have any more regrets.

The tattoo on his neck is the stupidest thing his has ever heard of. That Newt believes it and is willing to immediately hand over leadership to Minho is even worse. Newt is doing just fine in Alby's place, and Minho has no desire to switch things up. Leaders are one of the few constants Gladers can rely on.

But Newt keeps pushing. "This is how the Creators want it! We have to play by the Creators' rules to survive!" The shank just won't give up, blabbering on and on about how he believes in Minho and will be there to support him. Minho finally gives in just so Newt will shut up. And once he commits, Minho gives it his best. Every one of those shuck Gladers are relying on him to get them to the cure, and he is going to get them there or die trying.

They're in Crank City with Jorge, trying to settle down in a rotting skyscraper for the night. They've spent the day dodging Cranks and looking for Thomas and that black-haired chick, and they've had no success. Minho has just finished chewing out Aris for not following directions quickly enough. He doesn't know why, but he really hates that kid. Something about Aris's doe-eyed, puppy-dog, I'm-so-innocent look really gets to him. As he's thinking this, Minho rounds the corner, and there it is:

THOMAS, YOU'RE THE REAL LEADER

Minho feels like he's been stabbed in the gut. Betrayal. That's what this feels like. He's given everything he has to WICKED's little game, tried to play it just right. He never asked to be branded as the leader, the words etched in his skin as if he were no more than their lab rat to mark as they please. He'd only accepted the role to appease them and get Newt off his case. And just when Minho's getting used to playing the leader, they have to go and rip the ground out from under his feet again. That's what he hates the most, that WICKED never lets any of them get comfortable in anything. The terrain is always shifting, the people are always dying, the rules are always changing, and now the leadership is being switched up again, too. It's just not fair.

A jealous thought says that it's always Thomas who gets everything. The answers, the memories, the girls, and now the power. All of it in one package deal, like all he ever had to do is show up to take it. He will take this too, what Minho has been trying so hard to work at, because Newt is right. They have to play right now by WICKED's rules, so Minho will hand over leadership to him.

But Thomas is Minho's friend, and Minho doesn't harbor bad thoughts about friends. He pushes the thoughts away as he lies down to sleep. Jealous feelings aside, if Thomas wants the role, Minho will give it to him. Minho trusts that crazy shank. Thomas knows what he's doing. He thinks things through. He will be a good leader, if he can only get some courage in his sissy spine. Because Minho knows that sometimes, Thomas doesn't have the nerve to do what it takes to get the job done. As Minho falls asleep, he resolves that he will be the one to have the guts to do what needs to be done. He will have Thomas's back. Thomas can think, and Minho will act, and that's right about how it should be.

"I'd had a bad day," Minho tells Gally. The guy's pathetic face makes Minho just the slightest bit sorry. They've all done stupid things to each other. It's the way the Creators set it up. Then Gally replies and Minho remembers what a slinthead Gally was to him in the Glade, and maybe he's not so sorry after all.

Something inside Minho snaps when he finds Newt's note. He's been along for the ride until then, trying to find the perfect time and way to exact revenge from WICKED. It didn't really matter who was the leader of their group. But now the stakes have become much bigger. Minho wants his friend back, and he's the only one with the guts to see that it happens. He makes up his mind. He is not going to abandon Newt like he abandoned Alby. No matter what it takes (the beginning of so many promises he's made to himself), he's going to rescue his best friend.

It kills Minho to leave Newt in the Crank Palace, more than anything ever has or perhaps ever will. Of all the things that WICKED has done, this is the worst—to take a boy who only ever wanted good for everyone and to expose him to the Flare. Even Alby's death doesn't compare to the wildness in Newt's eyes. Minho almost wishes Newt had just killed him instead of forcing him to leave his best friend behind.

The way it all ends doesn't seem real. The Maze exploding, WICKED destroyed, the Right Arm completely losing it, the Flat Trans connecting them to WICKED destroyed, and now being left to start a new life in Paradise. Minho could sit and think about it, but he's never been much for philosophy. He looks around and sees work that needs doing. The Maze has prepared them for this. He waits for Thomas to say something, to get things started, but the other boy just stands there in a daze. So Minho does the only thing that can be done.

"Okay," he says, "this is a new place for us, and we don't know what's out here. We're going to need food, shelter, water, and protection, and we're going to have to work together to get things done. We need three groups. Everyone who wants to join the search party for food and water, stand next to Frypan and Harriet over there. Everyone who wants to help build us somewhere to sleep tonight, stand next to Gally. Gally, wave. Everyone who wants to join the security detail, come over here by me." He folds his arms and observes the neatly forming groups. Much to his satisfaction, it looks like most of the people who made it through aren't sissies who are going to be crying for their mamas. Building a new life from scratch is hard work, but it's nothing Minho hasn't done before.

He nods and lets his arms hang down at his sides. "Okay, people. Welcome to the first day of the rest of your lives!"

Leading is good for him, now, when there's nothing more complicated to ponder than which boar to shoot or where he should take his next dump. He calls Gatherings just for old times' sake, but there really aren't that many problems to discuss out here. It's kind of boring, actually, when people aren't getting picked off right and left. Minho can't get used to the stillness. He can't get used to the idea that his life isn't constantly in danger anymore. But leading lets him keep busy. If he ever stops moving, he might have to think about all he's lost.

He misses Newt and Alby harder than he's ever missed anyone. Not his shuck family that he'll never know about, not Chuck, not Winston, not any of the kids that died in the Glade. Those two guys were the best friends he'd ever had, and the missing never, ever goes away.

Aris tells Minho Minho's real name once, the one he had before he was ever in the Trials, as an attempt at a conciliatory gesture. Contrary to Aris's expectations, Minho doesn't weep with gratitude. Instead, he thinks his real name sounds like klunk. He stays Minho, and he stays away from Aris.

It eats at Minho that he never made WICKED pay. It was the one thing that was keeping him alive for so long, and he never got to do it, not really. Sure, he helped the Right Arm destroy WICKED, but the quick takeover didn't begin to compensate for every second of hell that WICKED made him and the others go through. It doesn't pay for Alby's and Newt's deaths. And now it's too late to do anything about it.

He and Thomas are still close, but they're drifting away from each other. Thomas has found something like happiness with Brenda, and he doesn't have much time for anyone else. Minho is happy for his friend, though he hasn't particularly liked Brenda since way back when they were escaping from WICKED. But she makes Thomas happy, so whatever.

Minho's own relationships with girls haven't gone so well. He'd had a thing with Harriet first, and later with Sonya. But the problem with both girls was the same. They had too much of a leading personality. Combined with him, they just didn't mix well. It was like a train wreck of two strong personalities clashing with each other. Later on, Minho'd even tried a few girls that weren't from Group B, but they never really got him. They hadn't been in the Maze or gone through the Scorch Trials. They couldn't begin to understand, and he resented their naïveté. Now he's constantly annoyed by all the happy couples pairing off around him.

There's a girl. Her name is Marie, and she's from Group B. She's quiet and calm, steady. Her tattoo says Group B, Subject B11, and there's no title affixed to it. They meet because they both like to go out into the forest when they need to be alone. The first time he sees her there, she is up ahead of him, sitting against a tree. It's her dark hair that gives her away.

"Hey," Minho says as he approaches from behind, "you shouldn't be out here alone. It's not safe for a girl."

She turns her head and gives a faint smile. "I've been through a lot worse than a scary forest."

As she turns away again, Minho sees the flash of black on the back of her neck and understands. He realizes that his earlier remark is a ridiculous thing to say to a girl who's been through Grievers, the Scorch, the takeover of WICKED, and the destruction of the Maze. "You know what, I think you're right," he says, as he comes closer. She turns to look at him again, and at this distance, he can tell that her face is streaked with tears. She doesn't try to hide them, and he doesn't ask. He stomps on the ground with one foot. "This a good spot?"

"Yeah," she says, smiling again.

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

He flops down on the ground beside her. They sit together for a half hour in silence, and it's the start of something good.

Things never get all the way better, not really. They've both been through too much for that. They're both broken. But what little they can give, they do. They have each other's backs. He looks out for her. He can't really love, not like he might have been able to, but she understands. She knows he cares as much as he can. She holds on to him when he wakes up screaming, and she deflects questions on the days when he can't quite face anyone. He holds her when she's overwhelmed by her memories.

It's not much, but it's more than he expected. Maybe their children and children's children will get to experience a life free from fear, but in the meantime, this will have to be enough.