Feral → newt, tmr

Bonus Chapter 3

Chapter 3 ━━ RightArm

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The helicopter lands on its destination and the whirring stops. 

Vera jumps out of the helicopter with Harriet and Sonya to see several tents settled in the area and people chattering here and there. "What is this place?" 

"Welcome to the RightArm." The man with blond hair, Vince says with a smile as they make it through the campsite. "I know you've all been through hell. They took you because you're immune to a plague that's wiping out the human race. And they think you're worth sacrificing to find a cure. Well, I don't. I'm helping out immunes and taking them to a safe place. A place you can start over. A place you can call home. Safe heaven. Are you with me?" 

"Hell yeah." Sonya replies, enthusiastically lacing her voice. 

All the eyes are on the newly arrived trio and Vera shifts on her weight, uncomfortable with the attention. 

A dark-haired woman in her mid-thirties makes her way to them. Her eyes move from Sonya and Harriet before they stop on Vera. Her smile widens. 

"Is she her, doc?" Vince asks the lady. 

"Yes." The lady nods her head, her eyes are yet to move from the blonde. "Vera, dear. It's good to see you again." 

"You know me?" Vera raises her eyebrow in confusion. 

"My name is Mary. I'm your aunt." 

Vera blinks, bewildered. Her aunt. She has someone she can call family with her now. "How?" 

"Let's talk after you get some rest. You girls seem tired." Mary tells, her eyes glistening with kindness. 

"Very." Sonya answers. 

"Follow me. I'll give you girls some warm clothes and then you can have a fresh bath." Mary says, motioning the trio to follow her. 

Vera looks down at her bloodied and dirty clothes and nods in agreement. "Sounds awesome." 

"Agreed." Harriet adds. 

After a fresh shower, Vera changes into her new clothes and jogs out of the stall to meet Sonya. 

"How do I look?" Vera asks her. 

"Pretty." Sonya compliments with a wink. 

"You too." Vera grins and takes a seat beside her. "Do you miss him?" 

Sonya looks at her as if she's trying to read through her thoughts. "Who?" 

"Chris?" 

She hums in response with a sad smile. "We all need his optimism to live in this cruel world." 

"Yeah." Vera cannot help but agree. The boy indeed has the ability to see a silverline in every bad situation. In the maze, she saw him as an annoying individual, but things are now changed. She genuinely misses him. And she knows how much Sonya idolized the boy. "I wish they all could have survived, not just the three of us." 

A comfortable silence spreads in between the two teenagers when a familiar figure approaches them. 

"Can I borrow my niece for a few minutes?" Mary asks, the former second in command at Vera's maze. 

"Of course, doc." Sonya replies with a smile and 

"You might have questions in your head. I'm here to give you answers." 

"Can I call you Aunt Mary?" 

"Anything you wish, dear." 

"So it's true. The virus outbreak?" 

"The Flare. It attacks directly the brain. The infected, we call them Cranks. They're like walking dead corpses. No souls, no feelings. All they want is blood and flesh. It is incurable and tragic." 

"The maze trials? Why us?" 

"WICKED is seeking for a cure and that's where you come to the picture. Antibodies created in the blood of immunes. It's the only way to wipe out the virus. But it's not that simple." 

"WICKED gives priority to twin immunes. They're extremely rare to find. But they're the closest thing to finding the cure. Separately, their blood is less powerful than a normal immune. But together, the ability to face the flare is higher than a normal immune. That is why they always place a pair of immune twins in every maze. The leading subjects. Normally, considered as a single subject. Except for your case." 

Vera raises an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean by my case?" 

"You were one of a pair of immune twins, Vera. Your twin sister died during an experiment held by WICKED. My brother's wife, your mother, Ava Paige is the reason for her death. That's where I woke up from Ava's obsession." Mary sighs in distress and on the other hand, Vera is shocked with the news. She had a twin sister. How is it possible for her to not remember anything of her past life? She wants to remember every single bit of her past life. "I promised your father to keep you two safe. And I lost Tara. Since I found you, I'm not going to repeat the same mistake by losing you too." 

Vera nods, taking in everything. "Can you help me to get my memory back? Is it even possible?" 

"It's a simple procedure. But I don't have the resources with me at the moment. I'm sorry, Vera." 

"It's okay, aunt Mary." Vera states with a light smile. "My sister. What did she look like?" 

"She looked like you. The mirror image of you with your father's brown hair." Mary answers with a sad expression. "She was the trained fighter." 

"Trained fighter?" 

"Based on the data WICKED collects during the first 3 months of every immune pair of twins, they categorize them into two. Subject I - the intelligent twin, subject II - the fighter twin. Then they train them before sending them to the mazes." Mary looks at the blonde girl with a frown on her face. "Tara and you were supposed to be the twin subjects of Maze B. But then, Tara died. And a new pair of twins were replaced." 

"Aris and Chris." 

"Yes." Mary nods and places her hand on the girl's back. "You must be hungry. Let's get something for you to eat." 

Vera nods with a smile before following after her aunt.