Her (Newt fan fiction/The Kill Order sequel)

Chapter 10 - The Key To Her Past

"No, I'm just saying -"

Minho looked at Newt with an exasperated look on his face.

"You're shucking mental. She's a CREATOR!"

Angrily, Newt decided to leave it. Minho wanted to lock Marly in the shack until she explained everything, but Newt - for obvious reasons - disagreed. Sure, he wanted to know more about her, he was just still plucking up the courage to do so. And Minho wasn't going about it in the right way.

Truth be told, things were still a bit awkward between the pair, since Newt had seen Minho and Harriet that night. Newt didn't want it to be like that though: Minho was probably his best friend, along with Thomas.

So they struck a deal.

"I'll talk to her. Give me a day, I'll get answers. If I don't, fine, lock her up until we do."

"Fine."

Minho muttered, slapping him on the back as he wandered off.

And that was the easy part, thought Newt.

He decided to just go and find Marly then and there. No point waiting it out, he'd waited too long already. Apprehencive, he found her in the woods.

"Marly, I'm sorry, but I have to know what you were doing with WICKED."

Once he'd said it, Newt let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in. She raised an eyebrow and sighed.

"I thought this was coming. You've been talking to Minho, haven't you?"

"That's nothing to do with you. Marly, you can't stay here if you don't tell us how you got here and what you were doing with... them. WICKED aren't too popular among people here."

"What does it matter if I'm not there anymore?"

"...Just talk..."

"Okay, okay - fine! Just after the sun flares, I turned 16. I was walking home, when someone pulled me into a building. I was terrified. But it was okay. They were okay; fair, at first.

By then, everyone with the flare had been shipped off to the mountains. I'd gone to Alaska, with my remaining family, anyone who didn't catch The Flare, and immunes. Some of them were part of a group, the PFC (Post Flare Coalition).

You know them as WICKED. And I think you knew the women in charge quite well..."

Newt remembered watching her kill herself after they'd escaped the maze, his heart pounding.

"That was my Aunt...

We were immunes, like you are. Because of my age, WICKED wanted me to go in The Maze. I was horrified, but surprisingly, my Aunt said no. I didn't think someone like her would care, but she did - enough to stop that. Instead, she put me to work as a creator... But Newt - I always disagreed with her, and what they were doing! It was a creator, or go in the maze myself. You'd have done the same as me. I barely helped, and I think they knew I was against it. Janson - did you meet him?"

The rat man... Of course.

Newt nodded.

"So Janson figured me out. But he couldn't touch me, because my Aunt was the leader. I was still surprised she protected me, but then she told me how she'd promised my mum she'd look after me. She was my godmother! How could I be related to someone like her?

They branded me so I could never forget what I was a part of... My punishment for disagreeing. It took me over 3 years to escape, and it wasn't easy..."

Pushing her hair out the way, she showed Newt a jagged white scar that was drawn across her hairline. Newt stroked it gently, tracing her face with his fingertips.

"What happened?"

He asked softly.

She looked up at him sadly, their hands intertwining.

"After she died, they were going to send me to The Scorch with you. Janson caught me trying to escape, and did this to me - but I got to stay out of The Scorch... Just at the price I helped them."

She shrugged slightly, as if it was nothing.

Newt hated the guy more than anything in the world.

Suddenly he noticed tears slipping down her cheeks, and he out his arms around her.

"I'm so sorry... But you're safe here now. And I don't want to ask but I have to - how did you find the flat trans?"

She nodded slightly, and replied.

"When all of you guys went through, I was watching. I was friends with Chancellor Paige, and I knew Brenda and Jorge but... They didn't like, or trust, me. Anyway she told me about this place, but said I couldn't go yet. I had to wait. Then WICKED was blown up by the Right Arm; Paige and I escaped just seconds before. It took over a month to set up another entrance - but don't worry, only Paige can do that, and she won't do it again."

"How can you be sure?"

Newt asked, hating himself when he heard her answer.

"She's dead."

Marly broke down in Newt's arms as she slowly muttered her choked reply.

After she'd finished crying, there was a damp patch on Newt's shirt, and they sat on the ground, holding each other.

"Baby, it really is okay now,"

Newt whispered, stroking her hair.

"You just have to say exactly what you just told me, to Minho."

But she was asleep... And Newt was glad.

As he drifted off too, memories chased him, and when he woke, he was left with one thought: What had the world become?