Till The WICKED End | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

29. The night full of flames

It seemed like an eternity that Newt twitched wildly and made yowling noises. Eventually he calmed down a bit and just breathed rapidly and intermittently, his eyes closed.
"Apparently a successful injection. Subject A5 is unconscious. Recording will continue as soon as there is any change in his condition."
The doctor switched off the recording device, but left the camera running.
Only now did I notice that I had clawed at Thomas's sleeve. I looked up at him apologetically, but he didn't take his eyes off Newt for a second. I recognised a single tear that had stolen down my brother's cheek as he had watched his best friend fight for his life.
"I guess it's wait and see now," Dr Shepherd stated, grabbing a chair from the wall, sitting down in a corner and crossing her knees.
Thomas and I exchanged a glance, then he pointed to the only other chair in the room and settled himself on the floor next to Newt's cot. I grabbed the chair and sat on the left side of the contraption, on Newt's right side.
"Will you tell me one thing?" Thomas asked into the silence after a few minutes and I had been looking at Newt's face, whose features were slowly becoming calmer.
"What?"
"What happened back then?"
That was all he had to ask. Everyone in the room who was conscious knew what he meant.
"Your friends really didn't tell you anything. Never?" When we fell silent, she continued, "I can understand them. I guess I would have done the same."
Seemingly lost in thought, she stood up and stepped beside me at Newt's side to take his pulse.
"I didn't work that night. I'd just finished my exam and Ava had given me short notice off so I could recover from all the material she and the High Council had quizzed me on. I was at my flat, very close to the bus station where I found you."
Surprised, I looked up. But Shepherd didn't respond, instead she put Newt's arm back down and went back to her chair.
"When the first explosion happened, I immediately called Uncle Aidan. He told me to stay where I was, that there was a problem with some immune people, which he had a handle on though."
Again she was silent for a while, staring into space as if reliving the images.
"The second explosion I could see from my living room. It was much closer and I panicked. Why hadn't I stayed in the lab like I did every other night?"
Another pause followed. Thomas and I exchanged a look.
"After the third explosion that dropped the books from my shelf, I decided to make my way to my uncle. I had to make sure he was okay and that he really had things under control. I had felt for a few days that something was wrong with him."
"He was infected," I explained.
She nodded slowly. "Yes... Yes, I had thought so."
Our eyes met for a moment and I startled to see tears glistening in hers.
"So I tried to call him one more time, but he didn't answer. I grabbed my things and got out. I didn't dare take the lift, so it took longer to descend from the 27th floor. Once I reached the bottom, I was in hell. It was like a war field, people running around, dead bodies lying in the street and my uncle's soldiers fighting people from outside the city."
Her words vividly reminded me of the battlefield Minho, Gally and I had run through, towards a serum, even though we had had the cure with us all along. A shiver ran down my spine.
"It took an awfully long time to get ahead. I was hoping to find someone at the bus station who could help me, so I took the diversions that way. When I heard Teresa, understood what she was saying, I just couldn't believe it. For so many years I had lived under the same roof with the cure that would save humanity."
Thomas and I wheeled around.
"That's right. I've known you guys for a very long time. I took care of you when you were younger. Just like you, Anna."
My mouth was open and I had to force myself to close it again.
"I haven't told you my first name yet, right?" she smiled, almost sadly, completely devoid of Janson's dimples. "My name is Jean."
I looked at her, puzzled. It was true, I could remember a girl, no older than fifteen, who had looked after us when we had been little. Thomas, on the other hand, frowned in confusion.
"Anna, you are and remain a mystery. Why do the amnesia serums no longer work for you? What is it that makes you so special? More special than your brother?" she asked, looking at me as if trying to read something on my face.
"Then what happened?" I urged.
"I could already see the station, and another group of soldiers came by and seemed to be shooting at anything and everything that wasn't wearing a SWAT uniform or white coat. Unfortunately, I was a civilian so I had to hide. When the power went out, I suddenly heard screaming. Battle cries that weren't from the civil war." She looked at Thomas for a few seconds, then her gaze wandered to Newt, who by now looked like he was asleep and having a bad dream. "And then I heard someone else screaming. A girl calling out a name. Loud and clear over and over. And that's when I recognised you."
Our eyes met and she nodded.
"I just knew it. I knew that if Thomas was to be the key, then you had to be worth just as much. Possibly more, that wasn't out of the question. I knew I had to get you somehow. And your friend, who was already obviously stage three, couldn't be allowed to put a spoke in my wheel. Then one of the soldiers suddenly shot at you. I completely freaked out, ran out of my hiding place and yelled at him, but someone else caught me. Luckily for me, he had recognised me and taken me to a Berg that a few cross streets away was evacuating other members of the High Council. But I knew if I wanted to save humanity, I had to get you. At least one of you."
She was silent for a while, watching as Newt now seemed to be living through a really bad nightmare.
"I managed to persuade them to return. What we found was incredible. We had parked the Berg a block away to have the element of surprise on our side. As we turned the corner - some soldiers were with me - we saw your friends about to leave. They had put a discarded jacket over A5's body. He was dead, I thought. We ran after them, made them stop. But you weren't with them, instead there was Francesca, the traitor. I should have had her arrested or better still shot, but suddenly everything happened so fast. This boy here... He came to under his jacket. I don't know what he is supposed to have died of and who killed him, but the person didn't quite finish it. He was weak, yes. But his heart was beating."
I felt hot tears come to my eyes. I reached for Newt's right hand and clasped it with both of mine.
"And that's when I realised something. I remembered what significance this subject had had for you. And I knew that if I failed to capture one of you that night, he would be my ticket. I let your friends go along with the traitor and instructed the soldiers to take him with them. - And I was right, wasn't I?"