T R U S T [The Maze Runner || Newt || Book 2]

Chapter 2

Flashback

"A maze?"

Clara sat at a large conference table surrounded by mostly adults, the only exception being her brother. She was 10 now, and he was 14. The adults were all scary looking, they had stern faces which were now twisted in disbelief at what her mother was suggesting.

"That's correct." The woman confirmed,

"As in a giant maze?" One of the adults at the table asked, an old man with grey hair and a beard. With a pair of small glasses resting on his nose, which was noticeably crooked.

"Yes," Theodore answered this time, irritation lacing his voice.

"How did you come up with this, Doctor?"

"I didn't come up with it. Clarissa and Theodore did."

Clara winced at the use of her full name, she hated it, and she hated being dragged into this stupid project. While she couldn't pretend that she hadn't come up with the maze, she didn't think her brother would take her suggestion so seriously, let alone tell their mother. She thought it was just an idea, but now it was becoming a reality, and she knew that given Wicked's reputation for, well... torture, it would probably end up being a horrible place, she regretted even bringing it up to Theodore in the first place.

"But they're just kids, you expect us to believe two kids who are barely in the double digits came up with a complex environment like this for the test subjects."

"I think you're underestimating the intelligence of my children, Chancellor Anderson. They're the brightest of any of the other subjects. Theodore is outdoing every other child in his classes and Clarissa is one of the most skilled fighters we've ever had, she's been putting down boys twice her size."

"We understand that, but what you're suggesting is extreme. The cost of such an operation is absurd to think about, let alone the time it would take to complete. And how would these mazes be of value to us anyway? What good would they be in finding the cure?"

"Well you're trying to find out what makes immunes different from non-immunes right?" Theodore spoke up, earning a few shocked glances and raised eyebrows from the board members,

"Y- yes but-" One of the men, Chancellor Anderson, began to stutter but was cut off by Theodore,

"Well a maze is the perfect environment to stimulate brain activity. It's a giant puzzle, it will provide a complex problem that the subjects will need to find a way to solve. Placing them in a large environment they can't escape from will force them to form a community of sorts, and build a home for themselves. It's an undeniably useful environment to induce reactions and study brain activity, and we would be able to control all the stimuli so that there are no inverse or unwanted complications."

The room went completely silent as he finished, all of them surprised at the range of vocabulary for the 14-year-old. Clara rolled her eyes at her brother's over-achieving nature before leaning back in her chair and folding her legs under her, waiting for someone to respond.

"I think we should do it." Another woman spoke up from the opposite side of the table, Clara remembered her name, Katie McVoy, she was one of the scientists who'd developed and released the flare. Clara imagined she was probably agreeing with the idea out of guilt, "The kid is right. A controlled environment where we can monitor the subject's choices and actions would be extremely valuable to understanding the neurological difference between immunes and non-immunes." She finished,

"How would these mazes work?" The Chancellor asked, and Theodore sat up and began to answer,

"Well, we would have multiple mazes. In each one you'd send up a group of subjects, obviously, we'd have to find some way to get rid of their memories, otherwise, the reaction to a change in their environment wouldn't be viable. Once they're inside we'd have to have some way to watch them, maybe cameras in trees or birds or something similar, and then we just have to wait. Hopefully, the subjects would end up creating a system of sorts, and they'd explore the mazes."

"Would that provide enough data about their neurological behaviour to gather?"

"It would provide a lot, but not enough. And that's why we'd need catalysts, something that would create fear in the subjects. Induce a fight or flight response. "

"How would we be able to compare the brain patterns of the immunes versus the non-immunes in these mazes? Would we have to create an entire maze full of non-immunes as well?"

"No, that's where control subjects become important. For example, those two English siblings, the girl is immune but the boy isn't. You put the boy in the maze with the immunes, monitor his brain patterns and that provides a direct comparison for us."

"Wow." Chancellor Anderson breathed out, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest, looking between the two children. "Who would be designing this maze, Dr Paige?"

"Every researcher we have available."

"Including the children?"

"Of course. Clarissa and Theodore will be at the forefront, however, we do have four more subjects that I think would be good candidates to assist in its design. Thomas, Teresa, Rachel and Aris. They've all displayed a much higher level of skill and intelligence than most of the other subjects in our testing,"

"Very well. If you can convince the board to agree, we can begin the process. What would you call this project?"

"The Maze Trials."