Marooned | Maze Runner | Minho

48. 𝑀𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓈.

The room was worse than the maze ever had been. There was time in the maze, there were sounds in the maze, there was space in the maze. In the room there was only white, the fluorescent lights never turned off, and the room was dead silent.

Viya was slowly losing her mind, she slept when she was tired, ate when she was hungry, but her entire life felt dull and meaningless. She guessed that she had been in the room for three days, yet in actuality she had no idea.

She had spent most of her time lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Sometimes she'd chat with Watcher, but their conversations weren't the same as they used to be. She didn't feel as comforted by his presence, and she subconsciously knew that he wasn't real.

A click came from the door, causing Viya to immediately stand up. A gruff, broad-shouldered man stood in the doorway, he motioned for Viya to follow him—and without thinking, she did.

The hallway looked the same, they were as clean as the other facility with the same smells too. Viya wanted to ask questions, but anytime she tried, a wave of hopelessness flowed over her. She thought of fighting the guard and trying to break out again, but all hope had been drained from her.

She had been tamed.

The pair entered a lab, three doctors were already in the room, seemingly waiting for her arrival. Viya didn't have time to glance around the room before someone forcefully laid her onto the table, binding her wrists and ankles.

She tried to break free, but it was no use. She watched as an eager doctor carried a strange deceive in his hands. He gently placed it onto Viya's head, he didn't care about her wellbeing, he simply didn't want to damage the device.

"What is that?" Viya asked but received no response.

A switch was flicked as Viya was injected with anesthesia. The darkness pulled Viya back into it's tight hug, she didn't bother fighting it this time, she knew what was coming.

She awoke in a grassy field, birds chirped around her as the wind rustled the trees. The meadow was calm, the wind carried spring scents that filled Viya's nostrils, and for a moment, it was peaceful. Until the world started to warp, stone walls began to surround the meadow, cutting off sunlight, dark shadows polluted the meadow. Viya looked around again, this time she was kneeling on dirt that stained her pants. She recognized the structure in front of her, its looming doors were hard to forget.

She glanced behind her to see the familiar hoard of boys. Viya stumbled to her feet, she tried to force herself through the crowd, but the boy's had the strength of a hundred soldiers.

"Get back!"

"I hope the grievers enjoy their meal!"
"I don't think her flesh will taste very good, she's rotten."
"I hope it's slow."
"Maybe they'll keep her alive for a few days"

Viya recognized some of the voices in the crowd, voices of the boys she used to know.

"I'm glad she's getting banished." A bitter voice said, a voice that hurt Viya more than any others. "You deserve it Viya." Minho spat.

"None of us wanted you to get the serum Viya"

The gladers began to close in on her, any time she tried to open her mouth to scream, she was immediately silenced.

Instead of their poles, the gladers used their fists to push her into the maze. The hit, punched, and kicked her into the maze, and it wasn't until the doors closed that they finally stopped.

Viya naively thought she'd be better off in the maze. She ran through the hallways, she knew the way to her room like the back of her hand. She felt as if she was almost there, she desperately wanted her safe place back.

Then the walls began to shift again.

The corridors of the maze began to stretch and warp into one straight path. Every other path was soon closed off and there was now only one direction Viya could go in.

Viya glanced behind her as she ran, there had to be at least thirty grievers behind her that were going faster than ever.

She ran with everything she had, but the grievers continued to gain on her. She felt their claws rattle the ground beneath her and their slime droplets hit the back of her neck.

Then they caught her. They dragged her back, throwing her onto the ground. The grievers loomed over her, their hot breaths hitting her face. The monster opened its jaws to reveal multiple sets of teeth, its mouth moved closer and closer to her.

This was the end.

White surrounded Viya once more as she woke up in her pitiful cot. For a moment she laid in a stunned silence, processing her recent experience. She felt strangely comforted to be back in the white room, at least WCKD couldn't torture her.

Well, that's what she thought.

It wasn't long before memories began to flood Viya's head, overpowering any logical thought. She could see her mothers face staring back at her, a stone house filled with drawings of an innocent little girl. She remembered her mother covering her face as her father slaughtered a crank. Snit bits of her past came to her in less than a second, every memory worse than the last. She could see her fathers face as WCKD officers dragged her away, she could see a group of older kids surrounding her before they beat her almost unconscious.

She stumbled to her feet trying to get the memories to leave her. She splashed cold water onto her face, she punched the slightly padded walls, she screamed, she cried, yet nothing would get the memories out of her head.

She had always thought that remembering would be a gift. During the long nights of the maze, she longed to be able to remember her past, her family, her childhood. But now that she could, she would do anything to get them to go away again.

Tears streamed down Viya's face as she paced around the room, everytime she thought it was over, more and more memories would resurface and she started the awful cycle again.

She longed to feel someone hug her, for someone to comfort her.

But she had never felt that luxury, and she probably never would.

—----

Viya dug her heels into the gravel as she tried to break free of the guard's grip, but her frail, eight year old body was no match for the bulky man. He continued to drag her towards the building, ignoring her pleading cries.

She wanted her mom. Where was her mom? Why had her father let them take her? Why didn't he care?

Angry tears formed in Viya's eyes as she dug her fingernails into the man's arm.

The pair entered the cold steel doors into the front of the facility, the man said a few words to the receptionist before they entered through another pair of doors. Another guard started to walk with them, he was shorter than the first one and seemed to walk prouder.

"Let me go!" Viya screamed, "Why are you taking me!"
The two men ignored her.

"I want my mom! Let me go back to my mom!" Viya tried to kick the shorter mans heels.

In a split second, the shorter man spun around and grabbed Viya's arms tightly.

"Will you shut up!" He yelled, "Your mom is dead! We killed her! She's not coming to save you, ever!" His spit hit Viya's face, "You get that? So why don't you stop yelling and deal with it!"
Her mom was...dead?

Viya felt as if she was falling, she let the guards drag her forwards, all thoughts of fighting left her mind. The same words circled through her brain. She's dead.

She could hear the man's words in her mind over and over again.

No.

No, he had to be lying.

Her mom couldn't be...

It wasn't long before Viya was shoved into a small bunk room, the guard gave her some directions, but she didn't hear them.

Her mom was dead.

And her father had sold her.