W.I.C.K.E.D's Girl [Book One]

Chapter Eighteen

Beeping echoes in my ears. The sound of machines and the smell of disinfectant, overloads my senses. I try to move but my body feels like it's weighed down by lead. I focus on my fingers and toes and manage to make them twitch. Someone is humming a tune near me, such a familiar tune. Whoever they are they start to stoke the top of my head lightly. I try to open my heavy eye lids with success but hiss at the bright light burning my eyes. "Welcome back Joan." A woman's voice says to me. I can almost sense the smile in her voice, her familiar voice. I open my eyes again and adjust to the light. Glancing over to my right side I see a middle aged woman with shoulder length brown hair and bright green eyes. She's wearing a white blouse which blends with the surrounding walls. "Mum?" I surprise myself by the atomic way in which that word rolled off my tongue. Her smile grows bigger as she looks at me. "Hello sweetheart. How are you feeling?" All of a sudden everything comes to me, memories flood my mind. The Glade, the maze, W.I.C.K.E.D, the flare. Everything.

I gasp as they play out in my mind like an old cinema projection. "Shush, it's alright. A slight side effect of regaining your memories, the flashbacks. Now I understand that you'll be angry with what we've done, since you have experienced it yourself. But listen and remember why we've done it." A rage burns through me as I sharpen my gaze at my mother. "You know of the sun flares and the catastrophic affect they had on the earth. Millions died and those that survived faced a whole new ordeal. A new disease was released, manmade and had the purpose to use in war. It was named the flare, after the solar flares scorched the earth. What W.I.C.K.E.D stands for is not only world in catastrophe kill- zone experiment department, but to strive to find a cure. To save what is left of humanity. Now the Flare eats away at the brain, people slowly lose their sanity until the point where there is nothing but animalistic instincts left. They are no longer human. The subje-"

"DON'T CALL US SUBJECTS!" I angrily interject. "Sorry. The teenagers that we have placed in the maze are special. Highly intelligent and may hold the key to the cure. You must understand that we took your memories to protect you because if you remembered what life was like outside of the experiment then you would surely suffer." She looks at me pleadingly. "I understand the reason behind it all. But if you didn't want us to suffer then why the bloody hell did you shucking put us against creatures like the Grievers?! Boys have DIED!" My voice rises with every word. "An unfortunate sacrifice, so few for billions. Joan please see this from our point of view." I give her a stony silence. "Well at least you're now safe." I make a tsk noise as I cross my arms. "Once the doctors have cleared you, run some tests, you will resume your place in the corporation. Don't argue, I don't want to fight you Joan. After all you are my daughter and it would pain me to have to take precautions in ensuring your co-operation." With that my mother leaves the room. What choice do I have? Let's play along with this little game.

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I dress in the clothes provided to me after the doctors completed their tests. Like most of the workers here, a plain white, long sleeved, fitted blouse with W.I.C.K.E.D embossed across my breast, tapered black trousers and black shoes with a small wedge. My soft brown hair falls bellow my shoulders, reaching the base of the blades. I look older than I did in the Glade, I more than less feel as old as we had to become. In a sense, I look like Chancellor Paige more so than I did before. Two guards, who I assume are female, march into the room. Launchers locked and loaded, ready for action if I try anything. What happened to trust mother? "Miss Paige, the Chancellor requests your presence in the observation hub immediately." One of the guards, who I can definitely identify as female, says to me. I curtly nod and gesture for them to lead the way.

I remember the pain that those launchers cause and to be quite honest I'm not wanting to cross paths with them any time soon. We march through the grey corridors, reminding me of the maze. Turning right, then left, left again and then right. We approach the end of one of the corridors and are greeted with metal doors. One of the guards scans a key card and the doors open revealing a hectic work station. Monitors line the walls and desks, each displaying data, recordings and files. Files of all the Gladers. My heart pounds against my chest as I see my friends on the screens. If only they knew. Suddenly I bump into someone, a boy with dark hair. I recognise him! "Sorry, Miss I didn't see you there." He looks at me and frowns in confusions. "Joan?" "Tommy." I'm engulfed in a tight hug, knocking the breath out of me. I awkwardly freeze, not knowing what to do. Thomas senses my awkwardness and releases me from the embrace. "Uh-sorry." He says scratching the back of his neck. "It's just that when they sent you in the maze I wasn't sure if I'd see you again. Then I thought you were dead, but you're not." "Really? I thought I actually died and now I haunting you and your klunk filled life." I say sarcastically. Thomas smiles. "You haven't changed one bit." My smile falters. I haven't changed? So I've always been sarcastic! Guess Minho had no influence on me... The thought of my friends still in that shucking experiment, thinking I'm dead no doubt, makes me feel distressed. They've already faced too much, now this just tops it.

A commotion draws my attention back from my thoughts. W.I.C.K.E.D staff are gathered around one screen. "What's going on?" I ask no one in particular. "Subject A5 entered the maze, went missing and now Subjects A7 and A6 have returned from going in. With Subject A5 in critical condition." One of them says. "Whose Subjects A7, A6 and A5?" I ask. Thomas looks solemnly at me. "A7 is Minho, A6 is Alby and A5 is... Newt." My heart stops. Everything around me freezes as my body numbs and my mind races. Newt. A5 in critical condition? "What do you mean by critical?" One of the screens near flashes up. Video footage plays showing the Glade and my friends. Minho and Alby are carrying Newt who looks like he's way past bad. Another video plays showing the inside of the maze. Newt running alone towards one of the walls. "Don't be a slintheads." I mutter under my breath as I watch him climb up the ivy. I want to turn away as he jumps but I can't. My eyes are fixated on the screen. His ankle gets caught in one of the vines. Tears cascade down my face, Thomas places a comforting hand on my shoulder. I pull away from the screen and look at Thomas. With little self-control I throw myself at him and sob into his shoulder.