Variables → Group B [AU]

27 → "FAMILIARITY"

27 → "FAMILIARITY"

THOMAS' FACE SOFTENED, as if he realised that Aris wasn't joking.

"Maybe you should sit down." Thomas said. "I think we have a lot to talk about."

"What do you mean?" Aris asked. "Who are you guys? Where'd you come from? And how did Adeline get with you guys? Where are the others?"

Thomas let out a slight laugh. "The Maze. The Grievers. WICKED. You name it."

"You're lying." Aris said, his voice dropped to a whisper, his face went pale. Adeline didn't know what WICKED meant, but she remembered back in the Maze that she'd seen the words on that beetle in the Forest.

"No, we're not." Newt responded. "Tommy's right. We need to talk. Sounds like we've come from similar places."

"Who's that guy?" They turned to find Minho, who Adeline forgot who'd been gone for a moment.

"Minho, meet Aris." Thomas said, gesturing toward Aris. "Aris, meet Minho." Minho stuttered out a few unintelligible words, as if he couldn't quite decide what to say.

"Look." Newt said. "Let's take down these top beds and move them around the room. Then we can all sit and figure out what's bloody going on."

Thomas shook his head. "No. First, we need to go find Teresa. She must be in some other room."

"Isn't one." Minho said.

"What do you mean?"

"I just checked this whole place out. There's the big common area, this room, our dorm room, and some seriously shucked doors that lead outside — where we came in from the bus yesterday. Locked and chained from the inside. Doesn't make any sense, but I don't see any other doors or exits."

"But ... what about last night? Where'd the food come from? Didn't anyone notice other rooms, a kitchen, anything?" He looked around, as if someone could answer his question.

"Maybe there's a hidden door." Newt finally said. "Look, we can only do one thing at a time. We need to —"

"No!" Thomas shouted. "We've got all day to talk to this Aris guy. The label by the door said Teresa should be here somewhere — we need to find her!"

Thomas headed for the door back to the common area, pushing his way past boys until he was through. Adeline turned back towards the boys, unsure on what to do. Boys started taking down the top beds, and they sat around in a circle, waiting for Thomas. Adeline didn't leave her brothers side, both settling down beside each other. As they waited for Thomas, boys glared at Aris. Adeline noticed that Newt was glancing from her to Aris, almost suspiciously. Adeline stared back at him, arching her eyebrow questioningly.

"What?" Newt's face went a shade of red, clearing his throat awkwardly, before he looked away. "Uh, okay?"

Finally, Thomas wondered back into the room, and Minho patted the spot next to him, indicating for Thomas to sit down. Without responding, Thomas pulled the door shut and walked over and sat down.

"All right, let's get started on the bloody storytellin' so we can get to the real problem —finding something to eat." Thomas stated.

"Good that." Minho said. "Talk, Aris. Tell us everything."

"No way. You guys go first." Aris shook his head.

"Yeah?" Minho responded. "How about we all just take turns beating the living klunk out of your shuck face? Then we'll ask you to talk again."

"Minho." Newt and Adeline said simultaneously, sharing a quick glance as they had. Newt continued; "There's no reason —"

Minho pointed at Aris. "Please, dude. For all we know this shank could be one of the Creators. Somebody from WICKED, here to spy on us. He could've killed those people out there — he's the only one we don't know and the doors and windows are locked! I'm sick of him acting all snooty when we've got twenty guys to his one. He should talk first."

"Minho —" Adeline went to interject, but Newt interrupted before she could get the last of her response out.

Newt sighed and looked over at Adeline and Aris. "He's got a point. Just tell us what you meant about coming from the buggin' Maze. That's where we escaped from, and we obviously haven't met you."

Aris rubbed his eyes, then met Newt's gaze. "Fine, listen. I was thrown into this gigantic maze made out of huge stone walls — but before that my memory was erased. I couldn't remember anything about my life from before. I just knew my name. I lived there with a bunch of girls. Adeline is my sister and we were in the Maze together. There must've been fifty girls, and I was the only boy. We escaped a few days ago — the people who helped kept us in a big gym for a few days, then moved me here last night-but no one explained anything. What's this stuff about you being in a maze, too?"

"Wait a minute." Newt said. "You lived in a big maze, on a farm, where walls closed every night? Just you and a few dozen girls? Were there creatures called Grievers? Were you the last one to arrive? And did everything go buggin' nuts when you did? Did you come in a coma? With a note that said you were the last one ever?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Aris repeated. "How do you know all this? How ..."

"It's the same shuck experiment." Minho said. "Or same ... whatever. But they had all girls and one boy, we had all boys and one girl. WICKED must've built two of those mazes, run two different tests!"

Thomas looked over at Aris. "Did they call you the Trigger?"

Aris shook his head. "No, they called Adeline the Trigger."

Boys looked somewhat shocked, staring at Adeline with wide eyes. Thomas, on the other hand, continued to ask questions.

"And could you ..." Thomas began, but hesitated. "Could you speak to one of those girls inside your mind? Ya know, like telepathically?"

Aris's eyes widened, staring at Thomas. From somewhere in the room, there was a gasp. Adeline's eyes roamed around the room until she saw Matt with wide eyes. How had she forgotten about him so fast?

Can you hear me?
—
A/N:

Some chapters from here on out are going to be somewhat the same to the Scorch, but I promise it's not. Soon it'll be different and you'll see more Group B.