Whatever It Takes ↠ Newt [The Scorch Trials] ¹

TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY
Sorry

PAIN IS A difficult concept. It creates an unimaginable feeling inside of a person and has the power to corrupt the spark inside them until there's nothing left, but an empty void of darkness. But pain is the thing that lets you know if you're alive, it lets you feel something. But Mae couldn't feel anything. She was numb.

After a panicked Thomas yelled her name through the Right Arm camp, Mae had learned the origin of where the letters in her head had come from. Calista was Mae. Mae was Calista. She thought back to those few moments when she was close to drowning and all she could think about was it was no one's fault, but hers. She was the pain that corrupted the spark. She was the reason of the empty void of darkness inside of her.

Closing her eyes, Mae remembered the feeling of floating in water– the peace and serenity of it all– even the idea of being on the brink of death seemed to be more relaxing than what was going through her head right now. Her fingers flinched in her lap like they did when she had only seconds to live. The voices of all her friends once again echoed in her head, leaving a lingering sensation of both comfort and agony through her body.

The vision in her head suddenly morphed into the the view of the Patch, the blue sky with white clouds above her, with the relaxing feeling of the grass below her. That's exactly where Mae wanted to be instead of hearing the bomb that had just dropped on her.

A hand clamped down on her shoulder and Mae jumped, immediately pushing Thomas' arm away from her. The boy's eyebrows pinched together as he bent down besides her. "Mae, you good?"

Mae nodded stiffly in response, while also rubbing the back of her neck in an annoyed manner.

"You never told us you survived a night out in the Maze by yourself." Thomas said, his voice raspy as he rubbed his hands together.

"Well, it wasn't exactly a sunny day trip to the beach. Its not something I like talking about it."

"I still can't believe you managed to get past WCKD's tech." Mary breathed, leaning against a plastic table.

Mae looked from the floor and glared harshly at the woman. "Add that to the list of surprises revealed today. Don't be shocked if you see a unicorn pouncing around outside."

"Cali–" Mary immediately cut herself off once she noticed the look Mae shot at her. "Mae, it's important no one ever finds out about this."

"Why not?" Both Mae and Thomas asked. The sound of the tent flap closing caught Mae's attention and the girl snapped her head to the side to see no one, but the wind pushing the material back and forth. She shook her head at the thought of someone listening in and turned her head back to Mary.

"Because if WCKD finds out you were able to get past their tech, you'll become a bigger threat than you are now. They won't just forget about it, they'll hunt you down and kill you, they'll torture everything out of you and then use you for their benefit. They've done it before."

Mae blinked. "What do you mean they've done it before?"

"Mae, you are probably the brightest kid WCKD has ever taken in, they've used your intelligence hundreds of times for their benefit and considering sometimes you gladly helped them–"

"Wait!" Mae interjected. "Gladly helped? Did I work for WCKD?"

It was quiet for a moment before Mary let out a huff. "Yes, that's why I was surprised to find out they agreed to let you up into the Maze earlier than wanted because with your intelligence, they may have been been able to make advancements. You were, in fact, supposed to go up in Thomas' Maze. You guys worked together."