control ⇢ the maze runner / thomas [1] ✓

Chapter Two

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? Shame on me."

CONTROL,
CHAPTER TWO

"DO YOU KNOW her?", Alby asked flatly, arms crossed.

"No", Thomas frowned before adding, "Maybe? How should I know, I can't remember anything!" Thomas didn't get why he was being interrogated. Some weird girl comes out of the box and he's the one on trial? But there was still something about the way she looked at him... Something that made him feel like he should know her. It was like they had a secret, something only they knew, and Thomas would protect that secret — regardless of whether or not he knew what it was. Or at least until he knew what it was.

"He's lying", Gally grunted, crossing his arms.

"We don't know that", Newt interjected, trying to defend his friend. It was a weak attempt, but an attempt all the same. "It doesn't matter anyway, if he does know her —"

"I don't know her!", Thomas repeated, louder than he had the first time. He was beginning to get fed up with his friends at this point. If he did know the girl, it's not like he would be able to tell. "She's a complete stranger." It was a horrible lie, he knew it. They knew it. Something in the back of his mind woke up the moment he saw the girl's heart shaped face. It was a spark that would soon ignite a flame.

"Well she knew you", Minho snorted before standing up.

"You can't keep her locked up", Thomas mumbled.

"She bit someone hard enough to draw blood, and kneed Gally. She could be dangerous", Alby pointed out. Ruby wasn't a threat to humanity or anything, but she couldn't just go around attacking people. And if it kept up, Alby wouldn't hesitate to protect his brothers first.

"Let's just go see if we can get anything out of her, she might have more information. C'mon, Thomas."

Thomas almost asked why he had to come along, but the look on Minho's face had him quickly shutting up. He simply stood and followed.

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"Hi there", Minho said, as softly as he could given how he usually was, as he squatted down in front of the Slammer. Ruby was balled up in the corner, her back facing him and Thomas. "Look, I know you're probably freaking out... We just need to ask you a few things — we might even let you out." Lie. They both knew that Ruby was going nowhere. That was Alby's call.

"Go away", she croaked out, her voice raspy.

Minho sighed, like he was annoyed at this point. Ruby was as equally annoyed as he was, so the feeling was mutual. "Do you remember your name?"

There was a long pause, her shoulders twitched, before she finally answered. "Ruby. My name is Ruby."

"That's a nice name", Thomas said, an attempt to get her to relax and talk to them. It didn't help much. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Her whole body seemed to stiffen at the sound of his voice. Minho didn't miss the action. He quickly gave Thomas a 'shut up' look. If Ruby was going to talk, then it was clear that Mino had been wrong. She wouldn't be saying a word to him.

"So, Ruby, do you know how you got here?"

"I came up in that box, asswipe, you saw it."

"But how? Where? Why?"

She turned around this time, the sunlight illuminating her soft features. Her brown eyes looked like honey beneath the warm rays, her lips slightly parted. She looked scared, very scared. "I was... sad", Ruby said slowly, like she was testing out how the words sounded on her tongue. "Because — " Her eyes darted over to Thomas before quickly focusing back on Minho. "Because he left? Someone left... And... I— maybe we're in hell", the girl said simply, turning away from them once again. "Because I keep having these tiny flashes of... drowning. So, I should be dead... Right?"

"Drowning?", Minho asked in surprise, raising his brows. Status report to be filed: the chick was off her rocker.

"You think I sound crazy, don't you?" Ruby sighed, slumping back. "It's the truth. I drowned... I think. And then I woke up here." Maybe she was crazy. None of this made any sense.

"Alright, alright, anything else?"

"Things are gonna get really bad here..." This wasn't something she knew. This was something she felt. Maybe it was just the rambling or a lunatic.

"What does that mean, Ruby?"

Ruby laughed bitterly. "Just a baaaad feeling."

AUGUST 5, 2018
January 7, 2019
EDITED AGAIN SEPTEMBER 27, 2019