Hope for Us (NEWT) [COMPLETED]

Ch 9 - The Mission

"Uncle Janson!" Sara yelled in surprise. Rebecca retreated a couple of steps back.

Janson held out his hand to motion her not to move. "No, no. Let me explain, Rebecca. Thank you for everything you've done for my little Sara here," he said.

"Okay," Sara began with uncertainty, "you said you'd explain this. So... I'm listening." Rebecca gave her a worried look, but Sara didn't dare look at her beyond her peripheral vision.

Janson pursed his lips before answering. "Don't worry about your friends. Everything's fine. The Maze... that's just the name we came up with for the area where they live right now; it's not an actual maze," he explained with a hint of humor on the last part. "The experiment simply consists of brain studies. Where they are, they get examined based on stimulus from various activities we have them do."

"What kind of activities?" she asked curiously. It didn't help that he kept avoiding the subject with simple explanations that had no context.

He crouched down to meet her eye-level. "Sara, I'm sorry if anyone here made it sound like they're in a horrible place, but I promise you they're safe. They actually get to have fun where they are." Sara raised her eyebrows. That's new. "Yeah, they do. They get to play games; they get to do pretty much anything they did in this building when they're not under any tests."

"Then why haven't you let me see them? If they're okay, why haven't I heard a thing from them?" Sara demanded.

Janson felt like he was reliving the past with Sara interrogating him to the point of insanity. "Because any contact outside of the experiment will tamper with the results. We need their brains to only be exposed to the stimulus from the tests."

Sara couldn't contain herself any longer. "I'm tired of excuses! Just tell me—you know—if 'trying to save humanity' is what you preach, then what happened to my parents? Why haven't you found half our family that went missing? Why did all these kids lose their families? Why am I not part of the trials? What's different about me, huh? If I were with them, maybe I'd be happier since I wouldn't be more of the prisoner I am when I'm stuck in this stupid building!"

Her bottled-up anger got the best of her, and Rebecca was silently wishing to be swallowed whole by the ground.

Janson gritted his teeth, squinting his eyes. "Everything I've done and everything I do, has been to protect you and the human race. You don't want to know what the Flare does to people. What it did to families all over the world. I promised I would punish the guards that killed your father, and I have. That—"

"You mean you killed the guards?" she questioned as she crossed her arms over her chest. His lack of response was sufficient proof of what she suspected. And it was the most plausible conclusion since she saw him shoot his other guards dead when he found her that day. None of that made any sense either; he was on a frenzy against his own men, and for the most futile reasons.

Janson tried to reason with her before he was forced to raise his voice. "Sara, listen to me. I would never do anything to hurt you. I'm a firm believer of loyalty. And when my guards don't follow that code, I must take certain measures, or else I could be endangering other people's lives. I would never intentionally harm anyone like that. And I promise you, everything's fine. Your friends are happy, and you will be too. But..." He placed his hands on her shoulders, "...I need you to trust your uncle. Tell me—what am I, who am I, without the love and support of my little niece? I'm nothing, Sara. Nothing."

But Sara still wasn't finished. "And what about when all is done—you know—if it's ever actually over? What will happen then?" she wondered.

"I'll give you the happiest life you could ever imagine."