Beyond 4 Walls *On Semi-Haitus* (The Scorch Trials)

7

"The hell do you mean?" Newt hissed, clawing at his shirt. "What tattoo? I don't have any tattoos."

"It's right there. I'm telling the truth," I said, rubbing a finger over the black lettering. 

"Look, they killed my girlfriend," Robyn sighed, wiping a tear from his eyes. We stopped fidgeting. 

"Who did?" I asked, stepping forward a little.

"Those W.I.C.K.E.D. people. After we got out, they just, killed her. On the spot. Said something about distractions," he sighed and sat down on the bunk. I felt a lump in my throat. I didn't even know this guy. He claimed to be my brother, and yet, I felt a strange connection to him. Maybe we were siblings after all. 

"Did they kill her, or did someone from your group under their control do it?" I asked, thinking about Gally and Chuck. 

"No, Beth, this girl. She was always unstable. They just said 'kill her' and she did," he choked and wiped away a tear. 

Everything Robyn has said has sounded the exact same as the events in our Maze. Beth bus be their equivalent of Gally, and that meant Chuck was our equivalent of his girlfriend... unless. 

"Could you, you know, talk telepathically with her?" I asked, looking at Thomas out of the corner of my eye. 

Like this? He echoed in my mind. I stepped back. No, that meant that Thomas was supposed to die, not Chuck. Did that also mean that I was supposed to be with Thomas and not Newt? 

"Wait, what's going on?" Newt asked, hands raised in confusion. 

"He can do it too," I answered without looking back at him. 

"Do what?" 

"Talk telepathically. I heard it as well," Thomas added, looking more and more confused by the second. 

"Hey, what's that on your neck?" I asked, noticing a black line on his neck. Was it another tattoo? 

"Subject B1, The Partner," Thomas read aloud for us. 

"What does that mean?!" He sounded almost hysterical. 

"Ravyn," Newt said softly. I turned, wide eyed and scared. He was staring at me intensely. He walked towards me and brushed the hair away from my neck. I shivered from his touch. 

"What does it say?" I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer anyway. 

"A22, The Liability," Newt responded. I felt my blood run cold. What did that mean? The Liability? 

"Look, this is getting way too creepy for me," I shrugged his soft hands from my neck and stepped away from the group. "There's no way someone crept in overnight and tattooed us." 

"Then how do you understand the tattoos appearing overnight?" Newt asked. 

"I, I don't know," I hissed, rubbing at my forehead. "This is all just too much." 

Everyone began frantically getting others to search their necks. Eager yet afraid to know if they did, in fact, have dubious looking tattoos. 

"Thomas, let me see," I said, watching for a moment as he also clawed at his neck. I read the black words and gulped nervously. 

"What does it say?" He asked. 

"It, uh, it doesn't call you anything," I said lowly. "It just says 'To Be Killed By Group B'." 

"Well, that's comforting," Newt said with a sigh, plopping to the couch. 

Not even a full minute later, an excruciatingly loud alarm began to ring. 

"Now what?" I hissed, pressing my hands to my ears. It was so loud. It wasn't stopping either. Why won't it stop?! Many of the others were also covering their own ears, trying to block out the droning sound. 

"It's the Newbie Alarm!" Newt hissed in my ear. I could only just hear him. 

A minute later the alarm stopped. Just like that the screech of the alarm was gone. If silence had a sound, it would be the buzzing in my ears at that moment. The sudden silence almost toppled me over. I felt dizzy and I leant against the couch for support. 

"Are you okay?" Newt asked, taking my hand. I nodded, feeling relief at the contact of our skin. 

The door creaked open and everyone looked towards it. Was someone out there? 

Minho pushed through everyone and slowly made his way into the darkness of the corridor. Everyone else filed out slowly, Newt and I being the last. 

"Found them!" Minho shouted, referring to the lights. He switched them on and the stark contrast of the fluorescent lights in comparison to the stifling darkness was off-putting. I almost didn't notice that something was different... The bodies were gone. 

(a/n: Hey everyone. I know it's been a while. 2 years in fact but I hope this makes up for it? I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to post on a regular schedule but I'm going to make an effort to post more often. Thank you so much for not losing your cool with me. I love you guys. xx)

Updated on the 10th of April, 2016.