What If | tmr, newt ✓

Chapter 29

Newt reaches me in a matter of seconds, his breathing matching the intensity of mine.

I just feel... empty. I don't know what to say. No matter how hard I stared at the cracked, ivy-filled stone, it wouldn't move, and my friends remained trapped behind it.

The boy at my side kneels down, facing me. At first he can't find the words to say, but speaks hesitantly and quietly. "They could make it, you know."

Shaking my head, I don't reply, now blatantly staring at the ground. Newt takes my hand and squeezes it once, before walking away without another word. I don't blame him: he just lost his leader, his best friend, and the newbie he was supposed to look after, and after all that he had the responsibility of having to take charge.

"No-one's ever survived a night in the maze," I whisper to myself. I remember my second night here, sitting with Minho, when he said the exact same words. I was so optimistic. There's a first time for everything. And there is: I just had to pray that tonight was that first time.

Scooting closer to the Door, I turn and lean my head against it and close my eyes, defeated, listening for the whole night to my best friend's screams.

***

I'm woken early by Newt shaking my shoulders. "Addie."

My eyes open slowly and I sit in a state of dumbfounded confusion. I'm not in my hammock, nor in the Homestead - instead, I'm where I curled up in a ball last night, back to the East door. I'm taken by surprise that I actually fell asleep. It must have just been the exhaustion from sleep deprivation taking over.

"Newt, I- what time is it?"

He sits back on his haunches. "It's about five. I thought I should wake ya so the Doors don't."

"Thanks," I say quietly, taking his offering to help me up. My hand is fragile and cold in his, and when I'm standing I tuck my purple fingers inside my sleeves. Sleeping out here, exposed to the cold, was a bad idea.

Our words are lost to the morning sunlight as we make our way over to the kitchen, the only ones awake. As we eat breakfast, Newt keeps glancing up at me across the table like he wants to say something but is holding himself back.

"What is it?" I say tentatively when I finish.

He looks across at me, about to speak, then once more restraining himself. Instead he just smiles sadly at me. "Feel like taking a walk?"

There's only fifteen minutes until the doors open when we are walking around the perimeter of the Glade. I stay close to the Walls, running my fingers over the rough surface, and walking slowly - timing myself so that when we reach the East Door, they'll be just opening.

"What'd'you think we'll found out there? When we get out of this place, I mean?"

Newt doesn't answer for a while, scuffing his shoes in the grass. "I don't get the feeling it'll be anything good."

"Maybe there isn't a way out. Maybe we're supposed to stay here forever."

"Don't be ridiculous, Addie," he says, but even I can hear the hesitation in his words. "We'll get out of here."

"Maybe we will. But not all of us," I say quietly, thinking of my missing friends. They deserved to get out of here as well.

But they'd missed the chance, their fates destroyed by the horrors of the creators.

A heavy silence descends on us as we keep walking, me pulling my hand through thick sections of vines. The Glade is nearly silent this morning, alongside the eerie quietness coming from the Maze.

Before we know it, we find ourselves facing the East Door. A few other boys start to gather around us. I glance down at my watch: three minutes. Three minutes until they open and reveal the secrets that the night has concealed.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to know, but I guess I have no choice.

Suddenly overwhelmed with a fresh wave of realisation of what we might see, I close my eyes and wrap my arms around Newt's back, not wanting to ever let go: he could be all I have left. He is startled, supporting himself by taking a step back. I guess I had grown more distant recently, overcome with my emotions.

As the Doors start to open, he puts one arm behind my head, pressing me close to him, and - finally - I let the tears roll as I brace myself for whatever comes next.

WCKD's POV

Chancellor Paige,

In regards to our recent lack of communication, I would like to take this time to explain the progress which has been made.

I appreciate that you were within the premises in order to survey the Maze Trials yourself for a time - and in that time many advancements were made - but I believe that even more progress has since been made.

In consideration to Subject A()'s relationships with the other Subjects, our initial idea of how later events would plan out seem even more promising.

To start, our aims were to remove the girl, and one of the reasons for this was the impact it would have on her brain. However, these consequences have worked to our advantage. Although in many ways different to the other subjects, there have been some interesting developments in her killzone; unfortunately, due to the circumstances in which she was inserted into the Trials, we are unable to completely track the progress - but this can be easily fixed after the Finale.

It is not just her killzone that intrigues us now, however - Subject A7 continues to impress on accounts of the variable which we call Subject A(). And it will indeed be interesting to see what happens with Subjects A1, A2, and A() after the ending is triggered.

A.D. Janson