From The WICKED Start | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

5. Unpleasant news

When I woke up the next morning, Newt was still sleeping. We still had each other in our arms and I felt warm and safe. I hadn't dreamt anything I could remember that night, although I could have sworn I would have nightmares - after that goodbye.
Immediately I had to think of Gally again. What time was it? Was he already in the memory chamber? Had he already forgotten me?
I swallowed hard, but then I pulled myself together and tried to slowly release myself from Newt's arms to get up and go to the bathroom. It was probably time for breakfast right away, even though I didn't have a real job now.
When I tried to get away from him, he grumbled and pressed himself a little closer to me. I lay still and looked at him, sucking every fibre of his face into me. Why did I think he was beautiful? What was happening to me? His hair was all messed up from sleeping and I felt a strong urge to touch it.
Stop it now, I am scolding myself. He is not your boyfriend and you are nothing special to him!
As I lay there, completely lost in thought, I did not notice at first how he moved slowly at some point and opened his eyes a little. He saw that I was looking at him and a smile spread across his face when he finally opened his eyes and I realised what I must look like right now, how I was staring at him.
"Good morning," he muttered sleepily, straightened up and stroked his hair.
"Morning. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you...," I began embarrassed.
But Newt shook his head. "You did not. Besides, I love waking up next to you."
I could see that he was blushing a little and my heart was doing another one of those strange jumps at his words.
To cover it up, I cleared my throat and said: "Well, you should be able to do that more often now that we share the room."
He laughed and looked from my bed to his. "Well, how to take it."
I understood what he meant, but I didn't say anything because I didn't want to embarrass myself by telling him that he was welcome to sleep in my bed all the time.
What is happening to me?
Quickly I was on my feet and grabbed some clothes from my wardrobe. Property of W.C.K.D.' was now written on every one of my shirts after I stopped working with the children and wore my smock.
"I'll take a quick shower. Then we can go for breakfast." With that I disappeared into the bathroom and was happy to be alone for once.
As the warm water splashed on my skin, I thought of many things. I thought about Gally and what they must be doing to him right now. I wondered if he could really remember me in any way or if it was just wishful thinking on his part to calm me down. I thought about what Janson expected from me now. It couldn't be everything to 'look after' Newt. It could not be as simple as that. Not with WICKED.
I dried myself, dressed myself, brushed my teeth and blow-dried my hair. Then I finished and opened the door. Newt sat on his bed and stared at the wall as if thinking. Apparently he hadn't even noticed that I was finished.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked cautiously and sat down with him.
He looked at me and pulled his face to a faint smile.
"I was thinking of my sister. They've taken her somewhere we can't get to. I'm afraid they will hurt her."
I sighed. "They won't do anything worse to her than the maze, Newt. Even though I'm not sure there is anything worse."
I was sorry to tell him like that, but I knew I should be honest with him. He nodded silently.
Carefully I put a hand on his shoulder and said: "Come on, let's go eat. Otherwise there won't be any breakfast left."
I got up and he did the same, but before I could open the door, he held me by the arm. I turned to him and again our eyes met and I was speechless.
"I am next, am I not? Janson told you that I was next when I was still unconscious. I was dreaming about it."
I realised my mouth was open and wasn't able to answer the right thing. If he could remember, did he also know that Janson had said he was not immune?
Oh shit.
Something in his eyes told me that he could handle the truth and I had to tell him because he already knew anyway. So I nodded silently, still lost in his eyes. But I kept the fact that he was not immune to it to myself.
I could see that he had known about it for a long time and that it still affected him. So I spread out my arms and hugged him. He returned the hug and I smelled his wonderful sweet smell again. I closed my eyes and felt a tear running down my cheek. I would lose him, too. Why did it hurt so much, since I had only known him for such a short time?
We stood like this for a while and eventually separated again, with Newt looking deep into my eyes once more. I looked up to him.
"I'm not afraid of forgetting, you know? Everything that has happened so far is not worth keeping. But I'm afraid of forgetting you. I've never felt a connection like I felt with you before. You are very special, Anna."
I got lost again in his brown eyes and his words. Inside me the thousand butterflies burst out again and I had to close my eyes briefly so as not to stare at him. I knew nothing to answer and as an answer I simply kissed him on the cheek without really thinking about it.
Newt looked at me penetratingly and I could see that I had made him smile. In order not to prolong this situation, which was a bit scary for me, I opened the door and we walked silently to the dining room, which was already empty except for a few visitors. Sure, most of them were at work and I noticed that I hadn't even been here for breakfast that late in the last five years. We got our breakfast and sat down alone at the table where I usually sat with the other boys.
After a few minutes of eating in silence, someone suddenly stood in front of our table. I looked up and realised with astonishment that it was Teresa, Thomas' friend. Questioningly and with a raised eyebrow I looked at her waiting for her to say something.
She cleared her throat, looked around the room, probably to make sure that nobody saw her talking to us, and then sat down next to me.
"What you did last night - and I know it was you - was more than irresponsible and stupid," she began, and Newt and I exchanged a look.
We thought the same: Had Thomas told her? I simply could not imagine that.
"I saw Thomas leave his room in the middle of the night and then come back after half an hour with a chapped lip and quite discomposed. Do you think I'm stupid? He wouldn't tell me, but I know you went to that maniac's cell last night just so you could say goodbye to him."
I just looked at her and after I didn't say anything back, she kept talking.
"I don't think you have any idea what you were doing! You've broken exactly seven rules here at WICKED and you've brought Thomas, one of our most important employees, into this. You also risked that an important immune would be injured or even break out just before he could finally start his tests. What you did wasn't only recklessly and illegally, you also endangered the progress of our work and the whole humanity in some way," she concluded, looking at me rebuked and completely indignant.
But she was not the only one who was indignant here. I stared at her with my mouth open and at first I did not know what to say. But just as I was about to begin to justify myself, Newt intervened.
"Tell me, what's actually wrong with you? You not only seem to work voluntarily for these crazy people here, you also seem to support what they are doing. What exactly is wrong with you up there?" he asked her completely aghast. "You lock children up here, use them for some kind of experiments, make them work for you and then send them into a deadly maze to see how long they can survive? And what is it that saves humanity now? I've been out there, I know what it's like there and not once in the years I've lived there with my family have I heard anything positive about WICKED, not one advance that has really helped! They shot my parents and took my sister away from me and now I am here waiting for me to come into this fucking maze too and forget everything I have ever known. Who does that save? Me? Us? Have you ever asked any of these kids if they want what's happening to them? If they want to die for something that will probably never work?!" He had stood up and clenched his hands into fists.
Teresa had now also stood up and watched Newt from top to bottom.
"We have no choice. We are doing all this for the greater good. We will help people. What we are doing is the right thing to do and has to be done and as long as we in the research department are behind it, we will one day save humanity. You must also see that it is the only way."
She wanted to go with that, but now I stood up too and called out after her, completely disinterested in who might hear: "So you think you are all behind it? And what about Tommy? Do you think he's behind it, too?"
She paused briefly while walking, but did not turn around and said nothing more. After a few seconds she walked on with her head held high, probably to watch them erase Gally's memory.
I dropped back to my chair with a groan and looked at Newt with raised eyebrows.
"That was pretty brave, what you just said."
"You weren't bad yourself," he replied and winked at me.
We laughed and ate on.

Just as we were about to take our trays away and leave the dining room, Janson and two of his men came towards us.
Excellent. I hope Teresa didn't tell him anything.
But would she betray Thomas?
"Miss Anna, good, there you are! I wanted to tell you where your new duties will be from next week!"
I exhaled with relief and relaxed a little.
"Mr. Janson, sir, how nice!"
"I see you have your new protégé with you. Very nice. I'd like you both to start working in Surveillance Lab 1 next week and assist Thomas and Teresa. Unfortunately, our two other staff members who were previously in charge of this task have fallen away."
"I wonder what happened to them," Newt whispered so softly that only I could hear him. The irony in his voice could not be ignored even at this volume.
I knew what he meant, but I could hardly grasp his thought, because something else was shooting through my head. Newt couldn't know, of course, but I knew exactly what Thomas and Teresa's task was - they were watching my friends.
They were watching Gally's maze.