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

6. Even more unpleasant news

"They do that on purpose!"
Newt was already upset since we had left the dining room and with it Janson. Meanwhile, I was sitting cross-legged on my bed again, while he walked up and down the small room. I had never experienced him like that before. Somehow I liked the way he was thinking about WICKED. He spoke out what I had never really done. Still I tried to calm him down.
"There is still the possibility that they didn't do it on purpose. That there really are two vacancies and we are the only ones who have time to take them..."
You don't believe that yourself.
"Nonsense, of course it's on purpose!" He fell on the bed next to me and sighed. "It's probably one of those crazy tests or something."
I bit my lower lip. He was probably right. And yet there was nothing we could do about it. We couldn't risk pissing Janson off.
"Newt... We have to do what they ask. If we don't bend, they'll separate us and just lock us up, or they'll take us both to the memory chambers and then to the maze immediately. And I do not want to forget. I do not want to forget Gally and the others. I don't want to forget you."
I looked deep into his eyes. He returned my gaze and I felt them again, the butterflies in my stomach. And still I did not understand what was happening to me.
"I don't want to have to leave you in a month," he whispered and now our faces were so close that I could feel his breath.
"I don't want that either... You are... so important to me, Newt. And I just don't understand what is happening to us." I whispered as well.
What would happen now? Would he kiss me? Would I kiss him? Was that right?
But I didn't get an answer to my questions, because someone knocked on our door and we both flinched and moved away from each other again. I noticed my cheeks blushing slightly when I realized how close our faces had been just a moment ago.
I quickly got up and walked the few metres towards the door. I opened it carefully and peered out.
There stood Minho and was completely out of breath.
"Anna..."
"Minho, what -?" I started, but was interrupted by him as he quickly looked around the corridor once more and then pushed me back into the room.
Panting, he let himself fall onto the free bed, because Newt was still sitting on mine, just as I had left him.
"What's wrong, Minho?" I asked with raised eyebrows.
"The... they've gone completely crazy." He was still breathing fast, but calming down slowly.
I sat down beside him and looked him in the eyes.
"Calmly. Tell me what happened. We have time."
"No, we haven't! Not at all! We have to act quickly, but I don't know what to do," he grimaced and then continued. "They've come up with something new. Some critters they want to let into the maze. They call it Grievers. I could not hear everything. But these things seem dangerous. Janson was talking to Paige about it when I just had my health check. They were running around the lab talking about it like it was nothing. And the worst part is, Janson liked it. He laughed! When was the last time you saw him laugh really hard?"
I stared at him, didn't understand. What was he saying? And what should we do now? I had no idea.
We have to talk to Thomas.
That was all that went through my mind. Nothing else remained for us. We had to find out what this story was all about, and they knew that best in the surveillance laboratories - where we would soon be working.
"Come on, we have to see Thomas." That's all it took, and we were all on our feet and out the door.

"Janson said what?! In the middle of the lab?!" Teresa was beside herself.
She had to listen to us, after all, she was working with Thomas at that hour.
"He was talking about these things" - "Grievers," she interrupted Minho - "then just grievers, as if they were something really great. He was really happy to watch the boys and girls in the mazes coming across them for the first time."
He was still totally upset. I put a reassuring hand on his arm.
"How many people were there? Who could have heard it all? Why didn't Miss Paige stop him?"
Slowly she started pissing me off, too.
"Does that matter, Teresa? Just tell us what it all means!"
I sparkled at her angrily, which seemed to leave her completely cold. Thomas, who hadn't said a word until now and was still sitting in his chair, cleared his throat and all eyes went to him.
"What Janson meant... Those grievers... They are half organic, half mechanical beings who will live in the mazes and are supposed to attack when they meet a human being. One in each section. That means that every day one is free in the maze. A whole new section will be created to control them. If Miss Paige has her way, they will remain mainly nocturnal and the subjects will mostly only hear their screams. But unfortunately this is quite unlikely."
I heard Newt sucking in a sharp breath next to me and felt Minho's arm tense up under my hand.
"What do you mean, rather unlikely?" Newt asked.
I looked over at him. He had his eyes narrowed into slits and stood there tense.
"Well, I guess you two will soon see that for yourselves, won't you?" Teresa asked, looking over from me to Newt.
"But I want to hear it from you now," I hissed at her and she took a step back.
"Janson wants the grievers to walk around the maze during the day, too. He wants that when someone gets the idea to look for an exit, a surprise is waiting for him to deal with," Thomas began.
Teresa caught his attention: "And that is very likely. The High Council is about to vote on it and they will almost certainly vote for the second option. It will bring even more results."
I looked at Thomas and could see that what he was doing here tormented him deep inside. Our eyes met briefly and I could see a tear glistening on his cheek.
"Oh Tommy," I pushed out and walked towards him, squatted in front of him and hugged him. I felt Teresa's look on me the whole time. I could imagine how she was looking at me right now.
"I am so sorry. I just can't manage to protect them. I won't be able to protect Gally either. Nor him either...," he whispered and pointed to Newt.
I felt a lump in my throat making its way up.
"It's okay, Tommy, it's okay. It's not your fault."
I pressed him a little closer to me. But as I looked up over his shoulder, I froze. There was Gally. And he was suffering.
I stood up abruptly, my eyes fixed on the monitor above me. There, above the monitors, which showed all possible corners of my friends' maze, hung a single screen on which one could see the associated memory chamber.
The sight tore my heart apart. I felt hot tears running down my cheeks and every second I saw Gally like that tore me apart more and more. But I couldn't look away, I just couldn't avert my eyes. I was petrified.
I felt a strange hand on my shoulder and realised that it was Teresa who had stepped next to me. When she began to talk it was as if she was someone completely different from what she had just been. Her voice was soft.
"He won't remember what he went through when he wakes up in the box. He will have forgotten the pain. Just like everything else."
She paused before continuing, as if thinking about how to express herself. Teresa was struggling for words?
"But... Well, we observed something in his brain that made us wonder. There seems to be something he's holding on to, as if he doesn't want to forget it. And we think we know what it is. Feelings like deep affection or hatred, especially strong feelings can be retained. When he arrives at the clearing he will not know who he remembers. But he will probably know that there was someone there with whom he was deeply connected. He will remember the feeling he had when he was with you."
She looked at me piercingly and I stared at her undaunted. Should Gally be right after all?
As if she had noticed how sensitive she had just been, and as if she couldn't let this sit on her, she added in a much less warm voice: "And even if it's not, you have another way he could remember you. If a griever stings you and it doesn't kill you, then he can remember. Not of everything and procedures, but of feelings and faces."
So she let go of my shoulder and sat down on her chair.
"Maybe you could ask someone who controls the grievers to sting Gally."
I looked at her with my mouth open. But she didn't seem to notice at all.
"You'd better go now, before somebody else notices." With those words, she started pressing buttons. For her the conversation was over.