ℝ𝕌ℕℕ𝔼ℝ: 𝔸 ℕ𝕖𝕨𝕥 𝔽𝕒𝕟𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

𝟑𝟏. 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 ?

WARNING: MENTIONS OF NEEDLES (LIKE FLUE SHOT KINDA NEEDLES SO NOT DRUG NEEDLES) IF THAT MAKES YOU A LITTLE UNEASY I ADVISE SKIPPING THE THIRD CHUNK OF THIS CHAPTER

It's snowing. I'm holding someone's hand as we run through a crowd. All around me people are screaming for reasons I don't quite understand, We suddenly stop and I look up to see the woman has let go of my hand as she holds a little boy whispering something to him before passing him over to someone on the other side of the barricade. I scream out for him but it's not in my voice, the voice is much younger. I scream his name again "Stevie!" that's what I call him, my twin brother Stevie. Suddenly the woman turns around and picks me up hugging me tightly. She whispers in my ear that she loves me and that my brother and I will be safer. I cling onto her crying and begging her not to leave me but she kisses the top of my head before handing me over the barricade. I scream for her to come back but she turns around and walks away, wrapping her coat tighter around her glancing back one last time as I continue to cry and beg for my mom to come back. They take me to a train where my brother is waiting for me. I sit beside him as I wipe the tears off my face, wishing that him and I were back home where we belonged. A woman starts to speak to us and says that things are okay but all I can do is begin to cry again. I know things won't be okay, the woman is just trying to make it seem not so bad. I curl up into a ball and continue to cry.

I jolted awake as Newt shook me telling me to wake up. I turned to see Thomas had the same confused expression as I did. I quickly wondered if Thomas was even my actual brother or not, after all I had called him "Stevie" and Thomas definitely didn't sound anything close to Stevie. Newt grabbed my arm pulling me out of the helicopter. It was dark out and the only light was coming from a big building. People began to chase us making inhumane noises and some guards began to shoot at them. My guess was that they had the flare we had been told about through the video. We finally got inside and looked around taking in our surroundings. It looked to be a warehouse or hangar of sorts. We were sent to a makeshift living quarters area and got all settled in for a bit as we awaited answers. I walked over to Thomas and asked if he could talk for a bit. He nodded and we walked a little further from the group over to a small table with a couple chairs beside it. I asked him if he had gotten another memory before saying that I had and that I needed to know if he had the same one. He did except for some reason in his he was only called Thomas by our mother and I hadn't been screaming his name at all which made me start thinking that something weird was definitely going on. Newt came over and asked what we were up to so I just told him that Thomas and I were talking about another memory. Thomas got up to go talk to Teresa So Newt took the vacant chair before moving it next to mine and sitting down. I leaned my head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around me to the best of his ability. He asked if anything was wrong before I told him that I was a little suspicious of everything that had gone on before the maze and that I was still convinced that everything we saw when we got out of the maze was somehow faked. Newt chuckled before saying that we were safe from them and that we could finally relax but I was still unsure of things. The door suddenly opened and a man came in and asked if we were doing alright. He had gaying hair and his face reminded me a bit of a rat in all honesty. We all walked over to him as he apologized for the delay and explained a bit of the situation. Thomas asked who the man was and he decided to play it all high and mighty saying how he was the reason why we were all still alive. I decided instantly that I would call him rat man. Stupid? Probably, but with how things had been lately I needed a little fun, even if it was at the expense of nicknaming someone by how they looked and seemed. He told us to follow him so we all did, I whispered to Newt my nickname for the man and he let out a little chuckle before quietly agreeing with me. Eventually he told us his name was Mr. Janson but I was still stuck on Rat Man. He explained that he ran the place and that it was a sanctuary of sorts to protect everyone within from everything wrong outside. He said to view it as a halfway house of sorts which made me a little wary. He mentioned that outside of the scorch was a true safe haven where WCKD would never find us again and that's when I became very uneasy over the situation. Why would he need to add that part? I held my tongue as he continued to say things that were exactly what WCKD's views were and tried my best to appear calm when inside I was wanting to run away and take my chances out in the scorch. Rat Man opened a door with a keycard and it led to a long hallway. Rat Man said we could all shower off to which everyone got excited, most of us not actually having a proper shower for a very long time. Newt held my hand as I was about to pull away before asking me quietly if I wanted to join with him. I laughed quietly before agreeing and he snuck me into the boy's shower room. Nothing much happened in there other than us laughing and enjoying the warm water sharing a few kisses while finally being able to relax under the water's warmth. After showering off I quickly wrapped a towel around me before stepping out,, Newt following suit and stepping out right after me earning a few whoops and laughs from Minho and a few of the others. I found a place to change and finally stepped out into a main room whee there were stations set up that looked like medical areas. Newt gave me a quick kiss before we were both told to go into separate directions.

 I sat down in a chair and looked over to see Newt getting a needle so I panicked a little knowing that I would most likely be getting one too. Newt looked up at me before winking and mouthing something that looked to be along the lines of "you'll be okay love" A nurse came over and explained everything that I would be getting and told me to relax. I looked over at Newt who was getting up out of his chair as he smiled at me encouragingly. The nurse told me that if I wanted to sit for a bit that I could otherwise I was free to go and I realized that she had already given it to me. Newt came over and smiled before saying "Now that wasn't so bad was it love?" I laughed a bit before getting up out of the chair, all thoughts of my untrust of the place I was in going to the back of my mind. Newt and I were about to go explore the place when a nurse told me that she needed to run some tests on me. I looked over to Newt who appeared a little wary before I asked if Newt would be able to come with me. The nurse shook her head sadly before saying that I needed to go alone. I nodded before kissing Newt and told him I would see him soon before following the nurse to one of the different rooms.

 I noticed that it was one of the only rooms that had curtains around it. The nurse told me that the doctor would be coming in to see me in a bit and to just wait there for a little bit. I sat on the huge medical chair and swung my legs back and forth a bit in anticipation not quite knowing what to expect when the curtain moved and the doctor walked in. She introduced herself as Dr Crawford and she seemed nice enough as she closed the curtain behind her. She pulled up a chair beside me and asked me if I remembered anything from before the maze. I told her that I had a few memories but they were a little blurry. She asked me to tell her about them so I did, just excluding the more personal ones that involved my personal life in regard to Newt. She asked me why I had been sent into the maze and I pretended that I didn't know why I had been sent up earlier than Thomas and Teresa. After a while of that she hooked up some wires to certain parts of me before saying that they needed to do a scan to make sure that I was healthy before moving on to the next section of tests. I tried my best to relax and my thoughts drifted towards Newt, wondering what him and the other gladers were doing and if he had even thought about where I had gone. After a while I was told that I could sit up as the doctor unplugged me from all of the wires and things I had been hooked up to. The doctor led me outside of the room into the big one before and I saw Teresa waiting with a couple of nurses. I asked where we were going and one of the nurses said that we needed to go somewhere else to have the remaining tests done. We started to walk and I asked Teresa how she was doing. She said that she was fine but from how short her reply was I could tell she was upset about something.  So I decided not to prod any further and walked in silence taking in my surroundings as we walked. I noticed a big room with a huge window so I quickly looked in and managed to see Thomas Newt and Minho among other people that I couldn't fully see all that well. Thomas quickly noticed and got up, walking towards the window quickly. The nurses pushed me gently telling me to go forward so I looked back one more time to see Thomas had reached the window. We turned the corner and out of view of the window so I wasn't able to see any of them anymore. After that turn I knew that something wasn't right. I tried to stop but the nurses wouldn't let me. I panicked and started trying to shove through them until guards were called and they had to restrain me as we continued to walk. It suddenly dawned on me completely. We were still with WCKD. We were right in the palm of their hand. I hoped that Thomas had pieced it together already or would soon because I wasn't sure I was even going to survive another 24 hours in that place.

We got to a small room and went in. I had given up on struggling to get free a few minutes prior but the guards were still wary so they held onto me. The doctor explained everything to Teresa and I and said how we were going to have our memories back from before the maze. I asked how they had them if they weren't WCKD and She gave me a simple answer about how it was just something put in us that was blocking our memories from coming back and that simply removing it from us would be enough to restore our memories. I knew what that meant and there was no way I was letting WCKD fuck with my brain any more than it already had and tried to fight my way out of the grasp of the guards. The doctor suddenly took a syringe and jabbed it into my neck, making me lose consciousness.