Disconnection • Newt • Maze Runner

15 - Need Each Other

Aspen stared in astonishment around the room. The rows of people, his age, Gladers.

They weren't the only Maze.

They sat across some guys who were explaining what happened when they escaped.

"They pulled us out of the Maze and brought us here."

Newts brows furrowed as he thought of the casualties. "What about the rest? The other people left behind in the Maze, what happened to them?"

The boy shook his head, sorrow glazing over his dark brown eyes. "I don't know. I guess W.C.K.D. still has them."

Aspen tried to tune them out, instead staring over at a boy in particular sitting alone. He eyed the boy with suspicious but also curiosity, before he was dragged from him thoughts as Janson and some guards walked in.

"Good evening, gentlemen. Ladies. You all know how this works. If you hear your name called, please rise in an orderly fashion, join my colleagues behind me, where they will escort you to the eastern wing. Your new lives are about to begin."

He rattled off some names, before bidding them all a goodbye and exiting the room.

Aspen gaze floated back to the boy, as he quickly got up from his chair and stalked over to him. Newt watched as he walked away, the seat next to him suddenly empty.

Aspen stole himself a seat in front of the boy, who looked up curiously, but said nothing.

"You've been here the longest, right?"

The boy nodded warily.

"Okay, so I'm assuming your observant, seeing as your all alone, and staring at everything in sight. So I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you're not stupid, and you can see what's going on here. Am I right?"

The boy glanced around him cautiously. "What's your name?" Finally, some words.

"Aspen."

"I'm Aris. I don't think we should talk here, but I'll come get you tonight, okay? Through the vents." Aspen nodded in affirmation. "And, uh... Bring Thomas."

Aspen furrowed his brows before nodding once more and getting up, heading back to his table. He took a seat next to Newt, who regretfully decided to ask questions.

"What was that all about?"

Aspen turned flirtatiously. "What, jealous that I talked to someone other than you?" He smirked seductively.

Newt rolled his eyes, but the reddish tinge coating his cheeks contradicted his movements. "Just curious."

Aspen knocked the boy with his shoulder, finally digging into his food, though he was more playing with it than eating it. Suspicion riddled his thoughts and the idea of eating food in which your captures provided, wasn't one he was too fond of.

The room they'd been provided with was quite nice, Aspen taking a lower bunk below Newt's.

That night, Aspen shook Thomas awake, clasping a hand over his mouth, before motioning to come with him. Aris stayed below in the vents, and Aspen guided Thomas towards them before they all started crawling through.

Thomas pressed Aris with questions, of course. But they trekked on, before arriving at a sort of crossroads, where Aris pointed through a transparent vent below, and they watched as a doctor guided a body through a door. Then another, each body covered in a thick layer of machinery.

"What the hell was that?" Thomas asked, an actually understandable question.

"They bring in new ones every night like clockwork." Aris explained.

Aspen titled his head as it clicked in his brain. "They aren't taking them to a safe haven, their taking them here..."

"I don't think anyone ever really leaves this place."

Another day passed, and once again Janson rattled off names, to go to the 'safe haven'.

Thomas stood aggressively, making a scene of himself as usual. Only Aspen didn't stop him, he knew what he was doing.

Thomas stalker towards the door they'd taken the others through. "Whoa, hang on. You weren't called." The man stopped him with a shove.

"Yeah, I know. I'm just gonna be a second."

"This is a restricted area kid." Another shove.

"I just wanna see my friend. Can you let me through?" Thomas was all up in the man's face.

"Get your ass back in that chair." The guard spoke through gritted teeth.

Thomas began to walk away, before rushing forward in an attempt to get through the guards. Obviously it failed, and Aspen along with the other Gladers rushed towards him, pulling him back.

Janson stalked through the door. "What's happening here? Thomas? I thought we could trust each other. Aspen?"

Aspen held onto Thomas' shoulder, squeezing it as Janson motioned to the guards as they gripped onto Aspen's wrist, dragging him away. He knew better than to fight against it, but what he hadn't expected was to be dragged away to an empty room.

A doctor walked in, syringe in her frail hand.

Aspen struggled against the grip of the two guards as they held him in place, and the syringe was placed in his neck, fluids injected.

His vision blurred and his heartbeat slowed. He could barely form a coherent thought, before he crumbled to the floor, the grip of the guards gone completely as the boy fell unconscious.

That wasn't part of the plan.

Newt's heart began to race, as the group of them rushed through the building, looking out trying to find Teresa.

Newt would've been cautious about trying to escape the people who had supposedly saved them. But they took Aspen, and whether or not he believed that this was truly W.C.K.D. he wasn't about to risk losing Aspen.

If he lost Aspen, he wouldn't know what to do with himself. Hell, call it codependency, call it what you want, but Newt needed Aspen, and Aspen needed him.

Lights shone through his eyelids, but he couldn't conjure the strength to open them. He could hear frantic footsteps around him, as workers rushed in and out of the room.

Aspen hadn't a clue where he was, and his mind was still being rather tricky, he could barely think.

But despite his lack of coherent thoughts, he knew one thing...

He needed Newt.