T R U S T [The Maze Runner || Newt || Book 2]

Chapter 8

Flashback

Clara woke up in a hospital room, she was 13 now, and the last thing she remembered was being dragged to her mother's office, again, by Janson after she'd refused to do her training with him. She sat up and winced slightly when she felt a tight pain in her side. Looking down at her body she noticed a bandage covering a small part of the left side of her chest, she peeled it back slightly and furrowed her eyebrows when she saw a cut running down it that had been stitched up.

"We placed a pain stimulator next to your intercostal muscles." A voice answered the question she was about to ask, and she looked up to see a man she didn't recognize wearing a surgical mask and scrubs. She dropped her shirt back down and glared at him,

"What for?" She questioned, even though she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"Your mother decided that this was the only way you would listen in your classes and continue with your training. She took away Jorge, you continued to disobey her. She took away your visiting privileges, you continued to disobey. You left her with no other option."

"What does it do?"

"As I said, it's a pain stimulator. And I pray you'll never have to find out the extent of what it does. You're free to go back to your room, you can begin training again in a week, once I remove the stitches."

Clara slowly stood up off the bed and glared at the man once more before she left the room, she didn't believe they'd actually inserted that thing into her, she had a feeling they were bluffing – trying to scare her and she scoffed at the thought.

One week later

"Again." Janson shouted, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Clara. She scoffed and rolled her eyes as she walked over to the target and pulled out the knives she'd thrown at it. As she made her way back to the start point she made an effort to glare back at Janson, scowling at him.

Steadying her feet she aimed her knife at the center of the target, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before pulling back the knife and throwing it at the bullseye. And missing it, by a lot.

"Oh no. Missed again." She spat sarcastically, turning to face Janson, but before she got a chance to do anything else an excruciating pain exploded throughout her entire body, agony erupting in every muscle and vein in her system. She crumpled to the floor, loud screams escaping from her that she could barely hear over the ringing in her ears. After a few torturous seconds, the pain subsided and Clara straightened her body out on the floor. Her body was soaked in sweat and her lungs burned as she tried to take in deep breaths, every nerve in her body still tingling from the pain.

"We warned you, Clarissa. The pain stimulator is not to be taken lightly."

She would've laughed if her body wasn't essentially paralyzed from the pain, she couldn't believe her mother was cruel enough to actually do something so evil, let alone to a 13-year-old girl.

"I- I'm... just... a kid" She breathed out, her voice shaking slightly.

"All you have to do is start listening to us, start taking your work seriously. Now, get up, and do the exercise properly."

Before she stood up she lifted a hand, signaling for Janson to come closer to her. He rolled his eyes before stepping forward, placing his hands on his knees and leaning down towards her.

"What?" He asked, his voice laced with irritation. Clara took in a deep breath, smirking before she spoke,

"Fuck... you." She breathed out. Instead of responding Janson just shook his head and stood back. The unbearable pain came back again, harder and faster this time, agonizing aches burning her body from the inside out. Screams came from her again, rubbing her throat raw as her body trembled on the cold wooden floor beneath her. When the pain subsided again the only sound in the room was the soft sobs coming from Clara as she lay on the floor, curled up into herself.

"Get up. Do it again." He demanded, and this time she didn't argue. She pushed herself up from the floor, ignoring the searing pain that flooded her system with every movement, and she picked up another knife off the floor. She barely put in any effort as she stood on the starting point, aiming the knife and the target and throwing it toward it, where it landed dead in the center of the bullseye.

"Now, was that so hard?"

A few hours later Clara lay on her bed, once again curled into herself and sobbing. The pain was still lingering in every part of her body, she could feel it, and it felt like it could come back in full swing at any second. A soft knock at the door sounded and she ignored it, willing whoever it was to go away and leave her alone. Unfortunately, that didn't work, as the sound of the door sliding open came next.

"Raz?"

She recognized Jorge's voice and sobbed slightly harder, she didn't want him to see her like this, in this state of weakness. Her confusion grew when she heard two sets of footsteps and she finally lifted her head and saw Brenda behind the man, a concerned look on her face.

"What happened?" Jorge asked, stepping closer to her. Clara didn't answer, burying her face deeper into her pillow as more tears spilled from her eyes. Next, she felt a weight sitting on the bed next to her and a strong pair of arms wrapped around her, she didn't fight back, twisting so she was more comfortable and sobbing into Jorge's chest.

He rubbed her back as Brenda sat on the other side of her and gently brushed her fingers through her hair. After a few minutes, Clara's sobbing had turned into soft sniffles and hiccups and she was able to breathe normally again, Jorge looked down at her, a sympathetic look growing on his face. Over her time at Wicked, Clara had been doing combat training with him, she was never sure why she had to, something about cranks and angry test subjects, but she never complained, it was the only class she enjoyed. And Jorge had become like a father to her, the one she never had, she knew he was probably worried sick seeing her in this amount of pain.

"Can you tell us what happened, Raz?" Brenda asked softly, she was another one of the kids around Clara's age who worked at Wicked, and they quickly became friends. They were similar in a lot of ways, and Clara found herself forming a small crush on the girl, she never said anything about it, of course, that was a terrifying idea. When she remembered that the pair was waiting for an answer from her, Clara hitched up her shirt, exposing the cut on her side that was now healing and turning into an ugly scar.

"Pain stimulator." Was all she managed to whisper out, and Brenda's eyebrows furrowed in anger as she looked down at it. She felt Jorge's breath quicken and realized his anger was growing too, he had always hated what Wicked was doing to kids, which is why he opted to be a Berg pilot instead of anything else, only changing his mind when he was asked to train Clara, which he was happy to do. Brenda pulled Clara into a hug, whispering quietly in her ear,

"Someday we'll be bigger, Raz. We'll get out of this place."