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

Chapter 10

Flashback

Clara winced as the alcohol-soaked cotton pad touched the large cut across her back. Brenda apologized quietly as she cleaned the cut, softly dabbing the cotton pad along it. Clara was 15 now, and she'd received the large injury from none other than Janson himself, during their combat training – which she still didn't understand the purpose of. A giant cut from the top of her left shoulder down to the bottom of her right backside, just above her hip, luckily it wasn't too bad, but Brenda insisted she clean and stitch it up.

"Tell me again how this happened?" She asked as she finished cleaning it up, moving to grab the needle and thread. Clara flinched as she felt the sharp pain of the needle entering her skin, tightening her grip on the edge of the bed, her knuckles turning white. Brenda mumbled another 'sorry' but continued to stitch up the cut.

"Janson."

"Of course. What did he do?"

"We were doing combat training, knife work, and the asshole wasn't actually supposed to cut me. He's meant to tag me and we do the exercise again. But of course, he has some sort of vendetta against me, so he decided to slice my back open apparently."

"Asshole." She muttered as she finished the last stitch, quickly brushing another cotton pad over it again to clean it off one last time. "All done. You can put your shirt back on."

"Thanks, Bren." Clara responded and the girl turned away to clean up her equipment as Clara attempted to put her shirt on. She winced as she tried to pull it on, failing miserably and realizing she couldn't bend her arms the way she needed to without popping a stitch. Brenda turned back around and chuckled when she saw her friend struggling, smiling, and walking over to her. She took the shirt out of Clara's hands and nodded for her to lift her arms above her head, then she gently pulled the shirt over them and her head. Clara thanked her and slowly lowered her arms, stopping when they were halfway down and wrapping them around Brenda's waist, pulling the girl to stand in between her legs. She smirked and leaned up, moving one of her hands to Brenda's face and pulling it down the rest of the way, capturing the girl's lips with her own. She felt Brenda smiling into her lips as she kissed back, her hands finding their way to Clara's head, threading her fingers through her long brown hair. Brenda laughed as she pulled back, keeping her hands on either side of Clara's face, who was smirking back up at her.

"Somebody's gonna catch us one day, you know? These rooms aren't exactly private." Brenda said, gesturing at the big glass wall.

"Let them," Clara responded, pulling Brenda's face back towards hers, connecting their lips again. A soft knock at the door grabbed their attention and Clara pulled back to see who it was, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of Rachel, who was smiling awkwardly.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt. I need Clara, it's important." She said, before closing the door and waiting for the girl. Turning her back towards the pair.

"Maze business?" Brenda asked, stepping back from Clara, who slowly stood up.

"Maze business." She confirmed, pressing a soft kiss to Brenda's lips before joining Rachel at the door. The other girl noticed the slight wince on Clara's face with each step,

"You okay?" She asked,

"I'm good. Just a training... accident."

"So how long have you and her been, you know..."

"Not long." Clara chuckled, "You won't tell my mother, right?"

"Of course not." The other girl said, her bright green eyes sparkling as she smiled. After a few minutes, they reached the main lab compound, where Theodore, Thomas, Aris, and Teresa were waiting for them. Clara noticed several screens were active, all of them showing various boys of different ages sitting in individual rooms.

"Thank you for joining us." Clara heard her mother speaking and saw her behind the other kids, standing next to Janson, Chancellor Anderson, and McVoy. Rachel moved forward to stand with the rest of the group, and Clara followed her, standing next to Aris as her mother continued speaking,

"As you've probably already noticed, on the screens in front of you are several of our test subjects. We're proud to introduce you to subjects who will be going into our first maze, Group A."

Clara's eyes scanned over the various screens in front of them and she spotted the blonde boy and the Asian boy she'd seen a few years before. She felt a prick of guilt in her gut, at the idea that these completely innocent boys were going to be robbed of their memories and thrown into a giant torture chamber that she'd helped design. Her eyes settled on a boy who was far younger than the rest, with brown curly hair and a chubby face that had a big smile on it. The prick of guilt turned into a wave as the full realization of what they were doing hit her and she had to stop herself from running out of the room.

"Why is it only boys?" Rachel asked, and Clara realized she'd failed to notice that fact,

"We thought it was best to separate the genders to avoid unwanted variables and complications."

"You mean pregnancy?" Clara deadpanned,

"That's correct. We'd prefer this option over an involuntary hysterectomy."

"Wouldn't be the worst thing you've done," Clara muttered under her breath, quietly enough that nobody heard.

"You'll all be glad to hear we can begin the maze trials within a few months, maybe even a few weeks." The Chancellor beamed, and the guilt tugged in Clara's system once again as she looked over the faces of the innocent boys in front of her. This time she didn't stop herself from storming out of the room, ignoring the calls of her mother behind her. Tears blurred her sight as she stormed down the hallways, failing to notice the footsteps behind her. As she turned a corner a hand wrapped around her throat, slamming her into the wall and lifting her off her feet. She looked up and saw her brother's face above her, his nostrils flaring and his eyes wide.

"Listen here, Rissa, you need to get over yourself. I don't give a shit about your feelings, I saw how you looked at those test subjects, your sympathy is obvious."

Clara tried to speak but his fingers were practically crushing her throat, and all she could do was gasp for breath, desperately clawing at his hands.

"I don't care how guilty you feel, the cure is more important than anything. I don't care if you wanna throw some sort of stupid pity party for those kids, but DON'T ruin this opportunity for me, I'm about to develop the largest scientific research project that's ever been done, and if you ruin it for me? I'll make the rest of your life a living hell. Are we clear?"

He finally loosened his grip on her throat and dropped her to the ground, she fell to her knees, wrapping a hand around her neck and gasping for breath. Before she could stand and walk away he grabbed a handful of her hair and tilted her head upwards to look at him,

"I said, are we clear?"

She nodded before smacking his arm away from her, he scoffed and walked away, leaving her sitting on the ground, a hand still rubbing her throat. She sat up and leaned back, slamming her head against the wall behind her in frustration as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

She knew she couldn't keep doing this.