Newt: A Broken Boy ↠ The Maze Runner

20

Minho spent most of the next few days blanking me. He was obviously mad, probably about the fact that I had agreed to let Louis take us to WICKED.  I would've thought it very difficult to blank someone when you're sitting in a truck together all day, every day, but he managed to find a way.

Louis, on the other hand, seemed much happier. He chatted with me for a little, constantly glancing down at the dog, who he had decided to name Deedee, apparently after his little sister, who was almost twelve years younger. Apparently, the family had had to run when the Flare came to their village, but the girl, only five years old, had been left behind. She was immune, and had been thought as some sort of demon. Louis had soon regretted leaving her, but the entire family had had to change their names, leaving him with no way of finding her. He hadn't seen her since.

His parents became cranks in a matter of days, and he was left alone. So he had found Aiden, who was not his brother by blood, but more his partner, or even just his ally. Aiden however, also caught the flare, and became adamant that Louis called him 'brother'. Louis wasn't entirely sure whether or not he was immune, but after Aiden had died, he had gone and gotten himself tested for the Flare, and come off negative. So he was either immune, or just very lucky.

It was on the third day of constant driving that the WICKED compound came into view. It was the same one that we had escaped from two weeks earlier. There was scaffolding over part of the left wing, as a result of us blowing it up. Work seemed to be taking place very efficiently, with the damage not nearly as bad as it was when we left it.

Chuck was gawping at the size of it as soon as it came into view. I remembered a time, a couple of years back, somebody had told me that it was the biggest one, almost twice the size of any other compound, because that was where the first Trials would be centred.

We had been kept in the dark about what the Trials were to be, only being told that there were to be two groups, and that the first Trials were to take place underground (the latter we only found out through Thomas, who was up and around the compound every day). Our brain activity was to be measured, so that WICKED could find what makes an immune's brain different from a crank's.

"You ready?" Louis looked over to us, his expression a mixture of anticipation and concern.

"Yeah," I said in a low voice. "This is all for Deedee. And for the world. And for humanity." I was speaking to myself, reassuring that we - I - was doing the right thing.

Louis flashed one more worried glance at me then looked back to the dirt track, which was now darkening rapidly.

"I still don't get why you're doing this," I heard Minho's voice whispering in my ear. "You were the one saying that we should leave WICKED and all that jazz in the first place. And now you want back in. After all these years of ranting and disagreeing with WICKED's ways, you seem to be thinking that they do, in fact, have good methods."

I frowned, then whispered back, "I never said that WICKED was blimin' good. I only think that something needs to be done about the flare, or we're all going to bloody die, immune or not." I lowered my voice even more, so that Louis couldn't possibly hear me, the said, "Louis needs help desperately. He hasn't got the Flare, heck, he could be immune, but WICKED isn't gonna want  him. He's too old for them. He needs us to do this. To tell you the truth, the whole bloody world needs us to do this, because if we don't, then it's only a matter of time before humanity is in ruins."

Our conversation was cut off, however, because we were properly approaching the compound. We fell into silence, and the only sounds that could be heard were the jumps and rattles of the truck, and Deedee's occasional whimpers.

The truck reached a large gate. A bright light scanned the truck, and the intercom crackled to life.

"What is your purpose?" The voice was male, and not one that I could recall ever hearing.

Louis breathed in, then answered, "I have three of your... subjects." I grimaced at the last word, not liked to be classed as just an experiment, but said nothing.

"Subjects, you say?" The voice sounded interested. "Names?"

Louis looked back at us expectantly, as if waiting for our permission. Chuck was still marvelling at the size of the compound; Minho just stared at him, neither here nor there, leaving it to me. I gave a quick, reassuring nod.

"Uhh... well we have Chuck... um... Minho and... Newt."

"Well, well, well. Bring them through."

The gate opened without a sound, and I felt very out of place in the rattling truck in the eerie silence. Louis must've felt it too, because he drove through very slowly, trying not to make a sound.

The truck came to a stop and Louis jumped out, taking Deedee with him. A girl came out of the darkness, dimly lit by the blueish lights. As she came into proper sight, I recognised her. Teresa.

Louis looked at her too, and to my surprise, he seemed to recognise her as well.

"Deedee...?" It was barely more than a whisper. The dog in his arms looked up expectantly, hearing her name, but Louis didn't seem to notice.

"Deedee..." This time his voice was stronger. "Is that you?" I heard a sharp intake of breath coming from Teresa, and furrowed my eyebrows, confused.

"Wait... Rick? Ricky?" Teresa's blue eyes were widening, in what seemed like understanding. I, on the other hand, still had no clue as to what was going on.

"Yes! Deedee! It's me!" Louis jumped forwards in an attempt to embrace Teresa, but she pushed him away. Deedee the dog whimpered. It was at that moment it dawned on me: Teresa was Louis' little sister. The one that he and his family had abandoned.

"Wait, Deedee-" Louis began, but Teresa cut him off.

"You abandoned me. You left me. I WAS ALONE, FIVE YEARS OLD, AND ALONE!" I had never seen Teresa like this, completely out of control. Tears were streaming down her face, but she didn't even seem to notice. "You called me a demon. Just because the darts didn't affect me. You, the one person I thought I could trust, literally disowned me. And I hate you for it."

Louis' face fell, but he then took a breath and hardened his features.

"For seven years I have searched, and searched, and searched for you. Now, when I finally see you again, you tell me you hate me. And in case you're wondering, I'm not Ricky anymore; I'm Louis."

Teresa put out her hand slightly mockingly for him to shake saying, "Teresa." He took it.

"Come on. We'll talk about this later. We need to get these subjects in, and just so you know, Minho, Newt, you're in some big trouble. Now let us go."

And with that, she left, leaving us all standing there, more than slightly confused.

~

A/N: Hehe. I'm evil (this is so late). But I was on safari, which was awesome. But I had no wifi. Or mobile data. Or anything really. So I've had this written for ages but haven't been able to update. I hope it was worth the wait. Also, this might not make too much sense if you haven't read The Kill Order, but just... roll with it. Baii.