Error | The Maze Runner / Newt ² ✓

{1.8}

Disclaimer:

I don't own The Maze Runner, nor do I own a copy of it on DVD. I live a sad life.

-✼-

I woke up to blistering heat, unable to sleep through the waves of scorching air that were blasting over me. My skin was slick with sweat and my hair matted down from it. Judging by the light outside, I had only been sleeping for one or two hours, but I felt relatively rested. Whatever W.I.C.K.E.D had done gave me energy.

Since everyone else was still asleep, I settled on thinking about the voice in my head. It had said "Hello" as if it wanted me to respond. The stupid thing sounded mechanical, like a robot, not a human voice.

"You look troubled."

I jumped in fright and turned to see Aris sitting with his knees tucked to his chest, peeking out from above his bent legs. My breath came out in a slow sigh of relief to calm my racing heartbeat.

"You were asleep a minute ago," I whispered to him accusingly.

"You were in a trance for three minutes," he replied in a blank tone, watching me under a calculating gaze as if I was a wild animal about to run away. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing, Aris," I lied in a slightly snappy tone. When we lapsed into a tense silence because of it, I thought, What the hell, and opened my mouth to speak again. "When you talk to Thomas in your head...how do you do it? How do you just talk?"

Aris shifted his legs and shrugged, eyes trained on the ground. "It's kinda hard to explain. I dunno what he does, but I picture the words in my brain as I say them. Make the voice in my head speak."

I nodded and pursed my lips in thought. Closing my eyes, I forced the words to come clearly in my brain.

"Hi."

Nothing. I huffed before trying again, doing what Aris suggested and actually picturing the words popping up behind my eyelids. The letters slowly formed in the darkness, first an 'H', and then an 'I' right beside it.

"Hi."

"HELLO."

I gave a jolt when the robotic voice spoke. It wasn't really a noise, so much as something I was able to just sense. It was loud, a burst of energy in my brain that sent a stab of discomfort through it. I focused hard on the next few words to get them to send, increasing my headache from the amount of concentration it took.

"What are you?"

"ERROR: MESSAGE NOT COMPATIBLE."

I took that as a sign that my conversation with the object in my head was over. Suddenly, my eyelids felt heavier than before as if I was hit with the realization I needed more sleep. I found myself curling back into Newt's sleeping form and ignoring Aris' confused gaze completely. I couldn't give him an answer myself as I drifted back into a deep slumber within seconds.

"RETRYING. LET."

A buzz like bees fluttering around my head.

"ME SHOW. YOU."

Darkness. But I didn't feel alone or scared; it was like there was someone with me. They seemed to take my hand and guide me out of the colorless void until I was standing in an all-white room. It was empty of furniture and lacked windows, but the lights above made it bright. I seemed to be waiting for something. But what, I wasn't sure.

"LOOK CLOSER."

The voice surprised me once again, but I tried to do what it said and fixated my stare on what was around me. My focus tuned more deeply into what I was seeing. At first, there was just the mild prick in the back of my head, but I couldn't figure it out. And then I realized what it was.