From The WICKED Start | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

19. Another recruit

When I was woken up by my alarm clock, which I had set extra quietly, I was still in Newt's arms just as I had been. I didn't know how long I'd been asleep, but it couldn't have been too long because I was quite tired, but forced me to stand up, knowing that talking to Rachel was important.
So I slipped out of bed as quietly as possible, gathered my things and got dressed quickly. Before I opened the flap and climbed in, I looked over at Newt, who was still asleep. He looked so beautiful, the way he was lying there with no shirt and the blanket only up to his waist. I would have loved to snuggle up with him again, but then I climbed into the shaft and made my way to Rachel's room.
The way was really not far and I quickly arrived at the right room, the map in my hand.
I peered carefully through the slits and could see Rachel sitting on her bed, visibly suspicious if and how I would turn up. Quietly I knocked against the flap. She looked up in horror, but then quickly seemed to understand what it meant.
"You must loosen the screws!"
She jumped up from her bed and looked for something small.
It didn't take long for her to climb onto the free bed and open the flap with a small pair of scissors. I jumped out of the shaft and she still looked at me suspiciously.
"Hey," I said, while I was dusting off my clothes.
"Hey...," that sounded pretty confused.
I looked around and discovered a chair, which I took and sat on the wrong way round, while Rachel sat down on her bed.
"So... I need your help and believe me, if I didn't really need you and it wasn't really important, I wouldn't be here right now," I started and mustered her, waiting for a reaction.
But it did not come. She just stared at me expectantly.
"I found a ladder leading directly to the roof. And I know that you think the same way I do about what WICKED does. I know that you feel sorry for the kids every day and you would do anything to help them.
Now you have the opportunity. Help me set them free."
Rachel looked at me with her eyebrows raised. "So you're gonna take them up to the roof and make them jump off? Or do you want to rope them down? How do you figure that? They'll catch them again and they'll punish them even worse. Not to mention what will happen to us. I would help you in a second, Anna, you know that... But with a plan like this..."
"There is a resistance group. They call themselves the Right Arm. If we can contact them, they will help us and get the kids out of here. They will be safe. And they'll probably take you with them."
"That sounds more like a plan. But what about you? Suppose you manage to contact them and the kids are rescued. Will you come with us?" Rachel still didn't seem convinced.
"No, I... I need to get into that maze, okay? I gotta get to Gally and Newt. There's no other way for me."
"You do know that you won't be able to remember anything, don't you?"
Now she looked at me like I was out of my mind. And God, yes, she was right.
"Yes, I know that. And I don't care."
"Oh, man, you must really be in love with this Newt!" she said, but didn't ask any more questions. "All right, what's your plan?"
I told her that I had told Minho about it and that we were going to wait until Janson was on the road again and then try to get to his office via the shafts. That we were going to search there for any clues about the Right Arm and only then would we let Thomas in to contact the group. If we succeeded, we would arrange a night, preferably just before I planned to be sent into the maze, which of course she was not allowed to tell anyone - not even Minho and Thomas - about. Then she, Minho and I would take the children up to the roof through the air shafts and hand them over to the Right Arm, who were guaranteed able to get them out of here. We just had to bet on it, because we couldn't do it.
While I was talking, I showed her the shaft on the map and also where Janson's office was when we found out the level.
Rachel kept nodding and seemed to find the plan plausible.
"And if everything works out, the kids will be safe. And you too," I ended.
"And Minho and Thomas? Don't they want to leave here, too?"
"Oh, Thomas really isn't suffering here, I think he feels comfortable here... And Minho... I think he'll come with you."
Rachel nodded again. "Then get in touch with me when you've made progress. You know how to find me."
She smiled at me and that was the end of the conversation.
Rachel helped me back into the shaft and then closed the flap behind me. I made my way back to my room and breathed a sigh of relief when Newt was still in bed exactly as I had left him.
I quickly undressed again, but left my underwear on. He wouldn't notice anything, after all I might have had to go to the toilet at night or something.
When I lay down next to him again, he grumbled softly and pulled me close to him without opening his eyes.
"Were you gone? You're so cold," he murmured, opened his eyes after all and looked at me tiredly.
"Yes, I had to go to the bathroom. I am freezing."
I hoped he was tired enough to buy that.
But I seemed to be lucky, because Newt closed his eyes again, kissed me on the mouth and then dawned back to sleep. I watched him fall asleep and smiled without really knowing why.
He was by far the nicest, greatest and most beautiful person I had ever met. And I was incredibly grateful that I was the one who was here in his arms.
If we met again in the maze, we simply had to fall in love with each other again. There was no other way. After all, the love I felt for him wouldn't just disappear when I was put in the memory chamber. I was sure of that. Gally's feelings for me had not disappeared either. And Newt would somehow remember me, too. Just like I would remember him.
With this thought I fell asleep.