"Watch out!" the girl in front of me pulls me away from a loose stone falling from the ceiling.
We've been walking trough the dark tunnel for a few minutes already. The tunnel is made of stone and seems dangerous.
The gladers don't talk much. We all follow the girl. I don't even know her name. She's walking trough the tunnel hurriedly.
I don't question anything. I just follow her. There is time for talking after we escape. She said that too.
"Stop!" she suddenly stops walking and turns to the right. There's a door with a code to open it. The girl types in a few numbers and it opens.
We walk into the room. Newt turns on the light. My eyes have to readjust to it for a few seconds. Then I inspect my surroundings.
The room is big and has a high ceiling. Everywhere are shelves with boxes and supplies. I want to look at it more closely but the girl tells us to keep moving.
We walk trough another hallway and end up in a huge hall. It's empty except for a few
shelves. On the other side of the hall is a gate. It's closed.
The girl runs over to the gate and pulls a card out of her pocket to open it. At the second try it works.
Slowly the gate opens and reveals a desert. As far as I can see from here is sand. Orange sand. Or yellow, maybe it's the light.
The gladers gather around the opened gate. The girl raises her voice "What you are seeing here is the scorch. It's hot as hell out there. Shield yourself from the sun if you can. I know a place near by where we can find shelter for now." she nods at us "Come on."
We walk out of the building and into the scorch. I'm blinded by the light and the sun is burning on my face.
I blink a few times before I take one deep breath and walk after the girl. Everyone follows after us.
When I look back at where we came from, my breath gets caught in my throat. Behind us is a giant wall. To the left and to the right I can't see the endings. It's taller than the maze walls.
I advert my gaze and watch the gladers instead. They struggle with the heat as much as I do. Minho is complaining about everything as usual. Jeff is helping Ethan with a scarf, to shield his face from the sun.
Where's Thomas? I search for him in the back before I find him somewhere in the middle with Newt. I walk over to them.
"Hey." I say, not really knowing what elso to say.
"Ruby, it's good you're here. Do you know her?" Newt asks me, motioning at the girl in front of us.
Thomas seems interested in my answer too.
"No, I don't remember her but she feels familiar. I recognise her." I tell them the truth.
"She seemed very glad to see you. I think you mean a lot to her." Thomas tells me.
"I hope she'll tell me something about me."
"And about the whole bloody world. We don't know anything." Newt says upset.
The memory loss really is shitty. The girl will have to explain the whole world to us. I'm looking forward to it.
I have no idea what happened with humanity, but it must have been something bad if it makes people send teenagers with erased memory up into a giant maze. It's sick.
After about half an hour a building comes into our view. It's half underground. There are windows. No doors. One window is shattered. The girl climbs trough it and disappears into the building.
I glance at the boys before going after her. I nearly fall into the sand because suddenly it's going down hill.
When I arrive inside, the girl is standing there and waiting for all of us to get inside.
It takes the boys a bit to get inside. We all gather in front of the girl and wait for her to start explaining.
I guess we are safe in here for now. It looks like an old shopping mall. It's silent in here.
The girl looks at me for a few seconds.
"I am Teresa. You don't remember me but I know you, all of you."
Again here eyes land on me. What's going on? Does she want to tell me something?
"I know you all have questions, but first of all please let me talk to my sister." she looks almost pleading.
My eyes widen. I gasp.
"Sister?" I ask her shocked.
She smiles, there are tears forming in her eyes again.
"Yeah. I missed you, Ruby."
I feel tears burning in my eyes too. I don't remember her, but I know that she is telling the truth. And I feel like crying.
I run up to her and hug her. Tightly we hold on to eachother. She cries into my shoulder and I let a few tears fall too.
I have a sister. I have a family. She's wonderful.
"I'm so sorry." she cries "I wanted to get you out of there sooner, but I couldn't."
"Don't be sorry, you safed us." I tell her. I feel the urge to make her feel happy.
"We are not safe yet." she whispers "But I won't let anything happen to you from now on. I love you, Ruby."
Even though I don't remember her, I know that I love her too. She's my sister.
"I love you too."
She laughs. I smile at her. My sister.
"Now I think I owe you an explanation. You better sit down." Teresa lets go of me and turns to the gladers behind me.
My friends and Thomas are smiling at us. They are happy for me.
We all sit down in a circle. I sit between my sister and my boyfriend. Thomas lays his hand on my thigh softly. I lean against him.
Teresa looks at us and smiles. Then she take a deep breath.
"I don't know where to start. I will tell you about the world first. It's important for you to understand the situation we are in and why you are special. I'll tell you the short version."
"A long time ago solar eruptions destroyed big parts of the world and made it what it is now. The scorch. Then the flare came. A deadly virus that turns people into zombie like creatures. It takes their humanity."
"The flare killed ninety nine percent of the world population. It's unstoppable and there's no cure. But there are people who get it but aren't affected by it. The immunes. Only very few people are immune against the flare."
"Most of you are. That's why you are special. People want to get behind your secret. They want to find a cure. Wicked is an organisation that examines your brain activity in certain situations and circumstances."
That's a lot of information to take in. And she's not even finished.
"Wicked erased your memory and put you and a group of girls into several mazes. They-"
"Wait, what?!" I look at her shocked "There is a maze with girls?"
Of course there is. And I'm the only one who's been put into the boys maze.
Teresa nods at me.
"Amazing." I mumble sarcastically.
"Anyway, many people aren't okay with Wicked and with what they are doing. Just like me. There is an army hiding in the mountains somewhere. My plan is to find them so that you get the life you deserve."
It's silent for a few seconds. Everyone looks at my sister thankfully. I smile at her.
"Thank you." I say. She returns my smile.
Teresas expression becomes serious again.
"There are a few things I have to tell you because you can't remember them. Do you guys want me to tell you them in private or-?"
I look around. The gladers are my family. They are allowed to hear everything I can hear. The few mean boys we left in the maze.
"I'll tell them anyway." I say. The others nod at me and than at Teresa in approval.
"Okay. Thomas?"
"Yes?" he looks at her expectantly.
"You know Ethan, right?"
All eyes are on the boy with the brown hair who seems to be one year younger than the rest of us.
"Yes?" Thomas says with a frown.
"He's your little brother." she tells him.
Thomas and I gasp in unison. Ethan looks shocked. Then he gets up, runs in Thomas direction and attacks him with a hug.
My heart melts at the sight of them. Now that I know, it's very obvious. They are both kind of clumsy but heroic. And they look similar.
"I liked you from the beginning!" Ethan says excitedly. Thomas grins and pats him on the back brotherly.
While they part, still smiling at eachother, Teresa continues.
"Newt, you have a sister too. But she's in the maze, I'm sorry."
Newts face falls. Oh no. He shouldn't go through this. Without thinking I go over to him and wrap my arms around him. He returns my hug.
"Thanks." he whispers into the crook of my neck.
"Of course." I whisper back.
Teresa gives him a minute to calm down. I crawl back to the place between her and Thomas, who is still chatting with his brother.
"Also, a few of you aren't immune. I don't know who specifically, but I suggest you don't get too close to infected people. I hope we won't meet cranks in the first place."
Cranks. That's what they call people infected with the flare. I wonder what they are like.
"If you want to know things about your past or have any questions, I will tell you everything you want to know. I grew up with most of you. I hope you trust me."
She grew up with us. That means we all grew up together. I did know Thomas before the maze.
"I suggest we rest a bit in here. We can go into the direction of the mountains tomorrow morning."
Everyone agrees and soon the gladers wander around the shopping mall, looking for supplies and stuff we can use. Me and a few others including my boyfriend, his brother, my sister, Minho, Newt and Jeff stay where we are.
We make a smaller circle. I'm still sitting between my sister and Thomas. Ethan is sitting beside him.
Since I have a lot of questions, I turn to Teresa.
"Were we friends before the maze?" I motion at my friends.
"Yeah, we all were. Best friends." she responds with a small smile.
"And me and Thomas?"
"You were a couple before the maze. I'm glad you're together now too." Teresa seems genuinely happy about that.
I look at Thomas "I knew it!"
He chuckles "Yeah, otherwise it would surprise me."
Now it's Newts turn to ask.
"What's my sisters name? How is she?"
"Her name is Sonya. Well, actually Lizzy. But Sonja is the name Wicked gave her."
"Wait, what? Wicked gave her a new name?" Newt asks with a deep frown.
"All of us. Before you ask, I don't know yours. Only mine and Rubys."
"My name is not Ruby?!" I gasp and look at her shocked.
"Our parents gave you the name 'Annabelle'. I always called you Anna. But it was a long time ago. Before the maze you called yourself Ruby."
Annabelle. It's a good thing they changed it into Ruby. I don't like it at all.
Teresa sees my expression and laughs "You never liked it. My name was Delara by the way. I was called Deedee."
"Now that's a pretty name."
She smiles.
"But where are our parents? Why did they let Wicked take us?"
Teresa swallows "Ruby, our parents aren't alive. They got the flare."
"Oh." I'm not really sad. Maybe disappointed, but I don't remember them.
Thomas wraps an arm around my shoulder and kisses me on my head. I lean into his side.
"It's not an insult, but why are you helping us now? Not three years ago?" Minho asks Teresa.
She looks at him with guilt filling her eyes.
"I believed in Wicked in the past. I thought we were doing the right thing. They manipulated me. I'm sorry. But I realised that there was no way torturing children is good."
"It took me a whole month to make a plan. A guy inside of Wicked helped me. He insisted to stay there. I think he wants to get behind Wickeds secrets and work for the right arm as a spy. From him I got the information about the army."
I believe her. Minho seems to believe her too, because he sends her a small smile.
"How much food did you pack up?" she then asks us.
"Four sandwiches and a water bottle per person." Newt answers her.
"That means we'll have to get food somewhere on our way to the right arm." she says, deep in her own thoughts.
The conversation about the past seems to be over. Maybe the others want to ask Teresa in private. I move to look at Thomas.
He turns to me too.
"Wanna look for a place to sleep?" I ask him.
"Yeah, that's a good idea."
"Ethan are you coming with us?"
The brunette boy gets up enthusiastically and shakes his head 'yes'.
Thomas takes my hand and helps me up. I look back and see Teresa, Jeff, Newt and Minho deep in conversation.
-
"Guys, I found mattresses!" Ethan showes us two mattresses laying on the floor. We are in a small room with all kinds of stuff laying on the floor.
The room is too small to sleep in. Ethan and Thomas take the mattresses out of the room and put them outside in the hallway near the room where the others are at.
The gladers divided and built themselves beds all over the shopping mall. We are going to stay here for the night.
"I guess I get one mattress, you two can share the other one?" Ethan says, already putting his mattress on the other side of the hallway.
Thomas and I put our mattress in a corner and sit down onto it.
We are together for more than two weeks but we never once slept in the same bed. Hammocks are too tiny for two people.
Thomas lets himself fall onto the mattress with his back and motions for me to lay down too. I make myself comfortable beside him.
The mattress is small and there is no space left between us.
I still somehow manage to get even closer to Thomas. I lay my head onto his chest and wrap my arm around him. He takes his arms around my waist and caresses my back in a calming way.
"We actually made it." he whispers.
"I know, crazy right." I whisper back at him.
"It is. And I'm glad you're okay."
"Same for you. By the way it's so cool we both have siblings."
"Yeah it is. Ethan is great. He seemed familiar when I met him."
"He really is. He's like you in small." I giggle.
His chest vibrates under my head as he laughs silently.
I move so that I'm hovering above him. Than I kiss him. He buries one hand in my hair and pulls me closer to him.
Like I said, I can't resist his laugh.
I let my hand slide over his arms slowly and kiss him more passionately. He gets the message and moves his hands under my shirt and over my back and my waist.
I shiver in a good way. Slowly I place my leg on the other side of his torso and move my body against his body.
He groans into the kiss and I grin against his lips. He starts kissing my jawline down to my neck as I play with his hair. My other hand lays on his chest.
"Dude, I'm still here! What the hell do you think you're doing?" a voice makes us part in surprise. I fall off of Thomas and into the mattress.
Oh, shit. Ethan is still here.
"Sorry, Ethan." Thomas chuckles, before he pulls me close to his chest by my waist. "Sleep well, darling." he mumbles.
"You too." I say and close my eyes.
A/n:
Sibling reveal wohoo.
I hope you enjoyed xx