Disclaimer: I do not own The Maze Runner Series, any characters(besides my own), or any of the ideas. All rights belong to James Dashner.
Fair warning: This chapter will have a few quotes from the book. I'm sorry, please don't sue me!
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I ignored everything going on around me as Gally and I locked eyes. I didn't dare look away even for a second, afraid that if I did, he would disappear again. I immediately noticed something off with him, worse than before. I slowly got to my feet and took a few steps forward, my eyes finally drifting from Gally to the unknown woman in front of me. I shot her a look that could kill as my hands began to shake with fury.
"What did you do to him?!"
She tried to play coy, but I wasn't having any of it.
"Whatever do you mean, Ms. Barton?"
"Quit your klunk, lady! I know Gally better than anyone else! Did you actually think I wouldn't notice something off with him?! What. Did. You. Do."
She ignored me and began talking again.
"There is, of course, one final Variable."
She stepped back and I stepped forward, ready to attack her if I had to. My eyes locked on Gally as his body began to tremble. His bloodshot eyes stood out against the pasty white skin on his face and I watched as his lips pressed together, the skin around them twitching as if he was trying to speak but couldn't. My nails dug into my palms as I watched with pure rage bubbling up inside me, desperately trying to escape. Thomas called Gally's name to try to coax him into telling him what was wrong. Gally struggled with each word that left his mouth, causing my insides to burn with hatred for these people.
"They...can control me...I don't-"
His hand shot to his throat as if he were being choked and it took every ounce of willpower I had not to attack this woman right then and there.
"I...have...to..."
He finally stilled and let his body relax and I kept my guard up, knife in hand, ready for anything. Before I knew what had happened, Gally had thrown a dagger at Thomas and Chuck jumped in front of it. I watched with sickening horror as the knife embedded itself into Chuck's chest. He made a gurgling noise and hit the floor, blood pouring freely from his wound. It was then that I knew he was going to die. They made Gally try to kill Thomas and it ended up killing Chuck instead. My Chuck, my Glade brother, was bleeding out right in front of me, twitching uncontrollably, tears streaming from his widened eyes and down his sweet, pudgy face. That was when I lost it. I flung myself at the woman, tackling her to the ground as I screamed in fury and agony, spittle flying from my mouth.
I haphazardly slashed at the woman as she struggled to get me off her, my eyes too blurry to see well because of the never ending stream of tears falling down my face. Somewhere to my side, Thomas was beating poor Gally to death, but I didn't have the sanity to stop him at the moment. I was too focused on trying to exterminate the whole problem.
"You evil shuck-faced bitch! I'll kill you!"
I dropped the knife with a clatter as sobs racked my small frame and I desperately punched at her with what little strength I had left. After all my efforts, the only thing I managed to do was slice her cheek and bust her lip. She finally pushed me off her and I crawled to Chuck, pulling his lifeless body into my arms and broke down. I screamed and cried and begged for him to wake up, but all my efforts were in vain. Chuck was gone. Dead. I screamed in agony and clutched him to my chest, letting my tears soak his curly hair. An inexplicable pain worked it's way through my entire body as I held Chuck tightly against me. I swore to protect him and I couldn't even do that much.
I grabbed at his hands as I cried, finally noticing he was clutching something tightly in his palm. I pried his hand open and my heart shattered at the site. There in his blood stained hand was the little wooden figurine I gave him. I snatched it up quickly and finally stood up, walking over to where Thomas was literally beating Gally to death. I was sure he was already dead from the damage Thomas had done. As I spoke in a barely audible whisper, my voice cracked dangerously, causing Thomas to momentarily regain his grip on reality.
"That's enough. It's over, Tommy."
He looked up at me with tear stained eyes and I gently pulled him off of Gally. I placed the wooden figurine in his hand with tear filled eyes. Chuck would've wanted him to keep it. Then, I slowly knelt beside Gally, pulling his head on my lap as I sobbed. Thomas made his way back to Chuck, pulling him close as he began to sob and scream, begging for him to wake up just like I had done. It crushed my soul to have to hear him break down like that. I drowned out everything around me, focusing only on Gally as I stroked his hair and gently wiped blood from his broken, lifeless face. My tears soaked his cheeks as they poured from my red, puffy eyes like waterfalls. Before I knew it, I was being snatched up as I faintly heard gunshots echo all around me. I kept tuning out the commotion surrounding me, not caring whether I lived or died anymore. For a split second, I even hoped that they'd go ahead and shoot me right in the head. I let the person drag me to my fate as I stared at Gally and Chucks' stiff, lifeless bodies with dead eyes, my world slowly crumbling around me.
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We had been hauled onto a bus and within a few hours, we arrived at our destination. The rescuers shuffled us through the doors and up the stairs and into a huge dormitory with bunk beds lined against one of the walls, red blankets lying on top of them. On the opposite side were dressers and tables and I couldn't help but notice the numerous windows that lined the walls of the room, their bright green curtains drawn shut. The walls were painted a bright yellow and all the colors clashed and began to give me a headache.
My eyes fell on the adults in the room. There were nine or ten of them, men and women, and they were dressed in black pressed pants and neat button up shirts. A bad feeling worked it's way into my gut at the familiar attire. They reminded me of WICKED. I dropped it and forced myself to eat some of the pizza they gave us before they announced it was time for bed.
They explained that the girls and boys would be separated, so they took Teresa and I to our rooms. I was a little suspicious when they told us we would have our own rooms instead of sharing like the boys, but I let it go, far too tired to argue with them. I quickly mumbled a goodnight to Teresa when I walked into my room and plopped onto the bed. I had gotten new clothes and bathroom things earlier, so I forced myself to get up and go get a shower before bed. I showered as quickly as possible before getting out and getting dressed.
I stared into the lone mirror above the sink, finally seeing my face for the first time. I looked exactly like Newt had said, albeit the dark bags underneath my eyes and the cuts. I looked at my neck, staring at the barely noticeable scar that slightly bulged from my skin. I ran a finger over it as I thought back to Noah attacking me in the Glade. My lip quivered slightly as I realized that I would honestly rather go back to that day than be here right now without Gally and Chuck. I forced myself to clear my mind of thoughts of the two boys as a loud sigh escaped my lips. I picked up my towel and began to rub my hair, trying my best to dry it.
I was still drying my hair when I walked out of the bathroom and had a hand clamped over my mouth. I tried to bite at the hand and scream, but it was no use. The intruder held me still as someone else blindfolded me. They dragged me away as I tried to fight back helplessly. When we finally reached our destination, I was thrown into a room and the door was locked behind me. I pounded on the door for a minute before I turned around and came face to face with a man that resembled a rat. My nose scrunched up in disgust as I stared at him. I looked behind him at the foreboding medical table before taking a step back and glaring at him.
"Who are you?"
"I am Assistant Director Jansen. We will no longer be needing your services, unfortunately. So, I'm going to have the doctors remove your SWIPE and send you back out into the world."
I immediately asked the first question that came to my mind, my eyes sharp as I watched the man's every move.
"You're not taking anything out of me. You're with WICKED, aren't you? We were never really rescued, right?"
A knowing smirk inched across his face, causing my insides to twist. My glare darkened and I stayed pressed against the wall, not trusting this man for a moment.
"Very perceptive, aren't you? Do you not want your memories back?"
I looked at the floor, then back at him. The silence was palpable before I finally managed to speak.
"You're sending me to die, aren't you?"
A small, cruel laugh escaped his throat as he observed me intently.
"Quite the observant one, aren't you? Yes, I suppose you could say that we are sending you back into the Scorch to die. You're expendable, my dear Clara. And your uses have run out."
I clenched my fists as I searched in the man's eyes. He had on a poker face, not letting a single emotion show, frustrating me.
"Why not just shoot me now and get it over with? If you send me out there and I actually manage to survive, I'll come back and kill every last one of you until WICKED's extinct."
The man let a little frustration show before wiping it clear, his face a mere mask, hiding his true feelings and intentions.
"Hm. Let's just say...We need you in the Scorch for one final test before you die."
"Newt and the others will know something's wrong once they find out I'm gone."
He looked at me curiously for a long moment before folding his arms and motioning with his fingers.
"I already have a plan for that. You'll know your purpose when the time is right."
Before I knew it, people were grabbing me from all sides, forcing me onto the table as they shot some kind of liquid into my arm. I desperately struggled against their hold, to no avail. I felt myself getting sleepy and I could hardly keep my eyes open. They lowered a mask onto my face and I couldn't fight back sleep anymore. I distinctly remember the feeling of worms burrowing down into my ears as I finally lost consciousness. The last thing I heard was Jansen's voice.
"Don't worry. When you wake up, you'll remember everything. Not that it'll matter, though, since you won't survive the Scorch for long anyway."
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I was in an all white space, with TV's lined as far as the eye could see. I stood completely still for a good ten minutes before I finally willed my legs to move forward. I walked up to one to see one of my dreams from the Glade playing over and over again, the burning house and the maniacal people. I quickly realized that these weren't dreams, they were memories. The floor underneath me began to move like a conveyor belt, pausing just long enough for me to watch the memories flashing across the screens. I struggled to hold on to each memory as I passed it. My head began to ache from all the memories coming back at once, but I struggled to concentrate. I saw my parents on many of the screens, my mother's beautiful, red hair glowing in the sunlight, her bluish-green eyes sparkling with delight, and my father's dark, black hair and warm, brown eyes. Their hugs that always managed to make me feel safe. I saw more TV screens and I gasped at the site.
My mother and father had sat me down, their eyes filled with unimaginable pain and heartbreak. I couldn't help but think that's what I looked like when Chuck and Gally died. I watched as they sat a younger version of myself down and began to speak. They explained that they were very sick and that I'd have to take care of myself from now on. They told me that they were going to go try to find a cure so that they could come back and find me. I watched my younger self break down and begin to sob, her little hands rubbing at her eyes as she hiccuped and cried. I realized I couldn't have been more than six years old in this memory. I couldn't help but wonder how long I had really been alone. Then, my father pulled me close and whispered something in my ear that took me completely off guard. "Do whatever it takes to protect your siblings. Keep them safe no matter what. You're all they have, now. Watch out for the Cranks. They're insane and they'll kill you in a heartbeat."
I blinked a few times, trying to figure out what all this meant. I have siblings? Before I could think about it anymore, the floor began moving again, pulling me from my thoughts and to the next memory. I stared intently at the screen as my eyes widened. There was no way.
There was a very young Leo, laughing and playing with a younger version of myself in the same old, decrepit house the Cranks had burnt to the ground. It had been our house. He was my younger brother. I looked at another screen and saw a girl who was about seven years old at the time, a year older than myself, her curly red hair and chocolate brown eyes pulling me in, freckles covering her face. I immediately recognized this girl as my sister. I couldn't help hoping that they were all alright. I tried to picture what she looked like now, immediately getting a vivid image replaying over and over inside my head. I shook it off and glanced at another screen, gasping at the sight.
There was that same six year old version of me, living in the streets of some city, hiding from cranks with my siblings, my parents nowhere to be found. I couldn't help realizing that was why I was fighting those diseased people in my dreams/memories from when my siblings weren't with me. My parents had gotten sick and left us to fend for ourselves. So, we had to do whatever it took to survive. I glanced at the screen right beside the one I was looking at, my eyes widening with shock and shame. I watched my younger self pathetically attempting to fight off Cranks that had been trying to attack a young Leo, who was five years old at the time, my older sister desperately trying to help me. All of a sudden, men in uniforms and helmets rounded the corner, pointing their weapons at my brother and sister. They didn't notice me and I got scared, so I ran and hid.
I watched as they took the only family I had left and I did absolutely nothing to stop it because I was such a coward. The young me sat there crying for around ten minutes before the Cranks showed up again. She jumped up and ran and the Cranks chased her. I watched silently as she, I, took the stairs in my old, run down house two at a time before running right into the room I was in when they set the place on fire. Tears brimmed my eyes and I moved on to the next screen, watching my younger self make a promise to do whatever it took to find her siblings and bring them home safely.
The next thing I saw was the other half of my other dream that had ended so abruptly. The Crank and I were charging at each other, our weapons raised high above our heads. When I got close enough, he slashed down at me, grazing my cheek. I spun away from the shard of glass, clearing my frantic mind. It was as if my body had been taken over. I couldn't bring myself to believe that I had really killed those people, cranks or not, without so much as batting an eyelash.
I ran at the Crank again, dodging his weapon and slashing upwards with my knife as hard as I could. The Crank screamed in agony as I watched a body part drop to the ground in front of me. Before I could do any more damage, he ran off, holding his face. I yelled my name at him, warning him that if he ever heard it again, he'd surely die. As soon as I looked down at the dismembered body part, people in uniforms and helmets, weapons pointed right at me, came rushing into the alley as my knife slipped from my hand, clattering on the ground at my feet. They grabbed me and dragged me away, but I kept my eyes glued on the nose that was still laying on the ground, everything else turning into mere background noise as I tried not to lose the contents of my stomach. I stared at my younger self for a moment, realizing that I was around fourteen in this memory. Had I really been alone for eight years?
The next memory I saw made my heart hurt more than the rest. I had just arrived at WICKED's headquarters and I was huddled in a corner in the room they gave me, sobbing and crying. I was absolutely terrified. I watched as tremors racked my frame and terror engulfed me. I couldn't help but think how weird it was that I was able to look at these memories from a third person perspective. All of a sudden, the door to the room creaked open and a boy my age slowly stepped inside. He was wearing black pants, a white button down shirt with WICKED stitched into the right breast in blue letters, and a black lab coat.
I immediately recognized his face and my hand shot up to the screen as if I could just reach in and touch him. It was Thomas. I watched as he knelt in front of me, taking my chin in his hand and forcing me to look up. His words were soft and calming, causing a pang of hurt to rush through my chest. "It's okay, don't be scared. I won't hurt you. You're..Clara now, right?" he had said. A small hiccup and a nod were all the response he got. A soft smile crossed his face as he looked at me. "I'm Thomas. You don't have to be scared around me. I won't let them hurt you..Do you like books?"
That had seemed to get my attention, because I quickly looked up, my teary eyes filling with curiosity. I hesitantly nodded, causing him to grin. "Okay, I'll bring you a book and we can read it together. How does that sound?" I barely smiled and nodded before abruptly wrapping my arms around his neck and sobbing loudly, whispering how scared I was. He didn't try to push me off of him and he didn't look disgusted with me. Instead, he wrapped me in a warm hug, soothing me until I calmed down. That was how Thomas and I became best friends before I was sent into the Maze.
I continued looking at various memories, taking my fill from the knowledge in front of me. The most important things I learned were names, specifically mine and my siblings, as well as my promise. Now I knew why I was so desperate to not give up in the Maze. I had to find them.
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I was abruptly pulled back to reality, my head spinning at the new revelations. But, I really didn't even have time to process anything at all. The next thing I knew, I was being dragged away yet again. They pushed me to the ground at a long, shimmering, murky gray wall that reminded me of smoke. There was something off about it and it gave me an uneasy feeling. I desperately looked up at Jansen, my face contorting into discomfort and fear.
"What is this?"
He didn't even bother trying to answer me, instead yanking me up by my arm and walking me to the flat, shimmering, murky expanse of gray. Right before he pushed me in, he spoke, his words laced with cruelty.
"Have fun with the Cranks, Clara. I'll be sure to tell your brother you said hello right after I explain your..situation."
I gritted my teeth and spoke.
"I thought this was over. Why are you still messing with us?! Just let them go!"
Jansen let out a nasally laugh, but his eyes showed no hints of amusement.
"We need more data. So, we are sending your little friends out into the Scorch as well. They will have two weeks to survive and make it to the designated area. If they don't make it, they'll have to live with the Cranks. Not that they'd be alive for long. Oh, and Clara? We altered your brain a little when we removed the SWIPE. Have fun."
With that last sentence, he pushed me right into the wall and I instinctively shut my eyes, waiting to feel the pain of a broken nose from slamming into the wall. But, it never came. When I opened my eyes again, there was nothing but blackness all around me. I stood there for what seemed like ages before I heard a soft thud behind me. I got to my knees and bent down, feeling around to see what the noise had been. My hand touched something soft and I pulled it to me quickly. I realized it was a backpack and I found the zipper and yanked it open. I felt around in the contents until I found what felt like a flashlight.
I pulled it out and turned it on, the dim beam barely breaking through the darkness surrounding me. I pointed the light at the bag, finding a few bottles of water, some non-perishable food, as well as some clothes. I stripped from the pajamas those people had given me and threw them on the ground, quickly changing into a thin, gray tank top, beige colored baggy pants with various pockets, and new black boots. I pulled on a new wristwatch and wrapped a thin, gray scarf from my neck to my head, making sure everything was covered except for my eyes. I pulled on thin gloves and finally pulled the thin, gray cloak they gave me over my new clothes. I didn't understand why they would give me this stuff if they wanted me to die, but I didn't have time to think about it. Right now, all I was focused on was survival. I dug through the pack and pulled out a hard object.
I shined the light on it and my heart warmed at the site. They had actually let me keep my knife with the cushiony black handle and the long black blade. I smiled to myself, happy that I at least still had this small piece of my friends. They didn't give me back my book or my notes, but the knife would suffice. I grabbed my things and trudged through what I could only describe as a tunnel. After an hour or so of walking I finally came to a set of stairs that led to a door on the ceiling. As I pushed it open, I promised myself that I would do whatever it took to survive so I could find my family and my friends once more. I burned my name in my memory so that I would never forget it as I looked right at the sliver of the moon hanging in the night sky. I stood there for a moment before finally trudging out into the Scorch, toward the town in the distance, to find shelter. My real name was Rosa Lynn Casales. But, my family had always called me Rose.
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A/N: It's finally over! I hope you guys enjoyed this last chapter. Please let me know if you want a sequel! Let me know what you think! Thank you all for sticking with me through this whole process. It means a lot to me. If I do do a sequel, I'll probably start it within a month, if not sooner. So please, please let me know if you'd read it or not! Once again, thank you all so much! Love you guys!
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