Notes: This idea has been on the back burner for some time – I knew I wanted explore Sonya's thoughts and possible reaction upon receiving The Swipe and remembering Newt. Any names of the Group B characters (save for Miyoko) are fan made – I created them before The Fever Code came out. All events for Sonya's time under WICKED's care are fictional save for her final goodbye to her brother before being sent up into her Maze. All flashbacks of Harriet's backstory are made up – not much has been confirmed about her past from Dashner. Cross posted to tumblr.
"You okay Stick?" Harriet asked her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Sonya jumped a little at the sudden contact and glanced up at the co-leader of Group B. She had been replaying several moments in her head – the final day at home, the lessons with the other girls, and the last time she saw him. From what she could recall, he wasn't limping when he snuck in to visit her – maybe it was something those WICKED Sticks did to him. Maybe it was from the Maze.
"Do you…remember that Stick with the limp?" she asked Harriet, her voice trembling slightly.
Harriet scrunched up her nose and frowned as she tried to recall the Group A members. It wasn't that Thomas Stick and definitely not the loudmouth Asian guy who wouldn't shut his damn trap. Then she remembered the blonde with the funny accent and nodded. "Blonde, says "Bloody" a lot, and has an accent?"
Sonya nodded and Harriet frowned as she leaned against the adjacent wall.
"Yeah so? What about him? Did you know him before the Maze or something? Was he like your boyfriend?"
"No! Harri he, he was my brother," Sonya managed to get out. "My older brother. The WICKED Sticks came for me one day and our parents fought them, but got killed. Newt wouldn't let go of me, so they said take him too. Something about using him as a control or something." She closed her eyes and sucked in a sharp breath of air.
"How could I forget him? My own brother? God, Harri I almost shot his dumb ass in the Scorch and I wouldn't have remembered him!" Sonya dropped her head onto her knees and swallowed hard, trying to fight back a wave of tears threatening to spill out.
Harriet opened and closed her mouth, staring at the co-leader of Group B with concern. This revelation was heavy but expected as everyone seemed to be reeling in shock after undergoing a procedure called The Swipe back at the lab. The techs had reassured everyone that it was optional but most of the surviving members from Groups A and B had chosen to have it performed on them, save for Thomas, Minho, and Newt. Initially Harriet thought all three of the boys were being stupid for saying no but after having it done, she was starting to wonder if they were smarter for refusing. She bit back a terrifying image of her older sister showing early symptoms, including a vase that was thrown near her mother's head during a tantrum.
"Do you think they knew? You think they hoped I'd kill my own brother?" Sonya asked.
Harriet bit her lip as she sank down to sit next to the ginger-haired girl. She leaned her head against the wall and shrugged. "Honestly Stick, I don't know," she confessed. "I know that Thomas guy was isolated for some time and they told us he was too sick. Turns out that was a lie 'cause he was Immune like us." She looked around the Berg, scanning the faces of their fellow Group B members.
Clara, their remaining Med-Jane, was nursing a cup of hot coffee in her hands, occasionally looking down at her mug then up. Her eyes met Harriet's and the two exchanged an uneasy smile.
"What else did you remember about that Newt guy?" Harriet asked as she looked over at Jane, who was trying to fall asleep on Maria's shoulder. The youngest member of Group B was quite a bit shorter than their Keeper of the Runners and was struggling to reach the elder's shoulder comfortably. Maria huffed and slouched lower against the wall so Jane rest her head without straining. The former rolled her eyes and Harriet smiled, shaking her head at the pair.
"We lived in England, or well, what was left of it," Sonya recalled. "My parents named me Elizabeth but to him I was Lizzy. Before they took us, it snowed for the first time in months. I don't think we had been at school though – something tells me that our parents pulled us from school shortly after the flares."
"How do you know?"
Sonya shrugged and scrunched her brows as she pictured the house she had been forced to leave. "The windows were boarded up," she said. "We, I mean, me, Mom, Dad, and Newt were the only ones inside. We hardly left but I know there was enough food in the house to sustain us. No one came to visit us and we never let anyone in." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, eyes staying glued to the floor.
"After they took us, we were separated," Sonya continued. "I was put with the other Sticks from our Maze plus you. Never saw him but I kept hearing things that he was okay, just somewhere else in the facility."
"I think I remember Rachel and Aris being separated from us," Harriet added as she pulled her knee up. She rested her chin on top and sighed. "They were special – sometimes they'd have different lessons and tasks. I guess that's when those WICKED Sticks started making them work for them."
"They probably didn't know any better," Sonya reasoned. "We were all so young and we were doing what they told us to do. I remembered seeing some of those horrible Cranks – one of the techs showed us when were caught wandering the halls one day, do you remember?"
Harriet nodded, "You, me, Maria...maybe Beth too? I know Maria was disgusted but not completely scared of them. Beth nearly wet her pants and was telling the techs that she'd never sneak out again."
"It worked for a while," Sonya replied. "The rest was pretty straightforward – lots of tests, memorizing things...Newt snuck out after hours one night and said goodbye before we went up in our Mazes."
Harriet snapped her head in Sonya's direction and the latter nodded, explaining that Newt snuck out a lot and managed to figure out where the girls were being held. "Miyoko almost jumped him when he found the secret entrance but she didn't when he said he was my brother," she said.
"At least you got to say goodbye," Harriet said.
Sonya nodded as she stretched her legs out in front of her. "He was crying – I was trying to be strong," she recalled. "He was angry they were doing this to us – making me change my name, forcing us apart..." She stopped and frowned as she thought of something. "He wasn't limping when we were brought in. I don't think he was injured either when he said goodbye to me."
"Maybe the Maze or the Scorch?" Harriet offered. "Face it Stick, we all came out a little worse for wear after both of those trials – physical and mental. I mean, look at Helen – she's only got one good eye thanks to that Scorch incident in the tunnels."
"Do you even know where we're going?" Sonya asked as she craned her neck, trying to see the pilot.
Harriet shrugged as she searched for Teresa, giving up when she couldn't spot the dark-haired, blue-eyed trigger from Group A. "She said somewhere safe but who knows if that's true or she's just leading us into another trap. I still don't fully trust her after that mess in the Scorch."
"For now, let's just hope we're gonna be safe," Sonya sighed.
Harriet nodded before pushing herself to a standing position, excusing herself to go grab something to drink. Sonya watched as the co-leader disappeared to the kitchen area of the Berg and let her head rest against the wall.
Newt was never Immune – it must have come as a terrible shock to him, especially since he didn't undergo The Swipe. At the time of the announcement, she felt bad for Thomas and Minho who were horrified at the news, while Newt attempted to downplay the revelation. Now that she had her memories back, it was hard to forget that look in his eyes when he heard the news from Rat Man about his Immune status.
Teresa had led the group on an escape mission from WICKED shortly after their procedures. She had insisted on trying to find Thomas and the other two but apparently they had left already with that Brenda Stick and the older male who accompanied her. Teresa had tried to figure out Thomas's location but gave up.
Sonya sighed as she tried to make herself comfortable, crossing her arms over her chest as she closed her eyes.
She wished Newt could have been Immune. She desperately wanted Rat Man to be wrong about his status. But images of the Cranks she encountered during the journey across the Scorch flashed across her mind.
He's going to end up like them too, she thought, a tear rolling down her cheek. But the worst part is, he's never going to remember his sister.
