* A/N I do not own Maze Runner, or any of its characters. I do not own Rachel's name, only the personality and storyline that I have written in addition to the original plot. Contains spoilers for the movies and possibly the books. Also WARNING: mild swearing, as there was in the film.
Rachel watched the group of boys curiously. They were the latest to join them, and had apparently been in Maze A- the maze experiment with all boys. They were currently staring around the canteen with wide eyes, unable to believe what they were seeing. She could understand that- she hadn't been able to believe it herself when her group had made it out the maze only to find they weren't the only ones.
Rachel examined the group before her. At the front and center of the group was an Asian boy with spiked hair. His fit body suggested he'd been a Navigator in the maze, and his position spoke of leadership. Next to him was a tall blond who seemed to control the group as he spoke to them calmly, his dark brown eyes roaming around the room uneasily. Behind the two stood the rest making up about six in total.
Rachel sighed. Not many of that group appeared to have made it out either, and she wondered just how many kids had had to die in all these mazes. Suddenly, the blond caught her looking, and they locked eyes. She jumped a little as he stared intently, but met his gaze evenly.
They were broken out of it when the Asian boy nudged his friend, and the group moved off to grab trays and get food. She watched silently as they filed into a line to get food before they wandered off to sit with another group of boys.
Rachel turned to Aris, who was sitting next to her at the edge of their table, and whispered: "What do you think?"
He looked over at the group and sighed.
"Dunno. They don't look too different from the others so far." He muttered back and Rachel nodded.
She glanced back at them, and immediately met eyes with the blond again. He seemed to be looking at her curiously, and Rachel answered with a similar expression. But their attention soon turned to the door as the Asian boy looked up and got up to call: "Thomas!"
Rachel looked over at the new brown-haired boy and frowned.
'I know him.' She thought.
She glanced at Aris, who had lost the intentional bored expression he usually wore to avoid attention and was also staring at Thomas. Aris glanced at her as Thomas sat down with his friends.
"Do you recognize him?" He asked, and Rachel nodded.
"You?" She asked, and he nodded as well.
"I can't place it, but I've definitely seen him somewhere." He mused, and Rachel nodded, murmuring: "I agree."
They continued to slyly watch the table, but didn't draw attention to themselves, knowing that would not end well. But even so, Rachel noticed that she met eyes with the blond pretty often, despite the fact that his table continued to talk amongst themselves.
He asked something to a boy in front of him, and soon the whole table was glancing at her and Aris. She groaned as she looked away, and Aris was looking down at the milk carton he was holding in his hands.
She knew what they would be saying: she and Aris were among the ones who had been here the longest, almost a week, but what the guys mostly found more interesting was the fact that Aris had been the only guy in their maze. True it had been for a grand total of maybe two days, but still. Apparently, the boys were jealous of him for it.
"Good evening gentlemen, ladies." The man in charge, Janson, called out as he walked in with a group of guards, carrying his clipboard. Rachel tensed while Aris ducked his head further down, both of them listening with fear.
"You all know how this works." Janson continued. "If you hear your name called, please join my colleagues behind me where they will escort you to the Eastern wing. Your new lives are about to begin."
There was scattered cheering and applause as the other kids grinned and waited excitedly, hoping to be the ones called this time to be taken to the safe place. Rachel and Aris exchanged dark looks as they sank further into their seats.
Having been here the longest, they had grown very suspicious as time went by. Rachel was now bunking in a room all on her own, and had been since about day four. None of the girls who'd been called had returned, and she and Aris hadn't been able to shake the feeling that something was wrong.
They had confirmed as much when Aris had managed to get his air vent bars open, and snuck out. He'd come over the first night and helped her to get her bars loose too. On day three, they'd witnessed something strange… and since then, they'd gone back to find a pattern to what was happening. And it was terrifying to think about.
"Connor." Janson began to read the names and the two crouched low in apprehension. "Evelyn."
The girl in question stood with a delighted gasp while her friends murmured encouragingly and enthusiastically. "Justin. Peter. Allison. Squiggy."
There was scattered laugher as the boy bounded up with a grin.
"Alright, settle down." Janson smiled at all of them, before he continued to read: "Franklin. And Abigail."
He finished and Rachel sagged just a little bit.
At least she and Aris had made it one more day, although they were beginning to worry about how much longer they could last. The other kids moaned and grumbled and Janson raised his hands in surrender as he said, placating them: "Now, now, don't get discouraged. If I could take more, I would. There's always tomorrow. Your time will come."
Rachel tensed again.
"Go on, eat up." He dismissed them as he left. Everyone returned to eating and chatting amongst themselves. Rachel and Aris glanced at each other. Her fear was reflected in his eyes, as they both wondered how much longer they would be spared.
Rachel glanced back towards the boys, and saw the blond glancing at her briefly. They both quickly looked away, but then Rachel's eyes landed on Thomas. The boy was staring at the windows lining the other side of the canteen.
Rachel looked over and saw a black-haired girl being led through the passage behind the windows, heading towards a different door to the back room, the place where the other kids had just disappeared.
She tensed in fear. This hadn't happened before, but she was pretty sure there was only the one lab behind those doors. So that girl was heading into the same fate as the others.
Thomas suddenly got up, calling: "Hey, Teresa."
Rachel and Aris looked up after Thomas as he moved to the wall, following the girl's progress. Aris removed his hood to take a better look at this new development.
"Teresa!" Thomas called again sharply, watching the girl disappear behind the doors. He moved after her without looking where he was going and Rachel watched as he was stopped by the guards at the door leading out of the canteen.
Aris and Rachel exchanged glances. Aris nodded slowly and Rachel returned it grimly. This boy, Thomas, he was different. He didn't just accept their saviors; he was suspicious of them already. Which meant, he might just be the help they needed to get out of this mess.
The first thing Rachel did at breakfast the next morning was seek out Aris.
"Did you find him?" She asked and he nodded. Rachel had opted out of going with him because there wouldn't have been enough space in the vents for the three of them to see through the grill near the labs.
"Yeah, and thankfully his air vents were loose- looser even than mine had been." Aris told her, and Rachel nodded in relief. "I told him about the kids being brought into that room every night at 9pm, and he saw last night with me."
Rachel looked up at Aris sharply.
"And?" She asked quietly and Aris nodded over Rachel's shoulder.
"Look for yourself." He whispered.
She did as he said, glancing at the boys' table to see Thomas looking very agitated and tense. Aris pointed out: "He's even more suspicious. Hopefully we'll be able to work something out together, and he'll be able to lead the other kids out, too."
Rachel nodded.
"I told him that you were with me, but you probably want to go say hi at some point." Aris added.
Rachel glanced at the group again, noting the other boys who were all sticking together. None of them seemed alerted to anything strange- so Thomas hadn't confided in them yet.
She decided she'd better bide her time a little longer, so she said to Aris softly: "Maybe later."
At dinner, they sat at a table closer to the boys, hoping to catch Thomas after dinner. Aris was picking at his food, before he lifted it, examining it while Janson called out the names. Rachel looked over to see the boys looking at them again, and she saw a skeptical look on the Asian's face as he watched them, particularly as he looked at Aris, before they all turned back to Thomas.
Rachel did notice that the boys were now looking generally tenser.
'So, he's told them then.' She thought. She and Aris had agreed that if Thomas started to act, they'd join him. Maybe it was time to join them for dinner after this then.
"And, last but not least…" Janson was just finishing his reading. "Rachel."
Her heart almost stopped, and Aris immediately looked at her with terrified eyes.
Rachel stood slowly as the other kids clapped and began to complain. Janson was already turning to go, assuming that she would follow them immediately as eagerly as the other kids did, and Rachel took that opportunity to quickly dart over to the Group A boys.
They looked up, surprised by her abrupt appearance, but Rachel knew she didn't have much time and so focused solely on Thomas as she leant in to whisper urgently: "Help us."
He looked up startled, and the blond - who'd been sitting next to him - stared at her as well, having heard her words.
"What-" Thomas began but the guard had come over.
"What's the hold up?" He demanded, and Rachel answered, while shooting a desperate look over her shoulder at Thomas and then at Aris: "Nothing. I just wanted to wish my friend good luck."
She followed the guard to the door, making it just past when there was a commotion behind her.
She glanced back to see Thomas trying to get through the doors, first trying to persuade the guard, before launching at him physically. Rachel's heart leapt, and she paused, but the guard behind her just shoved her roughly forward.
She stumbled into a room, where all the kids were standing, looking confused, and looked back to where the doors had shut and locked after her. Her heart thundered as she turned back to face the room and she swallowed. A nurse pointed her towards a bed, and Rachel slowly moved to her spot, willing her heavy feet to move.
"Now, just as a safety measure, we'll be giving you some vitamin shots." The head doctor told them as nurses came up next to each kid.
Rachel glanced down in fear, staring at the clear liquid in the syringe. She swallowed hard, but didn't resist as the nurse stabbed the needle in.
'Please, Aris. Thomas. Do something quick.' She prayed in her mind as her vision clouded.
She heard gasps from the kids as they swayed. Rachel's legs gave out and she fell back but someone caught her, laying her on the bed. The last image that swirled in her hazy mind before everything faded into black was the blond haired boy's face.
Newt P.O.V.
They were all shoved back into their room, the door locking behind them like it had last night, leaving Newt and the others trapped and frustrated.
"What the hell was that about?" Minho demanded as they all turned to Thomas.
The shank had to go and cause trouble, trying to get through the doors after Teresa. Or maybe it was the girl, Rachel. He paused as he thought about the brown haired girl.
Newt didn't know what it was, but he'd been drawn to her from the first time their eyes had met. She'd looked at him with those bright grey eyes, and he'd seen a fear deep inside them. It made him uneasy, even if he didn't want to admit it. Thomas's recount of what had happened last night with the kid called Aris had not improved his mood.
He sighed now, as he asked Thomas in exasperation: "You didn't really think they were just gonna let you through?"
Thomas looked at him like he was an idiot.
"No, of course I didn't." He replied before he lifted his hand to show the security card he'd swiped from the guard he'd had a tussle with earlier.
"Oh…" They all whispered, half groaning at the sight, while Thomas said firmly: "I'm going to find out what's on the other side of that door."
"All right." Newt muttered, irritably crossing his arms across his chest.
Thomas must've seen both the irritation and continued skepticism on Newt's face because he started to try and persuade the blonde as he said urgently: "Newt, they're hiding something. Okay?"
When none of them really reacted, Thomas continued: "These people are not who they say they are."
He began to turn away, heading for his bunk and Newt couldn't believe what was happening. Two years of stress in the maze, and when they'd barely escaped with their lives he'd hoped to find peace. But this shank couldn't just let things be.
"No, Thomas," Newt said sharply, making the other boy turn back to him as he himself stepped forward, "you don't know that."
The other boys came to stand behind Newt, backing him up as he continued angrily: "The only thing that we do know is that they helped rescue us from WCKD."
Newt gestured around to prove his point as he rattled off: "They gave us new clothes, they gave us food, they gave us a proper bed. Some of us haven't had that in a long time."
Thomas began to protest and Newt finally added sternly: "Some of us a lot longer than others."
Thomas closed his mouth at that, knowing where Newt was coming from. Newt was thinking about what might be best for all of them. But as the words left his mouth, Newt felt a twinge of guilt.
He recalled Rachel's fear, her desperate plea before she'd essentially been dragged away, and he couldn't help but wonder what was really going on.
Suddenly there was a clatter and they all looked down to see a metal grill being shoved across the floor from below Thomas's bunk.
Newt stared as he saw the boy, Aris, crawl in and look up, greeting: "Hey, Thomas."
"What the…?" Frypan murmured as they all peered down at the boy who'd literally just popped up out of nowhere.
"You get it, yeah?" Aris was asking Thomas as Minho turned to Newt, asking incredulously: "Who is this kid?"
Before Newt could say anything, Thomas replied to the younger boy: "Yeah, let's go."
Newt placed his hands on his hips in exasperation as Thomas moved to join the kid. Thomas saw and he said to them: "Alright, look, maybe you guys are right, maybe I'm just being paranoid."
He crawled to place his legs in the air vent as he said desperately: "But I've got to find out for sure. Just cover for me. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Thomas disappeared into the vent after Aris, and Newt looked to the door. He rubbed a hand down his face in a mix of exasperation but also fear. If there really was something going on here, then what would it mean for them? And what if that something was happening to Rachel right now?
*A/N So, this is just something that's been going on in my head for a good year-and-a-half; basically since I watched the film. I've been tweaking with it, unsure if I wanted to publish it – especially because I do have ideas for the books and mostly because I have so much other stuff going on right now – but, eventually decided I should just go ahead and publish it. So I hope you all enjoy!