A/N: Hi! These next few chapters are going to take place in Fever Code, so we can get a feel for Ruth's character and her relationships with people before the Maze Trials. I'd love to hear what you think, enjoy :)
It was the night she turned ten, that she first saw someone from Group A. His name was Newt...
Little Ruth, after tossing and turning for hours, gave up on sleep. She shoved the thin blanket aside and peered to the bunk below. It seemed her sister Beth had been successful. Ruth watched her mirror image breathe in and out slowly, dark fringe flopped over her forehead and sheets pulled up to her chin.
Birthdays weren't celebrated at WICKED. Ruth hadn't had a party or even a cake for years now. Everyone accepted this and shrugged off the day as if it was nothing. Beth included. But Ruth had never been able to shake off the bubbling excitement that built up the closer and closer the day got. Which is why Ruth now sat, wide awake, waiting for the small clock on the wall to tick over to midnight.
'11:58' still shone at her and Ruth found herself internally pleading with the clock. As if giving in, the last digit switched to a '9'. Ruth counted down the seconds, the suspense itching away at her mind.
"… ten, nine, ... " She whispered to the empty air. Time dragged as midnight neared. "One." Her eyes burned as she tried to keep them open. She didn't want to miss it.
Finally, the clock switched.
'00:00' it blinked from across the room. A flurry of euphoria exploded in her chest. The ten-year-old beamed, a chorus singing in her head despite the blanket of silence surrounding her. She dropped back, the mattress creaking slightly, and smiled at the ceiling.
The giddiness died away, yet still, Ruth could not sleep. She huffed, twisting over to look at her twin again. Definitely not awake. Ruth paused, dark hair hanging around her as the blood rushed to her head. Would it be such a bad idea to wake her up? Pondering this for a second, Ruth grinned. Of course, it wouldn't. Sitting upright, Ruth swung her legs to the ladder. She quickly pressed her palms against her flushed cheeks, feeling them cool as the blood returned to the rest of her body.
Planting her bare feet onto the concrete floor, Ruth padded towards her sister's head. How can she be sleeping? Ruth wondered- her mind was dancing, she couldn't imagine lying as still as Beth did now. She leaned over the sleeping girl, ready to shake her shoulder.
Before she could, Beth sighed, as if sensing Ruth's plan, and turned over in her sleep. Ruth blinked; her lips pursed. She thought back to the last time she had woken Beth up and crept back to the ladder.
Maybe not such a good idea.
She had placed her hand on the rung when a flicker of movement caught her eye. Glancing over her shoulder, Ruth saw a figure at one of the barrack's small windows. She froze, worried she'd been caught. She hadn't been doing anything wrong, but WICKED staff always found something to punish them for.
She relaxed as she realised the figure belonged to a boy, and he wasn't even watching her. Instead, his eyes were glued to someone in one of the bunks.
Perv. Her eyebrows knotted together, ready to go and bang on the window, that would teach him. However, when she followed his gaze, Ruth noticed who he was watching.
The blonde mop of waves belonged to a girl named Sonya. Which meant the boy must be the brother she talked about so often. Newt.
Unable to resist, Ruth scurried to the window. She had never seen anyone from Group A. WICKED ensured the two groups were entirely separate. As she got closer, she noticed Newt was not the only one there. Behind him stood three boys: one Asian, one with dark skin, and another whose eyes seemed to be soaking in his surroundings in awe. Having reached the window, Ruth tapped against the glass, startling Newt from his daze.
The group behind Newt flinched in surprise, and Ruth spotted there was a girl with them. The dark-haired girl met her gaze coolly, and Ruth couldn't help but feel like she was being analysed by this stranger. Although, it wasn't too hard to work out who she was. Ruth had never seen her before, which meant she had to be one of the 'elite' candidates: Teresa or Rachel. Given that she was standing with those from Group A, she must've been Teresa.
Breaking the unnerving stare, Ruth looked back to Newt and smiled. He nodded sheepishly in greeting. She pointed to the bunk where Sonya lay and motioned back to the window, offering to wake her up.
The confusion faded from Newt's face when he realised what she meant. After hesitating, he smiled sadly and shook his head.
The dark-skinned boy said something to Newt, his voice blocked completely by the window. Newt turned to answer him, shrugging.
Ruth was surprised they hadn't been caught sneaking around yet. Surely WICKED had cameras everywhere? Maybe it's because they were with the 'elites'- everyone knew they got special treatment.
The awestruck boy hadn't budged from Teresa's side and Ruth concluded that he was Thomas. Thomas waved goodbye as Newt and the others trickled off. She raised her hand, returning the gesture. Thomas followed after them, and just like that, they were gone.
Ruth's hand, still hovering in the air, finally dropped to her side.
What a peculiar start to her birthday.
Ruth hadn't spoken much to Sonya before, and never in a one-to-one conversation. Only in class discussions. But Sonya was happy to talk to anyone, hence everyone knew about Newt. A lot of Group B had had siblings, none however were in the WICKED compound, and most would have been taken by The Flare.
There was Ruth and Beth. But they hadn't been separated. Some envied them, resulting in the twins not being the most popular amongst Group B.
Sonya however, had a brother alive and well, but was being kept from her. People rooted for her. Her tales of her brother reminded them of their own. Sonya was one of the favourites in Group B.
Ruth had wondered why Newt hadn't wanted to speak to Sonya when he'd visited the other day. She would've thought that he'd leap at the chance. Something had stopped him. After pondering this for several days, Ruth had a couple theories.
Firstly, the window. He wouldn't be able to hear nor speak to her. Seeing each other inches apart, separated only by thin glass, and be unable to properly communicate or even hug... it would only make their reality so much harder to bear.
Second, maybe he didn't want to keep showing up and reminding Sonya of her past. It would just make her life harder. WICKED clearly didn't want them near each other, otherwise they wouldn't have separated them in the first place. If Newt pushed it, they'd prevent him from visiting Group B in the middle of the night. He'd rather see his sister, even if she was unaware of him visiting, than not see her at all.
This is why Ruth had been to and fro with her internal debate. Whether or not she should tell Sonya that Newt came to see her. On one hand, the girl would love to know. On the other, it may make her and her brother's lives harder in the long term.
Eventually she settled for getting to know the girl. Then a decision could be made.
Currently, the twins were sitting at a lunch table, only crumbs of bacon still on their plates. Ruth tapped her foot, watching Sonya laugh about something with her friend, Miyoko. She braced herself, but her mind was blank- what was she supposed to say? What did people talk about?
People began to get up, filtering towards the door to head to their first class of the day.
Now. Ruth yelled at her feet, "See you in class." She mumbled to Beth before she shot up, dashing towards Sonya.
"Hey, Sonya." Ruth spoke up, trying to get the girl's attention. The blonde paused the conversation with Miyoko and looked at Ruth. The brief surprise that flashed across her face quickly morphed into a large grin.
"Hi," the grin stayed put, making Ruth feel more at ease, "it's Ruth, isn't it?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
"I'm dreading history, aren't you?" Sonya spoke as if they had always been close. "I get that it's important, The Flare is the reason we're all here, but it's too depressing for first thing in the morning."
Ruth laughed along with her.
When they reached the classroom, Ruth settled into her seat by Beth.
Beth squinted, studying her as she sat down. "Since when are you and Sonya besties?"
"Besties don't exist here," Ruth sighed impatiently, "you know that."
Beth quirked a brow, waiting for an explanation.
"What? It's not a crime to talk to someone." Ruth pointed out, a sharp edge to her tone. Her sister gave her an unconvinced look, before facing the teacher as they started the lesson.
A month passed, and Ruth found more and more opportunities to talk to Sonya. Every time, Beth observed with the same look in her eyes. She was trying to work out the reason for the shift in Ruth's behaviour. She'd never guess right, though.
All conversations with Sonya had been void of any mention of Newt. At first, Ruth told herself it was because she didn't want to be obvious. But gradually, Ruth realised she just enjoyed the girl's company. And she didn't want to ruin their carefree conversations by bringing her non-immune brother into the mix.
Especially since Newt hadn't shown up once after that night.
She didn't want Sonya to worry that something had happened. There could be plenty of reasons for his absence, but people tended to jump to the worst conclusions.
"Ruth."
The girl glanced up startled. She saw Dr Leavitt- one of WICKED's Psychs. The whole lunch hall was talking in hushed whispers, watching them, and Ruth felt the blood rise to her cheeks.
"Could you come with me please?" Dr Leavitt asked, although Ruth knew it wasn't a request.
Ruth shot a nervous look to her sister, whose eyes were wary and suspicious as she scrutinized Dr Leavitt. Beth's eyes flitted back to Ruth. She gave a small, firm nod, urging her to move.
Swallowing, Ruth scraped her chair back against the concrete, trying to ignore all the stares. She followed Dr Leavitt to the door. Before the room vanished from sight, Ruth met Sonya's gaze- the blonde's eyes wide with confusion.
Dr Leavitt marched down the hallway, not sharing any information. Ruth trotted after him, not asking for any.
Her mind was babbling with questions, and although she couldn't think of anything she had done wrong, dread crept up her throat.
He opened a door on their left, holding it till she passed through. The door clicked shut and Ruth found herself in a small, bare room. The only piece of furniture being a white, circular table. Dr Leavitt moved to sit next to its two occupants.
Chancellor Anderson- the man smiled, though to Ruth it seemed rather patronizing. Seated next to him was a blonde woman that Ruth had seen in passing in the medical rooms, but never learned the name of.
"Ruth," Chancellor Anderson motioned for her to take a seat, "thank you for joining us. This is Dr Paige, and she and Dr Leavitt have told me what a wonderful job you've been doing."
Ruth's lips remained in a thin, straight line. Wonderful job at what? All she did was go to class. It seemed the Chancellor was playing the patronizing-flattery card.
"Not just in your studies, but outside of that." He elaborated, as if reading her mind. "You've helped us a great deal."
"Indeed, you have." Dr Paige spoke, her voice soft and kind. Kinder than any Ruth had encountered at WICKED. "You've been so helpful, we thought we'd reward you."
Ruth couldn't keep the surprise off her face. She wasn't in trouble? Then why the serious face from Dr Leavitt when he collected her?
"But I haven't done anything." She reasoned timidly.
"Quite the opposite. You're doing excellently in your classes, and we've collected so much data from your medical results."
Ruth didn't think she was doing that well in class. Maybe in Critical Thinking; the others not so much. And as for her medical results, that was entirely out of her control.
And yet they wanted to praise her for her genes. A baffling concept to Ruth, but then again, this was WICKED.
"Is Beth going to get a reward too, then?" Ruth perked up. Despite their good intentions, she hated any special attention from WICKED. Good or bad. At least she wouldn't be alone if Beth was in the same boat.
"I'm afraid not." Dr Paige frowned sympathetically. "Your genetic makeup has given us so much data to work from, but it can only help us further if only one of you get this opportunity. Based on your performance in the classroom, we all agreed you deserve this chance the most."
"What opportunity?" Ruth asked warily. If it was only for one person, and it was WICKED offering it, Ruth couldn't help but feel it was going to be under a funny definition of 'reward'.
"We'd like you to play more of a role in WICKED." The Chancellor beamed, as if it was the greatest prize in the world. "You'll have heard of our elite candidates, Thomas, Teresa, Aris and Rachel?"
Ruth gave a small nod.
"Well, we want you to be like them." He continued. "We want you to have a larger part in developing a cure. Because I truly believe you'll speed up the process by years. What do you say?"
The words washed over her, gently piling up until they filled her mind. And then it clicked. They were... promoting her? She was going to be an 'elite' candidate. But she was just her. Just Ruth. Between her and Beth, Ruth felt her sister deserved it more. She was the strong one, the resilient one. Ruth just played along.
Maybe that's what WICKED needed though. Someone who would obey. Someone who would be exactly where WICKED wanted them.
Maybe Ruth should have been more scared by their intentions. Their plan to use and manipulate her. But Ruth had seen enough of the world to know life wasn't fair. Fairness was a luxury nobody could afford. Not anymore.
And at ten, being told you can save humanity sounded pretty darn good.
"Yes," she grinned happily, "I'd like that very much."
When offered her 'promotion', Ruth forgot there would be a catch.
"You know how this works." Dr Leavitt pricked her with the needle. Ruth flinched.
"But I haven't seen her in two weeks!" She barked. The implications of Ruth's new status had been immediate. She had been given her own room. No longer in the Group B barracks. She no longer had classes or lunch with any of her friends. She also hadn't been able to say goodbye to anyone, not even Beth.
"You said you wanted to be like the other elites." Dr Leavitt snapped. "Which means you are treated the same. You can't have everything."
The man's patience was non-existent by this point. Ruth had been whining at him every chance she got. Same for any of WICKED's staff that came to see her. None of them got any useful conversation out of her. She refused to do anything productive until they let her see Beth.
She'll think somethings happened to me! She had argued.
We have assured her that you are well. Was the response she always got.
But she won't believe it unless it comes from me!
We have assured her that you are well. Things quickly got repetitive.
"Can I meet Teresa or Rachel then?" She asked innocently. If she wasn't allowed to see her old friends, the least WICKED could do was let her make new ones.
"I thought you didn't want to leave you room?" He retorted.
That was true. As a form of feeble protest, Ruth had refused to leave. It meant Dr Leavitt took blood samples in her room. Secretly, Ruth knew her strike was having no effect: it made no difference where a blood sample was taken, and if they wanted to carry out more significant tests then they'd easily move her to where she needed to be. Even if she was kicking and screaming.
However, that hadn't been the case so far. So, she kept pretending her stubbornness mattered to anyone.
"Technically, I wouldn't have to leave my room."
Dr Leavitt looked at her blankly, not giving any indication to his thoughts. "One hour." He left the room, saying not a word more.
One hour for what? Ruth tried the door handle, as she did every time someone left. Locked. She kicked the base of the door. One day she'd get lucky, and that handle would turn all the way.
She jumped onto her bed, bouncing up slightly. One hour.
Considering her lack of entertainment, one hour passed faster than expected.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Ruth." Spoke a calm, soothing voice. Ruth's eyes flickered up to see Dr Paige, her hands resting on the shoulders of a girl about Ruth's age. "I'd like you to meet Teresa."
Teresa's long dark hair hung messily around her face. She had a quiet but determined look about her. Not much had changed since Ruth saw her through the barrack window. Teresa paced to the bed, where Ruth was still sat cross-legged, and held her hand out.
"Nice to meet you, Ruth." She looked at her expectantly.
Overly aware of Dr Paige watching them, Ruth grabbed the hand.
"I'll let you two get to know each other." Dr Paige said, swiftly closing the door behind her.
Teresa pulled her hand back, moving to sit in the chair at the desk. "It's not too bad you know." She said, tracing shapes on the armrest.
"I didn't get to say goodbye to my sister."
"They don't do it to be cruel, you know." Teresa explained. "There's always a reason."
"What reason could there be?" Ruth pushed.
Teresa shrugged. "They can't tell us the reason. Otherwise it defeats the point. But it's all to find a cure."
"Are you allowed to speak to people?" Ruth questioned. Hopeful that maybe her life wasn't going to be unbearably bleak.
"I can speak to Thomas." She nodded.
"That's it?" Ruth's eyebrows shot up. "Not even Aris or Rachel?"
"They're part of Group B. They don't mix the groups."
"But I'm Group B." Ruth contradicted.
"Not anymore." Teresa pointed out gently. "I'm sorry you don't get to see your friends anymore, but trust me, your life will be much better once you find out what WICKED's working on. So just do their tests and their training. Then they can fill you in and you can speak to me, and to Thomas, as much as you want."
"There's just one thing I have to know first, and please don't lie to me... when will I see her again?" Ruth asked, referring to her sister. She was fearful of the answer.
Teresa looked straight into Ruth's eyes. "Sooner than you think. I promise."
Ruth knew Teresa wasn't lying.
What she didn't know, however, was that she had asked the wrong question. For, 'When will we see each other?', had an entirely different answer.
