WARNING
There is attempted and implied rape as well as descriptions of torture. There will be a warning before and after the torture scene so if you're sensitive to this subject you can skip the details.

Rated Mature Because I tried my hand at describing what I think to be a tame version of torture but torture none the less.

Disclaimer I don't crawl out of a cave once a year to write on this story... I swear it just seams like I do.

Chapter 24: Little Lamb

-Thomas-

"Our girl sure is giving them hell." The sentence still irked me, even hours after the words left her vindictive red lips. The Chancellor was elated with Aaron's, excuse me Subject 0's, performance in the Maze. I, on the other hand, was enraged. She was parading 'our girl' around like a slab of meat in front of a pride of hungry lions and I could practically hear every one of their disgusting thoughts. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see them just salivating over her which was making sleep impossible. Not that I ever got any sleep as it was.

Even now, as I could practically feel my soul leaving my body, I was sat at my station spying on the glade with a half-eaten plate of my dinner tossed to the side. Dinner time in the Glade was winding down and now it was just Aaron sat alone at a table, pushing the soup around in her bowl. Around her the sloppers were busy at work, doing their best to clean the mess the boys had left, but with Aaron lagging behind, she was hindering them. Not that she would notice; her eyes hadn't wandered from her soup since Newt and Ben had left her and I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

While I liked to think that I knew her well, Aaron hadn't shown me half the faces I'd witnessed her make in the Glade and I was stumped. Her shoulders had relaxed since the majority of the boys left to sleep for the night but her eyebrows were still slightly furrowed, her green eyes still stared intensely into her food, and her bottom lip remained trapped between her teeth as she gently gnawed on it.

I let out a long sigh as I leaned back in my chair, running my hand over my face in a lame attempt to wake myself up. Tonight was going to be long and I was thinking maybe those adrenaline shots the guards take weren't such a bad idea after all.

"If you're finished with that, I'll take your plate for you."

I'd jumped at the sudden voice behind me. Teresa was already gathering my half-eaten plate of chicken and broccoli by the time she'd bothered to speak but I was just surprised that she was still there. It's not that it was late for us, but usually by now she'd made it to the lab. I wasn't sure what exactly she was doing in there but since Aaron made it to the Glade, and was now 'safe', she spent a lot more time in there with the Chancellor. I didn't mind it, I had a lot of work to do myself, but… I sort of missed her.

Teresa's eyes had been so cold recently, but as they slid to the screen watching Aaron they warmed, and the sides of her lips tilted upwards in a small smile. "Looks like he's got our girl figured out." She hummed, motioning towards the screen with her chin.

Minho sat across from Aaron now, engaged in an intense staring contest with her as he slowly pushed a plate of pancakes across the table to her. Refusing to lose the staring contest Aaron narrowed her green eyes to a glare. I smirked at the sight of her declining his apology. "Not as well as he might like. What did he do to piss her off so much? Aaron never refuses food."

Teresa just shrugged. "Might have something to do with his black eye. Think she'll take it?"

My smirk faded as Minho relented and he diverted his gaze to the plate of cooling pancakes as if to tell her to 'just take it, already.' "Aaron never refuses food." I repeated, watching her smoothly accept the plate with one hand and shoo the boy away with the other. As Minho rolled his eyes and took a graceful exit, I returned to my work.

"How does she do that?" Teresa sighed, abandoning the dishes and relaxing back into her chair as she watched Aaron intensely. "She has every one of them absolutely wrapped around her finger. Even the sloppers are just drooling over her instead of doing their job."

I rolled my eyes. "They can't do their job while she's still sitting there, Teresa. They're waiting for her to leave."

"They're ogling her."

"She's the only girl they've ever seen."

There was a long pause… "Then what's your excuse?"

The question caught me off guard. I mean sure, I wasn't subtle about my infatuation, and with my link to Teresa it was impossible to hide but we never really… seriously talked about it. After the cold shoulder she'd given me recently I hadn't expected us to talk about such a subject so soon. Then again… I shouldn't be so surprised. I think a part of me knew all along about Teresa's feelings… I just chose to ignore it.

"That's different." I sighed, turning away from my work to give her my full attention.

Teresa must have anticipated my response because she shot out a "How?" before I fully finished talking.

I held back a groan. She knew why but the determined look in her blue eyes told me I wasn't about to get out of this talk this time. She had a goal tonight and apparently it was getting to the bottom of my feelings.

"I'm in love with her."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?" I snapped, unable to control my irritation. "Why do you love me?"

Her eyes widened, tears already brimming her eyes, and for a half of a second, she just stared at me in shock before she swiftly snatched the plates from my desk and stormed out of the office. I leaned back in my chair, running my hands over my face in frustration. I really shouldn't have said that…

-Alby-

I let out a long sigh as I wiped my head clean of the shaving cream and looked into the mirror. I was not looking forward to chaining up the Maze Girl tonight. The slinthead always made it such a hassle and I was just so… tired. Still, I pulled my shirt back over my newly shaved head and left the bathroom. I was in charge and I had to do what I had to do.

"Oh, Alby, there you are." Newt called from behind me. "Where you headed?"

"Chaining up Maze Girl." I shrugged wondering where he was coming from.

Newt shook his head. "Already did."

"How'd you manage that?" Honestly, I didn't care how. It was done and for once I didn't have to do it. Thank the creators for Newt.

"I'm a charming bloke when I want to be."

I rolled my eyes, turning around to head to my hut. "A real lady's man."

Newt just grinned. "It's the accent."

-Aaron-

***WARNING YOU ARE LEAVING THE SAFE ZONE***

"Guys, are you sure this is a good idea?" a timid, unsure voice chimed in the silent glade. I wanted to groan… I was so tired and not in the mood to entertain what ever bullshit was about to go down. Sleeping while chained to a tree was hard enough as it was, I didn't need a couple of idiots making it harder.

"Come on, Shank, you saw the clothes she was wearing. She's begging for this."

My eyes popped open in alert at the voices that were closing in, but I couldn't see anything. Panic set in shortly after as I began to blink rapidly in a lame attempt to correct my vision but all I could see was black. I could hear each of their footsteps get closer, could practically count how many there were…. Three.

"Why else would the creators send her here?"

Then suddenly, I could see.

A bright, blinding slit of light in my dark world that slowly grew wider and wider until I understood what was going on… understood that I was no longer chained to a tree in the glade… My eyes instantly stuck to the pair of brown square toe boots as a silhouette formed in the doorway of light. Fear crushed down on me, making me cower into a shivering ball on the cold cement floor and squeeze my eyes shut. I could feel his twisted grin as he took slow, daunting steps to the center of my cell where I was chained to the floor, each step dramatically echoing in the empty dark space around me.

His dark, amused chuckle came next. The always came next… right before the knife. I should have prepared myself for this but instead, I was surprised. The sharp sound of a knife unsheathing rang throughout my dungeon making me stiffen in my spot. I wished he'd just end it today… accidentally cut too deep and allow me to drift into the afterlife, but I knew he was too careful to make that mistake… too seasoned of a torturer.

"Hello, little lamb." His voice was booming, over dramatic and loud because he knew I would flinch at every over pronounced syllable. I could hear the sickening sneer he was wearing in his words and as much as they instilled fear into my veins… they also caused my stomach to churn. He was vile, and I could now smell the awful mix of sweat and bad after shave he carried with him. "Today is a special occasion. It's our last session, my sweet."

If I didn't know any better, I would have been filled with hope, but he'd beaten that emotion out of me very early on and now all I could feel was the terror he inflicted on me. I'd been broken, tears left my eyes before he could even touch me, and I knew that would just delight him. In the beginning I'd been so tough… not crying until he was done and gone. I'd shout horrible things at him in defiance and even try my best to fight back but now… now I just cried and waited until he was done.

"Awww," he cooed, kneeling down to my level and taking my chin in his hands so that he could better see my teary eyes. "I'm sad too, Little Lamb, but there's no need to cry." He then lifted his knife to my face, slowly dragging the sharp blade across my cheek to catch my tears. I barely winced at the sting of the blade cutting my sensitive skin. "I'll be sure to leave a pretty scar for you to remember me by."

I braced myself, a swift blunt blow always followed a sweetly sinister promise. His punch landed nicely on the left side of my face, knocking me out of his hold and harshly back onto the floor. I felt my mind struggle to stay awake for a moment as he'd hit near the sweet spot. He let me recover long enough to push myself up on my hands and knees, groaning at the throbbing in my face.

"Did I say you could sit up?" He snarled, landing a powerful kick to my stomach. For a second I was suspended in the air… until my chains yanked against my wrists painfully and pulled me back to the ground.

A sickening sound of air being forced out of my body left my lips right before panicked gasps as I tried to regain my breath. Pain blossomed throughout my abdomen, outside and inside, and I crumpled back onto the ground. Sobs erupted from me, once I had enough air, so loud that I almost couldn't hear his disgusting laugh.

"What a kick!" He practically cheered, kneeling down to my level once again. "If you weren't chained to the ground, I might have just kicked you into the ceiling. I have got to see that damage, lamb, roll over."

I didn't get the chance to do it on my own as he forcefully shoved my ragdoll body onto my back. He could have just raised my shirt to see the forming bruise but we both knew he wouldn't. Instead, he cut it; starting from the top and deliberately cutting a thin but deep line slowly down my chest. My sobs quieted as I cringed at the sharp pain of his knife, gritting my teeth and doing my best to breathe through the pain… but my lungs ached.

"Well, would you look at that." The man whistled. "You kids grow up so fast. You got yourself the beginnings of a nice pair of mosquito bites, little lamb."

Disgust and shame filled me as I moved my arms to cover my prepubescent body, only to have them ripped away and pinned to the cement next to my head. His gaze felt slimy as it wandered down my body. This was my worst fear… him taking an interest in what my body looked like… I knew it was coming but I had thought that maybe he wouldn't stoop that low.

"Even got yourself some wide hips." His tongue darted out to wet his lips. "You're shaping up to be quite the beautiful lady, lamb. You're going to have the boys all on their knees." He paused to let go of my wrists, knowing that I wouldn't dare move without his permission. "but you'll never forget your first."

He drug the flat side of his blade down my stomach until the tip rested just above the waist of my pants. Panic fueled my hand as I smacked it away, a yelp escaping my mouth "No." It was quiet, not but a whisper but the fury in his eyes told me he'd heard.

I felt the blinding pain of his knife before I understood what he had done. My left hip… he'd jammed the entire blade in, up to its hilt. When he yanked it out I could feel my hot blood spilling out… feeling like fire on my frozen skin. "You know, you're right." He hummed, hovering over my face, his breath blowing harshly across my face. "There's no need to rush things… we've got plenty of time today." Backing off, he observed my bleeding wound. "Besides… I promised a pretty scar didn't I?"

***SAFE TO READ AGAIN***

-Teresa-

Thomas was an asshole. I knew he would be; I was challenging his feelings for Aaron after all, but I didn't expect him to be so harsh. It was almost an unspoken rule that we didn't talk about my obvious feelings for him, but maybe it was good that the silence was broken. Now it felt real; not like when I was pining over him from a distance. Maybe we could actually move forward then. I bit my lip as I flipped through the many cases of the flare WICKED had attempted to treat. I'd run away to the only other place I felt relaxed, the lab…It was part of my useless attempt at trying to distract myself.

"Teresa, what are you doing in here?"

I jumped at her sudden voice, causing the papers in my hand to fall to the floor with a sharp slapping sound on the white tiled floor. Chancellor Ava stood casually in the doorway of the lab, blonde hair slightly disheveled but otherwise looking as pristine as always. Her red lips turned up as I hurriedly bent over to gather my scattered reports, before she elegantly swiped a few stray papers to read.

"Studying our failures?" She hummed in approval. "It's a little late for that today, don't you think?"

I looked down, shyly as I finished collecting the reports and stood up to face her properly. "I found that if I read them before I go to sleep, I tend to continue thinking about them in my dreams."

Ava smiled. "That's quite the dedication to our cause, Teresa…. Thank you."

I froze for a second, unsure of how to react. "Well, I mean, it's our cause… I don't need… I mean…"

Suddenly, Ava perked up and pushed her finger into her ear. "This is Ava." She was quiet as the voice in her ear spoke, slowly nodding her head and rubbing her chin as she carefully considered the information. "No, no I don't think that we should allow that… we're going to have to intervein but do not be obvious. We can't risk ruining the trust she's building with them."

Worry. It went straight to my stomach, making it churn uncomfortably. Aaron was in trouble. I could practically feel it in the air as Ava continued to speak with someone through her earpiece until she hung up and gave me a grave expression.

"You'll want to follow me, dear." Was all she said before speed walking down the hall. I had to basically jog after her. How could the woman walk so fast in that high of heels?

"What's going on?" I demanded as I finally caught up to her. "Is Aaron ok?"

Ava gave me a reassuring smile. "She's fine but we need to hurry. They aren't authorized to act without my direct permission."

"Thomas, Aaron's in trouble."

-Henry-

Sleep time in the Glade was always silent, you could hear a beetle blade fall off a tree at the edge of the walls, which really was more of a curse than a blessing. I was a light sleeper and at any time that I heard someone so much as mumbled in their sleep I'd be wide awake… That just made it all so much weirder when I woke up to Alby yelling across the Glade. The words weren't clear, but I could tell that some poor shank was klunking their pants in front of him. How in the world had I managed to sleep through that?

I let out a long groan, rubbing my hands over my face to rub the crust out of my eyes. There had to have been a fight and judging by the sheer power Alby was putting into his voice it had been a big one. They'd probably need an extra hand in the Med-hut and it wasn't like I'd be going back to sleep anytime as it was, so I rolled out of my hammock and pulled on my shirt.

"Henry, perfect!"

I jumped in surprise, not expecting anyone to actually be outside of the homestead. Winston was running up to me as I let out a long yawn and examined the Glade. I shouldn't have been surprised where the yelling was coming from. Of course, it had something to do with the Maze Girl, there was a group of torches down by her tree and trudging behind a panicked Winston were three others carrying what looked like a badly beaten slopper.

"What the shuck happened?" I demanded gesturing to the bloody glader.

Winston just looked to the ground. "It's real bad. We need you down there."

"I think I need to go help that poor shank."

"No, Clint and Jeff have them covered… we need help with Aaron."

Confused I just nodded and followed him to Aaron's tree. "Shouldn't you be getting Gally?"

"He's in the slammer."

Not super surprising but still odd. "Chuck?"

"He couldn't help."

"What about Minho?"

"He's with Gally."

I shook my head in disbelief. "What happened?"

"It's easier for you to just see it." Winston sighed, a particular glum note to his voice making a chill run down my spine. "I don't think I could stomach to say it."

Hearing those words from the Glade's resident psychopath wasn't reassuring. The kid once calmly brought in one of his Slicer's who'd cut clean through two of his fingers with out even flinching. If he was this bothered then she had to have killed someone… if only it were that simple. I'd have rather found a dead body than what I found at Aaron's tree.

She was in the same position that we left her in; back against the tree, each wrist enclosed in a shiny metal cuff with the attaching chain wrapped around the base of the tree. Her head was leaned back, resting on the tree with her throat fully exposed and tears running down her face while her vacant eyes stared unfocused, ahead. My throat tightened as I inspected further. Her shirt had been cut straight down the middle and there were multiple cuts down the middle of her body where the idiots cut her instead of the shirt. I cringed at the sight. If it were any other time, seeing the maze girl in just her underwear would have been beautiful but in this case… it made me want to cry.

"Oh, good thinking." Newt practically cheered as Winston and I approached him. "Maybe Henry could help."

Teeth clenched I tore my eyes from Aaron's practically unconscious body and looked to our leaders. "What the fuck happened?"

Alby just growled, motioning with his chin to Newt, before crossing his arms and walking away. Turning my attention to Newt, I impatiently waited as he rubbed his neck and let out a long, tired sigh before sitting down on the ground and burying his head in his hands. Watching him look so tired sucked the anger right out of me.

"Newt…" I sighed, plopping down beside him. "What happened?"

He shook his head. "I can't believe those shanks could do it." He wasn't talking to me, I could tell that much, but his eyes were gazing sadly to where Aaron sat empty. "I mean, I knew the temptation was there but how could anyone do something like that to her?"

I knew what he meant. Anyone who watched her for the last few days knew what he meant. There was always something off about the way she acted when she was around the boys… when they stared at her. It was like her body was scared but her face didn't know it and when someone touches her without her consent… she always looked so surprised at her violent reaction.

"A few shanks took advantage of her…. Or tried to." He finally began to explain. Pausing, he bit his lip and aggressively shook out his shaggy blonde hair; almost as if he were frustrated with himself. "And Minho… we're all bloody lucky that the shank couldn't sleep or this would be so much worse."

"So he found them before…"

"Yah." He interrupted. It was almost like he couldn't stand to hear it said and I didn't disagree. Thinking about it made me sick. "…said he just saw red and started swinging. I think he almost killed Boyle…"

"And the others?"

Newt let out a disgusted chuckled. "Went running to James. Thought since he hated her so bloody much that he'd help 'em…"

I looked around. There were a lot of gladers around, despite Alby telling them to leave, but the Keeper of the baggers was nowhere to be found. "And… Did he?"

"Who do you think woke us all up?"

"Then where is he?"

Newt shot me a semi smirk, for a split second he almost looked amused… well he would have if it weren't for that dead look in his eyes. "He helped Gally beat the klunk out of the other two. Three keepers all sent to the slammer… at least they were getting along for once."

As silence returned to the Glade Alby finally managed to convince everyone to go back to bed. He joined Newt and I, collapsing onto the cold ground with a dull thud and releasing an exhausted groan. We sat in silence for a few more minutes, watching Aaron closely as we waited for her to come back from the trance she seemed to be in. I hoped that she was dissociating… that she was somewhere better in her mind… but I had a bad feeling that wherever she'd gone to was much worse than here.

Still… she glowed. Even as she sat motionless, wet tears drying on her cheeks, she illuminated the glade. I'd be the last to admit it but we'd been living with a sort of shroud of fear, something that hung over us constantly, and maybe it was just because she was something new… but when she was around that shroud wasn't so heavy. The realization just made the idea of someone deliberately hurting her like this that much more disgusting.

"What are we going to do?" I whispered to our leaders who sat next to me.

Alby let out another long sigh, rubbing his tired eyes with one hand. "I just… don't know."

"Do you think we should at least unchain her?" Newt spoke up. "Or cover her up?"

I shook my head. "No don't touch her. It'll prolong her… well whatever that is. We just have to be patient."

Silence once again… until Newt finally voiced what everyone had been thinking. "She didn't fight back…" He'd sounded broken, his hushed voice cracking. "Why didn't she fight back?"

See you next year, folks!

Sorry.