Chapter 19
Newt POV
Its been three days and Sky hasn't woken up yet. The whole Glade is worried for her since the last time this happened we didn't think she would ever wake up. The Greenie who I have already questioned the day he came back through the maze doors - was still traumatized from what he had seen in the maze but he was better off than the other two who had entered the maze.
Alby was constantly screaming because of the changing and Sky was barely responding to anything. Her skin was pale and her body was already thinning because she wouldn't eat and Jeff was only able to pour soup down her throat. I was the most concerned for her - she barely looked like she was breathing or even alive and I was scared that a Griever had done her more damage than we thought. There were no sting marks or scratches but there could be something wrong internally that we don't have the equipment to save her with.
Tommy doesn't work and the Glade has been more run down now that we don't have our leader and our upbeat spirit to get us through the day. All of us are just hoping that the two of them will be okay.
Unknown POV
She wants to see me again. I don't even know what for this time, I haven't done any extra work since they sent Tom up into the Trials but I do the minimum work that should be done everyday. Maybe she wasn't impressed with my work as usual. Maybe she was going to force me to watch him in the maze all over again. And what about Skylar? Has she found out about the memories I have been giving her back?
I could only hope that whatever was to happen when I walked through the glass doors in front of me would not disrupt the Trials. So with all of these thoughts swimming around in my head and the fear of punishment bubbling to the surface, I pushed the glass doors open with the two dark clothes guards following behind me to make sure I wouldn't try anything stupid - not like I would anyway, they had my best friends held captive in an insolvable maze.
Sat behind a white polished desk was the woman that controlled the company, the woman that was so hell bent on finding a cure she would sacrifice the lives of hundreds of children. Including me. Her hair was tied back in its usual tight bun and she was wearing a white lab coat almost identical to that of my own.
I tried not to show my fear as I walked further into the room and sat in a chair opposite her desk while she stared down at me with a look that was almost like sadness.
"I'm sure your wondering why your here Teresa." Chancellor Ava Paige announced as soon as I had sat into the chair. I tried not to flinch at the sound of my 'name' coming from her since I knew I would never be able to find out what my real name was since they took it from me already - just like everybody else in the trials.
"It appears your friends are more courageous than I expected. Both Mr. Thomas and Ms. Skylar have both approached the maze at night." She said when I didn't respond "Of course this did help with finding the variables but it seems two of our subjects where - injured during their night in the maze."
I held my breath as I waited to hear who had been hurt badly enough to have Dr Paige even slightly distressed.
"The leader - Albert - was stung during the day in the head. The athletic runner - Minho - abandoned him in the maze and saved himself so your friend Skylar ran in with Thomas to save him. Thomas is fine," Dr Paige paused for a moment and left me in suspence "Ms Skylar is not so lucky."
"The experience in the maze seems to have set her brain waves into a frenzy state where she can no longer process what has happened and it appears to be that her body is refusing to accept she was stung." Dr Paige finished
"Skylar was stung? Then how have the boys not noticed it? They noticed Alby's sting straight away!" I said
"Calm yourself Teresa. The subjects haven't noticed because she was stung at the heart. The virus has already reached every cell in her body which is why she is not waking up. Her veins are not green because that is only a sign of the beginning of what happens. Skylar will not wake up without the serum Teresa."
I was in shock. My best friend was going to die and it was all my fault. I should have helped her escape all those years ago when I had the chance, I could have saved Caleb and stopped Newt from his almost suicide. I could have stopped Nick's death and Davis' mental illness. I could have stopped all of it.
"Then why don't you just send it up to them." I said darkly with no emotion in my voice
"We cant risk inflicting too much confusion to the boys or we will lose our variables and everything we have worked on for all of these years will be lost." She explained
"Why do you need me?" I sighed, already having an idea for why I was sent to meet Dr Paige today.
"You need to go into the Trials and save Skylar. This is not how she meets her end and she must die at the appropriate time Teresa. You will give her and Albert the cure and save them both in order to keep the variables the same." She said
I nodded and let the guards take me to where the swipe would take place where I would lose all of my memories. I had to do this. For Skylar and Tom and Alby. The doctors performed the surgery that would remove my long term memory temporarily and afterwards when I came too, I was taken to the room where I would be drowned in order to remove my short term memory. They put me in a tube and drowned me while I thrashed around and tried o break free even though I already knew it was useless.
Even though I was so full of fear about what would happen to me when I entered the trials, I knew I had to do this to save Skylar before I was too late. Sometime in the tube I passed out and when I woke up I was in a completely new setting.
Thomas' POV (exciting stuff now guys!)
I sat underneath a tree and waited for Chuck to be finished cleaning the shower hut so we could do something to take my mind off of the piercing screams coming from the homestead. For the past three days I have been moping around the ... Glade with no job to do while countless amounts of boys came up to me and asked me questions about how I had survived the maze and why I had gone in in the first place. To say it was annoying would be an understatement.
I was only waiting for twenty minutes when Chuck came jogging up to me and started telling me some exciting stories about his day which I barely paid attention to. We sat with our backs against the bark of a tree while I closed my eyes and wondered about the girl that still lay unconscious in the terribly built house. She's been passed out for three days since we escaped the maze and I hadn't told anybody about the creature I had successfully killed during that time. I thought it would be best for the girl to be awake when I told everyone, even though she hadn't seen me kill the beast, at least she would be able to back me up by saying they were definitely in there, after all I had seen her get cornered by three of them.
Despite the hushed whispers of the other boys, I still thought the girl would wake up any day now. Nobody has told me why it is such a big deal that Skylar has been unconscious and Newt has made a big deal out of making sure I wouldn't find out but I knew I would be able to get Chuck to talk.
"So why is everyone so scared about that girl being unconscious?" I asked him, effectively cutting off whatever story he was in the middle of telling.
"I'm not supposed to tell you." He whispered and looked around frantically as if someone was watching the two of us. I shrugged my shoulders to make it look like I didn't care and to hide my burning curiosity while I thought of something else to say.
"I don't see how it really matters if I'm being honest. I mean, that Alby guy keeps screaming over and over again because of the ... changing. I don't see how some girl being asleep for a few days is something to be so worked up about." I said as I lazily closed my eyes and rested my head back against the tree.
"You don't know anything." Someone spat from in front of me. I opened my eyes and looked up to see Gally towering above me with a menacing glare directed towards me.
"Excuse me?" I said confused as to why he was even talking to us. "Just because you've survived the maze doesn't mean your any better than anybody else in this place. And how coincidental is it that you just happen to be the only person that made it out of the maze that is actually awake." He sneered as more people started taking notice of the encounter taking place.
I slowly stood up and glared right back at Gally while he looked down at me. Of course I didn't do anything to Skylar or Alby. I was split from the both of them while in the stupid maze and it was Skylar that woke me up the morning after.
"Not much of a coincidence if you ask me. Alby was already stung by a griever before I had even stepped foot into the maze. Skylar is only sleeping so she'll wake up in a few days and then she'll tell you that I did nothing wrong in the maze." I said
"You don't get it do you?" Gally chuckled with no humour in it as he circled me and I just noticed the circle of boys that had formed around us. Chuck was standing off to the side watching me with concern filled eyes. I looked away from him to look back at Gally who looked beyond mad.
"Don't get what?" I asked as nicely as I could. "Skylar's done this before. Not woken up for days and the last time it was two weeks before she woke up. That was because she was tired. How long do you think it will be before she wakes up after being through the maze at night, experiencing all that emotional trauma added to the fact that she must be physically and mentally exhausted.
We didn't think she would wake up last time. What makes this time so different?" He hissed at me.
I was shocked to say the least and could now understand why all of the boys where worried about the girl. It was clear everyone felt protective of her and didn't want her to be hurt and now they all thought she wouldn't wake up from the coma she was now in.
I was going to say something to everyone, apologise probably, but I didn't get the chance because as soon as I opened my mouth to speak, a blaring siren sounded throughout the ... Glade. I still wasn't completely used to using the terms and names for everything yet.
I panicked, thinking it was the creators doing something terrible like sending Grievers into the Glade but the other boys didn't look scared. They looked confused. All at once every boy ran towards the large box in the centre of the large fields of grass and waited around the closed doors. Chuck and me somehow got the front of the large crowd of boys with Newt and Gally next to us.
Newt looked just as confused as everyone else around me so I didn't bother asking him what was going on and while every other boy was talking amongst themselves about what was happening, I turned to Chuck who looked more nervous than anything else.
"It means a new Greenie is coming up." He explained but when he saw the blank expression on my face he talked more "We only got you a week ago, we usually get a newbie once a month and we haven't have an early one. Ever."
This set me more on edge, I didn't want more bad things to happen because since my arrival one boy ran into the maze, another boy was stung in the maze and banished, two people (not including myself) went into the maze and were injured, and now the box was sending a new boy up earlier than usual.
I had a bad feeling about whatever was about to happen when the large doors to the box opened and I just hoped nobody would think it had anything to do with me since I was just as clueless as everyone else.
After about half an hour of being held in suspense the box finally came up and Newt and Gally opened the two large doors. Newt jumped inside to see who had been sent up and since none of us could see since his body was in the way we were all left just as clueless until someone from behind me shouted "What do ya see Newt?"
He slowly turned to look at all of us with his skin slightly paler and his eyebrows creased into a frown "It's a girl." He said
The boys around me started shouting various things some of which where;
"Is she hot?"
"What's she doing here?"
"Is she replacing Skylar?"
"How do her legs look?"
"Forget her legs what about her boobs?"
I stopped listening to the boys comments after that and instead, focussed my attention on the girl. She had tar black hair that was wildly spread around her head and extremely pale skin. Her eyes where closed so I didn't know what colour they were but I imagined them being a bright green colour as it seemed fitting to her other features. One look at this girl and I already felt a connection to her, it was like some part of me recognised her but then again, she still looked like a complete stranger. Very contradicting statements, I know.
"Slim it you shanks, that isn't even the half of it!" Newt yelled over the noise and I could tell by the look on his face that he was both worried and scared of what he was about to say.
"I think she's dead." He said quietly
Nobody said anything as we all stared at the fragile looking girl lying on the bottom of the box. "What's that in her hand?" Someone shouted from behind me but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the girls face and how beautiful she looked.
Newt bent down and grabbed something out of the girls hand that I recognised as a note but didn't read it out loud. Minho - the runner boy who had abandoned Alby in the maze - jumped in to the box and grabbed the note out of Newt's hands and read it out loud for us all to hear.
"She's the last one. Ever."
Lots of murmuring and talking erupted all around me but I still couldn't bring myself to say anything or react to anything that was being said around me. Then, the girl shot forward and leaned up so she was sitting up with her eyes - which I quickly noted where in fact a piercing blue colour - staring straight ahead of her, straight at me.
"Thomas."
The already silent glade seemed to grow even quieter as every boy turned to stare straight at me but I couldn't do anything but stare at her as she slowly collapsed back against the floor and her eyes closed once more. The girls muttering caught everyones' attention though and I was thankful to have it away from me from a few moments.
"Skylar, Skylar, Skylar, Skylar, Skylar" She was muttering the same thing over and over again every so often and it just made me wonder,
Who was this girl?
