Sara was messing around with a broken security camera that Rebecca had to take down to be fixed and re-programmed in order to figure out how to tamper with the rest of them more efficiently. While unscrewing it, she could see Rebecca's frustration out of the corner of her eye. The woman groaned before crossing her arms and burying her head in them.

"Becca," she called as she looked up from the camera in her hands. "You good?"

Rebecca lifted her head up slowly. "We've got another problem. I can get you into a Maze—no problem. It might take a while, but I can do it. The problem is: you're Subject B17, which means, I'd have to send you to Maze B in order to cover your tracks without risking you being caught."

"What do you mean 'Maze B?'"

There always had to be a twist to things; it was so annoying.

"The girls' Maze. You want to go to Maze A where Newt is, but I can't send you to be the only girl there. You have to go to where you've been assigned," Rebecca responded.

Sara felt her hopes come crashing down altogether. She was counting on getting to see her best friends, Harriet and Sonya, but she also really wanted to see Newt and a few other boys she had befriended.

It wasn't fair that she was split between the two. It didn't even make sense to have two Mazes because otherwise, she'd get to see all her friends in one place.

She hated herself for having the thought, but she preferred to go into Maze A. Even if it went against all possibilities of remaining undercover. Even if it meant she wouldn't see her girl best friends that she wished to see so badly. Albeit it was a decision made for mainly one person.

Newt.

Something about him just seemed so... natural; so home-like. Not like he was part of her family or anything, but she felt closer to home when she was with him, just from the few times they had together before he was taken. It gave the act of seeing him once again a certain importance and meaning.

He always looked so sad behind the smiles he gave her, and that tore at her heart at times. It was as though all the anger and hostility he showed at a glance were only his reactions to the world being cruel to him. Beneath that disguise, he was incredibly kind hearted. She had come to realize this eventually.

Of course, he never really tried to hide his unhappiness except for when he was directly speaking to her. And then, there was the problem with him and Sonya. Something awfully terrifying must have occurred to their family—something he was forced to witness, and something that put a tamper in his relationship with his sister.

All of the kids had a tragic welcome to the world of WICKED, but it was obvious that Newt was one in particular that needed the most help. The decision to help all of the kids remained intact in her agenda, but she made it a priority to find Newt and save him.

He needed someone who cared, someone who could help relieve his trauma after all the horrible things he underwent and was probably going through in the Maze at the moment. Selfish or not, it was a choice she was bound to make.

"I want to go to Maze A," she informed Rebecca of her final decision, "no matter the cost. Besides, I'm sure the girls can manage, but the boys could use some help."

"Sarita, you have a kind heart." Rebecca smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. "But..." A grim look made its way onto her face. "They all get injected with a serum that gives them amnesia. The process of giving them the Swipe. When they wake up in the Box as it makes its way up to the Glade, they can't remember anything besides their name." She shook her head miserably.

"What?" Sara squeaked.

"They didn't trust you even before the Swipe. Only Newt did," Rebecca continued. "They won't trust the only girl that suddenly shows up. They'll think something is wrong with you being there. And you can't just earn their trust back in a blink. You'd practically be a stranger to them... Newt won't remember you."

Sara's bottom lip quivered as her vision was clouded by the gathering of tears. All she wanted to do was to drop flat on the bed and cry for hours. But no. She was tired of crying. She'd done too much of it, and it wouldn't even help her anyway.

She blinked back her tears, took a deep breath, and said, "I've got to still try." Then, a sudden thought hit her. "Becca, how will I go into the Maze without remembering anything? I wouldn't remember what I have to do."

Rebecca nodded knowingly. "Well, that's why I warned you that the boys won't trust you. Even more for how you're getting to them. I won't send you up in the box. If I do, my colleagues will see it happening since they're in charge of delivering the kids to the Maze. I have no power over that, and they'd have to give you the Swipe. Instead, you'll go directly into the Maze and find your way into the Glade, in the center of the Maze. That's where they're located."

Sara shivered. "But... the—the Maze monsters. The... Grievers? How am I supposed to get past them?" She felt she didn't have enough preparation to fight back. It was different having to train to get stronger than to realize she had to make use of it for her own survival.

"I can break into the system that controls them," Rebecca suggested. "I'll put a tracker on you. That way I can track your movement in the Maze. I have access to its map, and it alerts me anytime the Maze rearranges. I can mess with it so that the right path easily opens its way up for you. But you have to be quick."

"Okay, but what do I do when I find the Glade?" asked Sara, trying hard to concentrate on the mission.

Rebecca tried to explain as best as she could. "Once you're in the Glade, lose the tracker. And just act like someone who lost their memory. You'll find the right time to reveal yourself, but to be safe, save it for later."

Sara looked up at her worriedly. "You'll guide us all to the way out though, right?"

Rebecca shook her head in denial, to Sara's surprise. "I can't. You'll have to figure it out on your own 'cause Janson will know a lot by then. And the whole plan won't work out if he discovers too early that I'm involved in this. It's for everyone's safety."

❀❀❀

The cameras were activated but not a single one captured Sara and Rebecca going into the dim hallway, heading to the room with the sign on its door reading: Authorized Personnel Only.

Sara glanced at Rebecca, receiving a nod from the woman as she hesitantly approached the door. She slowly outstretched her hand to grasp the doorknob of the highly secured metal door. Rebecca handed her the key that decoded the locks through a virtual virus she created herself. The beaming red light on the access panel flashed green as the door simply popped open, making a hissing noise as if it were releasing air pressure.

Rebecca turned to the young girl and grabbed her shoulders. "As soon as you and the boys get out of the Maze and enter the main building, this is where you guys have to meet me. Here, you'll find enough resources if... you know, just in case things turn out far worse than we expect."

They both stepped into the icy atmosphere of the room. Sara scrutinized every inch of the room in awe.

Weapons. There were weapons of all kinds and sizes, stacked in racks in an orderly manner all around the room. She hoped it wouldn't be too soon that she'd be forced to defend herself with a deadly weapon. If it depended on her, she'd never use one, and she hoped she'd never need to. But no one could guarantee what the future could hold.

❀❀❀

Another year had passed. Another year of strenuous training and preparation.

Sara stared at the blank piece of paper in front of her as she sat at her desk in her room. That seemed to be the only place where she could actually feel safe, without having Janson's hawk eyes on her.

She knew how to write a letter—she'd seen her mother do it before, and she'd written a few that never got to their recipients. With this one being her first one to personally get to whom it was for, she wanted it done right. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the black marker from a cup on the corner of the desk, took the cap off, and began to write:

Dear Newt,

Look, I know you don't remember me, and everything I'm about to say will sound crazy, but you have to believe me. I want you to know that I'm here to help you and your friends, because you're all important to me. We're all good friends. Actually, we're the closest thing to family. One big, dysfunctional, but loving family. And whatever happens, we'll be together, because that's what family does. They stay with you through the good and bad times too.

Why am I writing this letter to you? You must be asking yourself that question. Well, I trust you the most. And that's because you're nice. Your kindness is your best quality. And you have a lot of it, trust me. Maybe even more than you think you have. You bring people together. You brought my life together, at least in the short time we had. Our past is sad, but you somehow made things less painful, and I hope I did the same for you.

But you left. I've missed you every day since then. You made a huge impact in my life.

But why does it matter now? Your memories are gone. The times we talked, the times we laughed, how we became friends, and the times we said goodbye; every memory you ever had, and me. It's all gone.

I just hope that by reading this, you could see a little bit of what they took from you. And I will make it my goal to make sure you get it back, and to bring all of you to safety. To make things right again, because this world is a mess. I promise you'll come back to me, because I really need you, and I miss you. And then, we'll finally be at home.

Love, Sara.

She placed the cap back on the marker, then set it down. Then she reread the entire letter twice to catch any mistakes and made sure that what she wrote seemed good enough. She didn't want it to sound like a love declaration, especially since Newt would only see her as a stranger, and they had only become friends in HQ. But she tried to put as much meaning into it as she could.

Carefully folding the paper into a small square, she stuck it in the pocket of her jeans, ready to be delivered at the right moment. 

❀❀❀

"Becca," Sara muttered nervously, "Becca, I can't find him!" she panicked.

"What do you mean? The beetle blades are everywhere," was Rebecca's reply. The woman didn't look up from her busy task—rummaging through cabinet after cabinet, looking for some files.

"I don't see him," said Sara, repeatedly tapping on the touchscreen Rebecca had provided. Restlessly, she moved from the image of one camera to the next, trying to locate the boy for which she wanted to go into the Maze in the first place. Her finger tapped the screen with increasing speed as she felt a cold sweat run from her scalp, through her hair, and down her back. "He's not here," her tone of voice held all possible kinds of fear as she continued her frantic search.

A horrible thought inched its way into her head.

Had he di—no! He couldn't have.

She came across one of the images directly from the Maze, not the Glade. It was so quick that she accidentally passed it and did a double take before tapping on the previous footage.

Rebecca looked up from reviewing some subject files, stood up, and carefully walked forward as she stared at the image that had caught the girl's attention. She stood right behind Sara, eyes widening in shock at the unexpected turn of events.

"Change of plans," Sara blurted out. She scrambled to her feet, nearly knocking the chair over as she shook Rebecca by the arms. "There's no time, Becca. Send me up, now!"

"Whoa—wait! Sara!" Rebecca tried getting a hold of her to calm her down. "Wait," she whispered, "I know what you saw, but we have to stop and think for a moment. We haven't gotten everything—"

Sara waved her off. "I'm sure you'll figure it out somehow, but I have to go now." The fierce look in her eyes, more determined than ever, frightened Rebecca.

They just weren't ready yet.

"I don't want to put you in danger," she argued.

Sara shook her head decisively. "I'm not gonna wait forever to go in. Rebecca, it's been another year since we first started this. A whole year in which more and more people are dying, and more are probably dying as we're having this conversation," Sara muttered fiercely.

Rebecca simply couldn't argue with the ardent look in the girl's eyes and her fierce desire to act.

"I hope we don't regret this."