Chapter 5

228.10.16 / 9:47 a.m.

You sat back on your hospital bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, as Assistant Director Janson stood with his back to you, prepping a needle to take a sample of your blood. You hated being poked and prodded so many times in one day -- and more than you could count in your life, but the knowledge that it would all be almost over, and data would begin to be collected eased your conscious.

"You ready?" he asked in his nasally voice. You glared at the ceiling tile and nodded. He adjusted his gloves and slid the needle into the skin of your forearm, lacking any of the delicate precision that the more experienced doctors had when taking blood samples. They did it in such a way that you'd hardly ever feel it. Janson had about as much precision as a Crank past the Gone posing as a doctor.

"Where are the real doctors?" you snapped bitingly as he taped a little vial to your wrist, which began to fill up with dark blood. Janson just smiled and this made your face begin to burn in hot anger.

"Not that it concerns you, but most of them have been called together to do some last minute emergency testing on things that will be sent up into the maze."

"What kind of emergency testing?"

Janson gave you a look that said 'do you really expect me to answer that?' and peeled the first vial off your arm, moving to attach a second.

Silence stretched between the two of you as he worked. You swung your feet back and forth until he hissed at you to stop, his patience already beginning to slip.

"Things must not be going to well for you guys then, right?"

Janson froze for a split second as he removed the second vial with gloved hands. Then said calmly, "What makes you think that?"

"Well, the doctors scrambling to finish something for the maze that hasn't been approved or perfected yet?"

Janson gave a heavy sigh and closed his eyes as if struggling to smother his temper. "We're doing fine. Right on schedule, actually, if it means that much to you. You should know how close the maze is to being finished."

"Yeah," you muttered. "How could I forget the day you're kidnapping all my friends and tossing them into an inescapable hole to study them like lab rats?"

A vein now bulged proudly on Janson's neck, and you smiled, satisfied, as he told you to get down off the table and leave, not bothering to cover up the hole he'd poked with a bandaid like the other doctors did.

You'd just nodded and obliged, pausing on your way out to tell him what a shit doctor he was.

You found your friends at their usual breakfast table, all laughing hysterically and slapping each other on the back. You set your eggs down beside Minho, across from Newt instead of next to him. With all the time you'd been spending together, the other guys had taken to teasing you nonstop, and you weren't in any particular mood for kissy noises this early in the morning.

"What's going on?" you asked with a confused smile. Minho, with tears in his eyes, managed, "We're just discussing names."

"Names?"

"Like, our full names."

"Your real names?"

Newt chuckled and shook his head. "The ones WICKED gave us."

"They named everyone after famous scientists, right?"

Thomas snorted. "Yeah, from hundreds of years ago, like what kind of name is Newton in this day and age?"

Newt elbowed Thomas in the ribs and you broke out laughing.

"Fair point," you said. "Thomas, count yourself lucky. You've got the only normal name in the group."

"And my guy invented the lightbulb."

"You think you're special?" Minho shot at Thomas with a pompous grin. "I'm named after some genius brain surgeon or something. I think he might actually still be alive."

"I'd rather have a Crank operate on my brain than you, Minho," you told him. "Hell, I'd more willingly sell my brain to WICKED."

The group once again erupted into laughter, and a few kids at neighboring tables shot you looks, but you didn't care. You hadn't laughed like this together in ages.

"Alby over there," Minho gestured to the older boy. "His name's Albert. Look at his shuck face and tell me he looks like an Albert."

You rolled your eyes at this. Minho had tried to get everyone to use the weird words he'd made up. "Minho, those words aren't going to catch on. Just give up already."

Gally, a tall boy with dark hair and a nose that looked like it had been broken at least twice, then once more for good measure, piped up from the end of the table. "If we're pointing fingers here on who's got the worst name," he said with a goofy grin. "Hell, I'm called Galileo."

By the end of lunch, everyone was doubled over, tears streaming from their eyes, breakfast entirely forgotten. In fact, that moment made it easy to forget that you were all trapped in a big complex, surrounded by hungry Cranks, experiencing your last few months together.

Eventually, the group scattered, each member having to get to a class or work. You were one of the last to leave, aside from Newt and Gally, pushing yourself to your feet and disposing of your empty tray. You were on your way to your first class when Newt caught you by the arm.

"Hey, (Y/N)," he said, voice hoarse. "I just wanted to let you know..." He pulled you closer, eyeing the guard on the far side of the room, and tilted his mouth to your ear. "I'm planning on visiting Lizzy tonight, around seven, so if you could let the other girls know? I don't want our first get together in months to start with me being pounced on by a dozen of them."

You smiled knowingly and nodded. "I thought you went for that sort of thing," you said with a grin. He smiled back, rolled his eyes, and waved you off as he turned on his heel to jog back to the table.

For some reason, you went through the rest of your day, giddy with excitement that you'd be able to see Newt at night.

228.10.16 / 7:14 p.m.

You lay in your bunk that evening, a book propped against one knee, as Sonya sat across from you, chewing her lip nervously.

"Why is he late?" she asked, flopping down on her back. "Do you think he got caught by a guard? Or two? God, they have those awful grenade launchers..."

"Sonya, they only use those in extreme circumstances," you said gently, glancing over at her to offer her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure he's fine. It's not that much after seven."

As if on cue, the vent in the back of the room twitched, then fell out and landed on the floor with a loud thump, scaring half the girls out of their wits. Newt's face appeared moments later, then Thomas right behind him. Sonya gave a little excited squeak and ran from her bed into his open arms.

Newt held her in a long embrace before they even said a word to each other. The sight almost brought tears to your eyes. How heartless was WICKED that they kept two siblings apart their entire lives like this?

"Lizzy," he whispered into her hair. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, big brother," she sighed, burying her face in his chest.

They stood like that for a long while before Newt pushed her back again, his hands on each of her shoulders.

"Are they treating you okay, Lizzy?" he asked, concern widening his eyes. She smiled softly and nodded.

"As well as they treat anyone in this place," she said. This didn't seem like the right answer, because Newt frowned, scanning her face.

"That's not bloody well enough," he said sadly, sounding defeated.

Thomas just leaned against the wall and watched, his eyebrows furrowing in worry. He undoubtedly was having the same thoughts as you. This just wasn't right.

"I'm okay, really. I've been working and going to class. I've learned a lot ya know. My teachers say I'm actually pretty smart."

Newt smiled and tousled her hair affectionately. "I've no doubt about that. You'll probably be the smartest buggin' girl in the entire maze."

A few girls called out playful protests against this, but Newt just stared around and laughed, happy crinkles forming in the corners of his eyes. You rarely ever saw him this happy, and just thinking about how long he'd have to go without seeing his sister once they were put into the maze made your chest hurt.

WICKED said they were doing all this for the greater good. For a cure. But instances like this made you wonder if it was really worth it. Curing the entire world, expecting it to go back to how it once was was a long shot anyway, was it worth capturing young children, torturing them and separating them from their families? You couldn't see how that was moving you towards a cure at all.

Newt pulled her into another strong hug and whispered a goodbye to his sister. You climbed quickly down from your bunk and slipped past the pair to Thomas, who looked a little like he wanted to cry.

"It's heartbreaking, isn't it," you muttered, glancing up at him out of the corner of your eye. His expression hardened and he nodded in agreement.

"It's horrible. I know WICKED has done some pretty terrible things, but this..."

"It gets worse every time he visits," you told him sadly. You watched Newt give Sonya one final squeeze, looking as if letting go of her was the last thing in the world he wanted to do. "They know their time together is closing in on them."

With sad eyes, Newt turned from his sister and walked back to the vent, pausing to acknowledge you and Thomas, obviously not wanting to talk much.

"I'll walk you guys out," you told them. "It'll be easier if I go first since if we get caught, I won't be punished for sneaking around my own dormitory."

The three of you slipped into the vent, which was big enough to walk through if you hunched. You'd barely left the room before Newt spoke up.

"I don't know how much more of this I can bloody well take," he spat behind you. "I miss her so damn much."

His voice echoed through the vents, and you cringed a little, knowing it would be insensitive to shush him.

"I just wish there was something we could do," Thomas said, equally as angrily. "I mean, they can't be allowed to treat us this way."

"Thomas, they tortured us into submission when we were five, this is a piece of cake for them," you said to the ground.

"I remember when we were just children," Newt said quietly. "These WICKED guards broke down our door and tried to take her away from us. Our Lizzy. My parents were screaming and fighting and I was hugging her like they were gonna yank her from my hands. They shot them so easily, two kid's parents, just like that, and took both of us from our home and left our mother and father for dead."

He sounded like he was crying now, and it took all your self-control not to stop walking and pull him into a hug.

"I know our lives are pretty shitty," Thomas sighed. "But at least we haven't gone crazy trying to eat each other yet, so there's that. Unless you've started to feel a sudden urge to eat small children, then we should be worried." You chuckled, feeling the mood in the room lift ever so slightly. Even Newt let out a half-hearted attempt at a laugh.

Newt instructed you through the next few turns until you were out the other side, blinking in the fluorescent light. Thomas stepped out as you gave the all clear, then Newt, who didn't look quite as angry now, just defeated and tired.

"Look, Newt, I'll look after her, okay?" You reached up to yank him into a hug and planted a kiss on his cheek. Thomas averted his eyes awkwardly and turned his back as if he'd just witnessed something painfully embarrassing. Newt smiled a little and nodded as you patted his cheek with your palm.

"Thanks, (Y/N)."

"Newt, we gotta go," Thomas said, sounding suddenly panicked as he glanced further down the hallway. Newt gave you one last look and you nodded assuringly, ushering him away.

"She'll be okay, Newt," you promised as he went. "She's in good hands."