Chapter 9

229.05.11 / 10:27 a.m.

The months flew by, and so did your dwindling time with your friends. WICKED had been shortening your classes so that you could dedicate more and more hours to your work on the maze, which was so close to completion, you could taste it. Despite the fact that in only a matter of weeks, your friends would be taken from you, you felt a sort of twisted excitement that the project you'd been working on for half your life was so close to being done.

Your group had also been seeing much less of Thomas, as WICKED had been monopolizing him and Teresa almost twenty-four seven for the last couple weeks, probably sensing the finish just as much as you were, though they were much more eager to begin the trials. They'd amped up everyone's testing to twice a day, including yours as if they'd somehow forgotten you wouldn't be sent into the maze with everyone else.

This also meant you began to see way less of Newt, which only made a bad situation worse. He and Minho had been sent into overdrive, putting the finishing touches on the maze walls, though he'd told you they'd be finished in a week or so.

Dr. Paige had been holding more frequent meetings as well, updates on the maze, planning with you, Thomas, and Teresa for once the trials started. At one point, you'd been so driven on your work and school and meetings, the emotions you'd been feeling just sort of got swept away, and at the light at the end of the tunnel was the maze.

You got to spend a couple days with the guys in the rec room, only on the weekends when WICKED felt obliged to give everyone a short break. You enilalated Thomas in a game of ping pong and then everyone went to the dining hall and ate dinner together, and was the first night in a long time you didn't feel the crushing worry and anxiety that came with finishing the maze hanging over you, instead you let yourself be swallowed by the laughter and banter of your friends.

The happy feeling hovered faintly over you the next morning as you woke and dressed for work, but took a blow, as a hard, monotone knock sounded on the barrack door -- and you knew immediately it wasn't a girl.

Your suspicions were confirmed as you pulled it open, not bothering to be quiet because you were one of the last to wake, and in the doorway stood a large guard, covered head-to-toe in black. You tugged on your other shoe and took a step back, recovering from your surprise.

"Dr. Paige requested to have word with you," the guard said, words slightly muffled by the mask strapped to their face. You could tell they were female by the slightly high-pitched voice -- which was the only real way to tell a guard's gender. Mostly, they all looked identical, down to the heavy combat boots they wore and the black launchers strapped to their backs. The only question was, why had Paige sent an armed guard to escort you to her office?

"Uh... okay," was all you said, as the guard reached over to close the door, nudging you out into the hallway.

"Follow me."

She turned on her heel and marched back down the way she had come, giving you no choice but to follow, wearily eyeing the shiny black grenade launcher in a sling across her broad shoulders, and the pistol at her hip. Had Paige been expecting you to run? You couldn't think of any other explanation as to why this guard was here, instead of patrolling the WICKED borders or monitoring the dining hall. It seemed like a waste.

She led you into an elevator and pressed the button to the top floor, pausing to fiddle with her pistol holster, which only set you on edge. The ride up didn't go fast enough. And even then, the doors opened up to reveal even more guards strolling down the halls, launchers tucked into the crooks of their arms. Your guard had to give you a slight shove to get you moving again.

It was true that you'd never been to Paige's private office before, just the general conference rooms she held all of her meetings in. They always had a guard or two stationed at the door, but nothing like this, and you couldn't help but wonder why she'd decided to take so many precautions.

The door swung open before either of you had a chance to knock, and Paige appeared on the other side, smiling her tight-lipped smile. She gave the guard beside you a slight nod, which she returned, then spun around and walked away back in the direction of the elevators. Paige opened the door wider and ushered you in before you could stare any longer.

"(Y/N)," she said, sounding slightly out of breath. "I'm so glad you could make it. I realize I'm pulling you away from work, but I've notified the techs in the programming department, and they were more than happy to spare an hour and let you come talk to me."

Paige's pale face was deep-set with wrinkles, probably caused from all the stress of everything that had been happening in the last decade, but the first thing you noticed was that her hair was out of its usual bun, instead jutting just past her shoulders, straight, blonde and shiny and streaked with grey.

"Here," Paige said, gesturing to a seat on the other side of a clean white desk. "Sit."

You sat and she did so opposite you, in a big tan chair that rose at least two feet above her head. It made her look comically small. Still, she flashed another smile, scooted closer, and laced her fingers across her desk, looking expectantly at you.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called this private meeting," she said, not dropping her expression or cheery delivery. You could only nod.

"Well, as you know, we've been monitoring both groups, more closely now than ever, and our Psychs have made some observations that I wanted to... cross-check, if you will."

You felt your pulse quicken and your palms begin to sweat. You knew what this was about, and Paige obviously did too. Was she doing this on purpose?

"What observations?" You were surprised at how cool and calm your voice sounded as you spoke the words aloud, but didn't let shock or surprise flash on your face for even a second. You knew if you did, she'd see right through you.

"It's caught our attention that you and subject..." she glanced down at a list beside her, eyes scanning a few lines before she found what she needed, "...A5 have gotten quite close lately."

You wanted to run away. To burst out of that room and down the hall and back to the barracks, or work, anywhere where you wouldn't have to see this woman's face as she stared at you. Through you. Still, though, you managed to compose yourself.

"I have no idea what that means," you told her evenly. "I don't even know who that is."

She glanced down again. "His name's... Newt. Part of your little group with the maze A subjects?"

You winced at his name. "We're friends, yes," you said after a pause. "We've all been friends since we met. Since we were kids."

Paige sighed as if the conversation had already taken a turn she hadn't wanted. "Listen, (Y/N), I want you to know the Psychs strongly recommended I not take this meeting with you. They wanted to keep observing you without interference, but I decided to set it up anyway. I want you to understand the situation you're in. The Variables we could produce from a situation like this."

You felt a lump form in your throat and found yourself unable to speak around it. That's all this was? Another Variable? Another study that WICKED was putting you through to test your responses?

"Variables?" you asked quietly. Paige nodded and leaned back in her seat, crossing her legs out in front of her. Her pants were white and freshly pressed and you felt a sudden rage at the woman boil up in your stomach. "That's all you people care about, isn't it?" you spat. "Variables and blueprints? You're talking about my friends, not subjects!"

Paige's expression remained emotionless as she watched you. You felt your face burn in anger.

"So it's true you and A5 have a connection." She gave a humorless chuckle. "It's ironic because we separated girls and boys so these problems wouldn't occur -- but it seems love found a way around it, and it brings a whole new list of Variables to the table."

Still seething, you just sat and watched her. This was exactly what you'd been afraid of, now that WICKED knew, they were planning on turning you and Newt into their exclusive lab rats.

"Now I want you to know that these brain patterns have turned out to be very important," Paige continued, ignoring your glare. "With the imbalance of hormones that sixteen and seventeen-year-olds are experiencing, something like this could be a breakthrough we never even considered. Especially in these last few months before the trials begin, your brains and emotions are at an entirely new level!"

You hated how excited she sounded, like she'd just discovered the cure or something. You crossed your arms and sat back, mirroring her position. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but there's nothing going on between us. Normal hormonal levels and all, thank you very much."

With another little smile, Paige leaned across her desk and grabbed a thin tablet, which she unlocked quickly and swiped a finger expertly across the surface. A second later, the big TV screen mounted above your heads on the wall lit up, and she tossed an image onto its screen so it was displayed to the entire room.

In it, Newt stood above you and you were looking up at him, standing only inches apart, your mouth open as you spoke quietly together. In the background were the boys of group A, making it painfully obvious that you'd snuck into their barracks to talk to Newt that night.

You just shrugged and glanced over at her. "We were just talking," you said.

Paige swiped to the right and pressed an icon in the center of the image. It sprang to life instantly, and a few seconds later you'd pulled Newt to you and was kissing him like your life depended on it.

You blanched, staring up in horror at the screen, unable to tear your eyes from the video until it had ended, frozen with a picture of you two locking lips and the entire group of boys behind you erupting into cheers. You remembered that night. It had been fantastic.

"I think that answers that," Paige said quietly, looking annoyingly satisfied.

You shifted uncomfortably in your seat and crossed your arms. "Fine, so what? I only get to spend a few more months with him, anyway. Why do you guys care? Is it so you can see us separated when you throw him down into the maze? You seem to get off on that kind of thing."

Paige studied you, your expression, as if searching for something. She still didn't look angry, just amused and slightly surprised. "(Y/N), you know we're not as evil as you make us out to be," she said. "We don't enjoy seeing any of you hurt -- we just do the things necessary to find a cure. You want to be a part of that, don't you? Saving the human race?"

That's what it came down to, every time someone questioned their tactics. Saving the human race.

"What's this have to do with Newt?" you asked, dodging the question. Paige must have noticed but didn't press any further.

"Seeing how the two of your brains react, inside your relationship, knowing that the clock is ticking could easily send them into overdrive. We could get very powerful readings for the Killzone blueprints that have never been available to us until now."

You sighed heavily. "What, you never thought to throw a bunch of teenage girls and boys together? What did you expect to happen? Most of those guys have never met another girl, aside from me and Teresa. You and your buddies would have a heyday." Each word was dripping with venom, and you launched every one at her in your mind.

Paige scribbled something on her paper list as you spoke and didn't say anything else. You watched as she wrote, her handwriting cramped and scrawling, a mix of cursive and tiny letters.

"That would compromise the experiment," she said slowly, finishing the sentence and setting her pen down softly. "But lucky for us, we have you."

You couldn't stand to sit there in front of her for one more second. "Can I leave?" you asked, already getting to your feet. "If that's all you have to tell me?"

After a moment's hesitation, Paige nodded, and the guard at her door pulled it open for you. "Charles will accompany you back to the tech room," she said. "You are to resume normal hours."

You stepped through the doorway without a backward glance, Charles following close behind with his launcher, herding you toward the elevator like a helpless sheep.

All you could think about was how stupid you and Newt had been. Thinking WICKED hadn't been watching you all that time, all those late talks in the hallways -- there were cameras and beetle blades everywhere, privacy didn't mean a damn thing at WICKED. And now, they would be watching you slowly go crazy as you and Newt grew closer, only for him to be torn from you; it was the kind of thing they ate up.

You knew the smart thing to do would be to cut it off early before they could continue to take advantage of you, but you knew Newt would be heartbroken, and the thought almost hurt more than the thought of Paige hunched over a computer, watching as Newt assured you the two of you were entirely alone.

Once you got down to the bottom floor, Charles watched you walk down the hall to the tech room and disappear inside before he left. You had a feeling he'd be lurking around for a while, so you just sat down at your computer and logged on, pushing the entire conversation from your head. Pushing away Newt's face as you told him you'd be better off away from each other, and the pang of sadness deep in your chest.