The Boys

Newt's face softened once he saw Aris's face. He could tell that terrible memories were flashing in the kid's head and that he wasn't lying. "C'mon, shank. We gotta sit and talk about this."

Aris's eyes widened, "What do you mean?"

"Because," Minho sat on a nearby bed. "Sounds like we're coming from similar places."

"W-what?"

"The maze. WICKED. All that good stuff."

The rest of the gladers took the bunk beds apart and arranged them around Aris, Newt, Minho, and Thomas. They all listened intently to Aris's life in the maze, how he was a trigger (much like Teresa) and found that it wasn't as different as theirs, except for the fact that it was all girls and two boys.

Minho smirked when Aris told them that the genders were opposite. Aris blushed furiously and shook his head, saying that it wasn't like that. Minho gave him a cheesy wink which caused him to cover his face in embarrassment and the gladers' chuckles.

"So what happened to this other dude? Who was he?" Frypan asked.

Aris rubbed the back of his neck, "Aw man... uh.. his name was Barry. He got to the maze before me and then a few days after I came, he went all psycho and ran into the maze and he... uh... never came back."

Newt let go of his breath as if a weight was lifted off of him. This Barry guy sort of sounded like he was the Emily of the other maze but luckily she didn't turn crazy like him. If only I could find her. He thought to himself. I have to find her. Newt squeezed his eyes and then focused back to talking boy. When Aris got to the "escape from the maze" part of the story, he choked up. The gladers gave him a confused look but Newt understood when he saw the pain in his eyes. "Did you... lose someone?"

Aris stayed silent and looked down to the space between his feet. He answered with a sad and quiet tone. "Yea." He hesitated, "Her... her name was Rachel. She was my best friend. This other girl, Beth, we thought she was taken away and killed by the monsters but.... she was alive and she... she..." Tears started welling up in his eyes and he couldn't continue. Newt patted his shoulder and nodded sympathetically.

"We understand." He spoke, "Our friend... his name was Chuck... he was killed too. Pretty much the same way as... Rachel."

Aris clutched his head. "I ask myself, Why her? Why not me?, all the time
now. I just... now I'm stuck with you sticks and ughh." he sighed and fell back onto the bed. He yelped and sat back up when his head fell into Frypan's lap.

"Hey." Minho spoke, "If you were this trigger thing or whatever... you were the last one up. So... can you do that mind talk-y thing too?"

"I..." Aris's voice trailed into silence as his eyes turned towards Thomas. It looked like they were having a staring contest.

"Uh... Earth to Thomas and Aris?" Winston snapped his fingers between their faces.

"What?" Thomas blinked. "Right. Looks like Aris can talk telepathically too."

"Great. Now we have another super powered freak." Minho joked but his tone sounded too harsh. Aris stared at Minho with a look that said, "What the heck, man?"

"Well," Thomas put his arm around Aris. "I guess you gotta get used to living around us."

"Great..."

********
The Twins

"TERESA! RESA! REEEESSAAAA!" Emily spoke telepathically.

"I can hear you! Geez! I'm over here!" Teresa called out from the other side of the room.

Emily sighed in relief and ran over to her sister and embraced her in a hug.

"Where are we?" Emily asked, looking around the tiny white padded room. "I could really use a shower... and some new clothes... and some food." Her stomach grumbled. "Food..."

Teresa rubbed the side of her neck. "I don't know..." She moved her hair to one side and looked around the room. Emily spotted something on the back of her sister's neck. "Hey, Resa? What's that?" She pointed.

"What's what?" Teresa tried to look at where her sister was pointing. Emily grabbed her shoulders and moved the hair out of the way so she could see writing more clearly.

Teresa Agnes. Group A, Subject A1.
The Betrayer

"Whoa man." She reread it three more times, as if it would change if she looked away. "This is freaky."

"What is it?!"

"It's... it's like a tattoo. It says, "Teresa Agnes. Group A, Subject A1. The Betrayer." Emily replied, completely curious and incredulous. "Do I have one?" She turned and lifted the hair off of her neck and Teresa read the words printed on her sister's neck.

"It says..." She started slowly. "Emily Gabrielle. Group A, Subject A6. The Ephemeral."

Emily let her hair down and gave her sister a raised eyebrow. "Why do we have different last names? I thought we were twins!"

"Maybe I took the last name of... dad... and you took the last name of... mom. Or the other way around."

"Maybe," Emily pursed her lips. "Hey, what does 'ephemeral' mean?"

Teresa was about to reply, probably with an "I don't know.", when the door creaked open. The person standing in the doorway smiled at them with an abnormally cheesy smile.

"Ephemeral means short-lived. Anyways, welcome ladies! Oh, you guys have grown up so much! I almost didn't recognize you!" The woman spoke to them as if they were five.

Emily stared at the woman with detestation and then something in her head clicked. "Resa. She's the lady from our vision."

"What the..."

"Oh ladies, don't you know it's not nice to use that little trick when others are trying to talk to you?"

The twins turned rigid and Emily pulled Teresa closer to her.

"What do you want from us?" Emily asked.

"We can get to that important stuff later. First we need to get you washed up and fed! My, my! You girls smell like those cranks!"

"Excuse me? Cranks?" Emily tightened her grip on Teresa's arm.

"Details, details. We'll get to those soon enough. Now come this way to the showers! And don't bother trying to escape, we have guards watching at all times and they are heavily armed." The woman left and the sisters slowly followed and ignored the gazes of the guards that towered over them. They entered the bathroom and they washed themselves. Once they finished, their old clothes, which they piled on the counter, were gone and replaced two neatly folded and ironed outfit sets which consisted of a white tshirt, pair of white pants, and white shoes.

"I have to admit, the shower felt refreshing," Emily commented as she tied her laces into a bow.

"Agreed."

The girls exited the bathroom and waiting for them outside was the lady.

"Y'know, we still don't even know her name," Emily said.

"Huh... that's weird... now that I think about it," Teresa responded.

"Alrighty ladies! Now that you're all washed up, how about something to eat? Sounds good?" The lady spoke in her bubbly voice.

The sisters remained silent but Emily's grumbling stomach spoke for them. "I'll take that as a yes!" The lady started walking down the hall and the girls followed holding each other's hand. They got to a room with a sign over the door that read Cafeteria. Both Teresa and Emily squeezed each other's hand as the memory of the cafeteria flashed in their heads. They walked in and sat at the nearest table and the woman sat across from them. Two guards brought over trays of food then stood in front of the table, awaiting the woman's orders.

"Is that all, Ms. Bennett? Or would you like us to sta--" One guard started with a monotone voice.

"I think we are fine," Ms. Bennett interrupted. "You two may leave. I can take it from here. Thank you."

"Okay. Got it. Her name is Ms. Bennett," Emily's telepathic voice sounded accomplished.

"Yea, Em. I got that," Teresa sounded annoyed.

The guards nodded and marched out of the room. Ms. Bennett stared at the girls, pressuring them to start eating. They looked down and observed the food they were given: two ham and cheese sandwiches, an apple, and a bottle of milk.

"I wish it was pizza," Emily commented.

Teresa ignored her and began eating. She stared into nothing and it looked as if she was thinking. Emily pouted slightly before starting with her food. Once they finished their first sandwich, Ms. Bennett spoke up.

"How are you ladies feeling?"

Emily squished her second sandwich in her hands and gave Ms. Bennett a glare. "Uh, well you guys kidnapped us and you won't tell us what the shuck you want from us but other than that I'm feeling peachy. Thanks for the showers and the food."

Ms. Bennett pursed her lips. It looked weird as they had never seen her have a different facial expression than smiling. "I don't take kindly to your lip, Miss Gabrielle. Nonetheless, we are sorry we had to take you two the way we did. You two are very important in the next part of these Trials."

"Trials? What the shuck do you want from us?! I've asked that so many times! Just tell us, Bennett!" Emily with an aggravated tone.

Ms. Bennett crossed her arms and spoke calmly. "It would be preferred if called me Ms. Bennett or Erica, even. Anyways, from the maze trials, we understand that you have a relationship with Subject A5? You know him as Newt."

Emily blushed. "N-no we don't. We're just... friends."

"Right." Erica seemed unconvinced. "Well, from our observations, it seems that he has a great interest in you and you reciprocate those feelings back to him."

Emily's blush reddened. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Since you are important to him, we are able to use you as leverage. Subje-- I mean, Newt, is a very important part of these trials. We do not think that he will agree to our terms if we don't have something to bargain with."

Teresa cleared her throat. "What part do I have in this? Why am I here?"

"Ah, Teresa. Well, as you and Miss Gabrielle discovered, you have some special code names. We will be needing you for the... gladers... journey to WICKED."

The twins sat, motionless, after hearing all of this information. This didn't seem to bother Erica at all. After a few moments, Erica's eyes widened as she remembered something.

"Oh right, ladies. I forgot something very important. I'll give you some background information first. There was a horrible disaster with sun flares that hit our Earth. It destroyed many cities, states, countries, you name it. Many resources were running low and, well, there were far too many people to accommodate. A scientist created a virus, the Flare, to help control the population of the world. Some people are considered to be immune to it and some are very important to WICKED and to our research towards finding the cure. Now this is where you two come in. Unfortunately, I have some bad news..."