THE SURVIVOR!
not the only ones and allies.

NEWT!

   "𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐈𝐆, 𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐃 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍, these guys came out of nowhere, started shooting up the place." A dark-skinned boy, who Newt had met just a few minutes prior, was explaining to his group just as Thomas joined them at the table alongside Minho.

"It was intense." Another one pitched in.

"They pulled us out of the maze and brought us here." The first one continued while eating what they've been given for dinner.

"What about the rest, the other people left behind?" The question left Newt's mouth with no hesitation.

A few of them managed to get out, but as far as he knew, part of the Gladers he got to know over the years stayed behind following Gally and the decision he had made. Being glad they made it out of that wretched place was one thing, but they just found out that they were not the only Gladers, they were not the only ones WICKED had trapped between walls. "The other people left behind in the maze, what happened to them?" The sandy-haired boy questioned again.

"I don't know. I guess WICKED still has them." A sudden wave of silence took over the rest of the boys as none of them could help but think about the people they might have convinced to run, to leave, the people who they had no idea whether they were still held in there by the organization that ruined their life or were somehow rescued by someone else.

"How long you guys been here?" Was the next logical question that popped into Newt's head. Everyone around them seemed quite happy, safe. People were smiling and chatting away.

"Not long, just a day or two. That kid over..." The dark-skinned boy who had started to explain everything he knew to the remaining members of their Glade stopped talking and his gaze shifted from a lonely lanky boy sitting at the table alone to stare at someone who just entered the cafeteria.

Soon enough he turned around just as Thomas, Minho and Frypan did and was met with the sight of a girl escorted inside the room by a group of guards. The girl had long red hair, a small body frame and a piercing stare. Her body, at least the part of the body that was still visible as it was not covered by clothes, sported several scars and, while some of them were pink, signifying that they were relatively new, others were already white. Among the scars that covered her arms, she wore a large one that ran from the side of her right cheek directly to her collarbone as if someone had cut her with extreme precision.

It happened in an instant, the girl was staring at him. No, not just him, but also the rest of the Gladers. She started walking in their direction and he couldn't help but to notice her confident strides, the stoic expression that seemed almost etched on her face. She walked right next to them and, while following her movements, Newt couldn't help but to smile at his friend, Minho, whose mouth was now hanging open and was gaping like a fish out of water.

"Who is that?" Thomas was the first one to turn around and face the group of Gladers who kindly let them share their table. "And why is she covered in so many scars?" At that question, the dark-skinned boy shared a quick look with his friends before one of them almost gave him permission to explain. Whoever that girl was it seemed like nobody really wanted to talk about her, or at least mention the reason why she looked like that.

"That one is Margaret. She's been here the longest." Newt knew that Thomas would have probably pressed the issue even further, but, thankfully, the boy kept on talking. "Must have been two weeks, at least." His friends quickly agreed by nodding their heads. "The people who came from her Maze called themselves Survivors. She-" he motioned with his head toward the girl who was now sitting at a large table in front of the boy who was previously sitting by himself. "She was their leader and she is the last Survivor here." 

"Survivors? Why?" Thomas leaned in, elbows propped on the table. Newt couldn't help but stare, once again, at the redhead girl; however, what truly appalled him was that as soon as he turned around the girl did the same. She was staring at him, almost trying to understand who he was just as much as he was trying to do the same. She had the expression and the stance of a warrior, her eyes not giving away any kind of emotion and her mouth was stretched into a thin line as if she was calculating something he was privy of.

"Let's just say that our maze was a piece of cake compared to theirs." The voice of the boy sitting next to the dark skinned one snapped him out of his train of thoughts and before he knew it he looked back at the girl who was now in deep conversation with the boy who sitting in front of her.

"What do you mean?" His gaze was now on his best friend, Minho, who was staring at her as if she was the most amazing being in the world and he couldn't help but to stifle a small chuckle.

"Her group, all young ones, she was the oldest. She'd been there for years, first one and all. No closing walls, grievers running free every single night." Those words were enough to silence every last one of them. "Saw a lot of them die, only a handful of them made it out and, apparently, when she got here, she was still covered in blood. That girl fought Grievers and kept her Saviours alive for three years, no wonder she went crazy." He finished by slowly shaking his head.

"One of her Saviours was like a brother, joined to the hips. When his name was called and he got the chance to go to the 'safe heaven' she started yelling and screaming. Took down three guards on her own, I heard, and kept fighting even after she received a few hits herself. Everyone wants to be safe, must be mental if she tried to keep her friend away from that place." Once the dark-skinned boy sitting in front of them finished his explanation Newt started putting all the pieces together. She was brought in by armed guards as they probably didn't trust her on her own, she seemed constantly on alert and, while her friend seemed to be slightly scared, she seemed to be ready for whatever life threw at her.

Could he blame her? The girl had apparently spent three years in a Maze where no one was safe. If they referred to her as their leader and the first one to arrive in that place, then it only meant that she fought to keep as many people as possible alive without a single break for years and probably saw a lot of them die in front of her as well. All of those factors would have been enough to make Newt go crazy, therefore the girl he was now staring at, just like Thomas, Minho and Frypan, had every reason to be like she was.

"Good evening gentlemen. Ladies." The voice of the man who they saw when they entered the place echoed through the small room and managed to get all of them to look at the man who was just now walking in with a clipboard in his hands. "You all know how this works, if you hear your name called please rise in an orderly fashion, join my colleagues. They will escort you to the eastern wing, your new life is about to begin." A series of small claps came from all around them and, while looking at all the excited faces sitting in the cafeteria, Newt noticed that Thomas was now looking at the girl and the boy who seemed to be the only two not interested in whatever the man was saying altogether. He knew his friend, he was someone who had a hard time when it came to fully trust someone, but, at the same time, his gut instinct had never proved him wrong so far and it looked like he didn't consider the redhead as crazy as the other Gladers made her out to be as he was almost studying each one of her moves. He temporarily shoved the fact that Thomas' gaze wouldn't budge from the pair aside and turned back to look at the man who was now reading names out loud. Each name he read, another person stood up and went to stand by the two men in the back.

Once he finished reading a bunch of names he quickly closed the clipboard and the remaining people in the cafeteria let out a sound of protest. "Now, now, don't be discouraged. If I could take more, I would. There's always tomorrow. Your time will come. Go on, eat up." He exclaimed before starting to make his way towards the same exit the boys and girls he had just called had been instructed to go through.

"Where are they going?" Minho's voice interrupted the silence that had overcome their table.

"Far from here, lucky bastards." The dark-skinned boy retorted with an annoyed tone.

"Some kind of farm. A safe place. They can only take a couple of people at a time" His friend, who realised the explanation that they had just been given wasn't enough, quickly pitched in.

Their conversation, however was cut short when he noticed Thomas abruptly standing up and muttering a low "What the hell?" Before making his way toward the row of glass windows that showed the corridor through which Teresa was currently following one of the doctors they had seen upon their arrival. "Hey, Teresa? Teresa!" He was trying to follow them and, had Newt been more aware of his surroundings, he would have noticed the young scrawny boy lifting his hood up and following Thomas movements while the girl sitting at his table was now grasping the end of the table and squeezing it almost to try and control any sudden movement while keeping an interested eye on his friend.

The two guards stationed at the exit of the cafeteria quickly closed in on Thomas preventing him from going any further and he quickly found himself hoping that the boy wouldn't do anything reckless putting them all in jeopardy as they'd just arrived at the place. However, Thomas seemed to have calmed down as he turned around and started to make his way toward the table once again and that's when Newt noticed that the boy who had led them outside the maze was now looking in the direction of the table they'd all been staring at before. He followed his gaze and noticed the determined look on the girl's face who, almost for a split second, quirked her lips in a small smile before returning to her previous stance.

Once Newt looked back at his friend he found him looking at the weird duo even more confused than before.

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MARG!

   During the whole evening she kept alternating her attention between Aris and the new guys from Group A. They looked different than the others, more determined, more focused and, apparently, Aris silently agreed with her. All their assumptions were quickly confirmed when one of them, a boy with dark brown hair and a good body built, stood up out of nowhere and started yelling after the girl who was being led to what she knew for sure to be the testing room.

His actions had lit a newfound hope both in Aris and Marg who shared a quick nod promising each other they would have met later in the air-vents. If the boy in question was ready to run after one of his Group to know where they were taking her, then that boy would have listened to both of them and, possibly, even believed them.

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   Margaret was currently pretending to be asleep even if there were no cameras in her room as she had checked for them multiple times. When she heard the sound of footsteps outside her room she knew it signified that the change of the guards had just started, which gave her and Aris the perfect time frame to meet one another.

She quickly slid out of bed, put on a pair of sneakers, not caring in the slightest about socks, and crouched on the ground before removing the grate underneath her bed that led directly to the air-vents and was situated in front of the one in Aris' room.

The two friends smiled at each other before Marg understood that Aris wanted her to take the lead, something she was completely okay with. It didn't take long for her to know which room had been assigned to Group A as Group G had completely disappeared a few days prior and their room was therefore vacant.

Margaret slowed her movements once they reached the grate that would have given them the opportunity to get in the room belonging to the new group and held her index finger in the air signalling for Aris to wait before following her. She had no issue if it came down for her to get caught, but she had vowed to herself that she would have kept the boy safe as long as possible now that WICKED had taken Levi away from her.

She quickly started to work on the outside of the vent making sure to keep the noise to a minimum not to draw any attention on the pair and, within a few minutes, the metal that was separating them from the new Group slid forward giving her the opportunity to stick half of her body inside the room and underneath one of the beds.

"Hey." She whispered as quietly as possible. "Hey." She called again to make sure that the boy had heard her and would understand where her voice was coming from. Soon enough the brown-haired boy was leaning upside down on his bed and looking at Margaret in complete stupor just to be met with Aris figure in her background. Before he could utter a single word Margaret quickly brought her index finger to her lips and slowly shook her head before pointing toward the entrance door and hoping he would understand what she meant by those actions alone. "Follow us." She whispered just as quietly as before as Aris started to move along through the air vents.

Margaret waited for the boy to look half-way convinced and, only when she saw him leaving his bed and crouching underneath it to follow them, she gave him a quick nod and started following Aris in the direction he had taken. There was no chance to get lost inside the air vents as they only had four ends in total, the one on the eastern corridor being their current destination. She grimaced when the new boy managed to hit the wall of the vent with his knee and whipped around to deliver him a piercing glare that seemed to have delivered the message as no more noises of such followed them in their 'trip'.

"Aris, hurry." She whispered to her friend who had briefly stopped to wait for her and the new guy. "And you, this way, come on, dude." She whispered at the Group A member while grabbing his shoulder and pushing it forward, an action that left him baffled as he probably didn't expect someone like Margaret to actually have so much strength she could easily move someone twice her size in an enclosed space. She didn't even look back to see what his reaction was as, if her assumptions were right, the boy had as many questions as they both did when they first arrived to the compound.

"Hey wait a second..." The boy she didn't know the name of halted in his steps causing her to immediately turn around.

"You want answers? You're not alone. Come on." Her tone was flat, but she still managed to hold a certain wave of strength whenever she spoke to someone as the boy was no longer hesitant when it came to follow two people who were complete strangers to him until a few minutes before.

"Come on, we're gonna miss it." Aris, who was now leading the trio said very quickly to gain the attention of the girl he trusted with his life and the guy she apparently decided to put part of her trust in.

Margaret and Aris arrived to their destination and kneeled down in a way that still gave the new arrival the chance to see what they'd seen multiple times already.

"What are we doing?" At that question the two friends turned around simultaneously toward the brunette guy who, in return, received a silent hand gesture on behalf of Marg signalling for him to get closer and look at what was gonna happen.

The three of them had to wait less than a minute until the familiar clicking noise of one of the doctor's shoes signalled her arrival, followed by a gurney half covered in glass that showed a series of stats that reported the current status of whoever was laying in there, while the other half was covered by a white sheet. Margaret moved a little to her left to give the new arrival a better view just in time for the doctor to slide her key card and open the door. She moved her attention away from yet another body that was being taken in the same exact room as all the others to the guy who was now staring at what was happening in complete shock. 

"What the hell was that?" He muttered loud enough for her and Aris to hear, his attention never leaving the door almost as if he was expecting something else to happen.

"They bring new ones every night like clockwork." Aris replied now looking at the guy who had just witnessed something they both had countless times. Regardless of Aris' answer, the new guy turned his attention to Margaret who was still crouched down, blazing red hair falling on her shoulder and staring at him almost expecting the question he would have asked next.

"Do you know what they do with them?" She let out a small scoff before addressing the guy she only assumed to be Group A's leader.

"No. Me and Aris have been trying to get closer, this is as far as we made it." She quickly gestured to the space surrounding them and managed to capture his full attention. "The vent system was somehow built in a way to prevent it to go into that section and I bet it's no coincidence either." She took a deep breath in as the following words were a remainder of her failure as a leader. "Once they take those people though those doors, they never come back out. I have been here two weeks, nobody makes it out of here." A gentle tug on her arm pulled her out of her darkest thoughts and she smiled at Aris who knew exactly what she was going through.

"Come on. We've gotta go before someone notices that we're gone." He said while keeping his right hand on Marg's arm trying to show her as much support as possible.

"Why did you show me this?" Aris was already ahead of them; therefore, it was Margaret, the person who decided that, maybe, just maybe, this guy could be trusted, who answered to his question.

"Because maybe the others will listen to you. We've tried with other people, but they chose blind hope instead of the harsh truth." She spoke confidently keeping her eyes at the same level as the other guy's. "This place, this place is too good to be true. Something weird is going on and I know you think so too." She gave the boy a quick nod before turning around ready to leave the place in order not to get caught until the boy with so many questions stopped them both in their tracks yet again.

"Hey, wait. What's your guys' names?"

"Aris."

"Margaret." 

"I am Thomas." The redhead gave him a nod of recognition silently thanking him as she knew he already knew about her, every newbie did, but he treated her the same nonetheless. "They were wrong, by the way. You are not crazy, are you?" A fraction of a smile made its way on both Thomas' and Marg's face before the first one continued. "Do you trust me with a plan?" Margaret slit her eyes trying to understand if there was a part of the guy she shouldn't have trusted and, when she found none, she simply nodded once. "Then meet me again tomorrow, through the grates underneath my bed. Both of you." It was like they had just silently agreed to Thomas' plan as Marg didn't waste any time at all before speaking again.

"Come on, you won't find the way back to your room without us." She spoke, voice stern.

She didn't know that behind, while Thomas was following her, he couldn't help but to recognise the Leader she must have been and still was to this day.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

 I am truly sorry for the wait, but I am back and I am not going anywhere!

Thanks for all the support I received for the first chapter of the story. Being such a big fan of TMR saga this story is particularly special to me.

Also thanks to the amazing OriginalReh who deals with my constant insecurity and supports me so much #TEAMMADEH