The memories come in waves; some of them playing through my head like a movie and others appearing as spontaneously as recalling where a lost item was left.

I watch, like a spectator in my own life as I make friends with some of the other boys and sneak out to visit the girls on occasion. I watch as I allow myself to be tested and used like a lab rat, not a human. I watch as I obediently go to the lessons I'm directed to. I watch my younger self curl on a bunk, tears streaming down my face as I'm tortured by the monsters inside my head. I watch myself search relentlessly to find the boy, Thomas, that my sister and her friend were looking for. At last, I do and the memories slow from the steady flow to a vision-like scene and I relive the moment.

Lizzy's new friend is much more than you'd expect from such a tiny girl. Somewhere, beneath that long dark hair of hers, her brain buzzes. She's really smart, but seems to hide it from all the doctors. Addy was the one who figured out how to loop the cameras so we could meet up at night. Addy was also the one who found the files stating where her brother was kept. The girl reminds me of a feline with the way she sneaks around without getting caught and I admire her for it.

"Something on your mind?" My sister whispers as she catches me staring at her friend. An amused smile slips onto her face.

I try to control the heat that works it's way slowly into my cheeks. "No, I just zoned out for a moment." It's not exactly a lie.

"Mh-hmm." My little sister doesn't seem to believe me but turns back to play with Chuck so I give in and glance back over to Addy.

She's seated against the wall of the closet, leaning into her brother while he mutters to her.

"Keep hiding it. I don't want them to test you the way they test me. You're so smart and I'm so proud of you, but you've got to stay with the other girls," Thomas insists.

Addy's crystal green eyes are glazed in tears that threaten to spill over. "But I could be with you if I didn't hide. I could help plan our escape." Her voice cracks and she lowers it to a whisper thag I barely make out. "I'm scared, Tommy."

Thomas shakes his head. "No. It'll be worse for you. I'll try to convince them to let you hangout with me more, but I don't know how. It'll be ok." He wraps his arm around her and stares blankly at a wall.

Just then, our wait is over and Minho finally comes back with Alby. I grin and ask, "Ready to see the great outdoors?"

Soon enough, we're taking the familiar route up the rungs of a dusty ladder and climbing out onto the concrete platform that makes up the roof. I shield my eyes as they adjust to the light, chuckling at Tommy's dramatic reaction to the brightness. Minho and I have come up here plenty of times before, but it's the first time we've brought Tommy and the girls.

As Addy and Lizzy emerge, awe fills their faces and they take grateful breaths of the fresh air. Addy stretches her arms out and spins slowly in a circle as she takes it all in. I don't want to move. I just want to watch her, but Minho has other plans.

"Let's show them the woods! Maybe we'll get lucky and see a deer. And maybe it'll let us pet it."

We guide the others to the drain pipe and make our way down. After everyone makes it down, we prepare to head out into the woods for a bit of fun, but are stopped.

"You kids really shouldn't be out here," the guard says and I recognize him. This was the man that hurt us. When we wouldn't accept our new names, when we wouldn't forget our old lives. My breath catches in my throat and I force myself to stay calm. I have to be brave for the others. "But I don't think you need me to tell you that. You're smart enough to figure it out on your own. It looks like we need to teach you a lesson about the dangers of the outside world. Make you appreciate what WICKED does for you a little more."

Three of his fellow guards show up and round up the group, but one pulls me and Addy away from the rest. We're all too frightened to fight but I cast worried glances back at my friends and sister as we're separated. I have no idea where I'm being taken, but I heard the mean guard mention something about the Crank Pits to the others and I already know that it won't be good.

Addy and I are delivered into an observation room where we're poked and prodded once again. The doctors take our blood and check all our vitals without a word, only the occasional tut of disapproval.

When we're finally finished, two guards, one of them being the mean guard that caught us, return. He crouches in front of me and whispers a threat.

"You ever try something again, and this will hurt a lot worse." Then he pulls back his arm and slaps me across the face. Hard.

I choke on a cry of pain, surprised. Addy's hands fly to her mouth and she lets out a pitiful sound of sympathy. The second guard grabs arms and starts pulling me away, but I fight against him when I see the mean one stop in front of Addy just like he did with me. I won't let him hurt her. I won't! But it's not up to me. I scream as I'm dragged out, kicking and struggling against the man restraining me, but I'm useless against the grown man.

"Don't touch her!" I scream.

The guard ignores me. Addy's cries of pain echo into the hall and I can almost feel the shattering of my heart.

The moment I'm shoved into the bedroom, I flop onto the bottom bunk of the bed Minho and I share. I let my emotions flow out in the form of salty tears. I don't move from the pitiful position until Minho wakes me from the daze by climbing the ladder to his own bunk nearly an hour later.

"You alright?" I croak quietly.

The other boy is silent for a while but then, with a quavering voice, he says, "No."

I don't know what to say, but I don't have to. Minho chokes the whole story out. "It was awful, Newt. They're insane. All of them. One of them scratched their own eyes out. They tried to kill us."

I've never heard my friend sounding so terrified and it scares me. "But everyone's still... in tact? Lizzy?" I can't ask if they're ok, because I already know the answer and I don't want to hear it again.

"No one was really hurt, but- " Minho can't finish his sentence. Sobs choke his words.

We're just kids, I think. How could they do this to us? But they don't seem to have much trouble hurting us.

---

Throbbing, stinging pain torture me into consciousness. I peel my brown eyes open and become incredibly disoriented. I have no idea where I am.

Bulky grayish-green fabric take place of the ceiling and drapes down as the walls of the tent. I carefully push myself into sitting position and groan as my muscles spasm and I slip back onto the cot. With some effort, I manage to sit myself up with minimal amount of pain. Tent flap is pulled away to reveal a woman with brown hair and squinting, hazel eyes. She smiles kindly when she sees that I'm awake and sits down on the only other piece of furniture in the room, a simple wooden chair.

"Glad to see you awake, Newt," she says. "I'm Mary, a member of an anti-WICKED organization and, Addy's mother."

The revelation is like a blow to the chest and my emotions rage as I try to comprehend the information. Addy's mother? I can see the resemblance and any doubts in my mind vanish. A pang of jealousy hits me as I recall what I saw in the memories, my own mother and father murdered right in front of me. Then, my heart swells with happiness and gratitude that Addy was spared the same fate as mine and has someone to rely on. Anxiety is next as I realize that I have no idea where she is. Addy would be the first to visit me, I'm sure of it.

"Where is Addy?" I croak. My throat is dry and burns.

Mary hands me a glass of water from the floor that I hadn't noticed before and I swallow it gratefully as she speaks. "There was a mishap with the rescue." Her eyes glimmer with genuine sadness and disappointment. "Someone alerted the guards that I was there and you and I were the only ones to escape. Addy was caught just before she could the truck and, well, the other boys from the Maze were taken to a safe house with the rest of the rescue team, but the safe house wasn't as safe as anticipated. WICKED infiltrated it and murder my colleagues, taking the boys back into their control." She bows her head sadly when she's finished.

I swallow hard but tears trickle down my face. All my friends are still trapped. All of them. The Gladers, my sister, and Addy.

I hate them. I hate WICKED. I won't let them do this. I won't let them get away with this. With a horse voice, I ask, "How do we get them back?"