" WHITE BLOOD " T. MAZE RUNNER¹

thirty-six.

[CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX]

~

The boy named Hayes left with the armed guards, and Eleanor was left alone once more. She was left alone to wait- wait for the upcoming visit of the woman with the scars that Hayes had warned her about. Her shoulder hurt something fierce, a burning sensitive shooting up her arm with just the simplest movement of her body. She was weak, for she had lost a lot of blood before Hayes showed up and stitched her up, though she managed to pull herself back into the lumpy bed.

Eleanor barely had a moment to rest before she heard the squeaking of the wooden door opening once more. She raised her head slightly, and her heart leaped in her chest as she noticed the woman entering the room, pulling a trolley behind her. With dark brown hair and porcelain skin, the woman wore her lips in a straight line; if only it weren't for the ugly scars that covered most of her face, she would have been beautiful.

"Hello, Eleanor," the woman greeted her as she crossed the room, pulling the trolley to a stop beside her bed. It was then Eleanor could see what it held- a myriad of surgical equipment was laid out across a white tray, and the girl's heart hammered against her chest as she studied each intimidating tool.

The woman pulled out a stool from underneath the trolley, unfolding it and taking a seat just beside her bed before she spoke once more. "I hoped that I would see you again?"

"Who are you?" Eleanor asked, for she felt a twinge of familiarity as she studied the raised scars on the woman's face. What had happened to her?

"My name is Doctor Emily Powell," the woman responded with a quick grin, though there was no sign of friendliness behind it. Her dark eyes were burning with anger, and Eleanor longed to know why. "Of course you don't remember it, but you decided to play a little game of who can dodge the hand grenade with a bunch of us in a conference room. I was the only winner."

Eleanor didn't know what to say, though as she stared at the scars on the woman's skin, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. No, she thought as she pushed away the feeling. These people are murderers. They all deserve to die.

"I'm going to be performing mild surgery on you now," Dr. Powell said, pulling the girl from her thoughts. "It won't take long, and you'll only feel a mild discomfort when you wake up."

Eleanor's gut twisted inside of her as the woman reached down and picked up a syringe from the tray of medical equipment. She raised it in the air, causing the golden liquid inside to glisten in the fluorescent light, and pressed the plunger slightly so some of the liquid squirted out.

"You can't let her take your memories, Eleanor."

Hayes's words echoed through her mind as her vision focused on the sharp needle of the syringe. Dr. Powell had begun lowering it towards her arm, and Eleanor began to wonder. Why did she want to remember the Maze, if all of it had only ended so badly? She was never going to see those boys again, and the mere memories of them only made her heart ache. They sent her down the Box without hesitation at the first mention of their own safety- and if they hadn't cared enough to fight for her, why should she have cared enough to fight to remember them?

No.

Eleanor quickly pushed those thoughts from her mind. The boys in the Maze had made her time trapped there worth it. She had enemies, yes, but she also had some of the best friends she could have ever asked for- she had Minho, Rick, Frypan, Chuck, Thomas... and Newt. Why should she have thrown all of that away?