SUPERSTES// Maze Runner Newt fanfiction (page 250 sequel)

35

I hide the syringe in my jeans while Sorcha runs her card across the lock to open the door. Julie is sleeping, but she wakes up when I enter. Her face brightens for seeing me. "Newt, is that you" she asks. the Bless has its effect on her speech. She looks very tired: her eyes are surrounded by black bags, and she looks barely able to raise her head from her pillow. She tries, but I tell her to rest.

I sit on her bed and cross my hand on my lap. "You look better. Don't you?" I ask with smile.

"Where am I, Newt? WICKED?"

"A better place," I swallow to answer.

She closes her eyes for a while. When she opens again, she whispers in her weak voice, "I'm sorry for what I did that day. I... I don't know what happened then. I'm sorry, Newt. You were trying to help me and I did that."

I notice she's been looking at the visible part of my arms that isn't covered with my sweater's sleeves. Few red scars are still visible on my wrests since that day, but I haven't given them a thought. "We all do mistakes," I tell her in a dry laugh. "I once almost shot my friend when I was a crank! Friends are for each other."

"But I bet you're alright now- you and your friend."

I tighten my laugh. "Bet that too," I answer. She looks at me and understands. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I don't like to admit it, either." I answer. "Like there isn't a clue that they're alive, there isn't a clue that they're dead. Let's not talk about it, alright?"

She nods. I stay quiet for a while and then ask her, "How did you end up in the pits?"

She sighs. "Long story."

"Uncle Newt can listen."

She laughs. "It started when Janson said my name."

"That's where it started for us all."

"I was with my group. When Janson announced my name on the list of non-immune, everything turned upside down. I was awfully scared of becoming a crank, losing my brain, turning like those loonies we saw in the Scorch. I couldn't bear the thought of eventually becoming a threat."

"Tell me about it," I answer. She smiles. "So, what did you do?" I ask.

"When the girls planned the escape from WICKED, I told them I wanted to stay. Many argued and tried to convince me that it was a terribly stupid idea and that I had to go with them, but I refused. I had the worst struggle ever with Sonya and Harriett. I did it for them."

"What happened after that?"

"I stayed as a WICKED rat. I gave some distraction for my friends to escape. WICKED placed me in a quarantine like an experiment rat; however, when the explosions started, I found a way to escape, and that was the only shelter I could find."

"Do you remember anything before the explosions?" I ask her after a while.

She squeezes her brain. "I... I remember rumors, but I wasn't sure about them. There were munies WICKED was placing in the Maze. I heard they were just locked, but I understood that WICKED was planning to repeat the trials."

"Repeating the trials?! Those shuck-faces weren't enough?!" I try to hold down my rage. "New munies or our friends?"

"Both," she answers. "I remember seeing some of my friends, and maybe some of yours, but many of them I didn't know. WICKED was going mad. I saw children, Newt. Children in the Maze!"

"WICKED is bloody good, you know," I sigh. "Do you remember anything after that?"

"I... I remember hearing another thing, but this was proved. I saw him. I'm sure. I saw your friend, Thomas."

My nerves intense. "Tommy?"

She nods. "But I didn't know why he was there. All I remember is that after very few hours, the explosions started. My quarantine broke, and I escaped and ran to the pits without second thought."

"Good you did," I whisper as I squeeze her hands in mine.

"Thank you for everything, Newt," she whispers finally.

"From a crank to another," I laugh.

"But you aren't a crank; are you?" she asks.

"Complicated."

"Lucky you," she mumbles.

I squeeze my lips. I must do this now. "Julie, do you trust me?"

"I owe you a lot, already."

I try to carefully take out the syringe. Her eyes widen. "What's that, Newt?" she asks me in a voice I sense terror in it.

"I... I'm sorry, Joule. It's for your own good."

She starts moaning and swaying, trying to run away from me. I feel like a monster, but I have to do this. I push the needle into her arm. The needle almost breaks due to her constant movement. I notice that her hands and legs are tied.

"You're like them! Leave me alone! I trusted you!"

I empty the syringe in her blood. She starts screaming more, impulsively trying to get out of bed. She holds my arm with a tight grip that I don't get to take off the needle and it stays swaying on her arm. She looks at me with flared, red eyes. "I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you," she repeats again and again in a voice that can't be hers.

Doctors start rushing into the room. Six try to hold her down while two pull me out. I try to resist, but I find no power for it. I remain hearing the three words she told me through the whole way.

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Thanks for reading so far and see you soon, Gladers!

GM