SACRIFICE {Newt | The Maze Runner}

i. The Curious Boy from Group A

Song: NEVER BE ALONE; shawn mendes

     WHILE many of the other survivors of the Maze Trials were thankful for the clothes, food and beds, Aris and I had never been more on edge. The sudden change from my 'Eat, Run, Sleep, Repeat' schedule infuriated me, especially seeing as the price for it was the death of all the girls I had ever known.

Rachel's name had been called the first dinner, Sonya and Harriet had mysteriously disappeared two nights later. I still wasn't used to waking up in a room alone. I hated silence. Even when I had been running in the Maze, I could hear the sound of my feet pounding against the floor and the constant intake of my breath. To me, silence was the enemy, even more so than WICKED.

*

Following the same, unchanging routine at the compound, I took a tray and lined up for my plate of breakfast, which was usually a full English. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but even the food tasted different, too clean. Despite their best efforts, the Cooks in my Maze always produced bacon that was slightly burnt, eggs that were just that little bit too hard and the apple juice (picked from the ripest apples in their orchard) always had a slight tang to it.

I fell into the chair opposite Aris, the only other survivor of my Maze, and wrinkled my nose at the way he picked apart and played with his food.
"Aris, that's disgusting. Either eat it or don't. Just stop messing with it." I instructed, the boy in question immediately ceasing his actions - he often told me how much he respected me. In his opinion, I was the reason we had escaped the Glen (the large, grassy expanse enclosed in the Walls) and I had been one of the three Keepers to actually stand up for him when he first arrived, the other two being Sonya and Harriet.

Each day, more teens arrived at the compound, seemingly ecstatic at the hope of a future free from WICKED. They had relished the opportunity to have a warm shower, decent food and clean clothes.

One such group, of about five girls, suddenly entered the canteen. Their whoops and cheers were loud, and far too much this early in the morning. I rolled my eyes as the girls immediately took seats with a group of boys, Aris chuckling at my reaction.

"You'd think after three years, some people had better things to do than to get a boyfriend." I joked, finally resigning myself to throwing my cutlery down into the plate. Noticing Aris had also finished eating, I slid his crockery underneath mine and set off to wash up. Neither of us had eaten very much, so one of the guards raised his eyebrow at me as I cleaned our knives and forks.

*

My day consisted of various medical tests, mostly running on a treadmill as I had been a Mapper, and I had a few samples of blood taken. So, I was more than grateful to find myself sat alone with Aris, with a plate full of food in front of me at dinner time.

The cooks at the compound had made some meat dish, maybe beef. The two of us looked at each other, both reluctant to eat, before I nodded.
"We have to eat some time, otherwise we'll get ill." Aris didn't speak a word, except for when five boys, probably new arrivals, appeared at the door to the canteen.

"Orla," Aris began, looking around to see that no one was listening in, "I know you want to go back into the vents tonight, but wait for my signal." I simply nodded in response, noting that this clearly wasn't a conversation that Aris wanted attention drawn to. The silence between us was broken by Janson entering the room and clearing his throat, with a clipboard in his hands, but not before a tall, brunet boy joined the group who had just arrived.

"Connor. Evelyn. Justin. Peter. Allison. Squiggy." at the last name, several boys burst out laughing, patting their friend on the back as he left their table, "All right, settle down. Franklin and Abigail." a groan resounded from all the unchosen teens in the canteen, "Now, now, don't get discouraged - if I could take more, then I would. There's always tomorrow, your time will come. Go in, eat up."

The three girls and four boys that had had their names read out followed Janson through a metal door, which shut behind them. A reluctant applause broke out around the room, as Aris looked to me.
"Stay by the vent underneath your bed." he mumbled, his hood slightly muffling his words.

Once again, our exchange was cut off. The brunet boy that had entered late had shot to his feet, chasing after a girl with dark hair, being led down a corridor by some doctors, I recognised one as Crawford.

"Hey, Teresa!" the boy called, trying to attract the girl's attention. We tracked the boy in our gazes, Aris pulling down his hood to get a better look at him. "Teresa!" he called again, but the girl either couldn't hear him, or was pretending not to, because she continued to follow the doctors away.

*

I did as instructed and laid on the bed just above the vent, with no idea why I couldn't just meet Aris in the vents, but I knew he must have a good reason for it. My auburn hair fanned over the pillow, my fingers laced together as I awaited the boy's arrival.

It didn't come soon enough.

After what felt like an age, but was in fact only half an hour, the vent cover beneath the bunk started to clatter against its bounds. I poked my head over the side of the bed, my fiery hair falling around me.

"Orla?" the familiar voice of Aris questioned. I hummed in response, understanding Aris' fear of me not being alone. The vent cover suddenly slid from its place, revealing my only friend, who beckoned with one finger for me to follow. Smirking, I climbed in behind Aris, securing the vent cover after I had entered.

However, I noticed that Aris wasn't alone, looking at him nervously before he cleared the tension.
"Orla, this is Thomas. Thomas, this is Orla." Aris introduced the two of us before leading them away. I immediately recognised Thomas as the brunet boy who had gone after 'Teresa'. His hair was darker than I had first thought, his eyes filled with one of the few emotions that I understood - curiosity.

The three of us crawled in silence for around five minutes, I always found that the time passed quicker than when I was alone in my room. Aris was the first to talk, leading Thomas and me to the hatch that looked into the corridor below. The brunet crawled closer to it, not knowing what was about to happen. I just wanted to know that Aris and I weren't going mad.

But then Crawford appeared. Her heels clicking rhythmically against the floor indicated her arrival. As she had done the previous nights that Aris and I had observed her, she swung her head left and right, before opening a door just out of view from our spot.

Several doctors then swung long, rectangular boxes in after her, orange diagrams of humans and several pulsating graphs etched onto the surface. I exchanged a glance with Aris, before we both looked to Thomas, his face was incredulous.

"They bring them in every night like clockwork." Aris began, but I had already lost myself in thought.

*

I clambered into my bed, shortly after saying goodnight to both Aris and Thomas. The clean covers offered me no comfort, making me even more alert, if that was at all possible. But just before sleep consumed me, I thanked the Gods (if they even existed) for keeping Aris and I alive.