WCKD Love | A Newt Fan-Fiction

Chapter 2 - New Arrivals

The Gladers explore every inch of the laboratory, stepping over bodies of scientists and tipped-over chairs. Some of them look through a window into a surgery room. They see a body on an operating table, black veins creeping along the entirety of the corpse.

"Hello."

A TV lights up on the far side of the room. A middle-aged woman with golden-blonde hair pulled back tightly in a bun shines on the screen. Whoever turned the TV on must have been tampering with the computers. It was probably Thomas. "My name is Doctor Ava Paige." One of the creators of the Maze. My father works with her here in the WCKD complex. "I'm the director of operations at the World Catastrophe Kill-Zone Department."

On the screen, Doctor Paige explains where the Gladers just came from, why they were in there, and what has been happening outside the Maze. Images flash where her face was; towns and buildings on fire, charred streets, and piles of dead bodies. I turn my head away from the gruesome sight. My stomach churns, and I can feel a lump in my throat. The memories of my mother and Sammy race back again. A tear slides down my cheek, and Janson notices. He rubs his hand up and down my back.

"The fall-out was unimaginable. What came after was worse. We called it the Flare." I look back to see more videos appear. This time, they were of germs spreading under a microscope. A man with dark blue veins branching across his skin was strapped to an operating table, with people holding his head down. He was thrashing and squirming in his restraints, trying to fight the scientists who were pinning him down. He had a black-blue liquid, similar to his veins, gushing out of his mouth and down his chin. I notice a few Gladers turn back to look at the lab room from before.

As Doctor Paige continues talking, people in dark suits barge into the lab on the TV and fire at anything that moves. Scientists are shot and killed before they have a chance to look for a place to hide. There was not one survivor. When the soldiers have finished with the staff in white coats, they turn to the glass protecting Doctor Paige and start firing in her direction. As they're shooting, she pulls a gun out from a drawer in her desk and places it to the side of her head.

"Remember, WCKD is good."

With that last sentence lingering in the air, she pulls the trigger. All of the Gladers look away from the now blank wall where Ava's face had been. The breathing of these scared teenagers is the only noise throughout the room. They all turn around and face a little glass room with a body with blonde hair tied in a tight bun.

"W-wait...Ava's dead?!" I shout, almost hyperventilating at the sight before me. I struggle to focus on any one thing, but then I see Newt. He looks broken inside as he turns in circles, presumably scanning for a way out of the room.  The other Gladers are slowly backing away from the TV and looking at the bodies on the floor.

"No, darling.  That's just another scientist that she had spotted within the room."

"Oh, o-okay. So, where is Ava now?" My breathing starts to calm, knowing that one of my friends and teachers is still alive.

"She's on her way to a meeting regarding the remaining...subjects."

- - -

My ears are ringing, and my hands are becoming clammy. I have been waiting for three years for this day. The day that I finally get to see my friends again. The day I see Newt again, my other half. My whole life revolves around him. Butterflies travel around my stomach while I fidget with a loose thread from my shirt. Only a few more minutes and those exhausted, sore, and terrified teens will stumble through the double doors ahead of me. They will be welcomed into what they believe will be their escape from WCKD. Little do they know that they haven't escaped. They aren't making their way further from anyone, except their friends still in the Maze. The surviving Gladers are just walking straight into more danger: more danger made just for them.

"Honey, are you alright?" My father questions, wandering towards me from behind and placing a hand on my right shoulder.

"Um, yeah. I'm fine. I'm just nervous about seeing all of them again."

"Including Teresa?"

"Yeah, including Teresa."

I remember when she and I were best friends. You couldn't get a better pairing of BFFs than us. My thoughts start building up in my brain. Of the two of us when we were first brought to WCKD. We would go to each other's rooms almost every day and tell each other everything; we knew the problems each other was going through, and we tried our absolute best to try and solve the problem.

"Do you miss having her around?"

"Yes, of course, I do. I miss all of them so much. But, it's weird now." I stop playing with the thread on my shirt and start fidgeting with the buttons.

"You know she can't help it. She's lost her memories." My dad wraps me in a tight hug, resting his chin atop my head. A single tear slides down my face.

"I just assumed she would like Thomas in the Maze, like before. Just because she doesn't have her memories anymore doesn't mean the type of person she is has changed or the type of people she likes."

"I suppose you're right. Maybe you can talk to her about it when she arrives and settles in," Janson suggests. I nod into his chest. 

'He's right. Teresa can't help her emotions now that she's lost her memory.' I wipe the tears from my face and pull out of the hug.

"Mister Janson, Chancellor Paige would like to talk to you before the subjects arrive." Subjects. A shiver runs up my spine. They didn't ask to be part of this experiment. They didn't want to be taken from their families. WCKD stole them from the people they loved. WCKD took them and put them in a dangerous Maze full of Grievers. They've killed innocent children to find a cure for what's starting to seem like an incurable disease.

I take a deep breath while looking up at my dad and wait for him to finish talking to the doctor. He nods and faces me, a solemn expression plastered on his face. "I have a meeting with Ava. Will you be alright on your own?"

I look into his eyes before nodding and shooing him towards a secured room. I look back at the door that my old friends will be coming through. 'Not long until I see my friends.' I smile while shaking my head. There's a cough behind me, and I turn around to see one of my few friends in the complex - Aris. "Hey, Air. What are you doing?" He looks at me with a wide smile on his face.

"Your friends from Group A are coming tonight, right?" He asks, tilting his head to the side, staring into my soul.

"Yep. I'm actually pretty nervous." He breaks eye contact to look behind me, his smile lessening and rising again. A cranking sound starts from the big steel doors. I pivot back to see the Gladers running through before suddenly stopping and looking around. Aris stands beside me and grasps my hand tightly. I can feel a pair of eyes on me. I look at the faces of the people and see one person staring directly at me. My heart rate skyrockets, but I refuse to break eye contact. The one person I was hoping would make it safely made it out.

Newt.