Him || The Scorch Trials

Four

Teresa came barging through the door on the third day, waking Mara from her heavy sleep. Luckily, she had moved from her position in front of the door.

She had learned to live with the pain mixing around in her body; it didn't even faze her anymore. Still, she knew it was there, and she couldn't stop reminding herself, even if she tried not to.

"What's out there? Other than the damn sun, I mean." Mara asked, her voice raspy from her lack of communication.

"So you tried to leave? Took a look into the great outdoors?" Teresa chuckled to herself as she leant down to sit on her knees in front of Mara. "It's not all that great out there, trust me, its better in here."

With a roll of her eyes, Mara sat up to face the girl in front of her. There was nothing on her clothes or skin that could help her with the heat, so how was she just walking around without a problem? Maybe it was something that wasn't visible, but it wasn't likely. Or maybe there was another building nearby; somewhere for her to go that wasn't that far away. That made more sense.

"Sure about that? I'm sure I'd rather be out there trying to survive with my friends than stuck in here with no access to them, wouldn't you? Even if I had to-"

"Then why didn't you? You could have just walked out, gone far from here, but you didn't."

"Where was I supposed to go?" Mara yelled, slightly taken back by how loud she was shouting. She hadn't meant to yell, but an intense anger flared inside of her body. "It's not exactly like I could've run off into the sunset and not die from heat stroke, Teresa."

The girl rolled her eyes, showing her obvious irritation towards Mara. Why was she annoyed? She had nothing to be annoyed about. Teresa turned away from Mara, and once again the trace of black ink lined the top of her neck.

"Where did the tattoo come from?" Mara asked, trying a calmer approach to Teresa.

"Don't know," She bluntly replied, turning back to face Mara. "It just appeared one morning. You got one too."

"I do? Can you tell me-"

"No, I can't tell you anything right now. We have something we have to do." Teresa said, and Mara knew what to expect. But the object she saw in Teresa's hands wasn't right, her mood wasn't right and the look on her face certainly wasn't right.

She held a small device that slotted into her hand, her thumb hovering over a circular bump. The object was a light grey colour and cut in a rectangular shape; it was a remote. What did Teresa need a remote for? There was nothing electrical around them, there was nothing for her to control with the push of the button. Her thumb stayed above the button, waiting for the right moment.

And then, she pushed.

But nothing happened.

"What did that do? What did you do?!" Mara asked, nerves lacing her voice as she spoke. Was something supposed to happen? If so, it hadn't worked, or at least Mara hoped it hadn't.

"You'll see," Teresa responded, a hint of sadness shining through her expression. "Just remember to scream."

With that, Teresa was gone. She had vanished in thin air to be replaced with something else, someone else. Someone Mara hadn't expected to see for a long time.

"M?" His voice was the same; his beautiful features stood out and glowed in the dim lights. His eyes were red and sore, and tears flowed across his cheeks, but he still bore his joyful smile. It was glorious, magnificent, and perfect. He was Mara's home. "Is that really you? But you-"

"It's me, Newtie. It's really me." She smiled through fresh tears, choking on her own words as she stood up. Without hesitation, she ran forward with her arms wide open, and every trace and inch of pain in her body evaporated.

When she reached Newt, she pulled him close, but all she met was a cold chill. She pulled back to face thin air; he was gone.

"N... Newt?" Mara called out softly in disbelief, turning her body in circles to find the boy she loved. He really was gone; he had disappeared just like Teresa had only moments ago.

Her body collapsed to the floor in realisation; the button that Teresa had pressed had activated hallucinations. Maybe it was the same as when she was in the Glade, but she could only hope the intense pain she had faced before wasn't going to re-introduce itself.

A large hand gripped her shoulders, making Mara jump at the touch. She flicked her head towards the touch to see Newt once again, but he looked different.

His hair was ragged and torn, partly pulled out leaving patches of red skin in their place. His face was pelted with scars and black and purple bruises and his shirt was shredded into separate pieces to reveal more of his blackened flesh.

How was Mara supposed to react? She didn't know if that really was Newt, if that had really happened to him, or if it was all completely fake. But where else would they have gotten Newt looking like this from? What if this was part of the truth? That scared Mara, but something else hit her harder. His look was familiar, in a spooky way.

Newt looked like a walking, talking, real life crank.

His mouth perched open, and a loud, piercing and ongoing yelp throttled the air around them. Mara pushed away from the fake identity of Newt, letting out a similar screech of hurt.

He was gone before she knew it, but his voice and pain stayed ongoing in her head, echoing in her ears.

Mara clutched onto her head, but all she could do was scream. It was worse than what she had heard or felt or experienced before, it was her worst nightmare. The one she truly loved the most seemed to be in complete hysteria, but she couldn't bring herself to calm down and realise what was going on.

"It's going to be a long day." Teresa's voice shook, her body reappearing in the exact same place it had been before. She flinched at Mara's screams and yelps, but she tried her best to hide what she felt. "If it will make you feel any better, I'll tell you what your tattoo says."

"Shut up!" Mara howled, all she wanted was for it to stop. She could barely focus on anything, why did Teresa think she could help?

Her eyes blazed with anger as they transferred their fury into Teresa's, which deflected everything. Instead, she pushed through Mara's anger and kept her cool, opening her mouth to speak.

"Property of WICKED. Group A, Subject A4. The Outcast." And then she was gone.