Her || The Maze Runner

Forty Nine

"Welcome back, Marie."  The woman bowed her head slightly, but Mara just stared at her. This was the woman that had helped ruin everyone's lives who belonged to the Glade. "My name is Chancellor Ava Paige and I'm director of operations of WICKED, also known as the World In Catastrophe: Killzone Experiment Department, I'm sure you do not remember but-"

"I don't care." Mara spat, taking a step towards Paige. "I don't care about you, or anyone else in WICKED. I might not remember everything about you, but I know enough to hate you. You've ruined my life. You've ruined all of their lives, too. How could you do that? How could you shanks watch them fight and die and everything other bloody thing you've done to them? You're killing them! You're killing them all!"

"And if you were there, you'd be killing them too." Paige's soft voice was suddenly sharp. "Now, as I was saying, I'm sure you don't remember but the sun has scorched out world. Billions of lives lost to fire, famine, suffering on a global scale. The fallout was unimaginable. What came after was worse. We called it The Flare- a deadly virus that attacks the brain. It is violent, unpredictable, incurable- or so we thought. In time a new generation emerged that could survive the virus- suddenly there was a reason to hope for a cure. But finding it would not be easy. The young would have to be tested, even sacrificed inside harsh environments where their brain activity could be studied- all in an effort to understand what makes them different."

Mara didn't know how to respond. She knew something must've happened to trap kids inside a Maze with Grievers, but knowing humanity was on the edge of dying... it meant she wasn't going to ever get a normal life. And the Gladers didn't even know it yet. The Flare, was ripping people's brain apart.

But that was what scared her the most- if it was spreading, that meant it was contagious. Mara was ill, and she had been told that she had to leave the Glade before she could spread it to other people. 

"I have The Flare, don't I?" She asked, and realisation hitting her. A lump sat in the middle of her throat and wasn't going to leave, tears clustered together as they trickled down her face, revealing her emotions. Everything was getting to her, and she couldn't deal with it. She just snapped. "Don't I!" The woman slowly nodded, a sad gleam in her eyes. She was about to speak, but Mara wasn't finished talking. "That's why you pulled me out. The Flare, its contagious. I would have given it to them, to my friends. I would've killed them. But its still your fault! I wouldn't have been there with some deadly virus inside my brain almost killing everyone you've actually let me remember! You say you're my mother, and that you're trying to look after me but we don't even look or sound alike. For all I know that could just be another lie! All you shanks do is bloody lie!"

Paige shook her head, sparking more rage inside Mara. Why was she disagreeing? Everything Mara had told her was the truth. She hated the woman, every single thing she did made her hate her more and more. "You wouldn't have killed them all. As I said, most of the boys in the Glade are immune."

"Most." Mara scoffed, this time it was her turn to shake her head. "You really don't care, do you? You're unbelievable. There is no way I will ever call you my mother. I will do all I can to destroy you, and everyone else that works with you!"

Paige stepped forward, again shaking her head. Why did she always shake her head? It was annoying and drove Mara insane- everything Paige did was driving her insane.

"I'm sorry, Marie, but we can't take threats from you." She said, and as she did two men dressed all in black burst into the room. One of the two men rushed up to Mara, grabbing her by the arms. She fought back, trying to escape the muscular man's grip but he was twice the size of her. Nothing she did would get him to release his grip.

The second man carried a bulky gun, pointing it directly at Mara, but she didn't care. Whatever it held wasn't bullets, and she couldn't quite tell what was being shot at her. She felt the immense pain instead.

A bolt of electricity shot into Mara's stomach; excruciating pain tore through her body and blood oozed through her skin. She let out a ear grinding cry, losing all feeling throughout her body, which allowed the man gripping her full control. Pain crackled and hissed inside her, and the feeling of hundreds of lightning bolts struck her flesh, giving off the smell of burning. Mara knew the gun the man carried contained charged grenades. 

Instantaneously, her body spasmed uncontrollably and her vision blurred. Blinding lights spotted her field of vision and every part of her body shook and she couldn't stop any of it, no matter how hard she tried. The burning sensation felt as if her skin was melting off at the high voltage and levels of electricity. She couldn't hear anything but the popping and sizzling of electricity in her ears. 

Her body was swinging around; she was being carried away by the men, she guessed. Not long later her body was thrown onto what she assumed was the floor, but the pain caused by the surging electricity blocked out any feeling of hitting the ground. A loud slam of a door rang through the air, replacing the buzz in her ears for a few seconds.

Mara's head smashed into a hard surface and that was what sent her over the edge. Instead of getting better, the hit sent her body into overdrive, and it was too much. Everything completely blacked out in Mara's head, and she could only feel numbness. The pain was so extremely devastating she couldn't even feel it, all she could feel was the numbness of her body and all she could see was the darkness of her mind.

-

Every part of her body was against her, even when she woke up it didn't want to co-operate with her. Mara's body was sprawled across a white tiled floor, her head facing the left. Slowly, she turned her entire body to its side and crawled to her knees, then emptied her insides in the corner next to her.

Still in shock of what had happened, Mara wiped her hand over her mouth when she had finished, then sat back against the wall, away from the mess she had made. What had they done to her? How could they let people walk around with weapons like that? They were lethal, if one shot had sent her into a seizure, then what would two do? 

Mara lent her head backwards against the wall and took in her surroundings. The room was pure white; the floor, the walls and the ceiling. There was nothing else but a large metallic door, standing opposite her. Mara remembered where she was. This was the room she had hallucinated, she was sure of it. Her stomach churned at the thought of being that girl she saw, but another thought made her feel even worse;

What if everything she saw wasn't her past? She was currently sitting there, in the exact room she had seen, with pure walls. Everything she saw... it could have been her future. WICKED could do things like that.

A low click rang through the air, and the only entrance to the room swung open. Mara watched as a young boy walked through the door, shutting it tightly behind him. She recognised his brown shaggy hair and his light brown eyes. She remembered his face, his clothes, him.

"Andy?" Mara's voice was rough but soft at the same time. She couldn't help but smile as her brother walked towards her. He was carrying a small plate of food in one hand, and a cup of water in the other.

The boy smiled in happiness. "You remember me?" He asked, and Mara nodded, her eyes welling with tears. "It's nice to see you again, Mar. Weren't expectin' to see you anytime soon."

"What happened to me?" She took the food and water from him and nodded in thanks. He sat down against the wall next to her, the opposite side of the sick, which had begun to smell a little. It didn't really bother Mara, she had been through worse.

"How's 'bout I get somethin' to clean you up a bit and then tell you? Can let you digest your food a little too before story time." He chuckled.

"Go for it." Mara shrugged. 

"I'll be back before you know it. Then, I'll explain everything" Andy smiled as he stood up and walked across the room, back to the door. Mara watched him leave and close the door behind him before she started to eat the plain ham sandwich that sat on the paper plate.

Despite everything, Mara couldn't help but smile. Seeing her brother had made her day, and for those slight moments, she had forgotten what she had left behind in the Glade. Her brother meant the world to her, she knew that was true, it had sparked somewhere from inside her blocked memories. She knew she could trust and talk to him, and that made her happy- as happy as she could be in her situation, anyway. It was that one thought that was going to get her through her time at WICKED:

At least she had someone outside of the Maze that she could trust.