Her || The Maze Runner

Fifty Two

Mara followed Paige through hall after hall, all the while-what Paige had called a Launcher- pressed into the small of her back. Everything was silent and empty. It was as if everyone had packed up and left only Mara, Paige and her bodyguards to the company.

"Where is everyone?"

"That is something you need not know." Paige replied, not bothering to turn and look at Mara. "Once you get where you need to be, there will be a piece of paper sitting on the table in front of you. When given the signal, you shall stand and read from the notes, saying only what it says. If anything else is said or done... you know the consequences. This sheet of paper will have directions, as well as speech, but no need to panic; it is simple to follow. Do you understand?"

Again, Mara rolled her eyes, "Yes, I still understand after five minutes of you asking the same bloody question."

Paige said nothing, she just kept walking, and Mara kept following her. What was she getting herself into? What were they going to make her do? She was going to read something, do something, and who knows what that was. Who was she even going to be talking to? The only people she would have to talk to were... the Gladers. They must be getting out.

She wanted to speak up, yet Mara said nothing. Every bone in her body stiffened at the thought of seeing her best friends again, but what did WICKED have in store for her? For them? Surely, what they were planning was going to be hell.

Mara bumped into the woman in front of her, who had stopped next to a door. Was that where she had to go? Paige gestured to the door and stepped backwards. 

"Through here," She said. "Tenth door to your right. Remember-"

"Yeah, yeah." Without a hesitation Mara reached out and pulled the door open, stepping into an identical hallway, and slamming it shut behind her. Once she was there, out of their reach, everything fell apart all at once.

Nothing could hold back Mara's overwhelming tears. Everything inside of her body felt twisted and wrong, and everything outside her body was sickening. She didn't know how she was holding herself together, but she had to last a little longer; Mara couldn't risk Newt and her other friends' lives just because she didn't feel like participating in WICKED's stupid plan. It was as if everything was just a game to them, and Mara hated it.

She pushed herself down the hallway, wiping her cheeks with her hand and counting the doors as she went. One, two, three, the tears got worse. Four, five, six, everything felt so wrong. Seven, eight, nine, Mara knew something bad was about to happen. Ten, she walked through the door.

The door slammed behind her and she leaned back against it. The room around her was tiny; a large black desk sat against the wall opposite her with a padded black chair facing a large tinted window. She was in one of the rooms she had seen when she arrived at WICKED's lab, one of the rooms their staff had been sitting in, staring at her. And just like Paige said, an A4 sized piece of paper sat in the centre of the desk.

Mara was hit with a wave of fear; did she... have to be one of them? Was that what they wanted? If the Gladers came through and saw her... they would all hate her. Every single one.

How could she do that? How could WICKED expect her to that? Even so, she had to, she couldn't let them kill her best friends. With ease, she would do whatever she could to save each of their lives. And that was why she sat at the desk.

Her brown eyes lay upon the sheet, reading what it said.

EVERYTHING BELOW THIS MUST BE READ ONCE THE LAST 'GLADER' FALLS THROUGH THE SLIDE.