[ E I G H T E E N ]
"STOP!" LIA'S VOICE bounced off the walls as she ran, sprinting towards the tiny square of light at the end of the corridor. Her short legs carried her as far as they could go, covering the pristine white tiles in watery splotches. "Stop!" she cried again.
She couldn't stop in time before the light grew larger and she was throwing herself through the open doors, glancing in both directions before pitching her body to the right and running towards the flashing red sign as the end of the hallway.
"Stop!" By then her voice was spent, but she kept on running as she grew closer and closer to the exit. "You have to stop..."
Another voice called out, helpless against their grasps. "Lia!" it screamed. "Lia! Help me! Oh, God, please help me!"
"You can't take me!" the voice begged. "Please, I can't go back there! Please! You already took him! Please don't take me!"
Lia made it to the end of the hall and followed the sign, flinging open the double doors with all the strength she could muster. She was greeted by a massive room with a reddish tint, complete with flashing blue lights from massive computer monitors and whirring machines.
"Lia!" The voice cause her to snap her head to the side.
"Amy."
The prisoner's name rolled off Lia's tongue so easily, as if she had said it countless times.
"Lia," the girl whimpered, amber eyes shining in the darkness. She was being held back by two guards wearing black jumpsuits. There were guns in their belt holsters.
Lia took one step forward. "It's all right," she said, cautiously eyeing the guards. "They aren't going to take you."
"That's where you're wrong, Lia." This voice belonged to a woman. She stepped out from behind the largest computer, which was wired to every other monitor in the room. "I'm afraid she has been chosen as Maze B's newest Variable." The woman smiled sweetly, and turned to the amber-eyed girl. "You should be grateful - I'm sending you to a place you know."
"You can't do this," Lia choked out. "Please, Chancellor-"
"No, Lia," the woman said abruptly, her blue eyes stern. "This is crucial to our research - to our experiments."
"Your experiments are sick!" Lia protested. "Can't you see what you're doing to these people by trapping them inside that place?" She took a daunting step towards the chancellor. "You're killing them! I'm supposed to be helping people, not sitting back and watching them die!"
The chancellor stepped forward. Her blonde hair was pulled taut into a ponytail at the back of her head and she was dressed in a white uniform, covered with a lab coat like Lia's. "You don't seem to realize the progress we are making here, Lia," she said dangerously. "We are changing the evolutionary path. Can't you understand that?"
Lia spat in her direction. "I can understand that you're a psychopathic bitch."
The guards beside Lia flinched, almost releasing their grip on their captive, but the chancellor held up one hand. "It's all right," she told them. "The girl has an opinion. She should be treated fairly for it."
Lia's eyes narrowed. When the woman signalled to the guards, they let the amber-eyed girl go and snatched Lia's arms, holding her in place with iron-like grips. "Hey!"
"I'm very sorry, Lia," tutted the chancellor, "but those with opinions should be terminated."
"Terminated?" the amber-eyed girl exclaimed. "No! You can't do this!" She lunged for Lia, but she was just as soon shoved to the ground by one of the guards pinning Lia to the wall.
"I'm so very sorry about this, Lia," said the chancellor, "but I have some good news amongst all this."
"And what could that possibly be?" Lia seethed, her teeth gritted as she fought relentlessly against the men's grips on her arms.
Ava Paige grinned dangerously in the darkness. "I've found my new Variable."
•••
Her eyes were fluttering closed as they worked around her. They dunked her headfirst into a cold bath of water and dressed her in new clothes. She shivered in her cold skin. She felt her lips turn blue and her eyes squeeze shut. This was all too familiar to her.
The sound of buttons being pushed and the sound of metal, and then a voice.
"Keep him safe," it said. "Protect him. Make sure he doesn't fail you the way I did. Please... I love you."
Eventually, Lia heard nothing but the distant sound of her own name being called as her mind faded away into an inky black darkness, her breaths falling short and shallow.
"Remember, Lia." The woman's voice was a poison in her ears. "WICKED is good."
•••
"Is she gonna be okay?"
"Relax, kid, all right? She's gonna be fine."
"Where did you say you found her again, Minho?"
Lia's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the dim light of the infirmary. Three bodies loomed over her, save for the worried-looking boy on the bed to her left.
"Hey." This was Newt, whose eyes were inspecting her face, every inch, to make sure she hadn't been hurt. "You're awake."
Lia felt the presence of his hand squeezing hers, an act that went unnoticed to the other boys around her bed. "I'm awake," she confirmed. "Could do with more sleep, though."
"That's a relief," said Minho. "I was sure you were gonna die for a minute there." Jeff smacked his chest.
"What happened to me?" Lia asked meekly, sitting up in her bed.
Jeff took the opportunity to chime into the conversation. "Minho found you wanderin' around the Map Room, and he was about to take you to Alby, but apparently, you started screamin' and grabbin' your head."
Minho nodded. "You kept saying the weirdest things before ya passed out - weirder than the klunk you usually say."
"Something tells me this wasn't some ordinary migraine," Newt said.
"You're right." Lia's eyes darted between the three boys as she remembered the disturbing events of what she had seen. "It wasn't just a migraine. I saw something."
"What did you see?" Newt asked her. His thumb was rubbing the top of her hand in figure-eight patterns; she found it rather distracting. She felt a wave of relief sweep through her when she realized he couldn't be too mad at her from when she had pulled away from their kiss, as his hand was still tightly grasping hers underneath her bedsheets.
Lia took a deep breath, and told the boys about what she had seen - her dream; if it could even be called that. It must have been a doozy, because their jaws were scraping the floor by the time she finished explaining.
"What the shuck is goin' on?" Minho muttered. "All this weird crap started the minute this shank showed up here." He pointed an accusing finger at Lia, who shrunk away.
"I haven't done anything," she said. "Trust me, Minho, I'm about as clueless as all of you."
"But you-" Minho started, eyes narrowed.
"Minho," Newt cut in. "I believe her."
Lia squeezed his hand in silent thanks. "Can we talk about this later?" she suggested, feigning a yawn. "I'm in desperate need of a shower."
In all truth, she wanted to get away from the infirmary and out into the open air; Minho's clear suspicions of her were too much for her to handle.
"We ain't done talkin'," warned Minho. "I'll tell Alby about your little dream."
"Why?"
"'Cause I feel like it," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Because he's our leader, shuck-face. That's why."
Lia built up the bravery to poke her tongue out at the boy. To her surprise, he returned the action, strolling out of the infirmary a moment after.
"So," she said. "Who's volunteering to lock me up?"
Newt smiled sadly. "My job," he said. "Gotta make sure you don't try and claw my face off."
She cocked a brow. "Depends on my mood. Want to put a wager on it?"
"No," said Newt. "You always win."
"Damn right I do."
•••
The hot water trickled down her bare back, washing every speck of dust from her body as she ran her hands through her wet hair and shook the droplets from her eyes.
The feeling of showering was intensely gratifying. The last time she had done it had been a week and a half ago, after the fire in the kitchens had scorched and singed her body. She had scrubbed away the soot and ash from every inch of her body, had winced every time she traced a burn. Now, it was a pleasure to be clean, and unhurt, as the water graced her skin with its sheath of warmth.
She finished up with a final brush through her hair, satisfied, and wrapped a towel around her body, securing it around her chest before coming out to retrieve her clothes.
But when she realized they were gone, she let out a load groan.
"Come on!"
A tall, lean figure came running around the corner. "What happened?" Newt asked. He gulped as his eyes drifted down towards her towel, where her hands clasped around both ends of it. His cheeks flared red.
She felt heat travel to her face and looked down at her bare feet. "Someone stole my clothes."
"Bastards." He smiled at her, warm brown eyes glinting in the moon's light.
"You could say so."
"C'mon, love," he said, "you must be freezing."
"I'm all right." Controversially, her knees trembled and the water from her hair dripped down her back. "Okay, not really."
Newt huffed a laugh. "Take this," he offered, shrugging off his black jacket.
"No," Lia declined. "You'll be cold without it."
"I'm not the one who's soaking wet," he said, raising a good-natured brow. "I'll survive, Lia."
Sighing, she accepted. "Fine."
He moved towards her and draped the jacket over her shoulders, providing a warm shelter for her freezing body. Their eyes met just before he pulled back, and she felt herself go weak just about everywhere. His hands lingered on her shoulders until they absently began to drift down her arms until his fingers were ghosting over her wrists and hands. He swallowed.
"Thank you," she said softly. She was surprised she could speak at all.
He licked his lips. She glanced down at them, and then back up to his eyes. "Not a problem," he said.
She prayed he couldn't hear her heartbeat. "We should get back," she whispered, "before they can steal my towel."
He gulped. "We wouldn't want that."
Though her legs shook, the two of them walked together, back to the Homestead across the Glade. She felt a pang in her heart when she noticed his limp again.
"Can I ask you something?" Lia broke the silence as they crunched the dewy grass beneath their feet.
"Always," he answered.
"Are you upset?" she asked, kicking the grass at her feet.
Newt frowned. "About...?"
She swallowed a gulp of air. "You know... The other day, when I-"
"Lia," he said. "I'm not mad at you. I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. It was stupid of me, and I shouldn't have done it."
"Uncomfortable? No!" she cried. "You could never make me uncomfortable. I just... I just wasn't ready, to... or..." She let her voice trail off when she realized how unconvincing she sounded.
"You don't have to explain anything, Lia," he told her. "Just promise me that you won't act all distant now. I like being around you."
"I'd never," she said, raising a hand in the air. "You have my word."
"I'm holding you to that."
They finished their walk in silence until they reached the Homestead and many Gladers were already sleeping, spent from a long day under the blazing sun. They snuck past the snoring boys and up the creaky steps until they were home free.
"Clothes, clothes, clothes," she muttered, throwing open her dresser drawer with one hand to dig through and find replacements for her stolen outfit.
"Lia."
"Yeah?" She turned to face Newt, her hands still holding up her towel.
"Your clothes are here." He picked up a neatly-folded pile of her outfit from that day, complete with all its accoutrements... including her sneakers.
"Whoever did this owes me big time." She scrambled to gather her things and take Newt's jacket off her shoulders, smiling at him shyly as she held it out in front of her. "Thanks again."
He took it with a nod, and Lia urged him to turn around so he wouldn't peek as she changed.
She felt refreshed as she tied her hair into a loose ponytail at the back of her head using an elastic she had found on her wrist. Eyes trailing to her other hand, she found her worn brown bracelet around her wrist with its familiar initials. Her mind drifted back to her vision and its surreality, and she nearly fell to the floor when she realized what the initials stood for.
A.L.
Amy. Lia.
•••
A U T H O R ' S N O T E
Hello! This is yet another chapter I'm not at all proud of. I didn't like it one bit, as I felt like it lacked a lot of depth, and I'm very sorry to subject you to what I thought was just one big mess. Nevertheless, we got to see more of Lia's past and we finally got to find out what the initials on the bracelet stood for. We know the amber-eyed girl's name and... yeah. Anyways, I hope I'm up to my game in the next chapter. Until then.