CHAPTER FOURTEEN: NEW LIVES

     Layla found herself sitting next to Newt as the Doctors didn't have enough room to put her anywhere else—but she felt safer knowing she was next to one of her oldest friends. She stared down at her fingers, as if waiting for a dark cloud of shadows to burst out like in the video tape. It was... unsettling to know that she was different from the others, and it might've been why WICKED wanted her in the first place.

Still, there was a hint of relief. Layla was one step closer to knowing who she truly was, and that was more important to her than she had previously realized.

"Uh," she looked up at the sound of Newt's voice, watching as he looked at a needle wearily. The doctor glanced up at the blond upon hearing him speak. "Wait, what is that?"

"Just a little cocktail." The doctor held the needle up, "Calcium, folate, vitamins A through Z. Pretty much everything you've been deprived of out there." He finished with a nod, lifting up Newt's arm. "Try to relax."

     Newt still looked weary, but he allowed the doctor to give him the needle. After doing so, the doctor took a few minutes to set up another one for Layla. The girl watched as Newt looked down at his arm, before deciding to look around at the rest of the Gladers that were getting check ups.

     "Hold out your right arm please." Layla brought her attention back to the older man, turning her head to see him looking down at her with a needle in hand. She hesitated, sighing softly before she complied. She winced as the needle pricked her forearm, but it wasn't so bad.

She felt more uncomfortable by the thought that the needle held something else, and that the man was lying. The pain wasn't her biggest concern. However, after taking one look at Newt, and seeing the calm look on his face, she relaxed the littlest bit. She would trust his judgement.

At least, for the moment.

     "There..." The doctor muttered softly, placing a bandaid over the spot that she had gotten the needle as a drop of blood slipped through. "You're all done."

     Layla held her head in her hands at the sounds of the chattering between teens. A headache began to grow, but the boys around her seemed just fine as they continued to talk to each other, and another group of boys who were in mazes, just like them.

     After Layla and Newt were given their needles, they were quickly led into a cafeteria with the rest of the Gladers, and much to their surprise, it was full of kids who had gotten stuck in a maze just like they did. It all felt so... surreal.

Layla felt a little bit less alone.

     "Hey, Thomas!" She could hear Minho walking away, so she could only assume that he'd gone to go fill in Thomas on what was going on.

     "...And there was this big, loud explosion, and these guys came out of nowhere." A boy continued explaining his story of his maze, and how he got out. Layla wasn't exactly sure when he showed up, but he had been explaining his story for quite some time. "Started shooting up the place."

     "It was intense." Another boy agreed, who Layla didn't catch the name of either.

     "They pulled us out the maze and brought us here." The first boy finished.

     "What about the rest?" Newt asked curiously, but was met with silence. He continued, "the other people left behind in the Maze, what happened to them?"

     The boy shrugged, "I don't know. I guess WCKD still has them."

     "How long have you guys been here?" Newt asked curiously.

     "Not long." The boy shrugged, "just a day or two." He sighed, "that kid over there has been there the longest." Layla finally looked up, curious to see who he was talking about. She frowned softly at the sight of a boy with a striped hoodie, sitting by himself at the table across the room. "Almost a week."

     The boy next to him smirked, "his maze was nothing but girls." Layla groaned softly, placing her head back in her hands. She no doubt earned a few odd looks from the boys, but brushed it off as she stared back down at the table.

     Minho raised a brow at the statement, "really?"

Layla reached over to slap him in the shoulder, causing him to gape at her. She only gave him a disapproving look before putting her head back into her hands.

     One of the boys shrugged, continuing on like nothing had happened. "Some guys have all the luck." He turned to Layla, "Like you, hm? Surrounded by boys." He joked softly.

     Layla chuckled softly at the joke before shaking her head, suddenly serious. "No." She sighed, "being surrounded by teenage boys for a year isn't luck."

     "Good evening, gentlemen. Ladies." A voice called out, and Layla furrowed her brows as she lifted her head, finding Janson walking in the room with a clipboard under his arm. She narrowed her eyes at him, but listened carefully. "You all know how this works. If you hear your name called... please rise in an orderly fashion, join my colleagues behind me... where they will escort you to the eastern wing. You're new lives are about to begin." People around them began to clap, but Layla didn't do the same.

     New lives, she thought bitterly. She didn't need a new one. She knew very well that she had an old one to get back to, but WCKD was responsible for taking that from her. She didn't need to start over, she needed to remember.

     Janson looked down at the clipboard. "Conner." People behind Layla high-fived as Conner stood up and made his way to the men behind Janson. "Evelyn. Justin. Peter. Allison. Squiggy." Everyone laughed at the name. "All right. Settle down." Janson held up a hand, before continuing. "Franklin. And... Abigail." He lowered the clipboard, causing a few people to frown.

     "Now, now, don't get discouraged." Janson said quickly, "if I could take more, I would. There's always tomorrow. Your time will come." Layla seriously hoped it wouldn't. "Go on, eat up."

     The girl sighed softly as the teens around her began to clap, glancing at Thomas as she did so. Layla could tell that he was still cautious about everything going on, which Layla was glad about. She could always count on him to keep his guard up.

     They made eye contact, and the two of them made a silent agreement to tell each other if they saw anything weird going on.

     "Where are they going?" Minho asked one of the boys curiously.

     The boy didn't turn to look at the Gladers, keeping his back turned. "Far from here." He finally turned to face Minho. "Lucky bastards."

     The boy next to him turned around as well, "some kind of farm. A safe place. They can only take in a couple people at a time."

     Layla scrunched up her nose at his words, "farm?" She repeated.

     "What the hell?" Thomas muttered under his breath—which Layla heard with ease, being sat to his left. She turned to face him when he quickly got out of his seat.

"Hey, Teresa?" He called out, his voice echoing across the room. Layla watched with a grimace as Teresa walked by a window to another room, barely glancing at Thomas. "Teresa!" He tried to leave the cafeteria, but a man quickly stopped him before he could go any further.

Layla watched in interest as the two conversed, and hoped that Thomas would sit down soon and mind his own business. If they wanted to figure anything out, it would be wise to avoid causing a scene.

And eventually, Thomas huffed and made his way back to Layla. She raised a brow, but he chose to ignore it as he sat down and scowled at his tray.

—————
lizzie speaks...

new chapter in honour of the pjo show, loved the episodes

sorry for the lack of updates btw. i lost someone close to me so i'm not rly on social media rn, but never fear, i will not be discontinuing this fic. expect lots of updates throughout january and beyond (as long as nothing else gets in the way)

much love xoxo and happy holidays

(also sorry for the short chapter)

Random guy: his maze was nothing but girls

Minho: really?

Layla: