Ella 40      

        I can hear their footsteps as they climb up the mountain to our camp out. It's easy for me to tune them out and focus on Sonya. Her breathing is raspier than it was just six hours ago than when we got here. It's worse than it was an hour ago. It's worse than it was when she lost consciousness. She hasn't woken up yet.

Despite the shade of the cave, she is burning. My hand rests delicately on her forehead once more, wiping the sweat that has begun to accumulate. She doesn't stir like she did two hours ago. Then, every time I touched her, her body would tilt to one side, and then back. Her eyes would twitch, though never flicker open. Sonya is sick. She is hurting, and I can't rescue her.

"We got them," Harriet calls over. I turn my head to face Them. She shrugs Thomas forward. The boy manages to steady himself, and he eventually catches a glimpse of me. Our eyes lock before he turns away.

The rest of the group move in, with Teresa directly behind them. One of the girls brings up the rear, dragging Leo with her. When our eyes meet, Leo tenses. Her face firms as she grits her teeth and squints forward. The girl nudges Leo towards me once more, but she simply walks away.

Leo turns, following Thomas. The girl tries to hold her back, but Leo's eyes scan the girl's face, and she shrugs herself out of her grip.

"What are you doing?" Teresa asks, cutting Leo off as she approaches them. Behind her, the other girls tie Thomas to a tree.

"If you are holding me prisoner, then hold me prisoner," Leo says, glancing behind her. Slowly, the others are encircling her. She gulps, and her voice begins to shake. "I'm not in on your plan. I'm not joining you to... to what? Hurt Thomas?"

Teresa smiles, before crossing her arms over her chest. She grabs Leo's shoulders, spinning her around. She holds Leo firmly against her and begins whispering in her ear. The hair on their heads blows in the wind, until Teresa's black strands seem to swallow Leo's brunette locks. Until there is nothing but darkness.

Leo's face falls as she listens to Teresa. When Teresa backs away, Leo stumbles forward. She turns back, staring at the rest of the girls, before looking down. She glances back at Thomas, and I watch the two of them connect. I wait for her to run towards him, or help him, or anything, but she doesn't.

She makes her way through the cave, over to me. Kneeling on the ground on the other side of Sonya, she examines the Violet girl's violet skin. Carefully lifting Sonya's head allows Leo to see the green pus oozing out of the wound on her skull.

Leo empties out her backpack, digging through it. She grabs a bandage, wrapping up the bloody cut on Sonya's head. Then, she pops out pills, pulling Sonya up to a sitting position. Obviously, Sonya can't hold herself up, but she manages to lean upright against the wall behind us. I watch her eyelashes flutter, if only briefly.

"You need to drink," Leo instructs, her voice soft and quiet. I squeeze Sonya's hand. Leo's eyes glance over, resting on my fingers. She turns back to Sonya. "If you don't, you will die."

I don't know how much Sonya can see or hear, but she nods. Leo takes a pill between her fingers, feeding it to Sonya. She then looks over the ground, searching for a water bottle.

I pick mine up off the ground, passing it to Leo. The girl stares at it and then rips it out of my hands. She then places the bottle to Sonya's lips, tipping it back so the girl can drink. Satisfied, Leo screws the lid back on, placing it on the ground.

Leo still won't look me in the eyes. She lowers Sonya back to the ground, pulling herself up into a standing position. She turns away, but her body stops. Pivoting back to the depths of the cave, her eyes finally catch mine.

"Let me see your neck," it's not a question. Leo steps back and kneels down. Her knees crack like lightning. She lifts the back of my hair away from my neck. I grab her arm, throwing her off of me. She doesn't smirk like I expected she should. Her face is stern, and her eyes watch and wait. I lift my hand to the back of my neck. The incision scars over, from the repeated scratching to my skin. WICKED first, then Clint, and then me. All of my memories, gone.

"Subject A60," Leo remarks, reading it over. "The Corpse."

She walks away from me, heading back over to the rest of the girls. I watch as she moves down to the tree, resting next to Thomas. She leans her head against his shoulder, though the boy's body is tense. I wait for them to speak, but they don't. No one does.

Harriet glances over at me but eventually lies down to rest. All the others follow suit. It's dark enough in the cave, dark enough not to blister in the heat. Leo and Thomas are stuck in the sun, though Leo doesn't seem to mind. She doesn't move back towards me. I expect her to come here. Maybe I am not that close with her, but out of the four of us, we were close once. We trusted each other.

I lie down next to Sonya. Listening to the steady beating of her heart provides me with some release. At the very least, I can rest to the steady sound of her heart beating.

"I love you," I whisper, moving in closer to her. I doubt she hears me, but I don't mind all that much. It is nice to finally be back here with her. To feel her all around me. Whatever Leo did will hopefully help her.

I look over to Teresa, who is peacefully asleep. She is going to get us out of here. We are so close to the end. Close enough that it can only be a few days through the mountains to the safe haven. Close enough that we can leave everything from the Maze and the Scorch behind, and now we can focus on what truly matters.

Finding out how the four of us rebelled yet didn't rebel. Our coalition was created for us.

It's a pattern that I can't solve. I am A60, which means Eli must've been B60. I am the corpse and he has no name. I am alive, and he shall be dead forever now. Whisked away by WICKED, same as everything else in the rest of my life.

Leo. Kind and cautious and determined and fearful. Dawn. Free-spirited and reckless and confident and restless. Michelle. Harsh and violent and stubborn and calculating. Ella. The one who knows. The one who remembers.

The other three make no sense to me. I have not met Jay. Lott is silent and distance, while Sheil is present and submissive. I remember being named though. It was when I first got there. It was before I underwent a lot of testing. Very little. Just an intake quiz. A form and an interview. That was enough to know who would be who.

I am Eli. We were smart enough to remember our birth names for a while. We were the clever ones and the resistant ones.

One was connected to the Right Arm. One was not immune. One had no discernable roll. Why was she there? Which one was she?

"He might remember you," she comforts the other, although she does so half-heartedly.

What were our roles?

Sonya's hair tickles my face. I remember where I am, and why I am here. It was so easy to forget. Returning to the land inside my head provides me with comfort. I will figure out WICKED's plan. I will live.

Even though I don't like either of them, I thank Teresa for helping me live now, even if she killed Eli, and I thank Thomas for letting us sacrifice him. Without them, I would forever be Emily, and I would not be able to find my home.

~~~~~

I am super excited for this! I am really far into Sonder, so the chapters should be speeding up quite a bit now. I can't wait to finish this with you!