EVIE RIPPED HER EYES OPEN BEFORE
she sat up with a jerk. She felt her hands trembling and someone putting their hand onto her shoulder.

"Hey." she heard Newt's voice. Her eyes found his.

"What were you dreaming?" he asked. His eyebrows had moved together as he looked at her in concern. Evie sat up.

"I-.." she took a deep breath and collected her thoughts.

How was she gonna tell him that she was watching his suicide attempt?

"You suspected something was going on. I was working against you behind your back." She put her head in her hands. Newt had sat up and put a hand on Evie's shoulder.

"Before the maze, I worked against you. I sent you in there. You were my friend and I did this to you." She shook her head.

"Into the maze?" Newt asked and she nodded, her face pale.

"Evie-.." Newt began.

"You asked me what was going on. I could have warned you. We could have escaped!" Tears began to run down the girl's cheeks.
A long silence ensued.

She was the reason he was in this maze. She sent him in and she watched him jumping into his death.

"We can't change what happened. I've told you this before, the people before the maze no longer exist." Newt said, placing his fingers under her chin and turning her head towards him, so that she had to look at him.

"Believe me, if I had to relive everything that happened.. I wouldn't change a thing." His lips formed a thin line.
The girl shook her head as she looked at him.

"Newt I saw it." Evie said. The boy slightly shook his head.

"When you-.." Evie couldn't let the words leave her mouth. Instead, she nodded towards his leg. She felt Newt go tense.

"I'm so sorry Newt. I'm sorry for all the things I did! I did this to you!" she gulped with tears forming in her eyes.

"It's not your fault." Newt said.

"Yes it is! I am responsible for all this! I watched you the whole time. I watched you run into the maze, I watched you when you-.." she took a deep breath.

"When you jumped off the wall." She sighed, another wave of tears coming up in her eyes.

"It was my decision. Not yours.. and I'm glad I survived it." Newt said and Evie continued to shake her head.

"Your decision? You were put into a maze with monsters. That's not the freedom of will Newt, that's hell!" she said. Newt nodded.

"Yeah it was." he whispered, when his voice broke a bit. She saw Newts eyes looking at her. The soft brown in his eyes was lighted up by the sunlight that fell into the tent, right at his face. His features were full of understanding and compassionate.

"But I would go through everything again if I had to." he then said and Evie knew that he meant it.

"Really?" She asked.

"Really." He nodded.

"Everything?" She asked, thinking about the kiss on the tower and in the maze. Newt remained silent. His hand traveled from her chin to her cheek.

"Everything." he whispered close to her face. Evie stared at him, when she took his other hand into hers.

"I'm sorry." she said again.

"You say that a lot." Newt said chuckling.

"I mean it." Evie answered. She felt Newt pulling her face slightly more towards him.

"I don't regret anything." He said as he bridged the last few inches and locked his lips with hers. All tension fell from Evie's body as she moved closer to him and melted into his kiss.

As they came out of the tent, Newt pulled her along.
They walked up one of the hills to Minho and Frypan. It was a spot where they had the whole view over the place of the right arm.

"Well you guys." said frypan as he looked at their locked hands.

"My gosh." Minho's voice rang out and Evie's eyes met his.

"Was about time." he said with a grunt. She rolled her eyes, then smiled at Newt.

"Hey, where's Thomas?" Evie then asked, thinking of her brother.
Minho nodded in the opposite direction from which they had come. Evie saw Thomas and Teresa talking.
Newt gently squeezed her hand and pulled her along.

"What are we gonna do, now when we stop running from WCKD?" Evie asked when they were a little farther away from the others.

"I don't know." Newt grinned as he leaned against the wall of a rock and pulled Evie towards him. She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment, enjoying the darkening sky in front of them, before looking up at him with a grin. He ran one hand through her hair, the other was on her back.

Evie stood on her tiptoes and placed her lips on his. Newt's hand tightened on her back and pulled her closer to him. For that one moment, it was perfect, until the familiar staple of a propeller sounded from not too far away. Evie broke away from Newt, seeing a screaming Thomas run past them before there was a loud explosion in front of them and a jet of flame rose up.

WCKD.

—

"Newt!" Evie screamed her eyes searching through the mass of panicked people. Someone slammed her shoulder hard and made her stumble. The girl caught herself on her elbows with a grunt and looked up to see Newt and the others on Vint's jeep. She then saw WCKD soldiers coming closer to them and lifted herself to her feet. Her eyes went wide as she saw how the boys were all electrocuted by the bomb that was thrown by one of the WCKD soldiers. They fell down from the truck as she ran through the din of gunfire and screams, towards them.
A sudden pain then shot through her leg, which caused the blond girl to fall to her knees with a groan. She yelped and looked at her bleeding leg, then she looked up to see Janson coming towards her with his gun raised at her. The girl quickly turned on her back.

"Not so fast," he said as he grabbed her by the back of the neck like she was an animal and handed her to one of his men.

"Asshole." Evie hissed before she was dragged away. She was placed in one of the rows, next to her she spotted Sonya, as well as Minho, Newt and Frypan, who were forced to their knees next to her.

Evie watched the uniformed men walk through the rows, scanning people's necks. Her head got pulled down with a jerk as the feeling of heat and electricity flowed through her neck again.

„A32!" the man said.

"Where's Thomas?" Janson called out now. Evie breathed out a sigh of relief. She was glad that her brother had managed to be safe and might be able to help them.

"I'm here!" Thomas called out. She looked at him in disbelief.

That slinthead. That shucking slinthead!

Janson walked towards Thomas. He spread his arms invitingly.

"Thomas!" Janson exclaimed, then rammed his fist into the boy's stomach. Thomas groaned and doubled over. Janson dragged him by the shoulder to one of his men, who set Thomas down next to Minho.

"Why didn't you run?" Minho hissed irritably.

"I'm done running away." Thomas whispered back. Minho looked at him as if he wanted to punch him in the face. He probably would have done so, if they weren't lined up around people that could shoot them any minute.

"How nice of you to only think about yourself!" hissed Evie with a sarcastic smile on her face.
Suddenly, the familiar sound of the giant drone sounded above their heads and the monstrous aircraft came into view.
Sand swirled into their faces as the drone stopped at one point and moved towards the ground. The view was obscured and Evie had to turn away as best she could as the sand stung her eyes.
The sound of the propellers stopped and a large hatch opened. Evie squinted again as it was no longer the sand but the bright light that stung her eyes. Uniformed men came out. Behind them, one person was protected. The first thing Evie recognized was the white coat, the blond hair and the red lipstick.

Ava Paige walked purposefully with an arrogant face towards the troop of Janson and his men.

"Is this all of them?" she asked as Janson came running towards her like a dog.

"Most of them." replied the man who not only looked like a rat but was one himself. She gave him a critical look.

"It'll be enough!" Janson added.

"Start loading them in." She said and walked over to the crowd of people. Evie stared at Paige in horror, watching the blue eyes traveling through the crowd.

"Yes ma'am. You heard her!" Janson shouted. Evie and her friends were grabbed and pulled to their feet. The girl's leg hurt terribly as she had pulled the bullet out before.

Thomas came to a halt in front of Paige. He gave her a hostile and defiant look.

"Hello Thomas." she said quietly, a slight smirk on her lips. The two of them looked at each other in silence for a while as Teresa walked towards Paige.

"I'm glad you're safe." the blonde woman said as she put an arm around the girl. Evie felt her heart stop and her stomach turn over.

"What the hell?" asked frypan.

"Teresa." hissed Minho. Evie looked at Thomas in shock, but he didn't seem surprised at all. He eyed the brown-haired girl with distaste.

"Wait, what's going on?" asked Newt. His eyebrows pinched together.

"She's with them." Thomas said.

"Teresa.." It was barely a breath that crossed Evie's lips.

"Since when?" Minho asked in shock.

"Oh Teresa had always a developed an appreciation of the greater good. Once we restored her memories, it was only a matter of time." Janson stepped out from behind them.
Evie's hands clenched into fists. Teresa looked around.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"I had no choice, this is the only way." she continued.

"We have to find a cure. Evie you know me. We were going to do this together once. You know I didn't have a choice. Please-.." She sounded almost pleading.

"There's always a choice," Evie said between clenched teeth.

"But sacrificing numerous people for a cure that doesn't exist is not the right way!" The blonde girl said, looking at Janson, who only had a smirk on his face. Teresa stepped towards Evie.

"There is one. We just haven't found it yet." Paige said and for the first time they locked eyes with each other. Evie felt her heart beating against her ribs as Ava Paige looked at her.

"Evelyn." the doctor murmured as she eyed Evie, as if her eyes would scan the girl like a robot. The girl felt a shiver run down her spine when she heard her name come out of the woman's mouth. So soft, it made her think of the memories she had with this woman. The comfort of a mother, she had brought to Evie.
Ava Paige looked at her as if she knew her, as if she knew every single thought racing through her brain.

"You worked for us once. You understood it all. The reason you came to the maze was not because of you." Her voice was warm, almost motherly. Evie's brain tried to find connections between her words.

She had betrayed them. That was why she was in the maze. She had given Mary the coordinates and was put into the maze for it.

"Are you going to let them all die? Could you bear it?" The blue eyes of the woman bored into Evie's soul. The girl felt a conflict in her inside. She felt like the world was holding onto every inch of her skin and pulling at it.

What did she mean, it wasn't up to Evie to have been in the maze?

"There's no other way." Ava stepped towards Evie, wanting to reach for her hand. Evie stepped back.

"Don't touch me." the girl hissed and Paige pulled her hand back.

"This is all just the means to an end. You got it once, too, Thomas. No matter what you think of me, I'm not a monster. I am a doctor. I swore an oath to find the cure! No matter the cost." Towards the end, Ava Paige became louder.

"I just need more time." she added in a calmer tone.

"More blood!" The woman Thomas had talked to in the tent, shouted from further back and the attention was on her. She tore herself away from one of the men holding her and came to a halt next to Evie. She felt her hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly. Evie breathed out shakily, she could feel the sweat running down her forehead.

"Hello Mary." Paige said in a calm tone.

"Evelyn did the right thing." said Mary, looking at the blonde girl. Evie turned her gaze to her slowly, almost fearfully. There was something reassuring in her eyes. Evie looked at her, confused as she felt the woman's soft Hand on her shoulder.

"You did the right thing when you and Thomas made sure we got the data from all the facilities." she said. Her eyes were kind and reassuring. Then she looked at Paige again.

Evie's brain was rattling. She was trying miserably to remember anything about as she was completely torn. She then looked at Thomas and thought that he probably wasn't feeling the same way. He was on his side.

"I had hoped to see you again Mary. I'm sorry it had to happen under all these circumstances." Paige took the floor again.

"I'm sorry about a lot of things too, but not this. At least my conscience is clear." Mary said.

"So is mine." Paige replied and a shot rang out. Evie flinched and looked around. She felt Mary's hand tighten on her shoulder and looked to her. Mary groaned as her hand suddenly relaxed again and she sank to her knees. A red stain of blood spread across her shirt.

"Mary.." Evie murmured. And knelt down to her. Her heart began to race, she didn't know what to do.
How could a young girl in this situation be expected to know what to do?

"Mary.. MARY! Let go!" Vince shouted and the soldiers let go of him. He ran towards Evie and the woman, taking her in his arms. Evie looked at Janson. He put down the gun he had just raised, smoke filling the air around him. Then she looked back at Mary as the woman was already staring at the girl. She nodded and her gaze started to get empty.

"You did the right thing!.." were the last words, as she then passed away before Evie's eyes.

"You bastard-" Evie yelled as she turned to face Janson. She started to run towards him, but Newt stopped her.

"NO!" Vince yelled behind Evie. She struggled against Newt's grip, completely ignoring the pain in her leg.

"She didn't do anything!" Evie shouted and tried to storm towards Janson. But Newt's grip was ironclad.

"Stop!" he said close to her ear. Evie felt tears run down her cheeks. She was so confused and torn apart.
Janson smirked at her.

"Come on, Janson. Load them in." Paige said. Evie looked at Teresa. She looked coldly at the girl, who looked at Mary in shock.

"Are you happy now?! Do you see what you've done?!" She threw at her. Paige put her arm around Teresa.

"Come." The others were grabbed, Newt and Evie were roughly pulled apart, when suddenly Thomas tore himself away from the men and pulled out something.

"GET BACK!" he yelled.

"Don't shoot!" Janson ordered.

"Get away from her! Release them!" Thomas screamed.

"Thomas put that thing away!" Janson shouted back. Evie's body tensed as she wondered what Thomas was up to.

"I SAID LET THEM GO!" Thomas screamed. He stood in the middle of the crowd, surrounded by the armed men.

"You know I can't do that!" Paige shouted.

"Thomas please stop! I made a deal with them. They promised, we would be safe, all of us!" Teresa called.

"What am I supposed to trust you now?" asked Thomas. He was holding some kind of bomb in his hand and an activation stick in the other.

"It's true. That was her only condition." Shouted Paige.

"SHUT UP!" Thomas yelled at her.

"Everything can go back to the way that it was." the blonde woman now said in her typical calm tone.

"Thomas. Do you really want them all to die?"

Authors note:
Advice at how to survive in a scorch:
When you have Thomas with you. Get as far away from him as you can.

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2579 words