"MY NAME IS DOCTOR AVA PAIGE!"
Those of you who have chosen this path can be very proud. You are now part of our project and therefore part of the people that are changing tomorrow. Together we are entering a new future, the salvation and preservation of humankind."

—

Evie opened her eyes and saw the blonde woman staring at the screen next to her.
She mumbled something, before her eyes fell on Evie.

"Evelyn Edison you are truly a miracle." Paige nodded to the other people in white coats, who then approached the girl.
Evie was taken back to her room.

The next day, Paige brought the girl back in. She was injected with that drug again, which put her to sleep and into a world of memories. Day after day, they dragged Evie through the same process.

No. They didn't kill her like she thought. They made something far worse with her.
They put her in memories of the maze or the scorch. They put her into panic situations stressing her and pushing her adrenaline over the edge. In other situations she created a new memory of her childhood or the WCKD camps in her mind. Sometimes it even was a memory with Newt, back in the glade.
No matter which kind of memory or what scenery they put her brain into. Every time she woke up from it, she felt sucked out and empty.
It was torture.

She noticed how her body was losing muscle and weight, she had the feeling she was going crazy. At times she could no longer tell the difference between reality and the test.

"Evie, we're doing the right thing!" she heard Teresa's gentle voice say and saw her blue eyes in front of her.
Some days she saw the brunette girl working with children who had been infected by the flare. She ran after Paige like a lapdog and behaved like a little puppy in training-school.

Everyday when they interjected the drug or whatever it was, into Evie's system. Her body was thrown into a panic mode to the point where it was completely against natural limits.
She was running away from her worst fears and nightmares. Be it Grievers in the maze or Cranks in a closed room. She wished they were just dreams she could wake up from, but they were real scenes.
Six months of eternal torture and Evie thought it would never end.

They were transferred again and again and her hope that Thomas and Newt would come to rescue her dwindled with each passing day.

—

Evie sat on the train that was heading towards a new place. Her limbs ached and a cut adorned her cheek. Her eyes were tired and her hair was drained.
She had hardly eaten for weeks and didn't get any sleep at night.
Aris and Sonya felt the same way.
They continued to fight against the WCKD soldiers. Aris had already bought a black eye for it.

Suddenly she heard the sound of metal crashing and looked up. Someone was running on the roof of the train above their heads. The girl heard excited shouts from further away and then shots. Her body started to tense when she was wondering what was happening outside.
An explosion sounded and the ground beneath her feet shook as the train siddenly braked and came to a halt. She was thrown forward and gasped in shock. The kids around her started to mumble, then
there was total silence for a moment until someone banged on the wall from outside.

"MINHO!" Evie wanted to slap herself, as she couldn't believe she'd heard the name.

"EVIE!" the voice she knew only too well. The girl wondered if this was real or if she started hallucinating.

"Thomas!"
She started shouting his name as the people on the train around her began to scream and shaking the chains in their chairs to cause a louder noise. It was quiet again for a while.
Sweat began to form on Evie's forehead as several shots rang out. They banged hard against the metal walls and made her flinch again and again with their noise.
Then the container began to shake and she was pressed more into her seat.

They were flying.

—

Sparks flew through the door, when it was cut open from the outside.
Evie could hardly sit still.
The sparks disappeared and the door was kicked open. Her eyes widened when Thomas came in.

Evie's heart leapt for joy and at the same time she stared at him as if he was a ghost.
Her heart beat three times faster when she saw who was following him.
Thomas walked between the others. He spotted Aris and Sonya.

"Aris. Hey!" he said and ran to them.

"Hey guys, are you okay?" he asked worriedly when he saw Aris' eye.

"We're fine!" said Sonya. He walked on. Evie felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest the next moment.

"It's all right, you're safe!" Thomas said to the others and walked on. Then his eyes finally met hers.

"Evie!" He murmured excitedly and ran to her. He bent down to her and pulled her into a tight hug.
Then he unlocked the handcuffs and pulled her up from her seat.

"You all right?" He asked.
As soon as Thomas let go of her, he was pushed aside and Evie was pulled into an even tighter hug again.
Evie took in his scent and wrapped her arms around him too. The longed-for feeling of home spread through her.
Newt broke away from her and took her face in his hands. His hair was longer, his features more serious. His brown eyes, however, were still the same.
He ran his thumb over the cut on her cheek.

"What happened?" He asked.
He wrapped his arm around Evie and took her outside, holding her tightly, never wanting to let her go again.
They sat down on a stone and Evie rested her head on Newt's shoulder, exhausted. A tear rolled down her cheek. She tried to realize that she was finally with him again. But it seemed so unbelievably unrealistic.

"You okay?" Newt asked and Evie nodded.
She could feel Newt's burning gaze on her.
She took his hand and held it tightly in hers. She watched the other kids leaving the container. All of their faces scared and traumatized.

"I didn't think I'd see you again." Newt said after the eternal silence. She looked up at him and his gaze softened. He wiped away the tear that made its way down Evie's cheek with his thumb.
Time stood still.
Thomas came towards them and Evie stood up.

"Where's Minho? He's not in the container." Thomas asked.

"He wasn't in ours either." A silence fell. Evie's heart stopped as she thought of Minho still sitting in WCKD's arms.

—

"I know you all have been through hell!" They had all gathered in front of Vince. Evie scrutinized the man. His hair had grown, as had his beard and he had a cold aura, now that he lost Mary.

"I wish I could tell that our troubles are over, but we're not through this yet. WCKD is still out there. They're not giving up, because you have something they want!" Evie's hand clutched Newt's as if this could all disappear at any moment and she was back in WCKD's treatment room as if it had all been an illusion.

"They took you because you're immune. Against a plague that's wiping out the human race! They think you're worth sacrificing to find a cure. Well I don't!" He exclaimed.

For the first time, a relieved smile crept onto Evie's face. She had barely had time to get to know the man. She thought of how he had held Mary in his arms. That stream of emotion in his eyes that was now gone.
Newt wrapped his arm around her side and pulled her to him. He watched Evie from the side, seeming more relaxed than ever.

"And in two days, if we can get this rusty bathtub seaworthy. We'll get the hell out of here! We'll go to a place where WCKD won't find you!" Evie didn't hear the rest. Her smile disappeared and her eyes found Newt's.

What about Minho? They couldn't leave him behind.

Newt seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. He pulled her with him to one of the facilities that consisted mostly of ruins, tarps and wood. They went inside, where they met Sonya and Aris. Sonya tended to Ari's wound, causing him to wince.

"Sorry." she whispered. Evie thought about how Sonya had looked after her for the last few months. She really was too good a person for this world.
Newt also came through the door with a wet rag. He carefully wiped Evie's cut and cleaned it.

"Sorry." he mumbled as she backed away slightly and then continued carefully. Then he gave her a cup of water. Evie suddenly realized how dry her throat had been. Newt put his arm around her again and Evie dropped onto his lap, exhausted.

He began to run his fingers through her hair. She closed her eyes and enjoyed this one moment. She let the slight tingle flow over my skin that Newt triggered in her and enjoyed it. The whole moment was taken up and held by her, as if she could lose it at any second. Evie was so terribly tired that she wanted to fall asleep here and now and forget everything that had happened.

"Took you guys long enough to rescue us!" Aris said and Evie opened her eyes. Thomas laughed lightly.

"Nice to see you too, man!" He replied.

"What happened?" her brother asked seriously the next moment.

"We put up a fight, well at least we tried."
Sonya sighed.

"You were lucky you found us. They kept misplacing us all the time." she said, looking at Evie and Newt.
She grinned at the sight of them, then turned her gaze back to Thomas.

"I'm sure they're up to something." she added.

"Do you have any idea where they were heading?" Newt asked and Evie looked up at him. He had stopped playing with her hair and was looking seriously at Sonya and Aris.

"Well, all I know is.. they kept talking about a city." Evie tried to search her memories for something that might help them. But she found nothing.

"I thought there were no more cities?" Harriet asked. Evie hadn't noticed her before.

"Yes, because there are." Brenda's voice rang out behind them. Evie almost had to twist her neck to see the girl.

Brenda's hair had grown down to her shoulders. She looked older, but she still had that twinkly look in her eyes that Evie liked so much about her.

"Well, except for ruins, I mean," she added.

"Okay, what about Minho? Why wasn't he on the train?" Thomas asked. Now Evie sat up. Aris and Sonya looked at each other. Evie sighed.

"I'm sorry, Thomas." Aris said and was silent for a moment. Evie could feel the tension radiating from Thomas's body.

"He was." A long silence ensued. Everyone stared either at their hands, the floor or somewhere else. Until Evie sat up noisily from Newt's lap and stood up.

"So what's the deal, when do we get Minho back?" Another silence fell over the room.

"We're getting him out, aren't we?" The girl asked.

"It's not that simple, Evie." Newt said in a soft voice.

"We've been planning and preparing your rescue for months!" Said Thomas.

"Well, then let's do the same!" Evie shook her head uncomprehendingly. She didn't understand how they couldn't all jump up immediately and be on her side.

"Evie." Newt said and reached for her hand, but she snatched it from him. Shaking her head, the girl took a few steps back.

"What, you're just going to leave him with WCKD? After all he's done for us?" she asked angrily.
Newt stood up.

"No but-.." Newt got interrupted.

"What do you think is gonna happen?" Brenda asked, taking a few steps out of the dark corner where she had been standing. She approached Evie.

"We chase the train, go over to this city or whatever it is.." Evie exclaimed angrily.

"I'm not gonna leave him in there- do you know what they did to us?"
She looked around, her frustration rising. Everyone looked at the girl in silence. Sonya and Harriett exchanged glances.

Evie let out a stressed breath and then walked out of the room and down the corridors. She felt like she was talking to a wall.
It made her feel stupid about herself.
She looked at the walls she passed. Everything looked like an old fortress. She thought of Minho, how his hopes must have been dashed when he realized he wouldn't be rescued.

Hot tears gathered in her eyes as she felt a hand on her wrist, that pulled her back. She was pressed against someone's chest and two arms laid around her in an embrace. Her hands reached for the brown leather and her head rested on Newt's shoulder. They stood like that for a while.
Evie wanted the world to end at this moment. Just a minute to take a breath and take a break from the burden on her shoulders.

Author's note:
My poor babes :(
Check out the post on my pinboard!

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