Flashback

"Come on Raz, hit harder!"

Clara was 11 now, sweat ran down her face, her cheeks were red and puffy and she was out of breath, her lungs ached and she could feel bruises forming on her knuckles from the punching bag,

"I'm tired Jorge, can we take a break? Please?"

The man sighed but nodded, picking up a bottle of water and tossing it at her, she caught it and gulped it down, grateful for the cold liquid. They sat in silence as she recovered, breathing deeply.

"What's going on Raz?" He asked out of nowhere, catching Clara off guard.

"What?" She asked,

"You're acting weird, kid. You're pulling punches, missing targets. Is something going on?"

"I'm just tired, that's all. Mom has me doing training and classes every day, plus now we have to start getting ready to work on the maze. It's just a lot to deal with."

"I thought she was going to slow down your classes so you kids could focus on that maze thing?"

"She did, for Theodore at least. Not for me. She still doesn't think I'm as good as him, she never will." Clara scoffed, taking another sip of the water.

"You don't want to help with the maze, do you?"

Clara shook her head at him, "No, I think it's going to be horrible. They're gonna torture everyone they put inside them. Theodore even came up with these creepy monster things called Grievers to scare the subjects. It's just..." She trailed off, trying to come up with the word,

"Cruel." Jorge finished for her.

"That. And of course, because I don't want to help, my mother thinks I'm some sort of deviant, her words, not mine. She thinks I'm dumb because I refuse to do their stupid puzzles like her precious angel Theodore."

"Don't listen to her, Raz. She's wrong about you, just because your brother is some sort of freaky genius doesn't mean you're not smart too. Plus you could kick his ass in a fight, we both know that." He chuckled, nudging the girl's shoulder with his and she smiled up at him,

"Yeah." She giggled.

"Clarissa?" A voice called from the door and the pair turned to see one of the scientists from the board meeting the week before, Katie McVoy, standing at the door. "Sorry to interrupt, but you're needed for a meeting."

Clara nodded and passed the bottle back to Jorge, unwrapping the bandages from her hand and tossing them aside. The man winked at her, smiling widely before they said their goodbyes and she joined the woman at the door.

"What's this about?" Clara questioned as the two of them quickly walked through the building,

"The maze, you'll be meeting the other children that you and Theodore will be working with. Chancellor Anderson wants to explain everything to them."

A glimmer of excitement bubbled inside Clara at the prospect of meeting more kids her age, up until now she'd only known her brother. She had never interacted with any other kids and she'd only seen two other immunes around Wicked, a blonde boy with big brown eyes lying in one of the hospital beds and an Asian boy who, when Clara had seen him, was screaming about something and fighting the guards that were holding him. The idea that she would actually be able to interact with more people filled her with joy and she felt a small bounce in her step.

Eventually, they reached the same conference room she found herself in the week before. Sitting in seats next to one another were two kids around the same age as Clara, maybe younger. A boy with short brown hair, freckles, and brown eyes which were focused on her. And a girl with long, wavy brown hair and stunning blue eyes, a friendly smile on her face. On the other side of the boy sat another pair, also a boy and a girl, both of whom also had brown hair and Clara chuckled as she noted the lack of diversity in appearance. Also sitting at the table was Chancellor Anderson, the man that Clara knew as the head of security, Ramirez, and of course her mother.

Clara walked to the table and took a seat next to the first girl with blue eyes, returning her smile. After a few seconds, Theodore walked through the door and Clara's smile dropped just as quickly as it had formed, being replaced by a scowl at his appearance. He took a seat next to the boy and their mother began to speak,

"Alright kids, let's start with some introductions, shall we? Thomas and Teresa, these are my children, Clarissa-Marie and Theodore, they're the ones who came up with the idea of what we're about to present to all of you. And this is Aris and Rachel, they'll also be joining us in this new project. Now you've obviously met me before, but the man to my right here is Chancellor Anderson, that's Julio Ramirez, our chief of security, and that's Katie McVoy, our assistant VP."

"It's good to finally meet you kids," McVoy said next, nodding her head at all of them, "Now I'm sure you have questions but I'd just like to preface this by saying you kids are the brightest of the bunch here at Wicked. You've all performed exceptionally well in our tests and we value your skills and smarts, that's why you've been chosen to partake in this project."

"What exactly, is this project?" The boy that Clara's mother had called Aris asked,

"Well if you'll all turn your attention to the screen, We'll begin explaining."

The kids obliged, looking over at a large screen descending from the ceiling at one end of the table. As it stopped, a video of a large room filled with countless monitors, workstations, wires, and boxes sitting inside it.

"This is going to be the command center for what we're calling The Maze Trials. It will be the most advanced facility any research institution has ever created. It should be finished within a couple of months, and the mazes themselves – with your help – in a few years." Chancellor Anderson proudly explained,

"The Maze Trials?" The freckled boy, Thomas, asked,

"Excuse our Chancellor, he's gotten a bit ahead of himself." McVoy cut in as more images popped up on the screen, pictures, and blueprints for the maze that Clara and Theodore had come up with. They had begun to build the basic outlines for the giant structures, and the pictures showed several construction sites, most of which were surrounding massive walls, the scale of which even shocked Clara, "This is the beginning of construction for the Maze Trials, something that has been in development for about a year now. There are far too many details to go over in one sitting, so why don't you ask me your questions and we'll see where that takes us."

All the kids nodded except for Clara and Theodore since they already knew most of the details.

"Great, Teresa, why don't you start?"

"What is that place?" she asked,

"Well, that is a designated area we've found in the scorch where we're planning to build these structures."

"These structures being mazes?" Thomas asked next,

"That's correct."

"Why? Why are you building mazes?" Rachel asked this time, her voice was deeper than Clara expected, and she assumed the girl was older than her.

"As a testing ground. We're creating a controlled environment to stimulate reactions from our test subjects. The world is a dangerous place at the moment, and these mazes will be a safe, closed testing area where we can effectively control the stimuli our subjects are exposed to."

"What are you going to test inside them? Who are you going to test?" Thomas spoke up again, obviously feeling overwhelmed by all the information.

"Put simply, we're going to continue doing what we've already begun. Testing immunes, studying their biology and brain activity. Learning what makes them different and why they can survive the Flare virus. We're trying to find a cure."

"What did you mean about us helping you?" Teresa asked,

"Exactly that. We've decided to use the six of you to assist us. All of you are so... beyond what we expected from such young children, and it would be a shame for such talent to go unused. You do want to help us, right?"

Clara knew the question wasn't directed at her, but she couldn't help herself from thinking about her answer. Which was that she didn't know. All her life she'd never had a choice, she had to help, it was her job, it was her whole existence. She knew that the maze had been her and Theodore's idea, but deep down she wondered whether she was making the right choice. Whether Wicked really was good.