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Natalia was playing around with the wrench in her hand bored out of her mind. Two days after sending Thomas up into the maze, Project Zeta and all associated personnel (except Teressa) and supplies were moved from the maze compound to the Last City. Her memories of why Thomas had been sent up were foggy and unclear. The doctors had said that Thomas’ betrayal of WCKD to the right arm had been so traumatic that all four of them had pushed it out of their minds. Why would Thomas betray us? After all the good he said we were doing?
It didn’t matter anymore. Whether Thomas was alive or dead, none of them cared. He deserved whatever fate he would receive in the maze. A small outburst had occurred when they learned Teressa had been sent in. She was never supposed to. Ava had managed to calm them down. She said Teressa was being sent in to slowly re-convince Thomas and the other subjects that WCKD was good. Removing their memories had changed their views on the company in a way Ava claimed was unforeseen.
Jay, Cara, Awinita, and Natalia hadn’t been given many missions since Thomas had been sent up. Currently, all four had been placed as Ava’s personal guard. She’d become something akin to a grandmother. Cared a whole lot more about them than Janson did. The missions they did go on were simple get-in-get-outs. Take care of the problem, leave no witnesses. Simple as that. No torturing for information, no extended mission trying to infiltrate Right Arm or resistance fighters' bases and wipe them out. It had gotten relatively boring. Then things changed.
Suddenly Jay, Cara, Awinita, and Natalia were being sent off on missions every day. The Right Arm had gotten bolder with their attempts, and survivors in the scorch were turning in more and more people for the rewards. Everything was moving so quickly. Then came the day. Teressa had called. She, Thomas, and several others from the Glade and another maze had escaped. They’d found the Right Arm. Janson was sent to secure the area and round up all the escaped subjects. Ava and the four teens followed shortly after in a separate Burg. Dressed as normal security guards to protect their identities, all four were glad to see Teressa was okay but disappointed that Thomas had yet to be convinced. Natalia didn’t pay attention to anything Thomas said. Janson had told her anything Thomas would say was a lie. She only started paying attention when Thomas pulled out a detonator, and the other subjects made it clear they’d go down with him. When the fight broke out, Ava sent them after Thomas and his friends while she escorted Teressa back to the Burg. They’d only managed to capture A7, whom Thomas had called Minho. The boy was knocked out, so they just laid him down on the bottom of the Burg. After dropping him off at a facility out in the scorch, everyone else returned to the Last City. Natalia had felt off while everything was going down, and the feeling only got stronger when Teressa hugged them all once they got back to the city. No time to see if the others felt this way though. Once again, her memories of the event turned foggy and unclear. The doctors waved it off as more trauma since Thomas had been so close to them.
Why does everything feel wrong though? What aren’t they telling us? Is WCKD really as good as they-
Natalia’s thoughts got cut off. She and the others had voiced their doubts to the doctors. They said the doubts came from the trauma and the lies Thomas had told them. Memory wiping was the only way to help them. When Natalia woke up, all she remembered was this:
Thomas betrayed us
Teressa is loyal
We serve WCKD and only WCKD
WCKD is good
And that was all that mattered to them.