.* ﾟ

G A M E O F
S U R V I V A L

· 。ﾟ

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

thinking i could see through this
and see what's behind
got no way to prove it
so maybe i'm blind
but i'm only human after all

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

chapter two
no way to prove it

.·:*¨༺     ★      ༻¨*:·.

ROSIE FINISHED putting the designated clothes she was assigned on. The girl felt refreshed after the long shower she had taken. It gave her time to think of what had happened and what she was going to do about it. For the first time in along time, Rosie stared at herself in a mirror.

       She almost forgot what she looked like. She had bruises and cuts all over her body. At the moment, Rosie wondered what Newt saw in her. The girl felt Teresa was more prettier than her. Teresa seemed so effortless to Rosie. She sometimes envied it.

        "Are you ever going to talk to me?"

       The question brought Rosie back to reality as she didn't know how long she'd been in her own thoughts. Teresa sat on a bench across from her glancing towards Rosie.

         "Excuse me?" Rosie questioned with a soft tone as she sat back down.

        Teresa nodded tying the laces of the shoes they gave her. "Yeah, I mean you've never said anything to me unless we're in a conversation with everyone but you never say anything to me directly."

         Rosie blinked a few times trying to figure out if Teresa was faking being stupid or if she really was. "You think you'd befriend someone who stabbed you in your wounded bicep?" Rosie deadpanned.

         The girl bit her lip remembering about her earlier actions and how it came off to Rosie. "I'm sorry about that. I just—we're alone in this right? The guys have each other and we might as well have each other."

Rosie had finished tying her new shoes she was given. They were comfortable and light to walk on. "You're right," Rosie acknowledged standing up from the bench. "I don't like this place, so let's just keep our walls high, alright?"

Teresa nodded a little bit of weight lifting off from her. She didn't want to stay on Rosie's bad side. She felt that if it came to something, Rosie would protect her. "Yeah, let's go."

       The two girls made sure they had everything they needed before walking out of the bathroom. Outside the hallway there were four soldiers, three of them arguing with the other. The four immediately stopped once the two girls walked out.

       "Rosie?" One of them asked as Rosie nodded, "follow us."

☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★

☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★

       NEWT SHIFTED uncomfortably in the seat, his foot nervously tapping on the floor. It had been a good amount of time that Rosie hadn't shown up for the checkup. Everyone else including Teresa were already brought here. The boys looked at one another from afar knowing what they were thinking.

       Teresa sat on the edge of a hospital bed waiting for whoever was going to attend her. She fumbled with her fingers wondering why they separated her from Rosie. She had already been asked where she was by Newt and had no explanation. Teresa told him what she knew, they separated the two girls once they finished showering and walked them separate ways.

      Rosie walked the corridor feeling very off as not one but three soldiers were walking her to a destination. It opened her eyes as to why they gave Rosie three soldiers and not just one. Did they think she was some sort of threat? Teresa was only assigned one soldier and walked the opposite way.

       "Where are you guys taking me?" Rosie questioned feeling uneasy once the three soldiers didn't say a word and kept walking. She felt extra uneasy when she didn't have anything to protect herself with. They had removed her blade while she was taking a shower.

       The girl looked around once she spotted a man in a lab coat in the midst of a discussion with a curly headed brown girl. Their discussion stopped once they spotted Rosie and the three soldiers. Rosie recognized the two faces, they've both been in her dreams. The brown girl glanced up to the doctor as he stopped the soldiers.

       "Give me a second officers," the doctor possibly the same age as Rosie or a bit older spoke. His head turned to look at the Latina as he tilted his head, "are you Rosie?"

        Rosie nodded but couldn't verbally confirm as the soldiers spoke up, "are you done, doctor? We have to take her down to the facility—"

        The doctor's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "the facility downstairs?" The man grabbed his clipboard looking through his papers, "Rosie is assigned as my patient. Why are you guys taking her the opposite way?"

       "We were ordered to take her to the facility downstairs—"

       The doctor interrupted them, "well now I'm ordering you guys to take her with the rest of the arrivals. If I arrive and I don't see her where she's suppose to be, we'll have some problems."

       Rosie clicked her tongue feeling saved by the doctor as the three soldiers muttered under their breaths and turning to walk the way the other soldier took Teresa. "This way." One of the soldiers stated.

      They started to walk as Rosie followed them turning her head to see the doctor and the girl continuing their discussion. "That's her, right?"

     "Yeah, come on," the doctor nodded thinking no one was watching them as he threw his arm around the curly headed girl's neck and walked the opposite way. "We need to tell the rest."

      Rosie's stomach grumbled as they entered a large room and her eyes spotted her boyfriend who was worried sick. The boy tried to stand up to greet her but was stopped by the doctor assigned to him.

Newt's eyes lingered on Rosie as the three soldiers walked her down the room to the farther spot away from the rest. Minho glanced over since he had the best view out of all of the gladers who tried to take a peek.

"Remain seated and Dr. Kaleo will be with you soon." One of the three soldiers stated as Rosie nodded still feeling very uneasy.

       Her arm stung and she had the urge to throw up. Her face was pale and she brought her hand up to her forehead feeling her warm forehead. The three soldiers left the room leaving her alone.

      Rosie looked around being able to spot Minho who was already looking over at her. He raised his eyebrows trying to speak to her in hand motions. The girl shrugged her shoulders not knowing what was going to happen to her.

      Rosie could feel herself going insane. Bad feelings consumed her and her gut was telling her to get out of this place. She did her best to avoid thinking about the boys she left to die in the maze but it started to consume her. Rosie breathed deeply stopping herself from letting tears run down her face.

      It was not time to mourn her dearest friends. It was a time to put a façade and show everyone she was untouchable. No one could get to her.

"Thomas?" Every glader including Rosie turned their heads to the man with a gun in his pocket standing in front of Thomas.

      "Yeah?" The boy answered

       "Come with me, please." The soldier stated waiting for Thomas to stand up and follow him.

      The pair headed outside of the large room passing by a doctor that entered the room the same time they were leaving. Rosie peeked her head out noticing the doctor was the one from earlier.

      He held a small tube of what seemed like blood. Nobody payed much attention to him. The other nurses or doctors greeted him before leaving him to do what he was going to do. He looked through his papers waiting for the nurse who attended on Thomas to leave.

      Rosie glanced around the room as everyone was focused on their tasks they didn't see the doctor's actions besides Rosie. The man switched the tubes placing the one he held on the counter and grabbing the blood the nurse took out of Thomas. He disguised it as looking for some gloves and empty tubes.

       The doctor headed over to where Rosie was seated. Newt turned noticing that it was a man assigned to her and not a woman like the one assigned to Teresa. "Rosie, correct?" The doctor asked as she nodded, "Great. Let's get started. Is it okay if I close the blinds?"

      Rosie glanced to Minho who shrugged his shoulders but nodded knowing that if something happened to her, the boys would watch over her. Rosie spoke up, "yeah, that's fine."

       The man closed the blinds making sure no one would be able to see them and since they were the farthest away, no one would really hear them.

       "I'm doctor Kaleo," the man explained before taking his lab coat off, "but you might remember me as Malakai." The girl tilted her head trying to figure out what was happening. Her head was slowly connecting the dots, "c'mon Rosie, remember."

       "Kai?" Rosie questioned as she remembered calling someone by his nickname and not his full name.

       The boy let out a breath of relief as he figured her memory of him would come slowly. "You're okay, right?" Kai asked as he went to the counter to prepare a needle.

        "I'm sorry," Rosie replied, "who are you?"

       Malakai turned around a little smile lifting his lips, "I'm Kai. Both of us used to be a part of a resistance." He explained inserting Thomas' blood inside the tube. "I need your brain to speed up your memory, Rosie. We don't have a lot of time. Hold this."

       Rosie grabbed a hold of the needle as his hands grabbed her sleeve and rolled it up. The girl pulled away not letting him see the infection. "What do you think you're doing?"

      The boy shook his head grabbing a hold of her arm, "I know you got stung." He stated as Rosie was ready to do what was necessary. "How do you think you're still alive? Because you were lucky?" Kai asked

        The girl swallowed asking questions, "what do you mean?"

       Malakai pulled her sleeve all the way up unwrapping the old bandage that needed a replacement. "I mean, I slowed down the process of the infection. I was watching over you this whole time." He analyzed the infection that had grown bigger in the last few days. "If it wasn't for me, you'd be gone in less than a day."

       "No." Rosie stopped him from continuing, "I mean how? What is this place? Who are you working for?"

       The boy pursed his lips grabbing the clipboard he always had with him. His hands went though various of paper until he reached one. His finger went up to his lips motioning her to not say a word and brought the clipboard up.

      On a blank sheet of paper with big capitalized words said:

     "You're not safe here." Kai stated, "relax your arm. This will slow down the infection hopefully for a few weeks." Rosie did as she was told feeling the needle insert itself in her bicep where the infection started.

         Her heart started racing as she needed to tell the Gladers about the information she could feel her bicep tightening. "I need to tell the rest—"

The boy grabbed her arm before she tried to stand up from the bed. "You're their first target, Rosie. They want to get rid of you as quick as they can."

"Why?" Rosie questioned as she didn't remember the boy in front of her that well but she could feel that she trusted him before.

So, Rosie decided she'll trust him again.

Kai handed her a small cup of water watching the infection come to a hault, "because you're messing up the trials. I can't speak much but I need you to not trust anyone, alright? No one here is on your side."

"How am I still alive then? If they wanted to kill me so badly, why am I still alive?" Rosie pondered handing him the empty cup that she drank from.

The boy grabbed a packet opening it pulling out a clean bandage. He wrapped it around Rosie's bicep. "Where do you think the three soldiers were taking you?"

Rosie bit her lip shaking her head, "how do I know you're not lying to me?"

Malakai ran his fingers through his hair, "your name is actually Rosalie. You're eighteen and you turn nineteen in a few months. We were in the same team. The day we tried to stop it, Jessie got shot and you hid with her. She made you hide when soldiers found her."

Tears formed in Rosie's eyes remembering that specific moment. How cowardly she felt for leaving her as some sort of distraction. "Rosie, she's alive and she's here."

Her head shot up realizing the girl she saw with him earlier was her. "How? Why? I need you to explain this better to me, Kai. All of this is overwhelming."

The doctor turned around hearing footsteps getting closer, "not here. You'll be informed soon. I need you to trust me and only trust the people I tell you to trust. Okay?"

The pair looked to the curtain seeing shoes behind it as the person spoke, "Uh, pardon?"

Rosie let out a breath of relief knowing who's voice that was. Malakai opened the curtain revealing Newt shifting his leg uncomfortably. "Can I help you?" Kai asked

Newt shook his head glancing to his girlfriend to speak to her, "I wanted to make sure you were alright. You okay?"

Malakai turned to Rosie as she nodded. He glanced back and forth taking a mental note to find out more about the boy in front of him. "I'm alright."

"Okay," Newt replied motioning to the exit, "all of us are done and they're taking us to the cafeteria. Do you want to go or—"

"She's not done yet, kid." Kai interrupted grabbing another needle this one with all of the things she was deprived of in the glade. "Go on ahead. She'll meet with y'all in a bit."

Newt raised his eyebrow at the man that interrupted him before glancing back to Rosie, "you sure?"

The girl nodded, "I'll see you in a bit. Don't worry."

"Alright then," Newt took a few steps inside, his hand grabbing a soft hold of her chin before placing a soft kiss on her lips which was quickly returned. Rosie pulled away lifting her lips to show him a small smile. "I'll see ya in a bit."

The boy waved before heading out of the room with the rest of the gladers that also waved goodbye. "Boyfriend?" Malakai asked

Rosie scratched the back of her head nodding, "yeah why?"

Malakai shrugged his shoulders shaking his head, "no nothing. Just that he's younger than you."

"So?"

Malakai inserted the needle giving her all of the nutrients she needed. "Please, I remember you had an ick about boys younger than you. You swore you'd never get with someone younger than you. He must be special."

       The girl bit her bottom lip shrugging her shoulders, "he is."

       The pair talked about how the infection was going to stop spreading for a few weeks. He explained that he gave her an antibiotic to reduce the symptoms for the day. Malakai explained to her what was going to happen in a few minutes.

      "Here." Kai took out a black pocket knife handing it to her, "keep it in your pockets and only take it out if they tell you that they're taking you downstairs."

     Rosie grabbed a hold of the knife noticing a name was carved on it. Jeremy. She read inside her thoughts remembering his name. "Who's is this?"

      The boy shook his head, "someone I thought was our friend but left a lot of us for bait. This is all I was able to find."

      "Wasn't he one of the team leaders?"

      Kai nodded checking off the bullet list making sure he'd gone over everything with her. "And a traitor."

      "I don't remember what he did." Rosie spoke up not taking her eyes off the blade wanting an answer from the boy.

     Rosie noticed he ignored her once he started talking about something else. "Most likely they'll want to interview you and you have to act like you don't know anything. They will either take you to the cafeteria or directly to your dorm. You'll meet the girls there."

      "What girls?"

      Malakai looked up from his clipboard answering her question, "the ones who are going to help you escape."