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JANUARY TEST DRIVE MEME
You awaken to godawful static overlaying a female voice that's too monotone to be anything but a recording. The static makes it difficult to understand the warning, but it's clearly a warning if your surroundings tell you anything...
You're buckled into a sturdy seat bolted to the wall behind you. Around you, there are dozens of others like you, some awake and others still unconscious, but it seems most of the seats lining the walls are occupied. The lights are dim, likely auxiliary lighting, leaving you mostly in the dark. You smell smoke and hear the sizzling crackle of electrical systems popping and shorting out. Some of the seats were jarred off the wall, leaving the occupants either wounded or dead. Count yourself lucky all you have is a headache and various aches accounted to whiplash.
You appear to be in a drop ship or an escape vessel of some form but the pilot is dead and the hull bears a massive gash where it buckled under the impact and sheered off. Through the door-sized opening, you can see vegetation. The air that wafts in is heavy with a humid heat, but it's obviously breathable.
Once you make your way outside, you'll see greenery: Trees, grass, and shrubs tangled with vines that grow wildly and suffocate the trees they climb. In the distance, behind the ship, you can make out a sandy desert that seems to stretch on endlessly. Forward through the trees, however, you may see a crumbling wall, but more importantly, you'll see signs of civilisation. Buildings and other structures seem contained within those decrepit walls. Maybe the natives can fill you in on what's going on, because the last thing you remember isn't being in an escape shuttle. As a matter of fact, you don't remember much about your arrival or where you are. But it's going to be a bit of a hike, better get moving. Though you might want to grab the backpack of supplies under your seat before you go.
With that, the power dies, leaving the drop ship in the dark, crackling and groaning as the hull cools from its catastrophic re-entry.
no subject
He wants to ask her a million questions - whether she was in a Maze or if she knows where she's from...
But then he processes her words and stares at the hand offered to him. Poor choice of words. ]
Tell that to the world, the cranks, the sun and Wicked.
[ It's petulant how he doesn't take her hand but moves to get up on his own. Newt should know better than to judge the entire female population on the actions of Ava and Teresa but this girl's words put a bitter taste in his mouth. Unfortunately for them both his mood is nothing but sour since losing Minho then being kidnapped and having his memory messed with again. Maybe she's WCKD. ]
So are ya Wicked too? We can cut the pretendin' if it's good with you.
no subject
[It's not hard to see the distrust in his eyes. So she takes back her offered hand and holds it at her side instead of trying to help him up. Her weight is shifted from one leg to the other as she observes him.]
I'm not very good at pretending, either. My name is Athena, and I've crashed here just the same as you have.
no subject
Athena. [ The name makes something in the back of his mind stir, and he'll think about it later, for now, he'll focus on the matter at hand. ] Newt. [ It's his name, and this time he seem to change his mind and offer her his hand to shake. Eyebrow are tugged together and lip pressed into a thin line. She seems sincere. ]
Were you in a Maze? [ Maybe she's immune, maybe this is an accident on WCKD's part, but he doesn't remember getting captured again. ]
no subject
[Her eyebrows arch as she takes hold of his hand and she gives a shake of her head. She's heard of mazes but hasn't ever been in one.]
I was in Tomorrowland. Then I woke up here. I'm sorry but I don't know anything more than that.
[Which she looks apologetic for, and she gives a gentle shake of his hand before retracting her hand away from him.]
What sort of maze were you in, Newt?
no subject
He's hesitant to answer, knowing what happened last time someone found out they were WCKD's property. Doesn't matter now, they were waging war on the damn corporation, right? ]
It was -- [ Hell. ] a test. Run by Wicked. It was a giant maze, the walls moved at night, and... [ The grievers... The ones that killed so many people he knew. ] It was bloody awful.
[ That doesn't explain much, he knows, but he doesn't know this girl... ] What is Tomorrowland? Is that the place free of infection - for immunes?
no subject
[She can't even begin to imagine what something like that is like. Even when her creator was cruel to her he never would've taken the time or the effort to put her through a maze with moving walls. Thinking about it makes her squirm.]
Tomorrowland is just a place. David Nix intended for it to be his version of a Utopian society, but like all good things it came to an end. There's no infection there, though. No one with the title of immunes, either. Or Wicked.
Are people sick where you're from?