They Don't Own Me

Chapter 44

"Do you remember him, too?"

"I know him, Newt. It's Graham."

Hints of tears started to appear in Newt's eyes.

"Graham? You're serious?"

"Completely." She gently laid her hand on Newt's arm. "Are you okay?"

"Are you kidding? Ivy, I have a family! You're my sister! I can't believe I never realized it before now; we were always so close in the Maze. And to learn that I have a brother as well? Ivy, I couldn't be any happier." He wrapped her in his arms again, pulling her close. Ivy chuckled a little and hugged him back just as tight. "Thank you so much."

~

"You okay?" Eliza asked, looking over at Graham.

The man was sitting on his bed, looking at the pictures in his hand. They were photos that had been taken back before WCKD took his siblings from him. He had almost left them back at Talisman when they were escaping, but Ivy had grabbed them from his room. Graham sighed, running his thumb over the picture of a younger version of himself and his siblings.

"I don't know," he replied, glancing up at her. "My own brother doesn't remember me. And I feel like we're about to plan a possible suicide mission."

"It's not his fault, Graham. You know the things that WCKD does. All they do is destroy. We just happen to be the victims."

She sat down beside him and ran a gentle hand through his hair, trying to calm him down a little. Graham sighed and leaned into her touch. The two remained like that for several moments before Graham pulled away enough to look at Eliza.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her quietly.

"As well as I can be," she murmured. She reached down to pull up her pant leg, revealing the thin black veins. The two stared at her skin for several seconds before Eliza rolled her pants back down. "What about you?"

"Take a look."

Eliza pulled back so she could lift his shirt. She lightly ran her fingers over Graham's stomach, tracing the black veins.

"It's worse than it was this morning. Are you in pain?"

"Not yet, but we both know it will settle in later."

"We're running out of time," Eliza said, letting go of his shirt so she could look at him. "I have to find that cure, and soon. Before I leave tomorrow, I'm going to have to collect blood samples from everyone. I'm almost out of options and Paige seems so set on them being the key to the cure."

"We're going to be okay, Eliza." He wrapped an arm around her to hold her and placed a light kiss on her head. "We're gonna be okay."

~

Jocelyn slowly sat up, careful not to wake her already sleeping husband. She winced slightly as she got out of bed, confused by the pain she was feeling in her side. With quiet movements, she walked to the bathroom and shut the door before turning on the light. She carefully pulled up her shirt a little to reveal her skin. Her eyes widened in panic when she noticed faint grey lines on her skin. She ran her hand across it, fear making her heart sink to her feet when she realized what the lines were.

"No," she couldn't help but whimper quietly. Tears filled her eyes. Her hands dropped down to her stomach as she slowly sank to the ground. She rubbed her stomach slightly, thinking of the little life that she had just recently found out was growing in her. "Please no..."

~

Tyson walked up the steps to his apartment, his mind racing. He was thinking back to his shift with Jackie. He remembered how weak she had gotten when they had seen the tortured boy. Yes it had sickened him greatly, but he was surprised by how badly she had reacted. She had almost collapsed for goodness sake! But why? Had she known the boy? Did she recognize him? Did he remind her of someone? And the way that she had left him in the cell was almost reluctant, like she wanted to stay with him. The questions wouldn't stop.

Tyson sighed as he opened his apartment door, trying to push those thoughts from his head. He would figure it out tomorrow. He had already called into work to change his shift to later in the night so he could possibly talk to Jackie and figure out what was going on.

"Welcome home."

Tyson looked up, his eyes widening when he saw Mae lying on the couch and wearing a bathrobe.

"Mae?" he said, shutting and locking the door. "What are you doing here?"

"You gave me a key, remember?" she reminded him as she stood up. She walked toward him, giving him a devious smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "It feels like I haven't seen you in forever."

"You saw me before work." His hands found their way to her hips. "And that's what happens when your shift ends before mine."

"What do you say we make up for lost time?"

Tyson smirked and planted his lips on Mae's, pulling her closer. He quickly pushed the robe off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. As the two got lost in their passion, they missed the long trail of black markings running down Mae's back.