GladerWolf 2 (Newt X Female!Reader)

The Email

We'd spent most of our time jumping in and out of the pool, splashing water everywhere and running around the spacious, enclosure-like room. We had no idea how much time had passed until Faelan shook off his coat and walked over to the doctor's computer. Newt and I were play-fighting. Something we'd never done, not even in human-form, on account of being too busy or being seen as weird by the other Gladers.

"Guys..." Faelan began. We looked up. His front two paws were on the desk as he looked at the screen. His tail was down. "We've been in here for three hours."

"What?" Newt exclaimed, scrambling off of me and hurrying over. I followed. It was one in the afternoon. Faelan was right.

"Okay, so we just transform back and leave," I suggested. But we couldn't. No amount of thinking of shifting, trying to shift or trying to think about being human worked.

"These shucking cuffs," Newt seethed, trying to no avail to pull his one off with his teeth.

"Why would they want us to stay as wolves?" I asked. "Wouldn't that make us more of a danger?"

"Not if they can just lock us in here and mess with our time perception," Faelan began, walking to one end of the room. "Eventually, our wolf selves will just take over and we won't be able to transform back at all."

"Is that how this works?" I asked. It wasn't as though he knew: he didn't even get to read his wolf book. He ignored me and started running, taking a charge toward the door.

Newt rushed toward him and knocked him to the ground before he got there. "Are you trying to buggin' kill yourself? That door is made of steel."

"Well unless you have a way to take these cuffs off, Newt, we're all out of options," he replied.

"Or we can just try using the computer," I suggested.

"With paws?"

"I can use my claws," I replied, "they're small enough." I was starting to feel hungry as I tried to get the hang of using the computer with claws. There was an option to 'see connected devices', which of course showed me three files: one for each of our cuffs. Not only were they working in such a way that altered our time perception, but they also had trackers fitted in - which wouldn't be necessary until we left the room, anyway. "Each of them is tailored to us," I began as I searched through the files. "They won't run out of battery, either. They're charged kinetically."

Newt whimpered. "What if we just stopped moving?" Faelan asked. I didn't know. I didn't know anything anymore. And when the computer pinged with a notification and I looked in the corner of the screen, I was stunned to silence. There was an email from WCKD.

"What's wrong, love?" Newt asked.

I felt my heartrate increase rapidly. I couldn't believe we'd been tricked again. They'd given us food and a place to sleep and assured us we'd be fine and all this time they'd been lying. I thought back to Gally. Maybe we'd have been better off in the Maze.

Melancholy consumed me. How would we get out of here? The others didn't even know where we were and the security guards were armed to the teeth. I sat back on the cold floor of the prison we'd been sent into. I turned to Newt and Faelan. Their eyes widened in apprehension. "It's WCKD."

~

When I'd composed myself, I propped myself back onto the desk and clicked on the notification. I read it aloud to the boys.

To: My Associates,

Re: Phase 2

The wolf subjects are in the enclosure. The cuffs are working as expected and their time perception has been warped. The cuffs are waterproof and will not break under any kind of brute force. The only thing that may compromise them is electromagnetic interference.

The wolves will be fed thrice daily through the metal hatch in the wall starting at 6pm this evening. Following that, they will be fed every 9am, 1pm and 6pm.

No staff or subjects are to visit the wolves and they will be held captive for approximately five days until it is time to bring them to the lab.

I have confidence that, out of all our subjects, the wolves will be the most promising when it comes to helping us find a cure. Advanced DNA has already given Subject A5 complete immunity from the Flare virus. This, as you remember, has been allowed through our genetic modification of the bacteria on A4's lips.

Additionally, Subject A1 has proved very efficient in giving us information so far. Our cover story to pass onto any prying subjects' questions is that she needs to have more tests run. I think she may become useful if and when Subject A2 and his friends break out of the facility. I hope it doesn't come to that, but Thomas has been suspicious of us since we tried to put Subject A3 into the Maze the first time. That suspicion will remain despite the Swipe.

Efforts to get Subject B1 to speak have been met with resistance and he has been seen talking to Thomas. He does not talk to his fellow subjects from Group B due to how poorly they got along. Therefore, it is likely he will side with Thomas and aid him in escape. Janson and I are figuring out a plan to make this work to our advantage.

I'm very proud of our progress so far. I'm sure that very soon we will have what we need. Stick to the plan previously discussed and we'll go unnoticed. And remember, WCKD is good.

Yours pridefully,

Chancellor Ava Paige.

Chapter Analysis
- The chapter begins with the three werewolves playing in wolf form. This shows that they are used to making the best of their situation, or perhaps WCKD has truly dehumanised them to the point where they do not bother trying to become human.
Perhaps this is a developing point for our protagonist, as she once again learns to embrace a childlike part of herself.

- Faelan is the first one to notice something is off and check it, which is why he is the first to got to the computer and check the time. He is clearly more experienced in this field than our protagonist and Newt, because he's had to do it in his Maze and in the compound before Group A arrived up until this point.

- Faelan is very impulsive and it is implied that he may have a habit of jumping to conclusions. "Eventually, our wolf selves will take over," but there is no reason that shows this to be true. Perhaps he is, in some way, implying that being a wolf for too long will prevent himself and the others from being human again, as though their primal instincts will take over and they will be 'wild'? But what does that mean? Does that mean they will not be accepted back into the Gladers' society completely?

- Our protagonist reads the email to find that everything she suspected was true. WCKD is still in charge of the Gladers' every move.

- The fact that Ava Paige's note to her associates is in an email and not in person implies that there is a distance between herself and her colleagues. It also may imply that, even with all the tech WCKD has access to, they are still outdated in communication. Surely there's a more secure and efficient way to send a message to a group of people that isn't through an email? WCKD are outdated in communication because they have little to no contact with the outside world. They can seldom efficiently communicate with one another, let alone with anyone else. This may foreshadow something being hidden with WCKD that only some employees are aware of.