TWO
「the flare」
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚

AFTER LOUNGING ABOUT for hours, with nothing more to do than wallow in the wondering of where the rest of her group was, she decided to sleep. It was late enough and she didn't think she could take the torture of being awake much longer. Hayden had pestered her relentlessly about the boys from the Glade and what her Maze was like, but she was still hesitant to offer any information about herself. After all, it wasn't like this was some paradise where they were retired from the world of WICKED and sharing war stories.

Though, despite her best efforts, the boy had been able to pry a few things from her. She had told him they were led by a boy named Alby, but that he had died trying to escape. She didn't say that Nick had been the leader before Alby because she really did not want to delve into that with a stranger. Hayden had also questioned her about Bark, and she had simply said he was her dog and she wasn't going to leave him behind. At this, Bark had lifted his head to give her a withering glare, and she pushed his face away so he wasn't staring at her.

Sylvia was surprised to find that Hayden offered information about himself with no coercion from her whatsoever. He had told her of their system, how their Maze ran. It was an awful lot like hers. They had Keepers, but they called them Commanders. They had two leaders like they did, a First in Command and Second in Command. The two girls' names were Harriet and Sonya. From the information she had gathered from him, she was able to determine that they had the same experiment, just different subjects.

Every detail, from the first day to the last, was the same. A group of girls and one boy had woken in a strange Maze one day. They had built a system with jobs and leadership roles. They lived day to day, receiving supplies from the Box, mapping the Maze, trying not to be killed by Grievers. The last arrival had been a girl, followed by the arrival of a strange boy, who triggered the Ending. Their skies had disappeared and their Doors had stopped closing. Just hearing about it infuriated Sylvia. They were lab rats, different variations of the same damn test.

During the night, right as she was about to fall asleep, she thought she heard a noise. Her limbs were already heavy, mind drowsy, on the brink of unconsciousness. She thought she heard movement, a click, and then she fell asleep. When she woke, she wasn't sure if it had been her mind playing tricks on her.

It was rather early in the morning when she rose. She slipped silently from under the bed's covers and walked to the bathroom, flicking the light on and closing the door. When she lifted her head, she noticed something she hadn't before. There was a small mirror hanging above the sink.

She stepped closer, seeing herself for the first time. She brought a hand to her face, pointer finger brushing against a scar that ran through her brow, just like Minho had said. Her hair was dark and long, her eyes a vicious, striking umber. She had high cheekbones and pale, pink lips. She poked and prodded at herself in her reflection.

Sylvia pushed her hair behind her ears. She noticed something she hadn't before. On the top of her left ear, she had the slightest nick. She ran her finger over the spot, feeling the small space where she was missing skin and cartilage. She thought it might've been from the night Quinn died.

She turned, grabbing her hair and pushing it to the side. She looked over her shoulder and into the mirror. The ink of the tattoo stood out starkly against her skin.

PROPERTY OF WICKED
GROUP A. SUBJECT A3
THE FUSE

She looked away from the mirror, sighing. WICKED thought they were hilarious. Sylvia—a fuse—burning, burning, burning until the final explosion devoured everything in sight. Maybe she'd burn until there was nothing but ashes.

   Yes, she was angry a lot. No, she wasn't going to be embarrassed by it. Her anger was what defined her. It was what kept her together. It was what allowed her to survive all these years.

Out of the corner of her eye, she swore she saw a swath of fiery red hair and a flash of pale skin. Her head whipped in the direction of the apparition, only for the red aura to fade before she could get a good glimpse. What had that been? One of the deceased boys?

A knock at the door. Hayden's voice. "Sylvia? I think you're going to want to see this."

She swiftly yanked open the door to the bathroom. Hayden stood on the other side waiting. He said nothing, only gave a jerk of his head, gesturing for her to follow, and started walking towards the door to the common room, which was now open. She followed curiously.

The first thing Sylvia noticed was the pile of food left on the table in the center of the common room. Apples, bananas, peaches, and other fruits glistened in the light. Crackers and granola bars spread out among them. The pang of hunger that hit her was like a punch to the gut. She felt her mouth practically salivate.

The second thing she noticed was the man dressed in an impeccable white suit sitting at a desk at the far side of the common room. He was thin and wiry, graying hair atop his head. His features resembled that of a rodent. He didn't even look up at them as they gaped at him, his gaze trained solely on a paperback book in his hands. The beginnings of a small smile that had pulled at her lips just moments before vanished. Her brows darkened over her eyes.

She scowled, "Who the hell is that?"

She rushed forwards, ready to throttle the man. A shout of warning was just about to slip past Hayden's lips when she collided with an invisible force. She stumbled backwards, stunned. She rubbed her nose, having smacked her face on the invisible wall that separated her from the man. Tentatively, she put her hand out. Her hand glided through the air before hitting the surface. She pressed her palm flat against it. There was no reflection or smudges to insinuate that it was some kind of plastic or glass. It was a wall, completely invisible to them.

Sylvia pounded on the invisible surface with her fist. "Hey, rat-face!"

Hayden spurred himself forwards, grabbing her wrist to keep her from breaking her hand. "He won't look at you. He's just ignoring us. I think we have to wait, just like you said yesterday."

Sylvia yanked her arm out of the boy's hold. She stared at the rat-faced man and huffed indignantly. "Whatever. I'm starving."

She headed for the table, grabbing an apple. She sank her teeth in it, letting the flavor flow over her tongue. She had barely chewed her first bite before she was taking another. When she really thought about it, she hadn't eaten for almost two days. The last time she ate was before they left the Glade. She tore through the apple hungrily.

"Don't eat so fast." Hayden said, chewing on a granola bar. "You'll puke."

"Don't care," she groaned through a mouthful. "Too good."

Sylvia ate the rest of the apple, followed by a peach and some crackers. She opted to stop there, not knowing how long they were going to stay in this place or when more food would be given. They might need this drop of food to last a while.

Then, her and Hayden settled just in front of the invisible wall, directly in line with the rat-faced man. He ignored them for a few more minutes, flipping through the pages of the book. Sylvia had felt herself starting to become ticked off when he finally put the book down on the desk. He rolled his chair back a bit and dug in one of the desk's drawers. Hayden sent a glance at her and she met his eyes. She shrugged.

When she looked back, the man had pulled a manila folder out of the drawer and placed it on the desk. Papers had been messily shoved into the file, edges sticking out.

"Ah, here it is," Rat Man said in a nasally voice; then he opened the folder up and looked at the two in front of him. "Thank you for gathering in an orderly manner so I can tell you what I've been...instructed to tell you. Please listen carefully."

"Why do you need that wall?" Sylvia shouted.

Hayden slapped her arm. "Shut it! Let's see what he has to say."

Rat Man continued as if he hadn't heard her outburst. "You're both still here because of an uncanny will to survive despite the odds, among...other reasons. About sixty people were sent to live in both of the Mazes. Sixty in Group A and another sixty in Group B.

"Out of all those people, only a fraction survived to be here today, though you two have been separated from the rest of your groups. I'm assuming you've figured this out by now, but many of the things that happen to you are solely for the purpose of judging and analyzing your responses. And yet it's not really an experiment as much as it is...constructing a blueprint. Stimulating the killzone and collecting the resultant patterns. Putting them all together to achieve the greatest breakthrough in the history of science and medicine.

"These situations inflicted upon you are called the Variables, and each one has been meticulously thought out. I'll explain more soon. And though I can't tell you everything at this time, it's vital that you know this much: these trials you're going through are for a very important cause. Continue to respond well to the Variables, continue to survive, and you'll be rewarded with the knowledge that you've played a part in saving the human race. And yourselves, of course."

"That's a load of bullshit if I've ever heard one." Sylvia spat.

The rat-faced man gave her a scornful look. "I represent a group called WICKED," the Rat Man continued. "I know it sounds menacing, but it stands for World In Catastrophe, Killzone Experiment Department. Nothing menacing about it, despite what you may think. We exist for one purpose and one purpose only: to save the world from catastrophe. You here in this room are a vital part of what we plan to do. We have resources never known to any group of any kind in the history of civilization. Nearly unlimited money, unlimited human capital and technology advanced beyond even the most clever man's wants and wishes.

"As you make your way through the Trials, you have seen and will continue to see evidence of this technology and the resources behind it. If I can tell you anything today, it is that you should never, ever believe your eyes. Or your mind, for that matter. This is why we did the demonstration with the hanging bodies. All I will say is that sometimes what you see is not real, and sometimes what you do not see is real. We can manipulate your brains and nerve receptacles when necessary. I know this all sounds confusing and a little scary, perhaps."

Sylvia's mind spun with all the information. Experiments, blueprints, the Variables. The Killzone. She still didn't know what the word meant. And they can manipulate her brain? How could she know which actions were hers, and which weren't? How could she know what was real? Immediately, her mind wandered to the spirits of the Gladers. But they had to be real, George had proved it to her.

The man slowly passed his eyes between her and Hayden. His upper lip shone with sweat. "The Maze was a part of the Trials. Not one Variable was thrown at you that didn't serve a purpose for our collection of killzone patterns. Your escape was part of the Trials. Your battle against the Grievers. The murder of the boy Chuck and the girl Rachel. The supposed rescue and subsequent trip in the bus. All of it. Part of the Trials."

Sylvia felt the familiar anger bubble within her. Chuck's death was for what? To see their reactions? Her expression tightened the more the man talked. Her fingernails digging crescent moons into the flesh of her palms.

The Rat Man leaned forward in his chair, slapping his hands on the desk. "All of it has been part of the Trials, you understand? Phase One, to be exact. And we are still dangerously short of what we need. So we've had to up the ante, and now it's time for Phase Two. It's time for things to get difficult."

The two of them shared a brief glance. Sylvia's eyes ignited with fury and Hayden's laced with something close to fear.

Rat Man waited for an eternity, as if to spur her anger further, before speaking again. "You may think, or it may seem, that we're merely testing your ability to survive. On the surface, the Maze Trial could be mistakenly classified that way. But I assure you—this is not merely about survival and the will to live. That's only part of this experiment. The bigger picture is something you won't understand until the very end.

"Sun flares have ravaged many parts of the earth. Also, a disease unlike any before known to man has been ravaging the earth's people—a disease called the Flare. For the first time, the governments of all nations—the surviving ones—are working together. They've combined forces to create WICKED—a group meant to fight the new problems of this world. You two are a big part of that fight. And you'll have every incentive to work with us, because, sad to say, the both of you have already caught the virus."

He quickly held up his hands to cut off Sylvia, who had opened her mouth to speak. "Now, now! No need to worry—the Flare takes a while to set in and show symptoms. But at the end of these Trials, the cure will be your reward, and you'll never see the...debilitating effects. Not many can afford the cure, you know."

Sylvia felt her mouth go dry. A virus. Sylvia was infected with a virus called the Flare. She wondered faintly if any of the others from her group were in the same situation. She hoped not. Maybe that was why she was separated from them—because she had caught the virus and they couldn't let her infect them.

"But enough of this history lesson and time-wasting," Rat Man continued. "We know you now. Both of you. It doesn't matter what I say or what's behind the mission of WICKED. You'll all do whatever it takes. Of this we have no doubt. And by doing what we ask, you'll save yourselves by getting the very cure so many people desperately want."

Rat Man looked down at the messy stack of papers lying in the open folder, picked up a loose piece of it, then turned it over, barely glancing at its contents. He cleared his throat. "Phase Two. The Scorch Trials." He looked at his watch briefly. "Right now, it is six o'clock. Phase two will officially begin today, at eight in the morning. You have two hours to prepare. You'll enter this room, and in the wall behind me you will find a Flat Trans. To your eyes the Flat Trans will appear as a shimmering wall of gray. Both of you must step through it by five minutes after the hour. So again, it opens at eight o'clock and closes five minutes after that. Do you understand?"

Sylvia stared at him dazedly. Was this real? The rat-faced man narrowed his eyes at the both of them. Hayden said nothing as well.

"I'm quite certain you can both hear," Rat Man said. "Do...you...under...stand?"

Sylvia gave a slight jerk of her head. Hayden nodded.

"Good." Rat Man absently picked up another piece of paper and turned it over. "At that point, the Scorch Trials will have begun. The rules are very simple. Find your way to open air, then head due north for one hundred miles. Make it to the safe haven within two and a half weeks' time and you'll have completed Phase Two. At that point, and only at that point, you'll be cured of the Flare. That's exactly two weeks and three days—starting the second you step through the Trans. If you don't make it, eventually you'll end up dead."

"I have a question." Sylvia spoke, eyes wild, pupils dilating.

The man's lips thinned. "What is it?"

"Why were we separated from our groups?"

"The two of you..." He trailed off, eyes gaining a slightly far away look. "Are very special. The patterns your Killzones have expressed haven't been like any of the others. Though, faulting this, you've both contracted a rare strain of the Flare virus, rendering you dangerous to your groups. You were both removed and placed here, together, where you will only be a danger to one another. This is also the reason you are being expelled from our facilities in two hours time. As I said, you are both hazardous subjects. We need you gone as soon as possible"

Sylvia looked at Hayden with knitted brows. His eyes reflected her confusion. They were special? What did that even mean? Hayden rubbed at his throat warily. Could this be about the spirits? Did Hayden see them too? Is that why he'd been placed with her?

Rat Man quickly slammed the folder shut, bending its contents even more than before, then put it away in the drawer from which he'd retrieved it. He stood, stepped to the side and pushed the chair underneath the desk. Finally, he folded his hands in front of him and returned his attention to them.

"It's simple, really," he said, his tone so matter-of-fact one would think he'd just given them instructions on how to turn on the showers in the bathroom. "There are no rules. There are no guidelines. You have few supplies, and there's nothing to help you along the way. Go through the Flat Trans at the time indicated. Find open air. Go one hundred miles, directly north, to the safe haven. Make it or die."

When neither of them spoke, he continued. "One hundred miles. North. Hope you make it. Remember—you both have the Flare now. We gave it to you to provide any incentive you may be lacking. And reaching the safe haven means receiving a cure." He turned away and moved toward the wall behind him, as if he planned to walk right through it. But then he stopped and faced them again.

"Ah, one last thing," he said. "Don't think you'll avoid the Scorch Trials if you decide not to enter the Flat Trans between eight and eight-oh-five today. If either one of you choose to stay behind, you will be executed immediately in a most...unpleasant manner. Better off taking your chances in the outside world. Good luck to both of you."

With that he turned away and once again started inexplicably walking toward the wall. Without even a glance back at them, the room started filling with white mist. It fogged against the invisible wall of the room and vanished after a few long seconds, taking any sign of the man with it. Both the desk and the Rat Man were no longer there, as if he'd disappeared into thin air.

Sylvia scrambled to her feet, gazing at the empty space before her dumbfoundedly.

"Well," Hayden said, getting to his feet beside her. "Fuck."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

hi...haven't updated in a minute lol