You awoke to erratic beeping that filled the room, and rubbed your eyes groggily but didn't open them. 

"Come on guys!" someone shouted, which was followed by a loud thump as they jumped out of the bunk. "We have an hour to get ready, so if you want a shower you'd better take one now."

Groaning, you pushed yourself into a sitting position and let your feet fall onto the cold floor. Slowly, you dragged yourself to the showers and stripped off your old clothing, setting the pile of clean clothes that WICKED had left in one of the dresser drawers in the bedrooms down at your feet. You stood under the flow of hot water and rubbed your eyes again, trying to shake the feeling that this would be your last shower for a while.

At ten minutes to six, you stood with the rest of the girls, clutching two bedsheets filled with food. Someone had come up with the idea to store water in the empty plastic bags the food had been packaged in, and although it wasn't the most convenient way, it was the best anyone could think of.

"You guys ready?" Harriet called from the front. She had her own bedsheet, as well as a water bag and the paper instructions Janson had left. "You know exactly what to do once the Flat Trans opens?"

The plan had been to take what had looked like on the maps, to be underground tunnels up to the warehouse to meet Thomas's group and... well, let Teresa handle the rest.

You risked a glance at your watch. Seven minutes left.

Teresa was standing in the corner, arms crossed, staring at the floor. You considered going over and trying to talk to her, but you knew it probably wouldn't end well. You set your pack on the ground and shifted your weight from one foot to the other, then looked down at your watch again.

Four minutes.

You still hadn't come up with any idea out of the whole killing Thomas thing. You'd originally planned to think it through the night before, but you'd had no trouble at all falling asleep as soon as your head had hit the pillow.

Two girls to your left were whispering quietly together. You caught little bits of their conversation, but nothing much of interest.

Two minutes.

You picked up your pack again and slung it over your shoulder, grabbing the second one and putting it in one hand, so the other was free.

"One minute!" Harriet shouted. The tension in the air was so thick it was suffocating. "Anyone want to turn back? Last chance." No one spoke, and you just stared at the floor. Janson had made it specifically clear that anyone left behind would be, as he put it "unceremoniously executed." It was safe to say not one person wanted to go with that choice.

"Thirty seconds!" 

You clenched your hand so tightly around your pack, your knuckles turned white. You could do this.

The wall in front of you rippled, and you stepped back, staring up in awe. You'd really had no idea what to expect the Flat Trans to look like, and now that it was right in front of you, you couldn't stop staring. A long grey rectangle the size of a small doorway, foggy and shimmering, and completely dark. Harriet, who was still in front, turned back around to face the group, shifting her water bag higher up on her waist.

"Okay everyone, we only have five minutes to get through! We need to do this as quickly and as organized as possible. I'll go first, and Sonya-" she paused to nod at the blonde girl, who was standing towards the back "you'll go last."

She stepped up to the murky spot of wall, hesitating for a split second, inches away from its surface. Then, she stepped through and it swirled with her movements, sucking her up entirely until she was gone, nothing to show she'd stood there except the occasional twitch or flicker in the pooling blackness.

All at once, the girls began to move forward, you along with them. Only a minute later, it was your turn to go through, and you didn't even have time pause or prepare yourself before someone shoved you roughly into it.

It felt as if you'd just fallen into an icy pool of water, silky and unpleasantly cold. You'd closed your eyes right before your face went through, and when you opened them again, you were in complete darkness.

"Is everyone here?" You heard Harriet call. She sounded miles away, her voice echoing down what sounded like a long tunnel. A chorus of yes's and yeah's followed, and Sonya called up "Everyone's through!"

"Let's go then!" she shouted back, and the line of girls lurched forward. Your pack slid down off your shoulder and you shifted it up again, reaching out with your free hand to touch the wall to your left. It was cold and hard but affirming. You ended up accidentally stepping on the shoes of the girl in front of you a couple times, but you eventually matched your steps with hers and kept an even pace with the rest of the group.

The only sounds were the quiet echoes and scraping of shoes against the cement ground, and scattered whispers of girls -- but for the most part, everyone remained silent. It was like they were all holding their breath, not daring to let it out until they'd put this place behind them.

It reminded you a bit of the Maze, just... darker and quieter, and without the threat of giant, metal killing machines lurking around every corner. At least, you assumed there weren't any Grievers down here. You wouldn't imagine any of the girls would stand much of a chance against one down here. You forced yourself to stop thinking about it and went back to focusing on your footsteps.

The tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, never turning left or right. If you hadn't kept your hand on the wall, you probably would've lost all sense of direction by now. You had no idea how much time had passed since you'd first started, nor how many miles you'd walked, but when the girl in front of you finally came to a halt, you were grateful to have the chance to rest your legs.

"Did you hear that?" she hissed, and you felt your heart leap into your throat.

"Hear... what?"

As if in answer to your question, a sudden, raspy whisper bounced through the tunnel, echoing off the ceiling and walls. You only caught a few words. Go back. Sliced. One chance.

In front, you hear Harriet faintly call for everyone to stop walking, and dead silence settled on the group. The next time the whispers sounded, you heard every syllable, as clear as day.

"Once-chance deal. Go back now, you won't be sliced."

You felt your spine turn to ice, and the panicked questions started up.

"What's that mean?" one girl shouted.

"Won't be sliced?"

"Are we not safe down here?"

"He said to go back!"

"Quiet!" Harriet called. "Just ignore him. It's probably just a test." You knew she was probably trying to sound surer than she actually was.

"What's going to slice us?"

No one moved, and you tapped the girl in front of you, about to ask why she wasn't moving, when the old man's voice rushed through again, much louder than before as if he was getting closer.

"You're all dead. You're all going to be sliced. Dead and sliced!"  

You shuddered, your hand frozen in mid-air.

"Just ignore it!" Harriet shouted again, and the line finally started moving. You wanted to put your hand out to the wall again, but flashes of knives and crude blades ran through your mind, and you kept it tucked close to your body as you walked.

The man didn't say anything more, and you felt everyone relax a little as you trudged on. I gradually got warmer and the air became thicker. You felt dust crusting at the edges of your eyes, and resisted the urge to rub them every five seconds. You were glad you weren't holding a water bag because you don't think you would've been able to stop yourself from chugging the whole thing in one breath.

As your mind wandered, you began to think about WICKED, and why they'd even done all this in the first place. Your memories of all the Glader's names and faces were fully intact, but any real information about WICKED or their reasons for doing all this were foggy or gone completely. You thought back to what Janson had told you back before they'd dumped you with this group. That they put something in your brain to erase your memories or some klunk like that.

They probably got rid of the important stuff first.

Time dragged on slowly. How long was this tunnel anyway? The map had said it was a straight walk right to the warehouse you were supposed to come right up to, but no one would've guessed the walk would take so long.

You were ripped from your thoughts by a high, bloodcurdling scream. It sounded like it was coming from a girl, just a few feet in front of you. You could hear her fall to the ground, thrashing around and howling in pain. Without much thought, you rushed forward, shoving a few people out of the way, but no one objected. They were probably in just as much shock as you.

By the time you reached the girl, her wailing had become impossibly louder, and she was jerking around like she was being attacked by a swarm of bees, slapping and punching whatever was within reach. You tried to grasp anything -- an arm or leg -- but she was squirming around so much, it was hard to just not get hit, let alone pin her down. All at once, her piercing screams were muffled, as if she'd been dragged underwater. She continued to writhe though, and she elbowed you square in the mouth before you could drag yourself completely on top of her to get a grip on her arms.

"What's wrong?" you shouted, lurching forward to grab her face. But what you found instead made you feel sick. Instead of her neck or mouth or hair, you felt nothing but cold, hard metal.

You forced your other hand to move and grasp the other side of the... ball. As soon as you did this, her screaming stopped. Her arms and legs became stiff and thumped to the floor. A ringing silence filled the tunnel, and you scooted slowly off the girl's body, not taking your hands off the large piece of metal. You felt a steadily flowing liquid ooze onto your hands and knew almost immediately what it was.

Blood.

You jerked your hands back, holding down a gag as the metallic smell hit you without warning.

As you did this, the ball detached itself with a click and rolled off into the darkness, the hollow grating noise getting quieter and quieter until there was a very faint bump, and silence again.

"What the hell..." a girl whispered next to you, her voice trembling.

"Her head," you muttered, making no effort to push yourself to your feet. "It's.... gone."