8: A T r a p?
XX
As Brenda strode briskly through the labryinth of labs and hallways, she swore that anyone within a ten mile radius could hear her heart; which seemed to be pounding at a hundred miles an hour.
Brenda ground her teeth together, trying to fight the feeling of dread that was settling on her. Shoving her way through a mess of overturned furniture, she pushed open a nearby door and found herself in yet another large, empty passage.
CLICK.
The metallic door shut behind her with a loud, resounding noise that bounced eerily off of the pale, tiled walls.
Sliding her hand along her belt, Brenda's fingers came into contact with the handle of her knife. Gripping the sturdy wood until her knuckles grew white, Brenda walked slowly down the length of the hallway. Her footsteps echoed loudly through the large space and her breathing became heavy and ragged.
As crazy as it seemed, she felt as though someone was watching her. It was more than just uncomfortable though ... it was sinister and scary.
Finally, not able to hold up under the tension any longer, Brenda broke into a run as she approached the door situated at the end of the long hall. Licking her dry, cracked lips, she paused and gazed down at the knob.
It was either now or never.
Shoving her rifle in front of her face, Brenda pushed her entire body weight down on the handle and roughly kicked the door open. Once inside, she scanned the entire perimeter with the use of her weapon, relieved to find that there was no soldiers awaiting her on the other side.
Releasing a pent-up breath, Brenda lowered her gun and glanced around the room, crinkling up her nose as the strong smell of chlorine and disinfectant hit her.
No one was there but nothing had been disturbed at all.
Warily, Brenda stepped towards a long twelve-seater table that was placed in the middle of the room. As she slowly circled around it, she noticed the plush cushioned wheelie-chairs lining each side. Intrigued, she saw a 3D model mapping out the entire Maze spread out across the monitors topping the surface of the polished oak.
As Brenda bent down to study the model, she noticed that something was flashing on and off across the room.
Straightening up, she perceived a set of screens hooked up to the far wall; a series of desks covered with keyboards and other gadgets beneath it. Moving towards it, Brenda looked over at the bright red light that was shining from the bottom of one of the keyboards.
Curious, Brenda tipped the board over to examine it and found a yellow sticky note attached to the underside of the device. Ripping it off, she flipped it around and looked at the words lettered across the paper.
WCKDisGood.
Brenda rolled her eyes as she slapped the note back down on the desk. Of one thing she was one hundred percent certain, WCKD was far from good.
Glancing up, Brenda squinted as she stared at the line of screens in front of her. They were all lit up with differing colours but a log-in password was required to gain full access to their contents.
Brenda glanced back down towards the sticky note and smiled.
In no time at all, she had successfully entered the password and was rapidly running through the camera reel to see where Chuck and the other prisoners were at. From her estimations, they were just entering the hallway running opposite to the very lab she was in!
Brenda heaved a deep breath as she glanced down at her wrist-watch.
11.45.
It was time.
BANG.
The sound of the back exit bursting open ripped through the air. A few moments later, a troupe of armed people, black bands tied around their upper arms, rushed into the lab via the half-broken door.
With a start, Brenda pulled up her rifle and swung it towards them in one quick motion.
"Whoa, there, Be," Vince's authoritative tone rang throughout the room as he held up his hands in surrender. "No need to murder anyone just yet."
Brenda sighed and lowered the rifle. However, she was far from feeling relaxed.
"I'm checking up on their whereabouts. They're close. Hey," she nodded towards the model on the table. "Take a look at this."
"What?" Vince queried as he shuffled over and gazed down at it. His gaze swept over the entire thing and then he paused. "Ah, Brenda?"
Brenda raised her eyebrows. "What?"
"There's a whole line of moving dots down at the corner of the model," he explained briefly. "There's twelve of them in all."
Brenda's eyes widened in surprise. "Twelve? Wait. The prisoners ... t-they must have trackers in them! Geez, WCKD really didn't want them to escape, did they? Uh oh. Why are you looking at me like that, Vince? What's wrong?"
"I knew this mission was too easy," he spoke, low and urgently. "I think - I think this is a trap, Be. I think WCKD is letting us take them ... straight back to where we came from so they can follow us! If the prisoners do have trackers in them, WCKD will easily be able to locate our whereabouts, seeing that we are right on the outskirts of their city!"
Brenda's face turned white. "Crap."
Vince immediately took initiative. "Eunice, Jim!" he barked as he pointed to the crew gathered behind him. "Go guard the door. Hannah, Elliot, stay here and keep a track of this model. Contact Jorge's team and tell him to keep the others waiting outside. We can't risk losing back-up in case we get trapped in here. Wes, you go tell Aris and Sonya to shut everything down and get the hell outta here! Brenda ... you're with me. Let's go!"
Brenda nodded and trailed Vince cautiously towards the door on the opposite end of the room. It opened up into the longest hallway Brenda had ever seen. The ends of it disappeared around slightly-curved corners and sparking light beams glared at them from overhead.
Silently, Vince motioned for Brenda to go right while he went left. As Brenda crept silently along the white tiled floor, she tried to push down the panic that was threatening to overwhelm her. No! She had to stay strong. She had to find her brother.
She took a hesitant step forward, then another and another. She was nearly around the far corner of the passageway now ... just a few more metres and ...
BANG.
Brenda had to stifle a startled shriek as she dropped to the floor, hoping that the gun-shot hadn't been aimed at her. For a few seconds, she lay there, not daring to even breathe. But during the silence that followed the shot, Brenda overheard voices coming from around the other side of the wall. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and crouched there, realising by now that she wasn't the one in danger.
The prisoners were.
"Whoa! Steady there, Adam!" a faltering voice spoke up. "C'mon. Don't be silly. Just drop the gun."
"No-o," Adam stuttered, his tone cracked and strangely slurred. "It-it's your fault! It's all your fault! You shouldn't have taken us here. Zart was right ... the Maze was our home."
"No, Adam, no it wasn't," another voice hurriedly piped up. Although it was obvious that the melodious notes were masculine, they also carried a hint of a British accent. "The Maze was never our home. We were prisoners there. But look, now we're free. We're out of the Maze."
"No, we're not. We'll never be free. We're all going to die ... and you, Thomas,
are going to be the first to go."
Brenda froze when she heard the click of a gun.
"Adam!" the Brit shouted out as he started to panic. "Put down the gun, you slint-head!"
"No."
Brenda could imagine Adam's fingers curling around the trigger, ready to pull it.
Oh my God! Chuck! What if he gets shot?
Before she knew what she was doing, Brenda had leapt out from behind the wall, whipping out her gun in the process.
BANG.
Brenda stood stock-still, her breaths coming out in fast pants. Horrified, she watched as a red stain spread across the back of Adam's shirt.
His eyes bulged out in horror as he crumpled helplessly to the ground. "Y-you bitch!" he gasped out as he turned his crazed eyes towards her.
Then, he fell silent.
Brenda knew he was dead but barely had any time to process it before glancing up at the group of prisoners in front of her.
"Who the hell are you?" a tall, dark-haired boy stepped forward and demanded threateningly.
Narrowing her eyes at the speaker, Brenda stated flatly, "If you want to get out of here alive, then shut-up and follow me."
Gif: The prisoners as they encounter Brenda.
Q: Would you have pulled the gun on Adam?
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