*This chapter takes place before Brianne is sent into the maze. It's a continuation of the first chapter I posted, The prologue.*

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"Wake up." A voice whispered, as I opened my eyes. All I saw were bright white lights, "Wake up." It repeated a little louder.

Am I dead?

"Brianne." I blinked, the world above me coming into focus. There was still a lot of white, but the ceiling's details were more prominent now.

"What?" I sat up, slightly lightheaded. I was met with a middle aged woman in a grey pencil shirt, her white blouse neatly tucked into it. Her dark blonde hair was pulled back into a bun. The woman's entire aurora gave off a look of importance. Her small blue eyes looked me up and down.

Who is this and why is she looking at me like that?

I took a glance at my body, which was clad in a white rob of sorts, "Where am I?" The last place I remember being was in a room that WICKED had given me to rest in, before all of the procedures I would have to go through. Now, somehow, someway, I was here. I wanted to think I was in a hospital bed, but I didn't know why. Nobody told me I had a surgery today. And there weren't even any medical equipment in this room. It was empty, other than a plastic chair in the corner. I think the walls might have even been padded.

"You just finished a decontamination." The woman spoke in monotone and stood stiffly, her hands clasped in front of her body.

"Why?" Why would I need to be decontaminated?

The woman didn't answer my question. Instead, she pulled out a small tablet and began typing away.

"Did you not hear me?" I asked leaning forward in the bed.

"I heard you." She said, still not giving me the time of day.

"Why am I being kept in here?" I asked again, trying to sound more forceful. Who even was this lady? I don't remember seeing her before.

"We double checked for any traces of the Flare." No crap, I mean, I thought I was being checked for strep.

"I'm Immune, why does it matter if I'm clean?" I moved my legs so that they were dangling off the side of the bed. For some reason, I felt as though if I tried to touch the floor, I would fall and just keep falling.

In other words, they drugged me.

"Not all of the subjects are," What? The woman sat down in the plastic chair that I would assume to be for visitors; I didn't have many people to visit me.

My family was dead and I'd just sacrificed my life to finding a cure.

"Why do I have to be kept in a room like this?"

"Didn't I just say, that you are being kept in here, so that you don't carry the flare to any of the doctors or subjects-" The woman spoke quickly with little patience.

"I know that. I just don't understand why it has to look like this. Why is there nothing in here, why don't I have an IV, and why are the walls padded?

"We've had trouble with some of our subjects attempting to break free in the past. They would even go to the extremes of hurting themselves. We're only trying to protect you." The fluctuation in this lady's voice was insane. One second she was irritated and then the next she was all business.

"Why do you care about whether I hurt myself or not?" I asked sharply, hoping this question would throw her off.

The woman gave me a long look, her pale eyes almost glaring at me, "I want only the best for my potential candidates."

"I'm nothing special, so don't worry-"

"You could be the chosen one. Somebody has to save the world."

"That person isn't me." I didn't want it to be me. I knew for a fact that it wasn't me.

"Maybe not. But you will ultimately affect the Final Candidate, whoever that may be-" Her watch buzzed, cutting her sentence off, "One second, please." She held her finger up to me, as she turned around and began talking to her watch.

A new voice filled the otherwise silent room, "Chancellor?"

"Yes, Aaron?" The woman, or apparently Chancellor, said back.

"We need you in the west wing. Where are you?"

"I'm taking care of some unplanned business."

"You're missing an important meeting. We need to start it now. This is the fate of WICKED we're talking about. And you're late."

"I'll be there in five." Another buzz, which I assumed ended the call. The lady turned back to face me, "I'm sorry about that-"

"Why are you really in here?" I asked. Why would she come to see me when she knew she had a meeting? And why did she call me 'unplanned business'?

"I want to get to know all those who are going to be tested." She said, giving me an awkward smile.

"Don't act like you really care."

She stared at me for a long time again, "Do you know who I am?"

"Yes." Who was she? The Chancellor? I had no clue, why did I say yes, "Do you know me?"

"I'm assuming that you're being sent into Maze B," She added quietly to herself, "She has to be a last minute addition, the other maze doesn't need anyone."

I shifted my weight in the bed, feeling detached from reality, "I lied, who are you?"

"I'm the Chancellor here at WICKED, but you can call me Ava."

I heard a distant ringing from outside of my room, "Well then, in that case, you have a lovely company, Miss.Ava." I gave her the most sarcastic smile I could muster up.

"Thank you, Brianne, I'm glad we found you for the trials."

"I'm glad to help. I mean, it'd just be a real shame if all of the staff members died of disease."

Before Ava could answer my comment, the steel door to my room opened, revealing two people: Thomas and a man with jet black hair, about the age of 30.

"Chancellor? We didn't know you planned on coming here." The older man said. He held a briefcase in his arms.

"I was just stopping by, checking up on my subjects. I'm leaving now." Chancellor Ava slipped out of the room wordlessly.

"Was she supposed to know about Brianne?" Thomas whispered as the door locked into place.

"No," The man answered, "Don't worry though, I'm sure she's still in the dark on this matter."

"What's going on?" I asked, trying to pick up on all of the new information I was being given.

The Chancellor of WICKED didn't know about me. She somehow found out, came and saw me, but thinks I'm being sent into Maze B. Janson told me I was being sent to Maze A.

What is happening?

"It's nothing, Subject A-16." Subject A-16? What the heck?

"It's obviously something. I mean, I just signed my life away to you people, and you won't even tell me things." I finally stood from the bed, nausea quickly taking over my senses. I stumbled back to the bed, "What did you guys give me?"

"It's medication in preparation for the Swipe," The man said.

I glanced over at Thomas. He was watching me closely, almost studying me.

"We have a few questions to ask you," The man set his briefcase onto the white sheets of my bed, opening it's hinges, "As long as you don't mind."

"She doesn't really have much of a choice." Thomas said timidly from behind the guy.

The man glared at him before smiling back at me, "First off, my name is Bruno, it's nice meeting you." He held his hand out for me to shake.

"I'm diseased."

"I'm Immune and my senses are telling me that you are too."

His senses? Who the heck was this guy?

I still ignored his hand.

"Alright, then," He put his hand back at his side, "I'm one of the many psychics here at WICKED and I have some questions for you. I'm only asking, so that I can obtain information about your personality."

I remained silent, trying to stop myself from throwing up the medication WICKED somehow shoved down my throat.

"Okay, first, Why do you want a cure to the Flare?"

"What the heck kind of a question is that?"

"The Flare doesn't affect you, so why is finding the cure still important?" Bruno opened his briefcase, which definitely wasn't your average briefcase. It had dials and nobs, and blinking lights on the inside. The man twisted a dial.

"People are dying. Why wouldn't the cure be important?"

"Lovely answer. What do you cherish about life?"

"Nothing."

Bruno looked up at me, "Nothing? Maybe you're not the best for this job then. Am I right, Thomas?" He laughed, but Thomas just shook his head, "What is, in your opinion, happiness?"

"Don't know." I wanted to keep my answers short and sweet. I didn't need this guy knowing anything about me.

"Not quite the answer I wanted," He mumbled, pushing a button, "I'm going to ask you again; What is happiness?" He looked at me expectantly.

My eye twitched slightly, "Love." The word came out without much thought.

Why would I say love?

"That's better." Bruno nodded.

"Did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Did you make me say that? I definitely wouldn't have said that by my own free will."

"Can't talk about it right now."

"What do you mean? You just controlled me and you won't tell me why or even how you did it?"

Honestly, I just want to know why all of these random people are in my room.

"You will find out eventually," The man closed his case in a rushed movement, "That's all I need from you. Have a wonderful day, miss." He began backing out of the room, taking Thomas with him. This is weird.

"That's it?" Why was he in such a rush?

"I hope you survive the trials, my marker is on you." Bruno smiled, pushing Thomas out through the door, "Good luck, The Hope."

"The Hope?"

"Remember to save the boy."

Thomas gave Bruno a confused look. I crawled towards the foot of my bed, trying to chase after them, "Wait, what did you just call me?"

Bruno ran a hand through his dark black hair, sighing, "The Hope. You'll need all the hope you can get, trust me."

I pushed myself off of the bed and took lumbering steps forward. My vision speckled with black dots, "Wait!"

"I'd love to chat, but I really must go." Bruno closed the door, silence engulfing my room.

"Wait!" I yelled, my hand twisting the latch on the door. It didn't budge. I pounded on the door, not caring if I bruised my hand. Not caring if I broke my hand.

"Come back!" I kicked the door, almost losing my balance.

A loud siren went off, the noise piercing my ears. All of a sudden, another door dropped down over the metal one. This door was just as soft as the padded walls. It had no window or doorknob.

They locked me in to keep me safe, right?

They replaced the door, so I wouldn't hurt myself.

Great.

Just as the siren stopped, I fell out of consciousness, the words 'The Hope' still ringing in my ears, louder than the siren ever could have.

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~~~Author's Notes~~~

*I'm trying to write longer chapters guys Yay!*

But okay, this chapter was so random, don't judge. It's actually really important, because I think it explains a lot. I don't know. I wanted it to explain a couple of things.

1. WICKED sending Brianne into the maze is a "secret". The Chancellor of WICKED doesn't know why she's there. Ratman (Janson) and a few others secretly added Brianne to the maze because they wanted to help Newt. They think his brain pattern is important.

2. Idk if you caught this, but I told you Brianne's nickname: The Hope. JAJDKDK WOW PLOT TWIST lol

But GUYS 30k WHAT? WHTA? EHAT? I CAN'T EVEN!

October was such a struggle for me and I just want to quickly say that writing this story and getting the feedback I've been getting has helped me so much.

LIKE I SAID BEFORE, 30 views on my story or 30 thousand views on my story, I'M WRITING FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!

^reading 30 thousand out loud sounds so weird

ANYWAY ILY BYEEE!