- Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɴɪɴᴇᴛᴇᴇɴ -
匚卄卂卩ㄒ乇尺 几|几乇ㄒ乇乇几
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"A scar means, 'i survived'."
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They cautiously took small steps forward, and turned their heads left and right as they stepped further into the long hall. Everything was dark. The lights were dimmed and further down the left side, they were flickering on and off, sending chills down their spine as they turned themselves on one by one. They could hear the air and water pumping through the large grey pipes that were attached to the wall.
The group of gladers walked slowly down the right side of the hall, some still panting from the previous events.
They came across a door that had a green and red light on the side, the green light was shining brightly. There was a large 'Exit' sign that sat above the door. Frypan furrowed his eyebrows and looked to Winston who wore an incredulous look on his face, "Seriously?" He deadpanned.
"Dramatic as hell and for what." Aife mumbled and rolled her eyes. Her voice was deep and scratchy from her constant yelling.
The group of teens glanced at each other as Aife stepped forwards towards the door, but Thomas put a hand out, signaling for him to go first. He then twisted the doors handle, opening with a loud creak. They all cringed at the sound. He opened the door wider and they slowly walked in, they could hear a faint alarm blaring with yellow lights flashing, there were bodies.
Dead bodies.
Sprawled out on the floor.
Everywhere.
There was blood smeared on the wall from the bullet holes that went through the man. He had been wearing a lab coat. One that was all too familiar to Aife.
They walked further and came across a large glass window and on the other side of it, had tarps over lumps on top of metal tables. There were feet, dangling from under, and blood was seeping through the tarp. Newt glanced at Minho, who grimaced and scrunched his nose up. Newt placed a hand on his shoulder, signaling for him to keep walking. The asian reluctantly turned away.
They stepped over a man who was faced down on the floor with a gun in his limp hand, "What happened here?" Chuck asked, but no one responded. Aife simply shrugged and kept walking, her mouth slightly agape.
They then walked into a large area that had computer screens everywhere, along with more bodies. There were sparks flying from one of the screens, causing Aife to flinch slightly. Aife walked over to one of the tables, it had brain scans, along with footage of the glade. On about three of the computer screens, there was blood smeared all over it, causing the girl to curl her upper lip in disgust as she tried to ignore the chunks in it.
"So, the we're watching us. This whole time." Newt concluded, the girl clenched her jaw and huffed out in anger.
Thomas slowly walked up to a table that was in the middle of the room and shakily reached his hand out, he hesitated before he softly pressed on a red button. A static was heard before a video recording began to play on a large screen.
A woman with blonde hair that had been tied into a neat bun with thick, over lined, red lipstick was playing, "Hello, my name is Doctor, Ava Paige. I'm director of operations of the world catastrophe kill zone department. If you're watching this, that means you've successfully completed the maze trials." The gladers slowly made their way to the screen as they listened to the older woman's words. Avas peers in the background looked frantic as they ran around the lab, yet Ava seemed unbothered by such events.
"I wish i could be there in person to congratulate you... But circumstances seem to have prevented it. I'm sure by now you must all be very confused. Angry. Frightened. I can only assure you, that everything that's happened to you, everything we've done to you, it was all done for a reason. You won't remember, but the sun has scorched our world."
An image of a huge orange sun with red skies flickered for viewing, heat waves were clearly seen. "Billions of lives, lost to fire. Suffering. By global scale. The fall out was unimaginable." There were images of buildings going up in flames, burnt lands and dead bodies that looked as if burnt to a crisp.
"But something worse, came after. We call it, The flare. A deadly virus that attacks the brain. It is violent, unpredictable. Incurable. Or so we thought. In time, a new generation emerged that could survive the virus. Suddenly, there was a reason to hope for a cure. But finding it would not be easy. The young would have to be tested, even sacrificed, inside harsh environments. Where their brain activity could be studied."
As the blonde woman continued to speak, and Aife clenched her fists harshly.
"All in an effort to understand what makes them different. What makes you different. You may not realize it, but you're very important."
"Unfortunately, you're trials have only just begun. As you'll no doubt soon discover, not everyone agrees with our methods." Armed men dressed in black bullet proof vests and masks broke into the lab, they began to shoot at the doctors and one of the men turned to Ava and starred shooting, slowly creating cracks along the glass.
"Progress is slow, people are scared. It may be too late for us...for me. But not for you. The outside world awaits."
Ava pulled out a gun and placed it on her temple, causing Thomas's eyes to widen, "Remember, Wicked is good." She pulled the trigger and blew her brains out, Thomas quickly averted his gaze as he turned around, but Aife and the others were frozen in place.
Aife was slightly upset, she didn't want Ava to kill herself.
She wanted to be the one to do it.
Thomas then caught sight of something and slowly walked towards it, causing the others to furrow their eyebrows. Ava paiges' dead body. Her limbs were sprawled out and she laid on her side, Aife noticed Chucks breathing speed up at the sight and she placed a hand on his shoulder as she gave it a small squeeze.
A large door opened up to the side and a short hall way revealed itself, the gladers turned to it, their mouth agape at the sight, "Is it over?" Chuck asked them with hope laced in his voice.
"She said we were important. What are we supposed to do now?" The accented boy with dirty blonde hair said to Aife. The gladers glanced at each other as they waited for any type of instruction. Aife was still hung up on Ava Paiges words.
"I don't know," Thomas said, there were obvious tears gathering upon his waterline, but he refused to let them fall, "But let's get out of here."
Just as they were about to step forward, a shaky voice called out and made them freeze, Aife furrowed her eyebrows at who the voice belonged to.
"No."
Aife turned around and tilted her head confusedly, she observed his stance, it was clear he was injured. He held a gun in his right hand.
"Gally?" Thomas croaked out, he took a step forward, only for Teresa to stop him, "Don't, he's been stung."
The gladers shuffled into a guarded stance, Aife pinched together her eyebrows as she watched. Gally was crying.
"We can't leave." The gun in his hand was shaking profoundly as he released shaky breaths. The group of teens eyed it cautiously.
"We did it. Gally, we're out." Thomas said hesitantly as his hands were up in a surrendering stance, "We're free."
Gally scoffed in disbelief and turned his head, Aife could see the blue and green veins that went up his neck and behind his ear, "Free? You think we're free out there? No, no theres no escape from this place." He slowly raised his arm and pointed his gun at Thomas causing everyone to flinch.
"Gally, listen to me," Aife tried "you're not thinking straight."
"You're not. We can help you." Thomas continued, Aife nudged Minho slightly and the asian boy tightened his grip around his spear, "Just put down the gun."
Gally didn't listen, he only tightened his grip.
"I belong to the maze."
"Just put down the gun..."
"We all do." Gally spat out as he put his finger on the trigger and pulled. Chuck shoved Thomas out of the way and shouted, "No!" While Aife lunged forward and Minho threw the spear all at once.
Gally was impaled by the spear and he began to gasp for air as he harshly fell onto his knees and laid on his side.
Aife furrowed her eyebrows as she heard short gasps come from next to her, she turned her head and looked down at Chuck who looked up at her and the raven headed boy.
"Aife, Thomas." He gasped as he fell to the floor, but Aife quickly caught him. She laid him down as she brought her hand up to the side of his head and frantically tried to cover the bullet hole that was planted in his chest, "No! Oh, chuck."
The girls eyes watered as she shakily grabbed hold of him, Thomas fell to his knees and did the same, "Look at me, look at me, okay? God, Chuck."
Aife was choking back sobs as she held the boy in her arms, as was Thomas.
The gladers watched with their jaws hung open, Minho stood and his gaze flicked back and forth between Aife and Chuck.
Minho knew how much of an effect this has on Aife, considering she made a promise to make sure he makes it out alive. And along with the fact that no one besides him has ever seen her cry, she was refusing to let it all out.
Chuck shakily brought out his wooden carved figure and held it up to Aife, who quickly pushed his hand away, "No, no chuck. You're gonna give it to them yourself, remember? Come on, Chuck. Please don't make me break my promise. I don't want to. Don't make me."
"Come on, Chuck, just hang on." Thomas pleased as he sobbed on Chucks body.
"Sing the song." Chuck gasped out, Aifes eyes widened and she wore an incredulous look. She didn't want to sing the song. If she sang the song that would mean he was truly going to die, she didn't want that. He nodded at her and she reluctantly began to hum a familiar tune, her voice shaky as she did so. Thomas continued to plead over the boy who simply gave a soft smile, "Thank you."
The rest was blurry for them, the doors opened and a bright shine emitted, men came in with guns and masks as they escorted the teens. They had to pry Aife and Thomas off of Chucks body, they could barely get any words out.
"No!" Thomas shouted two guards dragged him off. Aife and the other gladers began to run, the wooden figure still clenched in her hand. She tripped over her own feet as she stumbled in the sand, but she got right back up.
The rest of the guards helped them into the helicopter and the man pulled down his mask, slight dirt was smeared on his wrinkly cheeks. He was panting as he spoke, "You guys alright?" He questioned. "Relax kids." The teens were too focused on watching the view from above the maze as they levitated in the helicopter to listen to his words.
"You're safe now. Everything is going to change."
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