𝘽𝙤𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙨

𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚 thrashes as she tries to get out of the guard's grip, hearing her boys shouting at the guard behind her.

"Let me go. You asshole." Blake yells as she brings her foot down to smash it on the guard's foot, causing him to let go of the girl.

Blake takes his second of weakness to get out of his grip completely before throwing a punch.

The guard stumbles back, holding onto his jaw before jumping forward, knocking Blake onto her back as the guard pushes her onto the ground. The girl's wrist throbs under her body weight as she lays there.

"You son of a bitch!" She yells before darkness consumes her.

"I swear if—" Thomas breathes out before he hears a feminine voice yell, "You son of a bitch!"

Thomas rushes forward to try to get to Blake, but the same guard with his grip on the boy's shoulders turns him around and pushes him back.

"She's fine." The guard insists

"Well, she doesn't sound fine!" Thomas thrashes his arm, trying to get away.

"Your little 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙 will be down the hall, just relax. You'll see her tomorrow."

"She's not—" Thomas began, but the guards pushed the boys into their room and shut the door—leaving the gladers in shock.

"I call top bunk." Fry blurts as he sprints toward a bunk. Before he can pull himself up, Minho jumps on top of the bunk.

"Too slow." The keeper taunts as he shifts to lie down. Fry rolls his eyes as he climbs back down.

Winston darts forward and settles in the bunk below Minho. The boy lets out a loud sigh of relief when the feeling of soft material cushions his body.

It almost felt like a cloud—compared to the hammocks back in the glade. "I could get used to this." Winston admits as he sprawls out on his new bed.

"Yeah—it's not bad." Newt replies as he looks around.

Thomas flinches at the sound of a click behind him; turning his head, he realizes the guards locked them in.

His eyes narrow as the what-ifs and whys run through his head. "What do you guys think they want with Teresa? And why won't they let Blake stay with us?"

Newt rolls his eyes at the boy still standing at the door. He knew that if something was wrong, Blake could take care of herself.

Of course, the boys would back her up, but the girl had a fire in her that couldn't be extinguished.

As far as he knew, they were safe.

They escaped.

It did worry him that she was separated from the rest of them, but what would he do about it?

"Look, if there's one thing I know about Blake—she can handle herself. Same goes for Teresa. Don't worry about it. I don't like it as much as you do—but they'll be fine."

Blake's green eyes slowly blink open, wincing at the bright light above her. As her eyes somewhat adjust, she attempts to lift her arms and legs but feels something restricting her movement.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦—

Blake casts her eyes over to one of her hands. A leather restraint clasps around her wrist, securing her arm in place. Panic surges through Blake's body as her breathing quickens. Yanking at all of the restraints, she squirms to get free.

"The hell?!" Her voice comes out as a squeak.

Suddenly, the door behind her opens—causing the girl to flinch at the sound of metal scraping.

Footsteps echo through the room as the person walks closer, shuffling their feet.

A loud sigh erupts from the person's chest before speaking. "I tried to help you, Blake. I really did."

Blake stiffens at the sound of Janson's voice. His feet shuffle till they reach the side of the examination table, stopping a few feet away from the girl.

"The hell is this? Let me go." She growled as she tugged on the restraints.

"I gave you food, shelter, protection—and you decide to be nothing but trouble.." Janson trails off as he turns to the counter behind him.

Blake thrashes again, rubbing her wrists and ankles raw, wincing at the stinging coming from them. "Yeah, well...what can I say?—I'm a troublemaker."

"You also lied in our little chat." Janson trails off again as he fiddles with the equipment on the counter.

Blake scrunches her nose in false confusion. "I didn't lie. And if I did—what would I even lie about?"

Janson lets out a dry chuckle. "Your memories." He says as he spins around. A syringe sits in between his fingers as he stares back at the tense girl.

"I know you saw the brain scan from the day Thomas was sent to the maze—how your little brain lit up in new areas..."

Blake's eyes flicker around her as the pieces fall into place.

𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘈2.

"I know you've got some memories back. So tell me, what were they? Do you remember that you and Thomas used to work for WCKD?"

"And how would you—" Blake interjects but stops as her face falls into confusion.

The gears in her head spin, piecing more of the puzzle together.

Her heart sinks to her stomach.

"We never escaped.." Blake whispered as her eyes finally met back to Janson's amused gaze. "You're one of them...it's always been WCKD.."

Janson's lips stretched into a smirk at the girl. He hadn't planned on killing her so early after her arrival—Truthfully, he was going to wait till the end of the week, but the amount of trouble she had caused and the knowledge of her intelligence spiked his interest.

"You've always been one of the more intelligent ones, haven't you? Too smart for your own good. I always told Ava you'd be the one..." He says as he stalks closer. "You and Thomas—always the partners in crime." Janson shakes his head as he comes to a stop right above Blake. "How long do you think it will take him to figure things out before you're gone?—That is, if he figures it out."

Fire burns in her eyes as she keeps her glare on the man above her. "I hope you burn." She growls

Janson let out a chuckle. "Well, enough with my yapping...let's see if we finally have the cure."
Blake thrashes as Janson moves the syringe forward.

"Don't worry, you'll be in greener pastures soon." He smiles as he slides the needle into the girl's neck.

Blake's eyes fight to stay open as her body grows weaker and weaker. The last thing she sees before she slips into darkness is Janson's smirk.

Janson watches as the girl falls asleep. He sighs as he throws the syringe away—walking to the exit, he opens the door to reveal one of the guards.

"Take her to the harvest room tomorrow. I gave her a sedative for tonight. Keep sedating her till we can get an opening."

Thomas lies in his bottom bunk—staring at the ceiling, when suddenly two noises clank from below him.

"The hell?" Thomas whispers to himself as he looks around.

"Psst."

Thomas looks around in confusion as a voice calls from below, "Hey, down here."

Thomas' eyebrows furrow as he shifts on his bed. Laying on his stomach, he looks under the bed. The kid from earlier that Eric had pointed lays in the vent, staring back at him.

"Come on." The kid whispers as he turns back around and crawls into the vent. "Follow me"

"What?" Thomas asks, still confused.

Thomas sighs before he climbs down and follows the boy.

"Hurry, we're going to miss it." The mystery kid whispers loudly, waving his hand for Thomas to look.

Thomas follows the boy till he sees him stop, looking down at a vent. "What are we doing?"

"Shhhh, come here." The boy says

"What?" Thomas asks as he looks down into the vent below them.

The boys watch as Dr. Crawford walks into view. She stops to look behind her as a bed with a screen displays human vitals.

Thomas moves around to the other side to see Dr. Crawford swiping her badge—unlocking the doors as they roll the device in. The boy looks up to meet Thomas' eyes as they wheel more bodies in.

Big brown eyes widen at the scene in front of him, "What the hell was that?" Thomas asks

"They bring in new ones every night like clockwork."

"Do you know what they do with them?" Thomas asks

"I don't know. This is as far as I've ever gotten. The vents don't even go into that section, but once they go through that door—they don't come back out. I don't think anybody ever really leaves this place. Come on, we gotta go before somebody notices we're gone."

"Why did you show me this?" Thomas asks

"Because maybe the others will listen to you. There's something weird going on here, and I know you think so too." The boy says before leaving

"Hey, wait!" Thomas calls out, "What's your name?"

"Aris."

"Hey, has anybody seen Blake?" Thomas asks the group as they sit at one of the tables. A chorus of  "No's" and shaking of heads answers his question.

"I haven't seen her since last night...Something's wrong."

"They're probably just checking her wrist." Fry says as he shoves his fork into his mouth. Thomas' eyes follow the echo of footsteps as Janson appears.

Janson's same speech follows, and then he calls more names out. "Alice, Barry, Walt, Edgar, Samantha-"

"I wanna know what's through that door."

Newt turns his head to see Thomas staring intently. "Now, we've been over this—you said they were covered up. So you don't know what you saw. It could've been anything under there."

"I know exactly what I saw. They were bodies. Aris said they bring in a new batch every night." Thomas replies back

"Who the hell is Aris?" Minho asks from across the table

The boys all turn their heads as they follow Thomas' gaze to the boy sitting alone at a table behind them.

Minho scoffs out a laugh. "Well, I'm sold."

"And last but not least, Eric. Thank you for your attention; enjoy the rest of your evening." Janson announces as the cafeteria claps.

Thomas watches from afar as the guard opens the door with a key card, ignoring Newt as he rambles beside him. The boy grunts in agitation before slapping his hands down on the table.

Thomas stands up and swiftly walks over to the group leaving. He follows behind the other kids who were called and acts as if he was one of them.

As he almost reaches the exit— a hand stops him by pushing him back. "Whoa, hang on. You weren't called."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just gonna be a second." Thomas says as he walks forward again, but the guard catches his arm. "This is a restricted area, kid."

Thomas steps back and sighs. "I just wanna see my friends. Can you let me through?"

The guard shoves his finger into Thomas' chest. "Get your ass back in that chair."

Thomas lets out an angry sigh before turning around. He slowly steps away but whips back around to try and shove the guards away out of his way.

They quickly push him off and shove him back—stopping his attempt. "Hey! Back off!" One of them yells

Thomas only shoves the man in his chest, making him stumble back. "What's your problem, man? What the hell, huh!"

"Why won't you let me see her!" Thomas shouts at the guards as the rest of the boys sprint up to the scene and hold him back.

As the boys hold onto an angry Thomas, Janson pushes through the two guards. "What's happening here?"  He questions

Janson then turns between the guards and the teenagers. "Thomas, I thought we could trust each other." He continues as he lays a hand on Thomas' shoulder. "You know we're all on the same team here."

Thomas narrows his eyes as he approaches Janson, "Are we?"

Janson pats Thomas on his shoulder. "Get them to their bunks."