ACT III SCENE I
ATALANTA


THE COMPLETE BLANK SPACE surrounding her was both restrictive and expansive at the same time. It played with her spatial awareness, making her think that the room stretched on forever all around her. Somehow, it reminded her of the Scorch; except for the stark difference that she was trapped with nowhere to go. Her mind buzzed with everything and nothing at once, neurons firing and tangling together at the same time to create a web of chaos.

Cassandra laughed out loud, not caring whether she looked insane.

She had no idea whether it was from hilarity, incredulity or shock. It could have been all of the above. There was one thing she was certain about though, that WICKED had lied again.

That was to be expected.

Minho attempted to poke her telepathically. She guessed that was what he was trying to do by the strange nagging sensation in her cerebral cortex. All those times back in the Glade when they had joked about his brain being broken made her want to laugh again. It had been fine all along and now they actually were speaking into each other's minds. She wasn't used to the feeling, like it was somehow taboo and forbidden.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked.

"Oh, you know, the usual," she replied wryly. "Trying to stay sane."

"Where are you anyway?" She could feel his presence frowning.

"I don't know. I'm on my own in a white padded cell."

"Yeah, me too."

Everything that WICKED did made absolutely no sense to her despite the fact that they kept insisting that it was for the greater good. They had told them to listen, that they would understand once everything was all over. She didn't think any of this would ever be over, unless it resulted in her death, which meant a whole other matter.

"How long has it been since we've been separated?" Cassandra asked.

"No idea," he replied. "I just woke up in this place a couple hours ago and one of those slintheads told me to talk to you. I thought they were being crazy at first, but Brenda suddenly started talking in my head. It was pretty weird."

"Brenda?" she frowned. Apparently, the girl had more secrets than she was letting on.

"Teresa and Thomas send their regards too," he told her drily. "So I'm part of your mind gang now, huh? 'Bout time, sheesh."

Cassandra grinned at his attitude; she was glad that he was still able to act so nonchalant about their situation. It made her feel less anxious knowing that he wasn't going ballistic with their newfound predicament. She could feel Thomas and Teresa were somewhere nearby, but it was difficult to reach out to them. They were either too far from her, or their connection was being dampened again somehow.

She had absolutely no concept of time in that white-prisoned room. Neither she nor Minho knew exactly how many days had passed since they were all separated from the Berg. Teresa had clued him in briefly before she mysteriously vanished, and Thomas was in no better position than them.

Eventually, there was only one thing that kept her cognizant of the time she spent in there. Someone would slip food into her room through a small opening at the bottom of the door. It came three times a day, though irregularly as if they were doing it on purpose to confuse her brain.

Most of the time, they simply talked to each other until they slept.

She was already starting to yearn for physical contact by the third day when the door to her cell opened. The sound of the bolt turning in the lock had instantly woken her up from her light nap, and she was scrambling to her feet by the time the intruder stepped into the room.

It was Rat Man.

Cassandra scowled at the sight of his stupid face, though she didn't feel surprised at seeing him there. He gave her that same mendacious smile before lifting his hands up in the air as a sign of peace.

"How have you been, Cassandra?" he asked amicably with his strange almost lilting accent.

"Readying myself to kick your ass at the first opportunity," she smiled back in the same affected tone.

He chuckled. "Now, now, there's no need for those theatrics."

"You didn't come to see me to have small talk," she snapped. "What do you want now?"

"Always so forthright," he said. "We thought you might like to see someone."

Her senses perked up at his statement and she looked towards the door, trying to see if she could gain a hint to what he might mean. She hated how he was still able to manipulate her, but there was no way she was going to pass up an opportunity to see Minho again.

The boy was still sleeping, his presence a kind of soft static at the back of her brain.

"Fine," she said at last.

Rat Man's expression grew smug before he turned around and presumably led the way out. Two armed guards were waiting in the hallway outside as she stepped through the door. Turning, the man took a step to the room right next to hers and opened it with his keycard. He peered inside while Cassandra tried not to shove him out of the way to have a look for herself.

"Follow me," Rat Man ordered at whoever it was.

"No hugs and kisses?" a familiar voice called out. "I've missed your ugly face."

She immediately broke out into a wide grin the moment he walked out to join them. Minho took a step back in surprise as she practically flung herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his middle. He recognised her in the next second, hugging her back fiercely at their small reunion.

"Hey, Cassie," he greeted affectionately. It felt good to hear his voice in person.

She laughed happily as she looked up at him before Rat Man cleared his throat with a disgruntled expression. They stepped away from each other with a small glare in his direction.

"Enough of that," he said sourly. "Now follow me or you'll be fired upon."

"What a load of sunshine he is," Minho commented drily.

"Tell me about it."

At least now she knew what the armed guards were for.

Without so much as another word, they started to march the both of them down the familiar corridors of the WICKED compound. She could remember walking down the path for the brief few years before she was sent into the Maze with the others. Her hand brushed against Minho's next to her and their fingers automatically curled around each other.

Cassandra could feel her heart beating nervously inside her chest, trying to find some kind of security to ease the trepidation she felt. She could put on a brave face if she wanted to, but she was ultimately afraid of what WICKED could possibly do to them. It didn't seem like they would spare any quarter to get what they wanted.

After what seemed like a long while, Rat Man stopped in the middle of a hall with rows of numbered doors on both sides.

"Minho is in room number eight," he announced. "Cassandra is in room number seven."

They exchanged glances with each other before crossing their arms and scoffing at the man. "Oh, really?" Minho asked. "And what are we supposed to do in there?"

"A simple test," the Rat Man answered. "Nothing like the Trials before, I assure you. This will probably be the easiest of all the tests we've created, and I think the shortest. You will be asked one question and one question only, and the answer will consist of exactly one word. Sound simple enough?"

Cassandra narrowed her eyes at him. "There must be a catch."

"You actually think we could ever trust you, shuckface?" Minho asked.

"Excuse me?" Rat Man raised an eyebrow at his choice of vocabulary.

Minho shook his head in annoyance. "I swear to God that if you do one more thing to Cassie or me, or our friends, I won't quit fighting until I'm dead."

A smirk spread across the man's face and Minho was outwardly bristling with anger. Cassandra felt apprehension take root; the man hadn't specifically said that this would be the only test they would have to take.

"I give you my word," he started in a placating manner. "That your response alone will dictate what happens. Everything from this point on is voluntary. The Trials are over."

"I never volunteered," Cassandra said quickly.

He regarded her with an almost venomous look. "Fine, you can leave. Although your participation would have greatly helped your friends."

"Bullcrap," she hissed.

She hated him so much; she could feel her body tremble with the ache for retribution. Rat Man nodded to the guards to take her away but she called for them to wait.

"Cassie, what if he's really telling the truth?"

"I'm afraid of that."

They looked at each other again, and she could see the grim determination in Minho's eyes.

"Fine, we'll do it," she huffed angrily.

"Excellent," the Rat man smiled and gestured towards the doors opposite each other. "Now if you're ready."

With a heavy sigh, Cassandra parted ways with Minho as they went to their designated rooms.


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hello and welcome back to Part III! Be prepared for everything :)

Also, I finished reading Fever Code aaahh! By the way, I may have mentioned before but this story is based on all the books especially The Maze Runner Files. If you've read the Files, you'll know exactly where I'm going in the next chapter!

I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has read and reviewed the last two stories of this series. Thank you so so much, you really have no idea how much your comments mean to me. They literally put a smile on my face throughout the entire day, and it really motivates me to continue writing this story. I hope you'll continue to support this story and your reviews mean the entire world to me, no joke! I love you all so much kjandkjand