CHAPTER 2 - THE SIMULATION ROOM

"You shall not let any of the girls see the boys, okay?"

Janson was warning Thomas and Teresa for the fifth time. "We are going to erase their memories anyway, why should we be that much careful?" asked Teresa. She didn't understand why Janson was so nervous. Yesterday, he showed no signs of tension.

"No questioning Miss Agnes."

Janson left to welcome the girls with two other employees of WICKED. "Are the rooms ready?" Thomas asked to Teresa. Teresa nodded and looked at her watch.

"It is seven o'clock. We should tell Chancellor Paige to take the boys to the Simulation Room." Simulation Room was a new thing they invented last month. Even they had some knowledge about the subjects, they had to learn more about them and Simulation Room was the best place for it.

But even Thomas had never been that much afraid from a thing that he invented.

"We just want you to step in, don't worry. You will receive the clearest information inside."

What a cute way to explain such a horrible thing, thought Thomas, looking at the door of the Simulation Room. "This won't hurt us, right?" asked a boy with black hair, his voice was rude.

"If you stuck with the information, no. We just want to make sure we have got enough knowledge about you." No, thought Thomas. If you do what they tell you to, you will only get more hurt. "But we don't have time to waste, who will start the first?"

Actually, she just wanted someone to be a volunteer so the others could think it wouldn't be such a dangerous thing. When a dark-skinned boy stepped forward, she relaxed a bit. "Alby, right?" The boy named Alby nodded.

Thomas looked at Chancellor. "You are going to get in the room with Thomas. Simulation Room is not harmful, remember, you just need to do what he tells you to."

They got in the room. It actually didn't look harmful; there were only two chairs and a wooden table. Thomas memorized the things he should say two days ago, he could use a script paper to remember them but he was so nervous that he didn't even need the paper. They both sat.

"So Alby," he said, trying to put on a relaxing smile like Chancellor did. "How old are you?" An easy question like this surprised Alby. He was trying to prepare himself for a worse thing.

He stopped for a moment, trying to understand if he heard the question wrong. "I am seventeen," he said. Thomas wrote this on the paper in front of him. Actually, they already knew these things. He asked these just to make him feel less nervous.

"What about your family?"

Thomas could understand that Alby was missing his family; even they weren't far away from him now. "If you are asking about their immunity…"

"No, no," said Thomas immediately. He was doing this to gain Alby's trust. "It is not the part that matters. Even if they are not immune, they will be treated after we find the cure with your help." Teresa would be proud of my words, he thought.

Alby seemed relaxed for a moment. "My mum is probably nervously waiting for me. Even she knows I won't come for a long while. My dad is probably trying to calm down our relatives. They were so angry when they learnt I volunteered. They don't believe you will find a cure."

"Why?" asked Thomas, writing unimportant things about Alby's family on the paper.

Alby shrugged. "One of my cousins became a Crank and after seeing him that way, they don't believe that Flare is curable. I have never seen a Crank on real life even though we see pictures of them while watching the news."

Thomas noted this too. "Have you got any sisters or brothers?" he asked.

"No."

He didn't note that, those were all unimportant facts except the parts about his relatives and him never seeing a Crank in real life. Thomas once saw a Crank and it was probably the worst experience of his life. The Crank I saw was past the Gone, he thought.

"So, let's talk about the girl."

Alby furrowed his eyebrows as a reflex. He didn't expect a question like that. And Thomas was not being so straight; this was probably disturbing for Alby. "I-I don't exactly understand what you are saying."

"I am sure you are searching for true love, or maybe you found your love of your life." This was a very personal question actually, Thomas was not willing to ask this question but he had some duties. "Don't worry Alby. Although you live in a world with Flare, you are a teenager."

Alby couldn't look Thomas in the eye. But he answered the question. "Yes," he said, "there is a girl but I don't know what will happen after I go back. I just want her to be safe."

"Is she a Munie?"

Thomas didn't stop staring at Alby. He knew this topic was making him nervous and this was a real success for Thomas. He was slowly reaching his aim. "She isn't. But she isn't a Crank yet." His voice trembled and went down.

"She is the reason you are joining the trials, right?" Thomas didn't write this on the paper, so Alby could trust him. He nodded. "Don't worry, this will stay between you and me."

Alby was nearly going to cry and Thomas wanted to let him go. He learnt the main thing but he remembered the warnings Janson and Chancellor Paige told to her. "Thank you," Alby whispered, in a relaxed voice.

Just for a moment, Thomas felt sorry to betray him.

You are not even friends, then he said to himself. You are just doing your work, everybody lies. "Now Alby,"said Thomas, opening the secret drawer in the table. He took a little glass of serum from the drawer. "I want you to drink this. Trust me, it won't hurt you."

Thomas looked suspicious for Alby but he knew he had to obey. He drank the serum at once, holding his breath. Everything started being blurry, soon, Alby couldn't see Thomas.

There were lots of faces instead.

Some of them belonged to Cranks; Alby closed his eyes to avoid seeing them. They were scarier in real life than on television. But one of the Cranks' faces were similar, and this made Alby shake.

He saw the person he loved. But she didn't have that beautiful smile on her face. Her face was covered with blood and scars. Alby wanted to reach her but he knew that she could hurt her.

"My dear," he said, shedding some tears. "What happened to you?"