Chapter 9

Lights everywhere, flashing from the ceiling, the walls, and the floor. A blue mist edged my dream, surrounding the bright white walls. Screams and cries of people in the background. But I only saw one face. A boy who looked around my age. He had dark hair and eyes. He was hugging me, his words of comfort having no effect. Then he looked me directly in the eyes, a half-smirk edging the corners of his mouth. A look that itched the edge of a memory the Creators had taken from me. He smiled, and I heard one word. A word I'll never forget. He said something in my ear. Remember.

Someone was shaking me. I heard a loud rumbling noise. Then my eyes snapped open. Charlie was standing above me, trying to wake me up.

"Bloody get up, Cleo! We have to go!" She shouted.

I tumbled off the cot I had slept on in the helicopter.

We were outside a huge warehouse. There were men in armor shouting and pointing guns at something over a big dune behind us. I didn't stop to look.

We ran to the building, Bits helping Joan limp along.

Once we were inside, huge doors slammed shut, locks twisting and clicking.

More mysterious men herded us into a room, which looked like it was used for storage.

Then they closed the door and locked it.

Will looked around.

"What the shuck?" He asked to no one in particular.

We turned around, and found a table laden with platters of food waiting for us.

We stood in silence, staring at it.

Then Bits rushed forwards, saying "Dibs on the bagels."

Bits has this thing for bagels. It's really weird.

Well, after that we all ran for the food. It was mostly just eating. There was mainly no talking. And it also ended in a food fight. Charlie accidentally threw some rice at Will, and it sort of went from there.

After we had finished eating, we were sitting around on some flour sacks. There was a click, and the door opened. We stood up, and a man walked in. He was wearing all white, and he had greasy black hair that was gray on the edges. He nodded to the Gladers.

"Hope you're all well rested. I'm sorry about the conditions, we were caught in a, how should I put this, in a swarm, let's say." He motioned for them to follow.

The group looked at each other wearily. Will nodded slowly, and we followed the man into the hallway.

The man kept talking.

"My name is Mr. Janson, and I run this place. It's a sanctuary from the outside world and WICKED." He led us to a door.

"But let's get you kids cleaned up first." He smiled.

After we had showered, he left us in a big room full of doctors and nurses. They said they were going to test our physical conditions and get us what we lacked.

A woman in a white lab coat and safety goggles led me to a big chair that looked like it could be leaned all the way back. She motioned for me to sit down. While I sat, she started taking bottles and mixing liquids together. Then she poured them into a little glass cylinder.

She walked over to another table and attached something to the end of the cylinder. She turned around and I saw it was a long needle.

I stared at the needle suspiciously.

"What's that?" I asked.

The woman looked up.

"This? It's a combination of protein, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and other important nutrients you were lacking out there." She said matter-of-factly.

She wiped my shoulder with a cloth smelling of some herbal medicine.

I took in a deep breath as she held up the needle to my arm.

Elsewhere, similar treatments were happening. Joan's busted leg was being tested, and Charlie was running on a treadmill with patches stuck to her arms.

After the doctor had bandaged me, she led me over to the treadmill next to her.

Charlie nodded at me. The doctor stuck patches on my arms as well, and I got on and started running. Seems like that's all anybody wants me to do.

After all the tests were done, another man dressed in black led us to a door with two round windows at the top, but I couldn't see in.

Will walked forwards and opened the door. We followed him inside. It was a cafeteria.

There were about eight tables full of kids. One group I noticed looked fairly small. There were about seven guys, and they had all turned to look as we walked in.

We took a seat at a mostly empty table. Joan tapped me on the shoulder.

"Where'd the rest of our group go?" She asked.

I looked at her.

"They're dead." I said.

I realized what I said, and I was about to apologize, but Joan stopped me.

"Don't even, I remember. But I mean since we got here?" She looked worried.

I glanced around, and realized that most of our group had disappeared.

"Where do you think they went, then?" I asked her.

She shrugged.

"There are only boys in here, so I'm guessing they took them to where the girls are." She said.

I shrugged.

A boy across the table looked over.

"Hey there, slimsticks. I guess since you're new, you should know. You're not the only Maze. We're all from Mazes." He said in a gruff, scratchy voice. He pointed to a kid in a striped hoodie, who Bits had gone to sit next to.

"That guy, he's been here the longest. About a week and a half." The boy told us.

I looked back at our group to see how they were taking it. Will looked shocked, but like he was trying to hide it, Alex, Charlie's friend, was staring at the wall, completely in his own world. Joan and Charlie were exchanging shocked looks, while Gabe looked like nothing could surprise him after the Maze.

I saw two boys approaching our table. They were both from the group I had noticed earlier. One was a buff Asian kid with gelled dark hair, and the other was a skinny lanky kid with brown eyes. The brown-eyed kid was laughing, but trying not to make it too obvious.

I looked back at the table they came from, and saw a blond-haired kid holding his head in his hands, a stout African-american kid laughing with a tan kid with monstrous acne.

The Asian boy stridded up to our table, looking confident.

"So what was a pretty girl like you doin' in the Glade?" He asked charmingly.

Joan snorted. I felt my cheeks flush.

Gabe cooly slid an arm around my shoulders.

"Sorry shuck-face, but she's taken." He said.

The skinny kid fell on the ground laughing. I looked over and saw the blond kid face-palm, then stand up. As he was walking over, I noticed he had a limp, just like Joan.

"Minho, you bloody idiot, I told you not to go around flirting with random girls!" The kid had the same accent as Charlie.

He turned and nodded at us.

"Sorry 'bout that. This shuck face's name is Minho, and I'm Newt. And that one's Thomas." He pointed to the kid who was laughing on the ground.

"Get off the bloody floor, Tommy." He kneeled down and helped the laughing kid up.

Joan glared at the boy called Minho.

"You're a lucky slinthead she didn't break your shucking nose." She said.

I stared at him cooly.

"I still might." I said threateningly.

Joan nodded at Newt's leg.

"You've got a busted leg?" She asked.

Newt looked at her sharply.

"You got a buggin' problem with that?" He asked.

Joan stood up and walked around.

"If I did, I'd be a hypocrite." She said mildly.

Newt nodded.

"Guess WICKED hurt us all." He said lightly.

Thomas looked down.

"That's an understatement." he grimaced. "We're lucky we're not all dead." He mumbled at the floor.

Newt's expresion changed.

"Aw, sorry Tommy. We all miss the little shank." He said soothingly.

At that point I realized he must have lost someone close to him. Charlie stared at them.

"What happened?" She asked.

Alex slapped her arm. She yelped and looked at him indignantly.

Thomas shook his head.

"It's alright. It was this boy named Chuck. He was my first friend in the Glade." He said bitterly.

Newt leaned back, looking a little offended.

"So I'm what, the bloody guy who told you to run into the Maze at night?" He asked.

Minho snorted. Thomas shot a sideways glare at him.

"Anyways, Gally threw a knife at me, but Chuck jumped in front of me and saved my life." After he finished, he was met by silence from my group.

Will looked around, then leaned forwards.

"That's strange. The same thing happened to us." He said quietly.

Newt looked up.

"Well that can't be a coincidence, now can it?" He muttered, mostly to himself.

I heard a faint hissing sound, and turned to see a door slowly opening. Janson, followed by two men in black who were carrying big heavy guns, strolled in.

He was holding a clipboard. When he got to the center of the room, he stopped.

"If I call your name, please stand behind me with my friends here." He said calmly.

I eyed the men. If anything, they looked farther from friendly than even Addy had.

He started reading names off the list. He called about ten kids in total. No one from my group or it seemed from Newt's group were called.

When he was done, they left through the door they had entered in, the kids trailing behind them.

Gabe looked at Newt.

"Where the shuck are they taking them?" He asked.

Newt shrugged.

Joan pointed at the kid sitting with Bits.

"He from your group?" She asked.

Thomas shook his head.

Will turned back to look at him.

"So how many Mazes are there, exactly?" he asked.

Thomas shrugged again.

"Probably less than ten." He said.

Minho slapped his shoulder.

"Nah, there's like 40." He smiled arrogantly.

I met his eyes cooly.

"There's only 26 letters in the alphabet, shuck-face." I said calmly.

Minho sniffed defensively, and Newt clapped his arm gently.

"Well what do you bloody know, Minho. She's out-sassed you." He said playfully.

Minho looked at me and smirked.

"Doesn't make me like her any less." He said quietly.

All thoughts left my head. I stood up and punched him so hard, he stumbled backwards.

Blood spurted out of his nose, and he crumpled to the ground.

I cracked my knuckles, then rolled my shoulders.

"Next time, think before you annoy someone who's killed more Grievers than there are people in this room." I said coldly.

Newt crouched down next to Minho, who was writhing on the ground.

"Bloody hell, Minho. It's bad, but it's not that bad."

Thomas was laughing again. Joan looked at him.

"Do you normally laugh this much, or just when this slinthead embarasses himself?" She asked.

He was laughing so hard, he couldn't answer. She looked at me, and shrugged.

Gabe, who had been about to do the same thing I had, nodded in satisfaction.

"You really need to know when to quit, mate." He said angrily.

I looked over at the other tables, and noticed people weren't staring.

That's odd, I thought.

Newt was pressing napkins on Minho's nose, trying his hardest to stop the bleeding. Thomas had gone back to his table to explain what had happened.

I sat back down and yawned.

"Better hope we can sleep soon." I said.