Disclaimer: I do NOT own The Scorch Trials nor any of the characters from it.


CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT:

WICKED's Third – But Mini - Trials


Day Fourteen – Part Six

Hot food. Cold drinks. Medical attention. Long, warm showers. Fresh clothes. It all seemed like a dream, too good to be true. The cuts on her arms were healed, and she had even gotten treatment for the stab wound in her shoulder.

She had eaten so much that she felt so full that she couldn't move, but it was one of the best feelings in the world. She had never eaten that much food in her life – of what she remembered of it – and she had almost forgotten what food had tasted like after going for so long without having a proper meal.

The warm shower was one of the best things about being out of the Scorch. She was able to get off all the horrid grime, sweat and dust that had formed during her two weeks inside of the Scorch. She felt refreshed, like she was back in the dorms from when WICKED had rescued them from the Maze.

As she sat beside Newt, leaning against one of the chairs, she wondered if everything was happening all over again. If this was just another trick to make them feel relaxed, right before they invent another deadly environment for them to run through.

She wondered if this really was the end, and if it was, what would happen to them now? Would they be stuck with WICKED for the rest of their lives, or would WICKED end up killing them?

She wondered if any of the others were having similar thoughts to her, if they were just as anxious about this place as she was.

Newt placed his hand on her knee, dragging her out of her thoughts. He gave her a smile, though she could tell he was thinking the same things as her. Neither of them were completely sure if all their problems were finished, but it was obvious that he really hoped that WICKED wasn't lying to them.

"What are you thinking right now?" Newt asked. She rested her head on his shoulder, taking in a deep breath.

"How unreal this all is," she said. "This just…it seems like a dream."

"A good dream though, right?" he asked and she nodded. He bent his head down to kiss the top of her head, pulling her as close as she could.

"Hmmm…I guess."

She glanced around and saw that most of the Gladers and the girls from Group B were asleep, or close enough to it. Only a few remained awake. One of them being Minho, who was trying to chat up some girl from Group B.

He was failing miserably, as she was pretty much fast asleep and not listening to a single pick-up line he tried on her.

"What a miserable shank," Newt whispered to her, making her laugh.

"It's so sad at how desperate he is," she responded, loud enough for Minho to hear her.

"Excuse me, this girl is really into me," he said. "Isn't that right…?" He trailed off. "What's your name?" he whispered.

Luckily she wasn't awake to hear it as she slumped over, eventually falling to the ground as she slept.

"I didn't want you anyway," he muttered, making Leo laugh even more. Seeing Minho fail at something he had bragged about doing so much was one of the most entertaining things she could have imagined.

But it soon went quiet, everyone soaking in the silence of the groups. It was an almost calming silence, as most of them drifted off to sleep.

"What's going to happen to us?" Leo whispered, making Newt shrug.

"I have no idea…" She lifted her head off his shoulder as she looked at him. "We have each other right? How bad could it really be?" he asked.

"I think the food's made you delusional," she whispered as she kissed him on the lips, the sweet taste of his lips something she never wanted to forget. If she had never met him during this entire experience, she wondered if she would have even survived the time during the Glade.

He was one of the only things that kept her sane. That kept her alive.

"Some of us are still single here," Minho commented bitterly from the other side of the room, making Newt chuckle.

"It's not my fault you can't get a girlfriend," he said cheekily, making Minho raise an eyebrow.

"She's right. You are delusional," he said, closing his eyes as he tried to go to sleep.

Newt turned his head back to Leo, giving her one of his charming smiles. "I love you," he whispered, bending his head to kiss her lips again.

"I love you too," she whispered as she rested her head back on his shoulder, trying to get some much needed sleep. He rested his head on top of hers, trying to do the same, both of them sharing a smile on their faces.

She closed her eyes as she sighed, her body starting to relax. She hadn't felt this peaceful in so long, and she wished this moment could last forever…


WICKED Headquarters

A searing bright light burned through her closed eyelids, forcing her to wake. She squinted as she tried to open them, the light a deep contrast from the lights from inside the common area of the Berg.

Her head was pounding, but she wasn't sure why. She looked around the room, noticing that all of the Gladers were missing, and she was surrounded by pure white walls, the ceiling and the floor also white.

She tried to reach her hand for her head, but she felt some kind of weight on it, restricting her from moving it. She looked down and noticed that both her hands were strapped down on the wooden chair, her ankles also strapped to the legs of it.

She struggled as she tried to break out of the restrictions, noticing that there was no other piece of furniture in the room, nor any other colour besides white. Even the clothes she was wearing were now pure white.

"What the hell! Let me out of here!" she screamed as she tried to escape from the harsh burns that were now forming on her wrists and ankles. The legs on the chair were starting to tilt from the amount of strength she used, only for it to tip over.

She screamed as she fell to the ground, her side hitting the white tiled floor. She screamed again, hoping someone could hear her, but her attempts to try and escape were pretty much useless.

"Where am I? What are you doing to me!" she screamed again, but was only met with silence. She tried to move again, but it only made her headache worse as a pain behind her eyes started to form.

"You're awake I see," a sickening voice spoke, breaking the sudden silence.

She turned her head and saw a large doorway opening, revealing a figure standing there with its hands in its pockets. She squinted as she tried to make out who it was, their tall and skinny self, walking into the room.

The door slammed shut behind them as they walked up in front of her. She could make out the smirk on his face, and she quickly figured out who the figure was.

"What the hell are you doing? Let me out of here! Where are the others?" she cried out, trying to struggle again. He didn't move as he just continued to watch her struggling.

"Where are my friends?" she asked again, and this time he finally answered.

"They're going through their own mini Trials," Rat Man said as he crouched down to be eye-level with her.

"You promised we were done! You promised this would all be over!" she screamed, which only made him shake his head.

"David promised. I said no such thing."

She growled, the pain in her head becoming worse. It was now almost like an itch that she couldn't scratch, driving her insane. "You bastard! You bloody shucking bastard!" she screamed as loud as she could, trying to lunge for him.

Yet he didn't flinch.

She screamed, almost like an animal as she thrashed around, trying to break out of her straps so she could attack him. Something inside of her snapped, and all she wanted was to brutally murder Rat Man.

She wanted his blood spread on the ground.

Her thoughts were fading, any rationality she had before vanishing, almost as if her mind was being taken over by something else.

Scratch his eyes out.

Rip off his body parts, limb by limb.

Stab him at least twenty times.

She just wanted blood.

Rat Man sighed as he shook his head, turning back towards the door. "She's starting, just like we predicted. Bring in the Bliss, we'll have to start the tests this instant."

Only a second passed before the door opened again, a woman wearing all white walking inside, holding a syringe in her hand. It was filled with the almost hypnotic blue liquid that she had been injected with already, and in her dreams.

Her brain was enticed by it, screaming at her to let him inject her with it.

Rat Man slowly unwrapped her wrists, letting them free. But she couldn't attack him. Her head was pounding so much. She brought her hands to her head, screaming and crying as she thrashed about. She grabbed hold of her hair as she tried to rip it out, hoping that would stop the horrid pain.

"She's escalating quickly," he said as he grabbed hold of the syringe, moving it over towards her arm.

She screamed bloody murder once she felt him touching her arm, making her growl at him and lunge for him. The syringe dropped on the ground as she clawed at him.

He screamed out for help as she tried to go for his eyes, trying to rip them out as gruesomely as she could.

He needed to suffer.

He needed to die.

The door quickly opened and two men wearing lab coats rushed in, running towards her. Each grabbed hold of her arm as they roughly pulled her from him, making her scream in protest.

She trashed around like an animal, begging them to let her go so she could claw his eyes out. Rat Man quickly grabbed the syringe and moved towards her. He didn't even check for the vein as he stabbed her arm with the needle.

She screamed and choked out a sob in pain as she felt the liquid slowly dripping into her bloodstream, rushing through her veins and throughout her entire body. She felt almost weak – relaxed even – as the two WICKED scientists let go of her, letting her drop to the ground.

Rat Man stood up, brushing himself off as he gestured for them to tie her hands back up to the chair. "We'll come back in another hour. It'll wear off by then."

The two scientists nodded as the headed towards the open door, followed by the woman. Rat Man looked at the now slumped over Leo, who was still awake but too weak to do anything. She felt almost high, very delusional.

Her headache was gone at least, and the animalistic urges inside of her had vanished as the drug took its effect.

Rat Man walked out of the room, the door slamming shut behind him as he went to sit at his chair. He looked at the cameras in the other rooms, making sure the rest of them were still alive.

"Keep an eye on her. She'll be the hardest one to test," were his last words before the rest of the WICKED workers around him nodded as they left the room, letting Rat Man watch as Leo finally closed her eyes and drifted off into a drug-induced sleep…