Chapter 40—The Confident and the Indecisive

Hey guys! I'm back and super excited! We are officially into the Scorch Trials books! YAY! So, this is exciting for two reasons: one. We get to find out if there is a Jorge and Brenda of this story and if/when they will be joining it. Two. The groups are going to meet EXTREMELY soon! YAYYY!

Okay, so I messed up the last couple of chapters pretty bad. I know that I said that Charlie had pointed out Dan's tattoo and Charlie was doing all this stuff but I totally meant CHRIS! Charlie is still unconscious from escaping the Maze and thus Chris was the one to point everything out. SO SO sorry! So, remember, Charlie is unconscious. Thanks. ;)

Keep in mind that everyone probably isn't going to live for the Trials, and if they do they most certainly won't come out unscathed. *evil laugh*

Quickly: The next two chapters after this one will be directly from Group A and Group B. The chapter after this will be Group A and the one after that will be B. :)

So, anyways, I am super excited. Let's get to it, shall we?

Disclaimer: I don't own TMR, TST or TDC.

Group A-

Amy stared at the grayish looking wall. Dawn had said that they could trust her. She said if they didn't then they would die. Dan had agreed to coming on his own terms, but the rest of the Survivors—minus Clara—had turned to Amy for what they should do.

In many ways the Survivors were her responsibility. She organized who would make them food, she organized when everyone should be in bed, she organized which people were strong enough to complete which tasks. She took care of everyone in the Glade as if they were her kin, even though many of them were equal to her in age, and some were older.

She had been voted leader. She was assigned the task by Josh, the past leader. It ached her to think about how she had received the role. She had received it when Josh died. Josh wasn't the first person to go either.

Amy hadn't been in the Glade when the first teen died. According to Chris, the first to die was a 16 year old girl named Maddie.

Maddie was one of the originals and she had been chosen—along with a few others—to go out into the Maze for the first time.

The group had consisted of Katie—the soon to be Keeper of the Runners, Mitch—the girl that would take Katie's place when she jumped off the cliff, a boy named Brandon—a tall blonde teen, and Maddie.

Katie had ventured off in one direction, Mitch in another, Brandon in a third and Maddie in the final. Katie had made it back a good 15 minutes before sunset, Mitch had come back 5 minutes after Katie, Brandon arrived 5 minutes before the Doors—unknown to them at the time—closed.

Amy remembered seeing the strawberry blonde haired 16 year old round the corner in an easy jog. Then the loud bang ran through the air and—erasing everything the Gladers thought they knew—the giant stone walls began closing.

They closed with a loud crack, Maddie's scream ran through the air—she had still been 10 feet away from the Doors as they slammed shut.

Her corpse was never found.

Now everyone was relying on Amy to get them out safely. She had 14 people's lives resting on her shoulders, one of them was unconscious and two of them were just kids. They were all just kids. But WICKED still put them in this death trap. It scared the shuck out of Amy to think that they killed Helen and Gale, two young 13 year olds. If they had killed the 13 year olds than they wouldn't hesitate a second before tearing a 16 or 17 year old to shreds.

Amy motioned for everyone to follow her.

Dawn watched her every move as she stepped through the thing…what had Dawn called it…a Flat Trans…

A sudden cold, wet, feeling covered her body and she tried to hold her breath, worried of what would happen if she breathed in the foul substance. Everything in her body seemed to work in slow motion, like when she ran through the deep end of the Glade's stream. Her body felt like it was weighed down by 1000 tons.

And then, suddenly, she was out of it. It was just gone.

And she was submerged into a room of complete blackness.

~TMR~TMR~TMR~

Group B-

Tori shouted as loud as she possibly could, clawing at the concrete floor as her fellow Gladers dragged across the stone by the legs.

"NO!" she shouted, feeling like a child that had just got their toy taken away.

"TORI! WE HAVE TO GO!" Betsy shouted angrily, clawing at Tori's ankles.

Tori felt another nail break from the concrete, "Do you seriously trust this two timing, double crossing, son of a—"

"Tori!" Mari scolded.

Tori felt the strength draining, she tried desperately to keep a hold.

"Tori!" the new girl—Gale—said, prying at Tori's hands.

Dawn was standing awkwardly behind the invisible glass wall that protected her.

"I'm not going!" Tori shouted.

Dawn put her hand up, attempting to get everyone's attention, "Umm…she doesn't have to go if she—"

"SHUT UP!" everyone shouted at once. Dawn recoiled, taking a few steps back.

Tori finally released and everyone went flying backwards, landing in a giant pile, Jaekyung on the bottom.

"Get. Off." Jaekyung said through gritted teeth.

Everyone quickly rolled off in different directions.

Tori stood up and brushed herself off.

"Why the shuck should we trust her anyways?!" Tori demanded.

"Because Jaekyung says that she knows Dawn!" Chris chirped, standing up as well.

"And we trust Jaekyung!" Cured added.

"Ya! But we haven't even buried Helen yet!"

It broke Tori's heart to think about it. Helen, a 13 year old girl, had died because of WICKED. Helen didn't even have any visible injuries, Tori and Jaekyung had diagnosed her with internal bleeding because that's the only way it could have happened. Luckily she had been asleep when she died, so she wasn't in pain.

Betsy was the one to place a dusty woolen blanket over the dead girl. A few of the Survivors, though they had never met Helen, cried. The most surprising realization Tori had had was that Gale hadn't cried. She didn't shed a single tear.

When Jaekyung demanded why, Gale announced that Helen had tried to kill Liz back in her Glade. Betsy's face had become stone and she had left the room at once.

Helen's last moments had been peaceful. Everyone had gathered in the room.

~FLASHBACK~

Tori ran into the dormitory room. Helen was laying in her bunk. Her face was ghostly pale and her eyes were glassy. She was sweating and her breaths came out in short rasps. Surprisingly, Jaekyung was sitting at the edge of her bed, stroking the 13 year old's cheek softly.

"I'm going to die, aren't I?" Helen rasped.

"No, no, of course not," Jaekyung stroked her cheek again and Tori sat down on the bed next to Helen's. Helen seemed to be oblivious to the movement, her glance didn't even flash to Tori's direction. Helen's glassy eyes remained locked in Jaekyung's.

"Please don't lie," Helen whispered.

Jaekyung's eyes softened and Tori realized that she was crying.

"Yes," Jaekyung whispered sadly, "You're going to die."

A tear rolled down Helen's cheek, "Will it be dark?"

"No sweetie," Jaekyung bit her lip, "It won't be dark."

Helen's breathing slowed.

"It'll be big and beautiful."

Helen's body went still, her eyes dulled.

Jaekyung sobbed and slowly closed Helen's eyes.

~END FLASHBACK~

Dawn intertwined her fingers, "I assure you that Subject A11 will—"

"Don't call her that," Jaekyung growled.

In some weird way Tori admired Jaekyung's strict sass. She was always snapping comments, like a dog nipping annoyingly at your ankles. Jaekyung was pretty to. She was pretty in that tomboy way.

Hey! Knock it off! Tori scolded herself internally. She couldn't possibly be in love with Jaekyung…could she? No…no she couldn't…she remembered Mathew.

Mathew—or Matt as they called him—had been a Runner and a very kind boy with shoulder length blonde hair and—not that this had any influence on how she felt about him—a six pack. She had loved Mathew. Loved him until the day he died. That day had been the saddest day of her life.

Being the kind hearted, brave, courageous, person that he was, Matt had volunteered to venture into the Box. They were looking for an escape. They thought they had found it.

Matt's screams were the last thing that Tori heard come from his mouth.

She had loved Matt.

Now she loved Jaekyung.

She was bisexual?

Tori looked back up at the group, who was staring at her anxiously.

She glanced at Jaekyung.

"Okay. Fine. I'll go. But not until we bury Helen."

Okay! I really hope you guys liked this chapter. TRUST ME the action is literally right about to start. I am not even kidding right now. I hope you guys are ready for a whole lot of surprise, confusion, suspense and utter shock.

:)

Super excited.

Question of the day:

If you were in the position of the Gladers, right now, would you go through the Flat Trans? Or would you stay back, preferring survival over WICKED?

Also,

The Quote of the Day:

"And when I breathed, my breath was lightning," –Black Elk

Hmm…I've been dropping a lot of hints lately..

Update soon. :)

Big shout out to Scarlett the Starlett! She has been a supporter since day 1 and she is by far an AMAZING supporter and fan! Let's all give a big old smiley face to her!

:D

Let me know what you think is going to happen next.

Love you guys. :)

-AG