A pressurized hiss lets out behind them as the door swings open, revealing a rather dim but artificial light. The remaining Gladers— about two-thirds of what they'd started the mission with— pile through it into a very industrial-looking corridor that seems to stretch on for miles in either direction.
It likely encircles the entire Maze.
Quietly, Ash closes the door behind them, just in case one of the boys left behind had decided to get any ideas. The others don't notice. More lights flicker on overhead, one set at a time, making the hallway seem even longer. The Gladers all seem to look at Thomas for the next step, so he picks a direction and goes.
The others follow.
Ash lags behind by just a few steps, taking a head count.
Thomas, Newt, Minho… Teresa, Chuck, Frypan, Winston… Gally, Jeff, Eddie, Tim, and Jack. And myself, of course. A sense of relief begins to settle deep in her bones, and she has to bite her lip to keep from smiling.
"Wait!" she calls out, halting altogether as another thought crosses her mind. The others come to a stop, turning to look at her with various amounts of confusion or panic on their faces. "We should make sure we're all okay before we keep going— we have no idea what's up ahead."
"Do we even have any of our supplies?" Jeff asks her, holding his broken arm close to his chest, and Ash nods. She shrugs off her supply pack and kneels on the metal floor so she can rifle through it. The others around them follow her lead, taking the time to relax against the walls and floor.
She has everything needed to wrap Jeff's arm, but no splint to keep it straightened. Glancing up, she sees that a couple of the boys still have their spears.
"Can someone break one of those down so I can splint his arm?" she asks, nodding to one of those boys. Eddie, one of the builders, uses the handsaw he somehow still has to do so. The piece he cuts from the blunt end is a little longer than she needs, but it's better than too short. "Okay… anyone else? And we should check to make sure no one got stung."
"What are we gonna do if someone did?" Teresa asks quietly. "We don't have any more of that serum…"
"Hopefully, we won't need it," she replies. "But if we do… we'll just have to find some."
Minho and Newt do the brief inspections for sting marks, having the most knowledge aside from Ash herself about what they look like.
Everyone's clean.
Thank god.
Once she's certain no one else needs urgent medical attention, they continue down the hallway. Her spirits significantly lifted, Ash makes her way to the front of the group.
Not bad, she thinks. Twelve survivors— thirteen including me… Alby should be here, but it's too late to change that.
Eventually, they come to another door in the wall, with a glowing green sign above it that says, 'Exit'.
Frypan scoffs at the sight. "Seriously?"
Ash can't help but agree. After everything they've just been through, an appropriately labeled exit sign seems a little too... lackluster.
Thomas pushes the door open, and everyone blinks as their eyes try to adjust to the flashing lights. There's an alarm going off somewhere, and there are corpses everywhere.
Shattered glass, bullet holes, smeared blood. Otherwise, compared to the dust and dirt and ivy of the Maze, it looks very clean and high-tech. There's a man in a lab coat right near the door when the Gladers first walk in, his legs spread in a V shape, his torso slumped against the base of the wall.
Narrowing her eyes at it, Ash fights the urge to kick his crotch just to be sure.
On the other side of a cracked window, lie two corpses beneath white sheets; only their feet are sticking out, and one's arm. One of the sheets has a dark crimson stain, still spreading across what seems to be the torso.
The teens pick through the room, trying to figure out what had happened. Ash doesn't. She sees the blonde woman on the floor, wearing all white, and she just stares at it, even as Thomas presses a button on some still-functional screen.
A video starts playing, of the blonde woman Ash is staring at. She's sitting in this very room, at the very desk she's laying in front of, and she's addressing the Gladers.
Ash barely pays attention to the video, vaguely aware of everything in it. But as the woman— Ava Paige— drones on, Ash tears her eyes away from the 'corpse' and makes her way over to where the others are starting to gather around the screen. Specifically, to Newt's side. Biting at the thumbnail, she watches for his reaction.
Dr. Paige describes the state of the outside world— the purpose of the 'Maze Trials'; she shows footage of fires raging, cities collapsing, dead bodies burned and littering the streets.
"What came after was worse," she narrates. "We called it the Flare." She goes on to describe a disease that targets the brain, showing more footage. This time, to showcase what happens to someone infected.
The video cuts back to Dr. Paige, now speaking about how all this matters to them, the Gladers. But in the background, the other scientists are scrambling around in what looks like a panicked frenzy. The same orange lights are flashing for them now.
"Unfortunately, your trials have only just begun," Dr. Paige says, "as you'll no doubt soon discover."
The people behind her truly begin to panic as military-looking men sweep into the room, shooting anyone who moves. The same carnage that surrounds the Gladers is now unfolding on the screen.
"Remember," she says finally, placing an old-fashioned revolver to the side of her own head as one of the intruders approaches her.
"WCKD is good."
Ash keeps watching Newt as Dr. Paige's gun goes off and the video ends. He looks horrified— sick, even. She gets it. She feels the same way, even knowing what she does.
"What do we do now?" Chuck asks, sounding more afraid than he had when faced with a griever.
"We should go," she mutters. "There's nothing left for us here."
"Go where?" Newt asks, turning to Thomas.
No sooner than the words have left his mouth, a door to the outside world opens up, and the same soldier-looking men swarm in, large rifles strapped to their bodies.
"You kids alright?" one asks, and the group slowly glances at each other and nods.
"Don't worry, we're getting you out of here," he tells them, and his men usher the group out the door and towards an awaiting helicopter.
Jack, Tim, Eddie, Jeff, Gally.
Winston, Frypan, Chuck, Teresa.
Minho, Newt, Thomas.
Ash.
There had been a total of forty Gladers, at one point or another. Only thirteen had managed to survive the Maze Trials.
Ash silently accepts Gally's help into the helicopter, and slumps against Teresa. Her eyes begin to drift close, exhausted by the day's events— hell, the entire week. Just before she can lose consciousness, she hears one of the soldiers try to reassure them.
"Don't worry, kids," he shouts about the whirring of the blades above them. "Everything is gonna change!"
A/N: Whew, it's finally done! Sorry for yet another hiatus, but I've finally got book one complete. Hopefully the next one will be… less of a bumpy ride. So keep an eye out for "The Obscurity Series Book 2: Novaturient", coming in the new year!