Chapter Sixteen:

Janson waited for an eternity, then slowly lowered himself back into the chair and scooted forward to sit behind the desk once more. "You may think, or it may seem, that we're merely testing your ability to survive. On the surface, the Maze Trial could be mistakenly classified that way. But I assure you―this is not merely about survival and the will to live. That's only part of this experiment. The bigger picture is something you won't understand until the very end.

"Sun flares have ravaged many parts of the earth. Also, a disease unlike any before known to man has been ravaging the earth's people―a disease called the Flare. For the first time, the governments of all nations―the surviving ones―are working together. They've combined forces to create WICKED―a group meant to fight the new problems of this world. You are a big part of that fight. And you'll have every incentive to work with us, because, sad to say, each one of you has already caught the virus."

He quickly held up his hands to cut off the rumblings that started. "Now, now! No need to worry―the Flare takes a while to set in and show symptoms. But at the end of these Trials, the cure will be your reward, and you'll never see the ... debilitating effects. Not many can afford the cure, you know."

"What! How'd we become infected? Aren't we immune, that's what the lady said in the video, that's why we've be selected." Just about rumble everybody in the group.

I thought of the Cranks that chased us through the sand dunes, then the one that attack me. Suddenly I wanted to run to the bathroom and vomit, I knew how I must of caught it. Janson was right we had all the incentive needed to make it through this next phase.

"But enough of this history lesson and time-wasting," Janson continued. "We know you now. All of you. It doesn't matter what I say or what's behind the mission of WICKED. You'll all do whatever it takes. Of this we have no doubt. And by doing what we ask, you'll save yourselves by getting the very cure so many people desperately want."

Nyx heard Leon groan next to him and worried about him throwing out another one of his tantrums. But Nyx shushed him before he could do it.

Janson looked down at the messy stack of papers lying in the open folder, picked up a loose piece of it, then turned it over, barely glancing at its contents. He cleared his throat. "Phase Two. The Scorch Trials. It officially begins tomorrow morning at six o'clock. You'll enter this room, and in the wall behind me you will find a Flat Trans. To your eyes the Flat Trans will appear as a shimmering wall of gray. Each of you must step through it by five minutes after the hour. So again, it opens at six o'clock and closes five minutes after that. Do you understand?" We all gave a confused look but got the gist of what they wanted.

"I'm quite certain you can all hear," Rat Man said. "Do ... you ... under ... stand?"

I nodded; everyone else around me murmured quiet yeahs and yeses.

"Good." Janson absently picked up another piece of paper and turned it over. "At that point, the Scorch Trials will have begun. The rules are very simple. Find your way to open air, then head due north for one hundred miles. Make it to the safe haven within two weeks' time and you'll have completed Phase Two. At that point, and only at that point, you'll be cured of the Flare. That's exactly two weeks―starting the second you step through the Trans. If you don't make it, eventually you'll end up dead."

The room should've erupted into arguments, questions, panic. But no one said a word. That was scary, but not as scary as Janson proclamation of everyone dying. It's insane that's for certain. All focus had been on ratty beady eyed cretin, no one dare not to miss any information.

Janson quickly slammed the folder shut, bending its contents even more than before, then put it away in the drawer from which he'd retrieved it. He stood, stepped to the side and pushed the chair underneath the desk. Finally, he folded his hands in front of him and returned his attention to us.

Soc and Curie proposed various questions to him, each left unanswered. Like how'd they get the flare? What was a Flat Trans? Most importantly, what's the Scorch? I've seen it, felt it's heat on our escape. But we're we'd be heading was likely ground zero a hotspot to test us all. As Curie and Soc bothered with more questions, it rilled up Leon.

"Enough, can't you see he isn't going to answer!"

I watch as Janson nodded the short boy for noticing his absent voice.

"Ah, one last thing," he said. "Don't think you'll avoid the Scorch Trials if you decide not to enter the Flat Trans between six and six-oh-five tomorrow morning. Those who stay behind will be executed immediately in a most ... unpleasant manner. Better off taking your chances in the outside world. Good luck to all of you." He said with a smile, it was pure evil. "And Ross, there something you should know. Their out there, question is will you find them in two weeks time. To be precise Thomas is the most in danger, I'm certain you've notice the tattoos. Let's just say his marks him for death, it's out of my hand, but yours not so much."

"Why tell me this, I thought you hated me?"

"Hate you, this is just business. Beside I can only anticipate what wonderful patterns you're brain will paint."Just like that he was gone, and with the ticking of the clock we'd only have some time to prep for tomorrow. Freedom but what cost, all I know it's my time to watch Jacob again.

With a difficult shift done, I join up with Nyx who sitting close with Jane. Leon is watch Jacob while Soc has devised a way to make weapons out of the matress spring and bed post. Curie along with Jane earlier set food aside for tonight, while storing the rest in bags and blanket sheets that could wrap around a person like a package. Jane experiments by keeping water in plastic bags and sheet's, eventually she finds a way to do such.

Everyone was prepared for tomorrow but I couldn't say for certain that neither one of us was worried about the Flare. The Flare will drive us into madness if not kill us, suddenly I find myself rubbing the spot where the Crank got me. I've be way to careless of late, not only did I have to find a cure for me and my new friends, I've got find my group and protect Thomas.

It's a bit to much to be asking someone of my age; now that I've got a degenerative disease. Two weeks till I start to lose myself to ravages of this illness. I won't be me anymore, I'll probably go straight into insanity, the beyond. I won't function like others who've been able to stave the illness. Some people can function like normal, others plunge straight into the deep end. Their minds shattered, body disfigured and deform to only a primal urge to lash out is left. If I didn't worry about the others, I'd take my own life then proceed in this game.

Eventually when night came, my mind eased up as everyone decided to sleep, we had a common understanding if Jacob was to kill us in our sleep, WICKED would terminate him. So he was left to his own devices as everyone crawled into there bunks and prepare for tomorrow, like Janson said: things would become difficult. How much so, that remains to be seen...

A/N: Well another chapter done, I'll be posting more chapters later. To catch up what I'm left behind.