CHAPTER 4 – WICKED IS GOOD

A/N: Thanks to AsgardianGrizzly so much for the review. No, I haven't heard of Feveraco before. And also thanks to the ones who follow or favorite my story. And sorry if my Teresa is a bit out of character. :)

"What is happening to them?" asked an Asian subject who seemed very strong and sporty. "Fainting is not normal!" Chancellor Paige looked at Thomas, Thomas could do nothing but shrugged. He couldn't make a better serum that keeps the subjects away from fainting.

"I told you," said Chancellor Paige. "This is a side effect of the serum. If you don't believe me, maybe you should be the third one." The boy looked at Thomas like he was a murderer. He made Thomas feel weird, like he really was a murderer. "What was your name?" asked Chancellor. But she answered the question before getting her answer. "I guess Minho."

Minho nodded. "I hope I will believe you after the simulation."

"Trust me, you will."

Thomas got in the room with the subject who seemed dangerous. Thomas thought that if he didn't live in a world like that, he would probably be a marathon runner and win lots of medals. He also seemed so intelligent and sarcastic.

When they both sat, Thomas felt uncomfortable. He is just a subject, just like the others. Just because he is more dangerous than Alby, that doesn't mean that he is more intelligent than you. He kept saying these to himself, so he maybe would feel better, but it didn't help him at all.

"Minho," he said, trying to decide what to ask to his boy. He was trying to find something that can shock him. "Why do you think that WICKED will find a cure?" He had to admit that this was a different question.

Minho seemed surprised, he waited a question about his reason to join the trials, and he has already made up an answer for this question. But this was a question he wasn't ready. "Who told you I think that way?"

"Because, if you didn't believe in WICKED you wouldn't join the trials. You don't seem like an illogical person Minho. Now, tell me the true answer, so you can get out of this room easily," said Thomas without even stopping before saying this.

Minho stopped for a while, he actually didn't really know the answer. Everyone around him believed that WICKED would find a cure, so he did too. And when he heard the announcement, he thought it was the best chance to help the whole humanity.

"I don't actually know," he said, trying not to put his defense down. "Maybe you should give me the answer of it since you really believe that you can find a cure. You do believe in WICKED, right?"

Thomas felt relaxed because he didn't let Minho go into the Simulation Room with Teresa. Teresa didn't approve what WICKED was doing, a question like that could make her faith teeter very easily. "Of course I do," answered Thomas. "But you don't have the right to question me, I have the right to question you right now."

"I guess you don't even know the answer."

Thomas started focusing on this boy's fears. He was sure that he had some fears. Everyone had some fears. They usually try to cover it with sarcasm or bad behaviors. But he had to learn his fears. "I do know the answer. But you don't have to."

"Have you ever seen a Crank?"

Minho stopped after this question, memorizing his past. "Yes, I have," then he answered silently. But he didn't seem to be scared of Cranks. There must be something different, thought Thomas. "So many Cranks. They are all ugly. And they are all cannibals. Not an experience I'd like to have again."

"No one wants to see a Crank, Minho. And everyone tries to hide from them. I am sure your family tried to save you from them. But why did you see some Cranks? Because you wanted to see something interesting? Or just because you were so curious? How did you not get killed? You know, Cranks are really dangerous. More dangerous than a boy like you."

Minho laughed. His laugh had anger in it. It was pretty obvious that he didn't want to talk about this. But that was the point of the Simulation Room, it made you talk about the things you don't want to. If Thomas didn't know any of his fears, the serum probably wouldn't work on him either. Because the serum, worked with the subject's brain and the subject's last words.

"It is none of your business, WICKED boy."

"It is a great answer for a coward boy like you," said Thomas, trying to develop a better strategy. "I guess you are not brave enough to tell me the real answer. But I think I can understand it, you have got some fears and you don't want people to know them. But you know what? This makes you a coward."

What he said was full of lies. Having some fears was not just for cowards. The bravest hero in the world also had some fears and he probably did not want to talk about it. This was the point of having fears, you always want to ignore them, but the rule to overcome your fears is working on them.

"Then tell me about your fears, have you ever seen a Crank? If not telling my fears is making me a coward, and then you might show me how to not be a coward. Tell me, seriously. I dare you to tell me your fears." Minho challenged Thomas with his sharp words.

Thomas opened the drawer and took the silver liquid. There were so many glasses of serums in the drawer and Thomas would choose a different color for every different subject. Silver, was just for Minho. "I dare you to drink this. If you can drink this, then I will tell you my fears. If you don't drink this, that will also mean that you are a coward."

"I don't usually do stupid things like that but today, just for you WICKED boy, I might do an exception and drink this."

Then he drank the serum and Thomas started watching. "Oh no," Minho said, before Thomas' face got blurry. Even when he was seeing hallucinations, he wasn't stopping being sarcastic. "Am I going to faint or something? Is that what this room-"

He couldn't even finish his sentence. His face went white, her eyes widened. Thomas wanted to see what he was seeing, Teresa and Chancellor Paige could see it from the computer, but he couldn't. He wished he invented glasses that made him see every hallucination.

Minho stood up, unlike the other subject, Alby. Thomas was right. Minho was ready to fight, maybe he really was a runner, or at least a very sporty person. Because his movements were really fast, he could have hurt Thomas. He started running in the room.

"It is getting out of the control Chancellor," he said, looking at the camera and pointing Minho. "May I stop it?"

He heard Chancellor's voice in the room. "No," was her clear answer. "I don't want you to stop the simulation, until we get his real fear. The things he is seeing are only the fears we all have got. Cranks, being kidnapped or something like that."

"It seems like he doesn't have any fears Chancellor," Thomas said. Even he couldn't believe that he said something like this. Everyone had some fears, there were no exceptions. "I don't want to believe this but-"

Chancellor didn't let him finish his sentence. "Just like you were going to say. We all have fears Thomas. You only have to sit there and wait until we learn his fears. But don't let him hurt you. If there is something urgent that we need to interfere, we will. We won't let a subject hurt you."

Minho was screaming, Thomas couldn't understand what was going on. He wanted to get out of this room and see what was really happening. He wanted to saw the imaginary things Minho's mind created. Actually, that was hidden in Minho's mind.

This was what the simulation serum did.

It pulled the worst things, the worst feelings and emotions from your deepest thoughts and you had to face them. When you drank the antidote, it would make your brain stop for a second, which meant you could actually die in this moment if you get too much antidote. Chancellor told it once happen.

Teresa came into the room running. "Stop it!" she screamed. Thomas couldn't understand if this was an order from Chancellor or just Teresa's inner thoughts. But he didn't see anyone pulling Teresa out of the room, so he thought it was really an order from Chancellor.

He took the antidote. All of the antidotes were in a clear color like water. They were pure, so pure that they make you die for a second. When Minho drank the antidote, he fell on the floor like the other subjects. But something different happened this time.

While he was falling on the floor, he screamed in despair and anger. "WICKED is not good!"

Teresa and Thomas looked each other. "WICKED is good," was their slogan and also password. They only told this to each other. No one on the outside knew this. And know, Minho was saying the exact opposite of this slogan.

"WICKED is wicked," he could only whisper while the employees came to take him to the infirmary. They didn't hear the words he told after he fainted because they already stopped paying attention to him, probably Chancellor didn't hear it either.

But Thomas and Teresa did.