Chapter 4

AN: Going to try something slightly different for the start of today's chapter. Let me know what you think! And I'm sorry, but I just couldn't find the space to squeeze Newt in this chapter in the end, if I intend to keep all my chapters around the same length. Tell me if there's any mistakes in the writing, as this one wasn't checked as thoroughly.

I do not own The Maze Runner or any of its characters; all rights go to James Dashner

Thomas's POV

My first response was to scream "Shuck no!" at them, but that I immediately suppressed as I knew it wasn't a smart move. No, I had to take a step back and think about what to do rationally, or even if I should do anything in the first place. Say what you'd like about them, but WICKED might truly have the world's interests at heart. It didn't sound like they were giving us much of a choice, and they weren't. We could pretend to go on one of their missions, and then escape later. Main problem is, we would need to go alone, as we still contained the Swipe in our brains, regardless of what WICKED said. I remember enough to know that's a very fundamental part of how they make us perceive things, and they did just that for a long period of time in making us go through the simulation. We would put each other in danger if we stayed together, but I wasn't sure separating was the greatest idea either. WICKED and Cranks weren't our only threats, sources of food and water, too, were issues. No, this wouldn't work. I'm still not thinking from a perfect neutral standpoint, my personal dislike of WICKED and all it stands for getting in my way. I needed to distance myself from my own emotions, as I once did, working for WICKED.

What was the problem, really, working for WICKED to distribute the Cure? Aside from the fact that almost all the Gladers would be opposed to it, of course. Teresa, he hoped, would agree with him on this. Aris, too. With a bit of luck, we could persuade the rest.

What else, then? There's no real disadvantage that I can think of offhand. We couldn't really do much else with our lives now, seeing as the world has mostly fallen into shambles. We would be saving lives, hopefully, of people who had done nothing wrong, but were unlucky enough to be infected. This is the best thing to do, I'm sure of it. Now to convince the rest.

3rd person

The reactions to that statement were varied. Most of the Munies looked like they just wanted to sit this one out and see where it led. Every last Glader was all for opposing WICKED, and only Teresa and Aris were against it. Thomas just sat there, contemplative, for a couple of seconds, before seeming to make up his mind and watching intently for the right time to move.

"How about… NO SHUCKING WAY!" Minho declared with anger. Beside him, Thomas almost inaudibly sighed.

"I'm with Minho. What do you think, Tommy?" Newt asked. If anything, Thomas looked even more unhappy. This was not the time he would have chosen, not when everyone was listening and could see them possibly arguing.

"Not now, guys. Later." He hissed at them, trying to put it off.

"Thomas? You agree with us, don't you?" Minho asked slowly. He couldn't see that was the last thing Thomas wanted him to say right now. It was going to be hard enough to persuade them as it was, this just made it worse.

Thomas sighed. Looks like he had to do this now. "No, Minho, I don't." he loudly declared, making sure everyone in the room could hear him. "Just think, for a moment. Put aside your personal animosity towards WICKED. What problem is there in helping to distribute the Cure?" He refrained from saying that they didn't have much else in terms of choices, as that would just make Minho even less likely to accept the idea.

Newt seemed to be seriously considering his words, and Minho was still stubbornly trying to find an answer to his question. Newt. Thomas made a mental note to ask him for an explanation later.

"That's what I've been trying to tell these slintheads. Thanks, Tom." Teresa said, flashing him a quick smile.

And Janson smirked, unseen by anyone as he was ignored for the time being. He knew this was the most likely outcome all along, and knew that Thomas would win in the end.

Thomas knew he had to drive home his point now. "We can help a lot of people, Minho. We won't be able to achieve much else. This is the most important thing right now, and we just went through all those shucking trials, lost so many people, to get this Cure, and I'll be damned if you waste it."

And that was all Minho needed. "I'm in," both Newt and Minho said at the same time, "but there's no way I'm taking orders from that slinthead on the stage." Minho added.

"You won't be," Rat Man called out, making everyone remember him, "we'll assign you to groups. I'm high enough in the chain of command it's unlikely you'll ever see me. Now then, have you all finally decided to come voluntarily? Frankly speaking, I'm quite bored of all of this, and I have better things to do with my time."

"Why, you little…" Minho screamed at him, fuming mad. Newt and Thomas had to physically restrain him to keep him from running at Rat Man.

"Seeing how nobody," Janson sneered, "is protesting, I'll take that as agreement. You'll all be assigned quarters to sleep in, which I highly suggest you make use of, seeing how we intend to work you to the bone. Now, scram. You've wasted enough of my time already."

And then he was gone, leaving all the insults shouted at him to fall on empty air.

AN: I decided to just go ahead and upload this one, even though chapter 5 isn't ready yet. It'll take about 2-3 days for chapter 5 as I'm going to be quite busy. Stay tuned, and until next time!