AN: I do not own the Maze Runner Trilogy
"What the stick is going on here?"
Lynn asked herself that same question. It had been a couple of minutes since all the weird things had been discovered. Like the dead bodies missing and the brick wall that had magically appeared outside of all the windows, or the plaque near Lynn's dorm room, which now said Icelyn Newton. Group B, Subject B5. The Guardian. Before, it had that Aris kid's name on it.
Everybody had calmed down after the chaos of being locked up again. Some had actually gone to sleep, others sat across from each other on the beds and talked quietly to one another. Lynn found herself sitting next to Teresa, something she was not expecting.
The black-haired girl had her gaze fixated on the floor, eyes narrowed and jaw clenched, she looked as if she was focusing on a poker game and trying to decide her next move.
"You all right?" Lynn asked, nudging the older girl with her shoulder. Teresa's eyes immediately looked up, blue-eyes darting around for a second before landing on Lynn's stare, her features softening.
"Yeah," said she, "I-I'm fine. I just, uh, have a headache."
Lynn's mouth fell into an 'o' shape as she nodded her head, looking off to the side.
"You know," Teresa said, attracting Lynn's attention once more. "They wouldn't stop talking about you while you were with those boyfriends of yours."
"They're not my 'boyfriends'." Lynn stated, slightly shaking her head. "But who are you talking about?"
"Lily and the rest of them." Teresa motioned with her head to all the girls sitting behind them. "They all kept going on and on about this brilliant girl who used to be the second command. They really wouldn't shut up, especially Sonya."
"Wow, didn't know they missed me that much."
Silence came over the room again. Lynn could feel her eyelids slowly starting to get heavy, sleep overtaking most of her body. A sudden weight was felt on her left shoulder, making Lynn come out of the sleep-like feeling. Turning slowly she saw that Teresa was out cold on her shoulder, snoring lightly in her sleep. Lynn didn't make any attempt to move the older girl, seeing as she was almost a foot taller than the blonde and was too heavy for her to move. So instead, the younger girl rested her head on the wall to her right, letting her eyes flutter closed. Listening to the quiet chatter of the girls that were still up as she slipped into darkness.
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Two day, it had been two days since there had been any sight of food, water, people. Everyone had mostly stayed in bed, making occasional trips to the bathroom to get a drink of water from the sink.
On the second day, Lynn somehow mustered the strength to stand up from her bed. With wobbly knees, she walked to the door of the dormitory, slowly pushing the door open. Her mission was to find food. Lynn just wanted something, she'd even eat a prune if she had to.
The sight in front of her was possibly the most beautiful sight in the world right now. Food. A table of apples, oranges, pears, and everything else you can imagine was piled onto one long white clothed table. Lynn ran to the table, picking up a green apple in her hands. Without giving it a second thought, she sunk her teeth into it, the sound making a satisfying crunch. The apple was a combination of sour and sweet, making her take another bite.
Lynn finished the apple in all but thirty seconds, wiping her mouth with back of her hands as she placed the apple core in a nearby waste basket. Just as she was about to grab another, someone had cleared their throat. She turned her head towards the door to see no one standing there. When she turned her head to the left, she saw a man sitting at a desk.
He was reading a book, pretending as if Lynn wasn't even standing there. His face was pinched, lips pale and eyes grey, matching his slicked back grey hair that was parted to the right. The facial features he had could be comparable to those of rat, his nose squished and pearly, white teeth slightly sticking out from his mouth. Lynn sunk her teeth into her bottom lip as she stared at him, gripping the apple in her hand tighter.
"It's not polite to stare, Ms. Newton." His voice was nasally, but he seemed to be speaking to her as if he had known her before the Maze, like she was a troublemaker that he had to deal with.
Lynn noticed that he didn't even look up from his book when he spoke to her, like he could sense her staring at him as his eyes darted across the pages of the book, examining the words carefully. Before heading back into the dorm room, she snatched another apple from the table and went back through the doorway, pretending the whole thing never happened.
When she had re-entered the dormitory, girls were already running out to the common room to get their hands on the newly presented food. Lynn was practically trampled by all of them, as she tried to get back to her bed. When she was free of all the starving girls, Lynn made her way towards Sonya. Her friend was still sleeping in her bunk, the covers drawn up to under her chin.
"Sonya." Lynn rasped, taking a bite of her apple "Sonya, stick, get up."
The leader groaned, her eyelids fluttering open at the sound of her friends voice. Sonya pushed her covers down to get a better look at the green object in her friend's hand.
"Here," Lynn tossed her the apple, Sonya sitting up and catching it in her left hand. The older girl looked at Lynn with bewilderment before taking a huge bite of the apple, swallowing it without even chewing the fruit.
"Where did you get this?"
Lynn took a bite out of her own apple before saying, "When I got up to look in the common room to see if they graced us with something to eat, there was a table full of food right in front of me."
Sonya nodded as she ravenously ate the apple, finishing it off quicker than Lynn ate hers. "Careful, there sister." Lynn warned, "I bet ya some sticks are puking their guts out, because they out to much." She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder, pointing towards the doorway to the common room. Lynn wasn't able to say another word to her friend as Sonya jumped out of bed and raced towards the common room.
With another crunch of her apple, Lynn followed her. When she had stepped out of the room, all of the other girls had crowded around the banquet table. Some of them had gone into the dark corner of the room to empty the contents of their stomach,
"I tried to tell them," Lily sighed, coming up beside Lynn. "I told them if they ate too much that their stomach wouldn't be able to handle it."
"Sure ya did." Lynn patted her shoulder, heading back to the table full of food. She picked up an orange and began to peel it, digging her nails into its rubbery shield.
"Who's that guy?" A girl asked, pointing to the man that was still sitting behind the desk, now reading a book.
Lynn shrugged, "No idea, he was sitting there when I came out here." Lynn progressed towards the man, walking cautiously. As she was about to be right in front of the desk, she rammed into something, making her tumble backwards. When Lynn looked around she saw nothing, what could she have run into.
"There seems to be a barrier." Harriet said, helping Lynn onto her feet. "A few sticks learned that the hard way. Few of'em got big bruises on their foreheads."
The blonde huffed, crossing her arms, tightly, over her chest. "Hey you!" She called, looking directly at the man. "Ratman!" The nickname seemed to draw his attention, making him look at Lynn and Harriet over the edge of his book.
With a long sigh, Ratman (yes, Lynn was calling him that now) took a place marker out of his pocket and placed it in his book. He put the book on the desk and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands in his lap as his grey-eyed gaze poured into Lynn's.
"We still have seven more minutes before I've been authorized to implement...Phase Two of the Trials." He drawled, looking slightly irritated towards the two girls. "Please show your patience and leave me alone. You've been given this time to eat and replenish yourselves, and I strongly suggest you take advantage of it, young lady." He narrowed his line of sight towards Lynn, "Now, if you two don't mind..." Ratman picked his book back up again and opened it to the page where he left off, propping his feet back on the table.
As Lynn and Harriet walked away, Lynn briskly turned around and stuck her tongue out at him, earning a flick on the forehead from Harriet when she turned back around. Lynn began to take off pieces of her orange and viciously bite into them, tearing them in between her teeth.
"I see you met our new friend." Lily said as Lynn and Harriet joined her and Sonya on the floor a few feet away from the mysterious and annoying man.
Lynn scoffed, "I wouldn't even call him an acquaintance." She took ripped off another piece of the orange and shoved it into her mouth. "Bloody piece of work that one. Anyone know what 'Phase Two' is?"
The three shook their heads, still sending questioning glances towards the Ratman.
"No," Lily exhaled, taking a piece of Lynn's orange. "He said the samething when Cassandra and I got a hold of his attention. Except it was ten minutes when we asked, not seven."
"Then what his he doing here?" Sonya asked, "Is he a human time bomb or something?"
"Maybe," Harriet said, "Teresa seems to have an obsession with him."
The four turned to look at the black-haired girl was leaning up against the table, watching the man with such interest. As if they had been friends at point and had just been reunited. But he seemed to ignore the girl's presence, like she was a meer fly on the wall.
The quartet turned back around, sitting in silence.
What did they have set out for themselves?
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In another six minutes everyone was gathered on the floor in front of Rat Man's desk, anxiously waiting for him to tell them about what was going on. They were all huddled in one, big blob, like school children waiting for their teacher to tell them a story.
"This is starting to get old." Lynn sighed, resting her head on Sonya's shoulder. "Why can't he just tell us what he needs to tell us?"
As if on command, Rat Man finally put his book down, exhaling slowly as he checked his watch. He lifted his feet off of the desk, placing them firmly on the ground and scooted his chair back. A jingling sound echoed through the air as he took a ring of keys out of his pocket, unlocking one of the drawers and rummaging through it. It only took him a few moments to find what he was looking for.
He placed a yellow file folder on the desk, meeting the eyes of every girl in the room as he opened the folder and sorted through all the papers that had been carelessly placed in there. Clearing his throat, he looked up from the papers, leaning forward in his chair.
"Thank you for gathering in an orderly manner so I can tell you what I've been...instructed to tell you. Please listen carefully." Oh, his voice was starting to get on Lynn's nerves.
All the girls in the room had remained quiet, curious to discover what the heck was going on.
"All of you young ladies are still here because of an uncanny will to survive despite the odds, among...other reasons. About sixty people were sent to live in the Glade. Well, your Glade, anyway. Another sixty sent in Group A, but for now we'll forget them."
Rat Man's eyes met Lynn's, then slowly went back to looking over all the other girls. Group A, that must be where Lynn was.
"Out of all those people, only a fraction survived to be here today. I'm assuming you've figured this out by now, but many things that happen to you are solely for the purpose of judging and analyzing your responses. And yet it's not really an experiment as much as it is...constructing a blueprint. Stimulating the killzone and collecting the resultant patterns. Putting them all together to achieve the greatest breakthrough in the history of science and medicine.
"These are situations inflicted upon you are called Variables, and each one has been meticulously thought out. I'll explain more soon. And though I can't tell you everything at this time, it's vital that you know this much: these trials you're going through are for a very important cause. Continue to respond well to the Variables, continue to survive, and you will be rewarded with the knowledge that you've played a part in saving the human race. And yourselves, of course."
Everyone stared at him with wide eyes, absorbing the words he just said.
"This guy's crazy." Someone whispered in the back.
"I represent a group called WICKED," Rat Man continued, "I know it sounds menacing, but it stands for World In Catastrophe, Killzone Experiment Department. Nothing menacing about it, despite what you think. We exist for one purpose and one purpose only:to save the world from catastrophe. You here in this room are a vital part of what we plan to fo. We have resources never known to any group of any kind of history of civilization. Nearly unlimited money, unlimited human capital and technology advanced beyond even the most clever man's wants and wishes.
"As you make your way through the Trials, you have seen and will continue to see evidence of this technology and the resources behind it. If I can tell you anything today, it is that you should never, ever believe your eyes. Or your mind, for that matter. This is why we did the demonstration with the hanging bodies and the bricked-up windows. All I will say is that sometimes what you see is not real. We can manipulate your brains and nerve receptacles when necessary. I know this all sound confusing and a little scary perhaps."
Rat Man exhaled, lacing his hands together and setting them on the desk.
"The Maze was part of the trials. Not one Variable was thrown at you that you didn't serve a purpose for our collection of killzone patterns. Your escape was part of the Trials. Your battle against the Greivers. The murder of Rachel. The supposed rescue and the subsequent trip on the bus. All of it. Part of the Trials."
Out of the corner of her eye, Lynn could see Teresa standing up, her face red with anger at the mention of her friend Rachel's death. Luckily, one of the girls had gently pulled on her arm, tugging her back to the floor.
Ran Man then stood abruptly from his chair, unlocking his hands and placing them, palms down, on the desk, leaning forwards towards all of them.
"All of it had been part of the Trials, you understand? Phase One, to be exact. And we're still dangerously short of what we need. So we've had to up the ante, and now it's time for Phase Two. It's time for things to get...difficult."
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This guy was starting to scare Lynn. All this talk about Variables, tests, phases, trials, it just wasn't sitting right with her. The whole room went into silence, too scared to say anything and too scared to do anything. Rat Man straightened out his back, grabbing his chair and sitting back down. He resumed his previous position with his hands in his lap and reclining in the chair.
"You may think, or it may seem, that we're merely testing your ability to survive." Rat Man began calmly, "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 like 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 all are a big part of this fight. And you'll have every incentive to work with us, because, sad to say, each one of you has already caught the virus."
Lynn's eyes grew wide, gasping along with all the other girls in the room.
"Now, now!" Rat Man said, holding his hands out in front of him to cut off their gasps. "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.
"But enough of this history lesson and time wasting. 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 cure so many people desperately want."
Lynn groaned tiredly, all this world ending disease and sun flare talk was starting to make her irritated. Before a quick remark could come out of her mouth, Sonya, without even giving it a second thought, had clamped a hand over the younger girl's mouth. She knew Lynn all too well to when and when not she would say something sarcastic, it was just pure instinct.
The man at the desk looked through the stack of papers, his fingers flying over the edges of the papers and sifting through them. As he neared the end of the pile, he pulled a piece of old and torn, yellow piece of paper out. Barely looking it over, he began to speak again. "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 shimmery wall of gray. Each and every one 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?"
The room rumbled as everyone muttered a simple 'yes' or a 'yeah'.
"Good." Rat Man turned the piece of paper, clearing his throat. "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."
"That's comforting." Harriet said, leaning over to Sonya, Lynn, and Lily so only they could hear her words.
Rat Man slipped the degrading, yellow paper back into it's folder, he then dropped into its drawer and slammed it shut, making a metal 'clang' echo through the room. Folding his hands out in front of him on the desk...again, he looked out to the girls, a mischievous glint in his eye. "It's simple, really." Rat Man brushed some non-existent dust off his desk, "There are no rules. There are no guidelines. You have few supplies, and there's nothing to help you along the way. Go through the Flat Trans at the time indicated. Find open air. Go one hundred miles, directly north, to the safe haven. Make it or die.
"But then, this all sound easy for all you girls. A little too easy. So WICKED decided to give you an obstacle, something that's in the way of you all getting into the safe haven, receiving the cure. This one piece is vital to us saving the world from the wretched disease, one thing that needs to vanish...forever. It's just one, simple thing that needs to be done."
"Oh yeah," Lynn said, cocking one eyebrow. "What is it Mr. Rat Man?"
Rat Man's greyish eyes flickered over to Teresa before meeting Lynn's gaze, the corners of his mouth brought up into a sly grin. The mischievous glint in his eye had returned, something was planned and Lynn wasn't going to like it, it was bright as day. Indeed the next two words spoken made Lynn inhale sharply, her hands flying up to her ears trying to prevent hearing any further information about what had to happen. She closed her eyes shut, wanting to delete what the man had said from her memory. But sadly, she couldn't. It's weird how two words could impact a person like this. Just two words.
"Kill Thomas."
Well, we all knew that was coming sooner or later. Quite the eventful chapter.
I just wanted to let you guys know that I have recently put up two modern day maze runner oneshots. They are bascially things that have been stuck in my mind and there will be more in the weeks to come. The names of them are To Let Go and Move On, and Crazy Clubs and Rainy Nights.
Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed. I still can't believe how far this story had gotten.
Please remember to review! They make me smile everytime I see them!
-Broadwaykid1832