"This is the Slammer." Newt announced waving his hand towards the small block shaped building that stood before them. It was bare, gray, and seemed to sag glumly with nothing but a heavy metal door and one barred window. "You two will be staying in here all day. Now yah know that if you break the rules this is what you get. You lot gotta learn -"
"We know, order." The two snapped in unison taking in the dingy room they'd be staying in for the day.
"That's right kids! And it keeps us all bugging alive. So have fun staring at the walls you two. You can start your Runner responsibilities tomorrow." Sadie narrowed her eyes and gave Newt withering glare. He just grinned in return.
Minho opened the rusty door with a loud and teeth-grinding screech and ushered them inside. Sadie let out an annoyed groan and followed Thomas into the Slammer taking in the rooms bare and dust covered walls and hard dirt floor. The only piece of furniture in the room was an old rickety looking chair that had one leg, which was obviously shorter than the rest. Probably on purpose. Sadie thought grudgingly. The Slammer was as bare and sad looking on the inside as it was on the outside.
"So we don't get shucking anything? Not even like a deck of cards or something?" She asked plopping down on the old chair while Thomas took the floor.
"Nope."
"Just think of it as a day off. You guys get to have one day without anything crazy or exciting happening." Chuck put in going for the optimistic outlook like always. Sadie and Thomas shared an un-convinced look and waved to their friends as the door slammed shut with a groan.
"Oh and Tommy?" Newt called his face popping into view. "Don't even think about trying anything with Sadie." He gave the two Gladers a warning look through the barred window as Sadie snickered to herself.
"Ew." Thomas muttered wrinkling his nose. "Don't have to worry about that man."
"I don't know if I should be relieved or offended." Sadie said punching Thomas in his shoulder.
"I'll come to let you two out tonight." Newt said giving Sadie a wink before ducking out of sight and leaving Thomas and Sadie alone to deal with their boredom. A half an hour ticked by at a snail's pace and had driven Sadie to take apart the one and only chair they had been given. The silence was slowly driving her crazy and with nothing to do but strip the legs off of the old chair Sadie knew she was going to lose it any second.
"Hey Sadie?"
"Oh thank god!" Sadie exclaimed in relief yanking the back of the chair out of place and tossing it behind her with a clatter. She grabbed Thomas by his shoulders and shook him roughly. "Now you talk? You need to talk more man! All you do is sit and brood or brood and sit. Stop brooding!" Thomas's eyes widened and he backed up a bit giving Sadie a quizzical look. "I don't enjoy silence." She supplied with a shrug returning to her dismemberment of the chair.
"I do not brood." Thomas argued stealing one of the chair's legs and tapping it aimlessly on the floor.
"You always brood man. Anyways continue please before I break something else." Thomas nodded in thought and broke the leg in two before continuing.
"I was just wondering… Can I ask you something?"
"Well you just did."
"Sadie."
"Fine fine. I'll be serious, go on." She sighed giving Thomas her full attention as he mulled over what he was going to say next.
"Do- do you think I'm evil Sadie?" He asked in a worried yet serious tone. Sadie blinked in surprise and looked Thomas up and down. He seemed to be on the verge of panic his hands were gripped tightly in his lap his back was hunched and tense while his forehead was beginning to drip with sweat.
"Evil? What are you talking about Thomas?" She asked scrunching her eyebrows in confusion. He sighed loudly and ran his hands through his hair.
"I mean just think about it. This place, it's like a prison right?"
"We talking about the Glade or the Slammer here?"
"The Glade smartass. What if we were sent here for a reason and what if it's because we all did something bad? What if somebody sent us here because we're all murderers or something?" Sadie mulled the idea over in her head. Sure she could see a creep like Winston being a homicidal killer but the others? Chuck, Newt, Minho? Thomas was giving her a pleading almost desperate look like he needed her to believe him.
"Look Thomas." Sadie said choosing her words carefully. "I don't know about us being murderers-"
"Everyone keeps saying they've seen me before. You, Gally, Ben, and even Alby. I don't know what's going on Sadie but I think it's my fault, all of it." Sadie's dream flashed through her mind again, Thomas and Teresa had done something to her in the dream. She could tell herself they were just dreams but she knew it would be a lie. Sadie's head swam and began to pound as she tried to connect the pieces.
"You know something." Thomas whispered locking eyes with Sadie. "I can tell you do Sadie so just spill it." Sadie let out a long sigh and pulled her legs to her chest. She knew she had to tell him, she just hoped it wouldn't worry him even more.
"I've been having these dreams… And you and Teresa were in them." Sadie mumbled her head splitting into a full-blown migraine. The dreams played in her head again the faces blurred and murky like she was watching it all play out through a foggy window.
"What dreams?" Sadie shook her head trying to get rid of the haunted faces of Teresa, Thomas, and the horrifying image of the Grievers. They cleared slightly after a second or two but Sadie still felt like her head was spinning like a top.
"I don't know Thomas. I don't know but I think you sent us here." She answered quietly. And then she told him everything, she told him about the Grievers, the rat man, the girls, everything. Thomas, thankfully, listened in silence only nodding now and then for her to continue.
"Alby said something about that. The Flare thing you mentioned he talked about it too."
"Alby? You talked to Alby, is he okay?" Sadie asked in concern remembering the screams of pain coming from the room next-door in Homestead. Was he already done with the Changing? Sadie shuddered at the thought; Alby's yells fresh in her mind. She could practically feel the blinding pain of the Changing herself. It's like I've already gone through it. She thought in horror.
"He's well… he isn't hurt. But he was acting crazy Sadie. He yelled at Newt and me he went through this seizure type trance and he said he knows who I am." Thomas said in a rush his eyes wide and bloodshot like he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep in weeks. "He nearly killed himself Sadie. It's like someone was controlling him and didn't want him to talk."
"What do you mean?"
"And Teresa talked in my head again." He continued ignoring Sadie's question as he plunged into the story of his telepathic chat with Teresa. " She said we did this to everyone, and if your dream is right then we did. And that means we sent everyone here. Sadie I'm no better than the Creators." Sadie took it all in silence for once. Why were they sent here? Who were the girls in her dreams? And what is the Flare?
"Thomas." Sadie started leaning forward to grip his forearms tightly. "Whatever we're here for, whatever it was you did. We can't change what happened but we can do something about it now. You are not evil, got that slinthead? We're Runners now man we can find a shucking way out of this place."
"Sadie?"
"What?"
"What do you thinks out there? Because Alby and Ben seemed scared as hell to leave the Glade. What if it's worse out there? Worse than the Grievers and the Maze?" Sadie paused and a sudden jolt of stubbornness and determination surged through her. We have to find a way out. She thought her mind racing back to her friends in her dreams and to the rat man that she so desperately wanted to punch in the face.
"There's only one way to find out." Thomas nodded in agreement and looked back at her. Sadie was relieved to see the look of desperation and worry gone from her friend's eyes. He looked as relieved and determined as she felt. Sadie wasn't the only one who was being haunted by her past, Thomas was in the same boat. She just hoped it wouldn't sink.
"You're right. Besides we need to get out of here. I promised him."
"Promised who what?" Sadie asked raising her eyebrows.
"I promised Chuck I'd get him back home."