Not minding the constant glances from his doctor, William walked into the cafeteria and directed himself to the trays of food before going anywhere else. His eyes were stuck on the possibilities. Somehow, it felt like it would be his last meal.
Part of his mind reprimanded him. It was true, being sent to Probation, whatever it was, wasn't good. However, he had apparently survived it years ago. And, if he had done it once, who said he couldn't do it twice?
The gloomiest part of his mind intervened in that area. His mission, the real reason why his group even existed, would never find an end. Just like the cure, there was no telling if WICKED would ever give up, or finally find a solution. And, if he was gone and his friends betrayed the group of boys to get him back, could that really mean their deaths?
How many would that be at that point? Twenty? Thirty? Forty? William didn't want anybody to die because of him. Instead, seeing his friends happily chatting and enjoying the moment, even if he knew he would be gone soon enough, made his lips curve into a barely noticeable smile.
No one needed to die. As long as WICKED never found them, they would all be safe. Thomas just needed to find the last clues, which he would do shortly, and hopefully, they would all be on a rocky trip to safety.
Although William had to admit, not being there for his friends' future struggle made him feel sick.
"Having trouble deciding what to eat?" Flor asked, a hand landing on William's shoulder to snap him out of the daze he had been in for the last minute. "What's wrong? What did they do to you?"
William doubted, wanting nothing more than to vent about everything he had overheard, and the million thoughts running around his head due to his memories. But he knew he couldn't do that. It wasn't safe.
So he shook his head and laughed softly. "My bloody arm hurts. No idea what they did, but I feel fine apart from that."
Flor's hand lowered gently to his back, rubbing it comfortingly. "If you need anything, I'll be with the others, OK?"
Just as she was about to head back, William turned his head. "Flor, one thing. I . . . let's just take care of those guys, alright?" He smiled at her, trying to mask his fear, as he whispered. "When we're in that safe place, I don't want anyone going back here."
It took her a second to realise what he meant, and scoffed at him with a playful grin. "Well, that wasn't the plan, anyway."
"Yeah, I know . . . just making sure." With a smile on his face, he ruffled Flor's hair, making her jerk out of his reach with a shriek.
"Don't do that again! You know how darn messy my hair already is. No need for you to mess it up even more!" she exclaimed as she laughed. "Anyway, I'm going back before you decide to act any more weirdly."
"OK, I'll be there in a second, too."
William picked food at random, not feeling specially hungry for anything. His tray had a bowl of soup and a slice of bread, but it was enough for him. Although, perhaps, not for his friends, who eyed him worryingly as he sat down again between Newt and Chuck.
"Not hungry?" asked Newt.
"Not really," replied William, eating the bread before he picked up the spoon. "And the soup's boiling hot, so I might just take a long time to eat and then end up eating seconds." His eyes travelled to Mae and Rowan, both staring at him. "So don't look at me like that."
Rowan huffed and averted her eyes to listen to Thomas', Henry's, and George's conversation, which Newt had tuned out of the moment William appeared. Not minding Mae's still worried expression, William joined in the chat, livelier than ever.
The change of behaviour surprised Mae, but a smile took over her as she watched Newt and William joking around like nothing was wrong. Shaking her head to reprimand herself for worrying too much, she tuned in to the conversation.
Despite Thomas's constant side glances at the guards, he kept his chatter with Henry and George, who were sniggering about something that Bea and Leen faked to be offended at. Newt and William, who had been on the verge of telling them off, joined in with Chuck to divert the subject to something, or rather, someone else.
"Hey, Rat-man's back." Henry pointed at the entrance, where Janson appeared with two guards behind him.
All chatter got cut short when Janson opened his clipboard, glancing around the room before calling those selected that evening. Thomas tensed immediately, but Newt forced him to stay back and calm down.
"Alice."
"Barry."
"Walt."
"Edgar."
"Samantha."
"I wanna know what's through that door," Thomas whispered, bringing the group's attention back from Janson, who was still calling names.
"Aaron."
Newt forced his eyes to stop looking at William to glance at Thomas. "Now, we've been over this, Tommy. You said they were covered up. You don't know what you guys saw."
"Dennis."
"It could've been anything under there," Newt added.
"I know what I saw. They were bodies," Thomas argued in a hushed tone.
"Sally."
"Aris and Flor said they bring in a new batch every night," Thomas added for those who hadn't been awake early in the morning, making everyone turn to look at the two mentioned.
"Tim."
"David."
Thomas then glanced at William, who was nervously tapping on the table. "They had to be bodies. Come look for yourselves tonight if you think we're imagining things."
"And last but not least," Janson announced.
"William."
It took a second for William to register his own name being called. He had expected to have at least one more day with his friends, not mere minutes. Instinctively, his hand approached Newt's, but he forced it to stay away as he got up to join those called.
Surprisingly, Aris grabbed his hand, trying to get him to stay. However, after locking eyes for one second, both boys understood the lack of choices they had. No one could stop William from going, and neither could himself. He had been called. There was nothing to do about it.
Fighting back tears, William let go of Aris' hand and left the table.
He stood beside the group that had just been called. His eyes glued to his friends while Janson wished everyone a good evening and took them away. Just when William was about to go through the doors, he heard Mae shouting, closely followed by Thomas.
"No, wait," Mae said, as she tried to get through the guards. "I at least want to say goodbye."
"This is a restricted area, kids," the guard said, stopping both of them in their places.
Group S, Aris, Chuck, and Newt were just behind them, baffled at the scene playing right in front of them. But Thomas and Mae remained unmoving before the guards.
"We just want to say goodbye to our friend. We'll probably not see him for some time. Can you let us through?" Thomas asked, but he was stopped once again.
A hand laid on William's arm, forcing him to come along. He struggled, but that only made the person drag him with even more force out of the room towards the hallways.
"No! William!" He heard Flor's and Mae's yells, but he couldn't see them anymore.
He would never see them anymore.
I didn't say goodbye properly. He regretted every single step that had led him to that moment. Surrounded by doctors in the same room as Teresa, getting ready on a bed for goodness knew what. The flooding memories became his last concern.
'I'm sorry, Teresa. I failed. We're not getting out of here.'
William was lost, dazed by memories of many years ago, before the doctors could actually sedate him. Not all of them came back to him, just small moments with his family, mainly his parents. The way his mother dramatically acted, the stories she told him and a blurry figure about his size, always near him. How badly their father got after his mother began to turn into a Crank. The screams, the yells, the constant nightmares.
His father, an Immune, cried every night. Whenever he saw William, who was the spitting image of his wife, he would hug him. He felt like the world was cruel to him. First his wife, a crank. And then his son, a non-Immune. What else could happen to him?
But then, the day he and the blurry figure opened the door when they weren't supposed to, everything changed. The cries and yells stopped. In fact, his mother stopped breathing altogether. They were all taken away and then separated without letting them say goodbye.
A doctor made him lie down on the hospital bed. Then, a needle pricked his arm, and his eyes became too heavy to maintain them open.
'William.' Teresa called.
'Teresa? How—'
'I don't know.' She paused. 'This also happened when I was in the maze. I could talk to Aris even if we both were in that strange coma.'
'With Aris? . . . wait . . . are we in a coma?' He asked, utterly confused.
'I'm not sure. But there's something weird. Some of my memories . . . they don't seem like before. There are more things now that I can't remember.'
'You think they might be altering your memories?' William asked, his mind swarming with thoughts about the memories he was remembering.
'It's difficult to say. I don't even know if those memories I have are real anymore.' A minute passed before Teresa added. 'What about you? Anything strange?'
'Well, I thought that I was getting memories back . . . but now that you said that, it might just be WICKED playing with my head.'
'What kind of . . .'
Teresa's voice, just like the feeling of her presence, became increasingly fainter until there was nothing left of her. Or, more specifically, until his mind had given in to the sedatives and could no longer keep a conversation with her.
He stared at the end of a grey corridor. His heart sank as his eyes landed on the shadow. It stood idly at the end of the corridor, its entire body hidden in the shade. Only one light bulb, a couple of metres before it, enlightened the whole place.
Without him taking the first step, the shadow came closer to the light. A voice and mutters made their way into his mind, resonating as if they were on repeat. He couldn't make out a word, but he knew it came from the shadow, who could no longer be referred to like that, as its body was directly under the light.
"Liam," Aris said, whose tear-filled eyes stunned him for half a second, glueing him to the ground.
'Can you remember me?'
A warm feeling on his arm and cheek slowly drifted him back to reality. And, the first thing he realised, reality was noisier than what he last remembered it to be. There were shouts and yells all around. But the warmness on his cheek was soothing, protective even.
"Liam, come on, please, wake up." William fluttered his eyes open, encountering Newt, standing next to his bed with a worried look, while trying to help him sit up. "How are you feeling? You're alright?"
"Newt?" More shouts filled the room, making him anxious. "Wha—what's going on?"
"We have to leave. Right now." Newt laid a hand on his back, helping him stand up while taking off the tubes and needles strapped to his body.
"No. Wait," William tried to deny. "Janson, he—"
Leen and George came rushing in, wrapping their arms around William. The three almost fell on the bed, but, thanks to Newt's hand keeping William up, they simply tumbled and regained their footing in a second.
"He can die for all I care," said Leen.
"You're coming with us," concluded George.
Minho pointed a stun gun at the now barricaded door, shouting for everyone to get behind him. Newt, siding with Leen and George, pulled William with him, watching the guards try to break their way into the infirmary.
"OK, we gotta get outta here! Where do we go?"
Thomas looked back at a glass behind them. Without a word, he turned back around, grabbing a stool to try to break it, which didn't work. "Newt! Help, help!"
Newt ran to get another stool, hitting the glass with it at the same time as Thomas did, accomplishing to break it together. Teresa put a cover over the broken glass, so no one would cut their hands trying to jump to the other room.
"Come on, William." George urged just as he jumped over, quickly followed by William, who instead of jumping, had to propel himself up with Newt's help, as his body was still too drowsy from the sedative.
Minho was the last to go through, tossing the stun gun at Thomas before he did. The new leader glanced back at the large group, though half of Group A was missing, apart from Aris, Flor, and Mae. "Stay behind me!"
Before they were out of the room, a problem surged, though Thomas took care of it immediately. With the stun gun, he took out the guard that was coming their way, not caring about it for more than a second before running towards the Main Vault door.
"Hey!" William tried to get his group's attention towards him. "Where the hell are Mae, Rowan, and Aris?"
"Went another way!" Bea answered. "Aris said there was something he had to do first, Winston joined in, and the two darn idiots wanted to go with them."
They took a turn to the right, seeing the Main door at the end of the large hallway. Thomas' shouts were the most present sound to William's ears, apart from a menacing countdown in the speakers.
When they arrived, William almost collided with Newt, who was constantly looking between Thomas' failed attempts at opening the door and at the end of the hallway. Apparently, Janson had finally caught up to them.
"Thomas!"
Thomas didn't hesitate. He threw the card to the ground and gripped the stun gun harder, walking towards Janson as he pointed it directly at him. "Open this door, Janson!"
Minho kneeled down, getting the card from the floor to try it himself, having no better response than Thomas. The door wasn't budging, since the card was being constantly denied.
"You really don't want me to."
"Open the damn door!" Thomas shouted, his nerves overtaking his actions and thinking.
"Listen to me!" Janson shouted back. "I'm trying to save your life. The maze is one thing, but you kids wouldn't last one day out in the Scorch. If the elements don't kill you, the Cranks will. Thomas, you have to believe me. I only want what's best for you."
The brief moment of silence was overtaken by Thomas' shaky, though determined, voice. "Yeah, let me guess. WICKED is good?"
"You're not getting through that door, Thomas."
Something clicked behind them. The door's panel was green. And then it began to slide towards the ceiling. They turned around, surprised. Aris, Winston, Flor, and Mae were on the other side, almost out of breath.
"Hey, guys," Aris said.
"William!" Flor and Mae exclaimed, though only Flor hugged him as the large group ran to the other side of the door.
"Thank goodness you're OK. 'Cause you're alright, right?"
"Yeah, everything's OK . . ." William found himself gripping onto Newt's hand, his anxiety not letting him do much else but worry about Thomas, who would be left behind if he didn't hurry.
The door was closing. Unless Thomas began running, he'd never make it. And he did. He threw the gun, turned around, and sprinted in their direction. He had to drop to the ground to pass through, but he made it.
Aris got to the panel quickly and broke it, while Winston hurried to get a gun out of a passed-out guard beside them. Then Thomas did something that surprised William. He gave Janson the middle finger.
"You little shit," Janson said, though the door almost completely muffled it.
Minho got a backpack from their surroundings and encouraged everyone to run. "Come on, Thomas. Let's go. Come on!"
William followed behind Newt and Aris, who kept double-checking to make sure he didn't get separated. They evaded the boxes and cargo on their way while trying not to trip. Minho and Thomas soon were in front of everyone, arriving at the gigantic metal door that led to the outside before anybody else.
Thomas pulled the lever, and immediately the door began opening, letting a strong wind inside. William had to shield his eyes with his free hand, which didn't really work, and saw how Thomas turned around and saw something back where they had come from.
"Come on! Come on!" He shouted, motioning everyone to follow after him as he ran.
Without doubting for a second, everyone was immediately behind him. Running up a sand hill was difficult, but with the shouts coming from the entrance of the Sanctuary, the group seemed encouraged enough to do their best without Thomas having to shout for them to keep moving.
"Come on, go! Go! We'll lose them in the storm!" Thomas said, helping Frypan and Chuck out.
William and Aris helped Newt a few times, as his bad leg seemed not to help him at all to climb the hill. They lay side by side the moment they reached the top, following the rest as they watched how the guards looking for them got nearer. They lay on their stomach, trying to be the least noticeable possible.
Thomas caught William's attention as he was whispering to get everyone to go down. "Everybody, go, go, go. Stay low. Stay low."
They crawled their way down first, but when they were a safe distance away from the guards, Teresa got to her feet and began running way ahead of everyone else, which Thomas didn't like at all.
"Teresa, hang on. Stay together!" Thomas shouted.
"I think we lost them!" Minho said.
Rowan turned around to verify it. "Yeah, we did!"
"Keep going, guys. Let's go!" Thomas kept encouraging.
"Keep going where?" George questioned, but before he could say anything else, Teresa got inside a building the sand had almost entirely covered up, through a broken window. "Oh, just great."
"Teresa, wait! No, don't go in there!" Thomas shouted.
Others tried to stop her, but she immediately yelled back, "Get down here!"
William did not have the plan, nor the desire to go against her, so he walked through the window, and nearly fell down as he had to descend another sand hill to get to where she was.
"Come on, get down!" he shouted.