𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐀 - TMR, Gally ¹

𝟢𝟤𝟧，𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞

"Maybe she can help with my serum," she says excitedly. "It's against the Cranks."

"You give it to yourself or the Cranks? Both?"

"The Cranks," she says. "It'll kill them."

"Oh, honey, perhaps it's not a good idea for a ten year old to mess with deadly chemicals," he warns, attempting to take her stuff, but she slaps his hands away.

"Wait." Realization makes her eyes widen. "I promised Gally and Minho mom would help! If she's leaving, she can't—"

"Maybe it's best that those kids stay where they are," her father recommends. He crouches in front of her. "Remember? We'll be saving them in a few years, when everything is settled."

"Has Lawrence finished the security system yet?" She wonders. "That'll help."

"Lawrence and his little crew fled." A sigh. "Apparently, he's been planning to start his own 'cult' for a while. Left us for his own good."

"Oh." Disappointment makes her face fall. "Well, he'll die. He's infected."

"He took your serums," her father adds. "And the paper with ingredients. Meaning, if he always uses that serum, all the time, he'll survive."

"He stole my things?" Her voice raises, just like anger does. "He stole what I worked so—"

"Sh, lower your voice."

"HE ST—"

❀

Groaning, she awakes. Takes the notebook she claimed a while ago and writes what she saw down. Lawrence, her mother, serums, Cranks, whatever those are, and what her father looks like.

Blonde, goatee, v-neck, few wrinkles. Sketching his face doesn't work since she's not the best at drawing, but hopefully this is enough to remember him if she ever happens to see him again.

Though he's probably dead. From when they got bombed. And her mom no longer worked for the Creators, so she was also in the building when the bombs got dropped.

Ha, they're both probably dead.

And the Creators go by 'WCKD'. The same name as on their supplies. WCKD. What can that mean?

Well, wicked this is for sure.

Shaking her head, Joan walks out of her hut. It's early in the morning again. A morning swim sounds good. She should ask the Box for a swimsuit, though.

Slightly perked up, she makes her way to the lake with a towel in her hands. Puts her stuff down besides it and dives into the cold water.

Goosebumps form everywhere, yet it's refreshing. She rubs sleep out of her eyes, stretches, and then starts swimming around a bit. Now and then, she tries to hold her breath as long as possible.

She stops when there's a movement. A few feet away from her, bubbles are rising and pop once they hit the air.

Frowning, she swims back a bit. Looks around. Was the water always this dark? No, it was clear before. Super clear. Now it's... black.

Panic starts to form when she feels how thick the liquid is. A metallic smell makes her nose scrunch. Thick, black... blood?

She's too taken aback to even get the thought that this might be a hallucination. Yelping and spatting around, she tries to make her way to the surface, but the thick liquid won't allow her to. It sucks her underwater, clawing at her legs and trying to catch her arms.

They do. Strings of black wrap around her arms like rubber bands and start pulling. She gasps before she's underwater. Kicks wherever she can and makes it out of the water, taking one breath before she's pulled back in.

At first, she only sees blackness. Then eyes appear. Not one pair, but at least a dozen. They all stare at her. Some are darker than others, but they all have something evil, and it frightens her.

She screams. The sound fades into the water and bubbles are the only thing that make it to the surface. One of the things in front of her has wrapped its hands around her neck. It pulls her deeper and deeper underwater.

Laughs echo in her ear. Choked-on words. It's like the voices she hears in her dreams. The ones that she can't see, but does hear. Now she can both see and hear them.

Its still pulling. Turns his head at her, revealing a giant grin on an ugly face. Rotten teeth, black veins as if he's going through the Changing, and more black liquid streams out of his mouth.

She screams again, a ton of the liquid entering her mouth and making her choke. Her attempt to cough it out fails; only more liquid enters her mouth. It's so thick that she can't swallow it away, and she's somewhat suffocating as he pulls her deeper and deeper, as if the black lake is endless.