Ticking Time Bomb [THE SCORCH TRIALS]

CHAPTER ONE

      "Well, anyway, I came here to inform you that we have lots of new people on the way," He stepped further into the room, hands behind his back.

     "And how does this affect me?" Ingrid spoke as she flung another arrow into the midpoint.

"Chancellor Paige told me to inform you," Janson replied, his eyes trained on Ingrid's perfect hit. It was determination like that that led WICKED to success.

     Ingrid sighed as she realized Janson showed no signs of leaving. She turned around, her eyebrows raised as she looked him in the eye. "I don't suppose you could tell me for what reason?"

"That, I can. They were in a Maze, just like you."

Ingrid breathed out a sigh of disbelief as her memories of the Maze flooded back into her brain like a slideshow. It was the worst experience of her life, and she despised to even speak about it. "Am I going to meet them?"

     "Of course you are, Ingrid. You're crucial to all of this, you know that. We trust you, Ingrid. We know you won't betray us," Janson nodded lightly, causing Ingrid to let out a sigh of relief.

       Ingrid suddenly let out a small chuckle, causing the aforementioned man to slightly turn around from his walk towards the exit. She had her fingers wrapped around an arrow, playing with the tip. "Trust is not easily given. You may trust me, but I can't trust you." The words that Ingrid had just uttered meant more than what met the brain. It meant that although the man and his colleagues had offered her food and shelter, it didn't completely advocate to the fact that she did indeed have a secret agenda. After all, her mother was dead. She had no other way to deal with it al, except for a nice hot bowl of revenge. Sadly, he was conflicted on who the revenge was going to be thrown at, for she had no utter idea on who had killed her mother.

       "We have an agreement, Miss Clearwater," Janson held his arms sternly behind his back, a tone of anger slightly tacking onto his voice. This made Ingrid finally turn to meet his pointed gaze with her own eyes that gleamed of a fiery power that only she held.

"I'm quite aware of that. You all made it very clear after you threw me into the Maze," Ingrid spoke remorsefully, her voice coming an octave lower than normal as a chill ran up her spine.

"Ingrid, you're lucky that we didn't put you in the maze with the others who seemed to have more dysfunctions than necessary. The maze we put you in was simply created to test your strength," Janson spoke slowly, as if he was finding a way to drill the words into her brain.

      "Okay, so I'm strong? I knew that already. No reason to put me in a Maze for that. By the way, thanks for my best friend's death and my sudden death, which I haven't forgot about," Ingrid nearly shouted, soon calming herself after a memory floated into her brain. It was the dawn of night, the other Gladers surrounding her body. Ingrid held a cold expression on her face as her consciousness faded in and out of the world. People muttered words, whispers along the lines of, "she's dead", and "should we help her?" And once again, the only person who cared about her, going by the name of Kimber, came to her immediate rescue. Kimber's experience as a med-jack allowed her to push through the small, bustling crowd of others, saving her best friend in no time.

       Janson spoke once more, his eyes trained directly on Ingrid's slow moving body. "We couldn't help the fact that Kimber simply could not escape or survive on her own. We had no power over that."