Their Deadly Design // Minho

Deception

"Do you know why Teresa told you to go help Group A?" The Creator asked calmly. I swallowed hard, shaking my head.

"I don't know. All she told me that night before you took her away was that you had changed everything. That Thomas and everyone else was now in danger." That's when she smiled, nodding her head.

"Yes and who do you think told her to say all of that to you?" My blood ran cold. The hair on the back of my neck standing on end.

"No." I whispered. "No."

"We needed two candidates, in case one of them failed, and they needed to face the same variables." Traitor. Betrayer. These words were beginning to make sense. Thomas hated Teresa, the trust between them was now broken. She had betrayed him. And I wasn't a traitor because I abandoned W.I.C.K.E.D or because I withheld information from Group A. I was a Traitor because I lied to Minho.

"I'm just another variable." I whispered.

"And you payed your part beautifully my daughter." The Creator said, not looking as happy as she sounded. "You didn't even need to be told." Before they could stop me, I ran out of the room. Voices called after me but I was a Runner and I knew this building better than anyone. Nobody could catch me.

I ran straight to the boys dorm. I didn't care if they all shunned me, if they all hated me. I just knew I had to talk to Minho. I had to get him to trust me. I had to tell him that it was all part of their plan. I was a variable and he was the experiment.

But, just as I told Teresa the night before, if I thought Thomas would never forgive her, Minho certainly wouldn't forgive me.

Bursting through the double doors, several indifferent faces looked over at me. Newt wouldn't catch my eye. Frypan was angry, looking away quickly. Aris stared at me with a cool, calm demeanor. He looked sympathetic. "Minho?" I questioned. A door to the right opened and Minho walked out in a fresh pair of clothes, toweling off his hair. He paused when he saw me. I took a step forward.

"Stop." He commanded and I did, feeling my hands shake at my sides.

"Minho can we talk." I whispered.

"I don't think I want to hear what you have to say." He replied in a hard voice, tossing the towel onto a bed.

"Minho please, just let me explain." Nobody said anything. "I promise it will all make sense if you just.."

"Listen to you?" Alex demanded standing. "We did listen to you. You know, back in the desert?" I swallowed hard. "You're a daughter of W.I.C.K.E.D."

"I can't help who my parents are." I exclaimed.

"But you could have said something!" Alex shouted.

"Enough." Minho cut off as I breathed in deeply, feeling like I was going to cry. "I'll talk to you, outside but only if you leave right after." His voice was calm as he walked towards the door. I could only nod and follow him out. As the double doors shut behind us, I turned towards Minho expectantly as he leaned against a wall just outside the doors. "Go." He muttered.

And so the truth came pouring out of my mouth. I apologized, profusely for not telling him who my mother was but, as I've continued to remind myself, "Family isn't blood." My mom didn't love me. She never even wanted me and I expressed this to Minho. "The only reason I'm important to her is because she see's me as another experiment." Minho said nothing.

I explained my conversation with the other members of W.I.C.K.E.D. How Teresa lied to me the night before she went through The Swipe and how I had merely played into W.I.C.K.E.D's hands by going into the maze, not explaining who I was and what I was doing there. I told him how I was a variable. How they needed two candidates. One of them being Thomas and the other being him.

"They're trying to tear us apart, just like they tore Teresa and Thomas apart." Minho just stared at me. His face a blank slate. The silence stretched out between us.

"How can I trust a damn thing you say?" He asked.

"Minho, please." I began to move towards him but he backed up.

"You have done nothing but lie to me. How do I even know that this isn't a lie, that W.I.C.K.E.D is watching us right now, analyzing this variable." I stiffened.

"This isn't a variable Minho please listen to me."

"I have listened to you!" Minho erupted, shouting at me. "I've listened to you, over and over and over again! And you have done nothin but stab us in the back." He looked so pissed off I was surprised he hadn't hit something yet.

"Minho please! This is what they want!" I pleaded. His fist slammed into the wall next to me. Some plaster broke off and I could see that his knuckles were bleeding. Minho was breathing hard, not looking at me.

"You're just going to lie to me." Minho whispered and I hated seeing him in so much pain. "You're just going to keep lying over and over and over." He slammed his fist against the wall again, white paint flying. 

"Minho!" I cried out, reaching out to him but stopping as he flinched.

"How can I trust you?" Minho whispered and it was only then that I realized, Group A's fearless leader was crying. I backed away, a look of complete shock and terror on my face. He didn't believe me. He didn't trust me. I had lost him. And when I ran away from him a minute later, Minho didn't call after me.

----

Brenda was snapping her fringes in front of my face. "Earth to Mallory. Hi, hello have you been listening?" I say nothing as I glance from her to the screen then back again. Brenda sighs. "Fine, I'll just repeat the last part." I wait patiently. "Minho has been asking for you." I try not to look surprised or startled as she says this.

"Why?" I ask plainly.

"He won't say. He only demands to talk to you. We've had other guards, other scientist's try to reason with him but he throws a fit and nearly knocked out Brad yesterday."

"How long has he been asking?"

"About three days." Brenda shrugs. "The Creator thinks he wants you to tell him where Thomas is."

"I won't." I mutter.

"Yeah, I know that." Brenda pauses. "But the Creator is allowing you to talk to him.. If you want." A chance to see Minho again? How could I pass this up?

"No." I murmur, looking back to Thomas.

"Come on Malloy, he's only going to get angrier. You know how he is." Brenda taps away at the keyboard for a second and then security camera footage pops up. It's of the mess hall. It's live footage. Minho is currently shouting in one of the guards faces, Newt and Frypan are trying to hold him back. Guns are drawn. "Just go talk to him." I stand, but only a minute or so later.

"Fine, but only because the Creator asked me too." I mutter. Brenda smiles.

"Of course." She sits down in my chair as I exit the room. What could Minho want? Why would he only want to talk to me? He must know I can't tell him anything. Maybe he's expecting something else. Whatever it is, I'm going to find out soon.

A/N:
Someone made this kick ass poster! I really like it