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VIENNA HAD NEVER KNOWN THOMAS to be so daring. In their years of friendship, he had been something of a Golden Boy for WICKED. Excelling in every assignment, passing every test, even becoming a junior trainee member of the Board.
It only made sense; he was a Definite, a subject projected to go into the maze from the minute they sent foot in the WICKED compound. Whether it was stronger genes, higher test results, Vienna didn't know what set Definite's and Undetermined's apart in WICKED's eyes, only that there was a clear pattern separating the two groups.
Definite's only go one of two ways. Over-perform in hopes of changing your fate, and not being sent to the maze, or find it all to be pointless and act out until they surely send you in earlier than planned. Thomas had always fallen into the first group. So for him now to be dragging his best friend through the corridors, insisting that the guards were busy dealing with the "situation" he cause in the cafeteria, was unusual behavior, to say the least.
Vienna thought maybe it was her own recent behavior rubbing off on him - this rebellious streak. She was not unfamiliar with the cycle of the Undetermined's like herself. The children ripped from their lives due to their immunity but held in a waiting period before WICKED decides whether they want to dump them in the maze or keep them in the labs for the rest of their sad, controlled lives. She knew the pattern all too well. They mind their business, play their part, bite their tongue, keep on their best behavior for the first several years of their time with WICKED. In the beginning, they are desperate to avoid the fate of the trials; many are convinced their status as an Undetermined has gifted them a second chance at a life worth living - a life outside of the maze.
However, it happened to Vienna the same way it happened to every Undetermined before her. At some point, she came to realize that her life inside of these blank white walls would be no less miserable than her life trapped in those towering stone walls. At this point, the acting out begins. Little things at first - not completing assignments, skipping meetings. Eventually, the minor acts of negligence transition into full-blown protest. As the acceptance begins to set in that whichever way they go, they will never live a life of their own, recklessness and rebellion take form among the Undetermined's.
But the Definite's are different, they pick a mindset and they stick to it until the day they're thrown in the Box and shipped off to the maze. Except for Thomas, apparently.
"Thomas, what are we doing?" Vienna demanded, running by his side past clean white walls and not a person in sight.
"I'll explain when we get there, I swear, come on," he promised, boosting his speed even more.
"No!" Vienna declared fervently, stopping in her tracks. The boy stopped too, looking back at her. "Tell me right now what's going on."
Thomas sighed as dropped his gaze to the floor. He took a step closer to her, bringing his hand to the back of his neck, something he often did when he was feeling stressed.
"They're sending me up into the maze. Tomorrow."
Vienna felt her heart drop slowly. "How long have you known?"
"Since last month, when Chuck went up. Janson told me I was next."
"Shit, Thomas," the girl said defeatedly. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I've been busy. With this." He led the girl to the end of the hallway and held the door open for her. Warily, she followed and stepped inside.
Vienna had been in the room many times before, and nothing looked out of the ordinary. It was a computer lab where she had lessons and research time regularly, being trained to be a good little doctor for the cure. Only one of the monitors was on, open to an email browser.
Thomas followed her inside and quickly made his way over to the screen, sitting on the stool and typing furiously.
"She replied!" he exclaimed, fingers moving rapidly.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Vienna demanded, following him to the screen and pulling a stool up next to him. The reply email was addressed to someone named Mary, and Vienna's eyes quickly scanned the screen to figure out what her best friend was on about.
"Thomas..." understanding dawned on her as the boy began typing out a list of coordinates, labeling each one with location, leadership members, expected numbers. All of the information WICKED would have taken serious measures, surely had taken serious measures, to keep private. His fingers stopped and he turned towards Vienna, whose face was drawn down in shock.
"I know it seems harsh," he started gently. "But we could really do this. I've been spending the past month talking to Mary and getting all of this. This is the only information she needs to start the Right Arm's advance on WICKED, and bringing the whole thing down for good."
"The- the Right Arm, what? Thomas, what is this?"
He paused, watching her closely. "This can be the end of it all. If you can help me."
The smallest smile cracked through her lips. An ending to the oppression and suffering. A sliver of hope. "How?"
"I'm gone tomorrow," he stated. Her smile disappeared - she had almost forgotten. "The Right Arm, Mary's resistance group, can start working on a way to bring WICKED down, but they need to have someone on the inside and I'm not going to be able to do that anymore. I need you to take my place and get them whatever they still need to know. Once they've readied their forces based off of this," he tapped his fingers against the open notepad sitting next to the keyboard, full of WICKED's most sensitive information, "they'll need to know when to strike. You have to be here to bring WICKED down from the inside."
His eyes conveyed his unspoken question. Can you do that? And the answer was plain and easy, easier than any decision she had ever had to make.
"I'm in." Thomas' mouth grew into a beaming smile, and he flung out his hands to shake her shoulders out of pure excitement. The pair laughed and allowed themselves the hope of relief briefly before the boy turned back to finish typing his message.
When he was done, he double and tripled checked it against his list to be sure.
The blue 'Send' button flashed at them as they sat in silence, breathing it in. Thomas placed his hand on the mouse and pressed the button, a resounding swish coming from the computer speaker as their message disappeared.
The pair exhaled, smiles spreading, and turned to each other. Something burst in Vienna and she threw herself into Thomas' arms, laughing giddily at the chance for a better life. He breathed her in, holding the back of her head and slowly rubbing his hand over it, daring to stroke his fingers through her ash brown hair.
They pulled apart to soak in each other's eyes. Before she knew what had happened, Thomas' lips were on her own. The initial stun quickly melted into something warm and glowing in her chest. The breathlessness didn't feel tiring, but refreshing.
And the moment she recovered from her shock and embraced the flutter in her heart, their hope was shattered when the door burst open and in stormed a fleet of guards, blasters and batons in hand. The pair jumped apart, Thomas standing from his stool and daring a step in front of the girl.
"ON YOUR KNEES!" one barked, advancing towards them.
"Vie, don't say a word!" Thomas cried, turning to face the girl as she too stood quickly from her stool. In sync, they put their hands in the air.
"I SAID ON YOUR KNEES!" the same one yelled, drawing closer and raising his blaster.
"Okay, okay," Thomas said as they both dropped to the floor, hands behind their head.
"Now stay down," the same guard spoke harshly, sweeping around the teenagers and nudging Thomas' back with his weapon.
"Don't fucking touch him!" Vienna exclaimed, seeing Thomas pushed forward at the force.
At that moment, Markus Janson entered the room, surveying the scene. Vienna tried to contain the acid that bubbled in her chest at the sight of the man. He walked slowly, confidently over to the two teens posed in surrender and smiled crookedly. His eyes locked in on Thomas, treating Vienna as if she weren't there, as usual. "Take the boy," he said to the guards. "Prep him for the Swipe."
And although Vienna had known for years that Thomas would be sent to the maze, had spent long hours in her room mentally preparing herself for when his memories would be taken from him, something ruptured through her at those words. "NO!" she screamed, daring to get to her feet but being caught by a pair of men much bigger than her who held her back from Thomas and Janson.
Thomas was forced up from her side, dragged toward the door. "Vienna!" he yelled, fighting against the two guards who overpowered him easily. "Vie, I swear to God, I'll find you again! Okay, I swear!" And with his panicked last words, he was dragged into the corridor.
"Thomas!" she cried. She knew this was coming, for as long as she had known Thomas she knew he'd be sent to the maze. But it had never once occurred to her that there was even a slight chance she wouldn't be able to say a goodbye.
"Place the girl in solitary," Janson continued. No name, no compassion, no guilt. Then again, she had stopped expecting that from him a long time ago. "Good work, Webber."
Webber, who held Vienna's wrists in his hands, nudged her forward. A fleet of guards escorted her through hall after hall, until they reached a small, white room. One of the three bulbs in the overhead light was blown out, leaving the room in uneven lighting and casting a gray dissonance over the bed. A toilet and sink sat in the corner, and there was a slit in the door that quickly slammed behind her as she was shoved in.
"No... No, no, NO! LET ME OUT! PLEASE, THOMAS!" Tears streamed down her face as she pounded on the white door that did not budge. She leaned her back against it and slid down until she was sitting with her knees tucked up in front of her, processing the last ten minutes.
That's all it had been. Just ten minutes to have a chance at a new life, a first kiss, a loss of her best friend, and a new level of torture from WICKED.
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Vienna had heard whispers in the last few months. Rumors floating around the compound. Two days after she and Thomas were caught, it was all that was plaguing her mind as she sat in her lonely room. Some kind of change. Some kind of added variable. Something new for the subjects in the maze to have to dissect while they fought for their lives. It made her sick.
She knew the new variable had something to do with Thomas, and had been wracking her brain for the past two days to figure out what it could be.
She could tell by the sound of the internal clicking from the lock on her door that something was happening. Rather than the little slot in the middle of the door opening up to allow a plate of food to be slid across the tray, the handle turned and light started to peak through the crack. Someone was here for her.
Four men entered, only one stepped forward. "Subject A6," Webber stated clearly, "as punishment for your recent actions of disobedience and rebellion, the Assistant Director of the World in Disaster Killzone Experiment Department, Mr. Markus Janson, has decided to move forward in your progression with the trials."
"No," Vienna whispered, pushing herself further into the corner of her flimsy mattress.
"Today, Subject A6 is to be prepped for the Swipe-"
"No!"
"-and enter the maze as the Next Variable."
"You sick fucks!" she screamed. One of the three men hanging by the door stepped closer, past Webber. And as he stepped in front of his superior, Vienna's eyes were drawn to the syringe in his hand.
"NO!" she screamed, bolting off the bed and tearing through the two guards left standing at the door. She surprised them enough to make it between them and immediately turned right, sprinting down the halls for someone, anyone who might be on her side.
The guards tore after her and alarms began to screech. The white walls of the complex were painted red as the lights flashed on and off, alerting everyone in the building of a security breech. She rounded a corner, then another, until her luck ran out and she was met with the front of a new guard, syringe angled, ready for her neck. The poke felt like nothing, easier than an ant bite. The guard, expecting her to halt immediately, wasn't prepared to have to chase her down as she kept running passed him.
Left, right, right, straight, left. She had grown up in this building, why was this wing not familiar to her? She could feel the creeping in of the sedative and forced herself to overcome it. Left, right, left, maybe if she could get to the cafeteria, cause a scene.
A force from behind slammed her to the floor, pounding her head into the white tile with a painful blow. The drug worked with the impact to put her down and keep her there. Pain lulled through her skull as the man straddled her from above and held her wrists in a tight grip.
"We have secured Subject A6, Sir," she heard Webber speak into an earpiece. Vienna could process she was in danger, she knew she had met the end of the line. But there was nothing left in her body to keep her going, not as Webber hoisted her up and supported her into a semi-standing position, leaning against his body with her head hanging to the side.
"Let me go," she slurred tiredly. She could feel herself slipping further, the corners of her vision turning dark.
"Prep her for the swipe," she could just barely hear Janson speak, muffled through the speaker of a walkie-talkie. As Webber dragged her down the corridors, she lost whatever fight was left in her.
In and out, Vienna could feel herself being laid on a table, wrists and ankles strapped down. She forced her eyes open, and was met with descending metal machinery, protruding wires and tubes everywhere. Her vision was blurry, she couldn't make much of it out, but she felt the urge to thrash wildly, to get the hell away from it. Is this how scared Thomas felt?
But she was tired, and she was strapped down, and she wasn't going anywhere.
She lost consciousness just as the silicone oxygen mask touched her mouth.
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a/n yassss whoopee prologue done hope you enjoy!