CH. FIFTY
┗━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━┛
She did not think that deeply about her broken ankle.
But come on, she's been running around with it for the past days— it can't get any worse now.
Once there's Grievers, she'll do her best to keep Camil safe, and only wheel him toward the exit once there's no Grievers left.
If she's still alive once there's no left, at least.
When she told the other Gladers about their plan, there were still a few boys who didn't agree on leaving. Now, when she's running in the Maze (half hopping), she's a little more relaxed by knowing Fry, Winston, Jeff, and some other boys she has interacted with before have joined.
She didn't want to escape in the past—didn't want them to escape—but if they will, they better do it well.
Thomas and Minho have taken lead, both Runners. Newt gave a little more detailed explanation on how that got decided and the way Teresa came up the Box unconscious, with a note that she's the last one.
So if she would've stayed, she would never get new supplies. Perhaps this indeed is a way better choice.
Anyway— once arrived, they stop. She sees Gally's hand clench around the spear he's holding. Plenty boys are holding weapons, breaths heavy from running.
Thomas peeks around the corner, at the cliff.
"And?" Chuck breathes shakily. "Grievers?"
The brunette turns back. To her surprise, he shakes his head. "None."
Her immediate instincts go to that it's a trap.
"Come on," Thomas orders. "We'll all approach. Slowly."
Joan's heart is beating against her ribs, so hard she's afraid a Griever will hear it and show up anyways. Mentally, she's begging for them to not show up. It would make escaping so much easier.
They reach the end of the cliff. The silence between them, mixing with the tension, sends shivers across her spine. Then, the light on the Key Minho holds turns green, and the round door in front of them opens.
"It can't be that easy," Jeff murmurs.
"Don't say that," she whispers. "Brings bad luck."
Slowly, Thomas steps closer. It's one step, and then there's a movement. The ground grumbles before a red screen appears in front of them. With eight lines.
"Try the sequence to the Maze," Teresa suggests.
Nodding, the boy turns to Minho. "You do it."
"Your homework was to study the sequence." Minho's eyebrows fly up. "Bad Thomas. Detention. You have to stay in the Glade for another hour."
He rolls his eyes with a sigh. "I had other things on my mind. Now hurry."
Minho types the sequence in. It takes a few seconds, but then there's a click. And before she knows it, the ground disappears below them.
❀
They've landed in a hallway. She takes a deep breath, inhaling the smell of nothing specifically special, and then follows the other boys along. Her hand reaches for Gally's, which is sweaty but still gifts her comfort.
It doesn't take long to find a door in the white hallway. Above it, the letters EXIT.
Frypan scoffs. "Seriously?"
And she groans. Could've thought of something more spectacular, right?
Thomas hesitates with opening the door, as if the handle might electrocute him. Once he has opened it, the metal smell of blood enters their noses.
Her eyes wide at the new sight; dead bodies, spread all around the place. They're all wearing white clothes, with red stains in it. They must've been doctors.
Her mother might be here... her stomach twists at that, and she decides not to inspect the bodies. She just walks after Thomas as fast as she can, ignoring everything around her, until the crunching of glass comes from below her shoes.
Screens hang on the walls and stand on desks. They show the Glade. The last boys walking around in there.
Of course they had been watching them.
She sees broken screens, too. Bullet holes through glass, which explains all the dead bodies. Not a single soul except for her and her friends is here.
"Joan?" Chuck's whisper comes out even shakier than before they walked over the Cliff. "Look at this."
Curious, she stands beside him. Glances at the screen he's starting at.
SUBJECT ZERO.
JOAN: Joan of Arc
REMAINING FAMILY MEMBERS: Mary Cooper, Vince Cooper, Subject A2. Mother, father, cousin.
BRAIN PATTERNS ACTIVATED WHEN: Subject A9, anger, murder.
STATUS:
"Why isn't there a status?" Chuck whispers. He looks up at her with wide eyes. "And murder?"
"I haven't been involved with murder, don't worry," she assures, yet a bad feeling is in her stomach.
"Maybe not yet," he says. "Who do you think subject A2 is? And A9?"
"I'd say A9 is Gally." She shrugs. "Come on. Maybe we can find you here."
Chuck nods. They apart ways. She steps over a dead body, nose scrunching at the smell of it. Murder. It keeps repeating in her mind. Maybe in the past, she was involved with it? But wouldn't she have remembered?
She nearly trips over an object. It's a gun. Next to it lies a masked man, his hand just an inch away from the weapon. In his chest, she sees a knife. An small operation one, so the doctor who lies beside him must've stabbed really hard.
She crouches down beside the man. With shaking hands, her fingers clench around the knife. She pulls as hard as she can. The knife slips out of his body quite easily, making a slash sound. Joan wipes the blood off against the man's clothes, then sticks the knife in her pocket. Just in case.
Her eyes automatically fix on the gun. She wants to grab it and leave it at once. But it could come very handy in the outside world... so eventually, she sticks it in her waistband, tucking her shirt over it.
"Hey." Gally's voice makes her jump up. "Everything alright?"
She nods fast. "Yeah. With you?"
"Yeah. We should probably seek a way out of this place, though," he suggests.
"Well, just on time," Jeff announces. He points into another hallway. At the end of it, doors open and bright daylight lights the place up.
Her eyes squint. Eyebrows furrow as masked men move closer.
Once they've reached the Gladers, one speaks, "We'll get you kids out of here. Come on. Quick!"
Other men start walking around with guns. Some give them soft pushes towards the hallway, telling them to move forward. Saying that they have a safe place.
And for some reason, a few boys start following.
Panicked, she looks around. It's going too fast. Gally's also starting to move along, taking her hand to pull her with him. Thomas is already running outside. Chuck is, too.
Before she even knows it, she's walking though sand. Below a burning sun. She already feels her chest tightening at the heat. Windpipe getting smaller. Sand flying in her eyes.
It's the scorched world.
Then also before she knows it, she's sitting in a helicopter along with every other Glade that came with. In front of them, sit two of the masked men.
One pulls his black mask off. It reveals a normal face. A bit sweaty and dirty, but normal. "Don't worry," he says. "You kids are safe now."
She blinks a few times. Her eyes scan all the faces, and she notices that everyone is still there. Nothing suspicious.
Yet how does she tell them that these masks are the exact same as the masked man she saw on the ground? That the guns are made from the same material? That the men's suits are made from the same material as she saw during the Changing.
How does she tell her friends, while they're around these men, that this is still WCKD?