Chapter Text
It’s been 38 days since they took Thomas, Minho, Aris and Sonja.
Newt knows. Of course, he knows. He always kept track of the time since they left. And today marks day 51.
Newt is in one of the tents they build up near the sea, looking at the latest train plans from WICKED. They got the latest Transfer Plans from their last train ambush. They found many Children but not their own Friends, sadly. What they found however was a USB stick. So right now Newt is staring at the little computer screen intensively.
“Newt?” Frypan calls behind him, entering the Tent together with Brenda, Jack and Harriet. “How’s it going?”
“It’s downloading..” Newt says, not taking his eyes off the download screen.
Jack looks above his shoulder. “Phew, just 70%? This takes long. We got this thing like an hour ago.”
Newt nods. “Hmm yeah, there must be more on this stick.”
“Cool,” Harriet says. “Enough time for you to eat until this is finished.”
“Or,” Newt starts, “After this is done.”
Brends facepalmms herself. “We all know you would just postpone that sleeping schedule of yours even more if that thing updates.”
Newt just grumpily looks back at her.
Harriet claps her hands. “Alright. You guys bring some food. And I…” Newt doesn’t see her face but he can tell she gave the others a sign that probably said ‘I will deal with this Idiot’.
The others nod and leave the tent. Harriet sits next to him and stares.
“..What?”
“Oh, you know. “ She starts. “You reallyyy remind me of Sonja. It’s funny.”
“...Aris told us you reminded him of Minho.”
She shrugs. “Has to be the coolest guy ever then I assume. I mean I saw him, I know he looks good, so that checks out.”
“Had Aris a crush on you or something?” He asks but Harriet just laughs loudly at that.
“Hilarious! What makes you think that??”
“I think he and Minho have a big crush on each other- wait no, I don’t just think they do, I know they do.” He shakes his head. “And I thought Minho was his type.”
“Hmm… I don’t know. I know he for sure had something going on with… Rachel... I don’t know. They were best friends at least. I didn’t really know Rachel, not like Aris did. She was very introverted. More than Aris. Still. It’s sad that she’s gone now.”
“It’s sad that so many of us are gone… gone for their weird experiments,” Newt said, leaning his head against the chair. “I still don’t really get how the experiments help to make a cure.”
Harriet hums. “Something about our adrenaline or something, I don’t know. Marrie is still not awake… And all our science nerds got taken away.” She rolls her eyes. “And that bitch.”
“Teresa?”
“Who else?” She huffs. “How stupid and manipulated do you get to be to think WICKED will help the world? She’s nuts.”
“Yeah.” Newt answers, looking down.
Harriet calms down at that and winces. “Oh, uh. Sorry... I knew you guys were friends…”
“I don’t know if we were…”
They see the computer screen changing, opening a folder. Newt and Harriet look at each other. What they is. Well. It is a lot. Train plans and schedules. Meeting plans. But most importantly, the ID of the taken children.
They have a lead.
Thomas has no idea how long he has been here. Here in this white room with nothing in it, isolated from others. There would be a plate with food and water from time to time but it was the bare minimum.
This is a test, Thomas thinks. A psychological test to be exact. Not that the maze wasn’t enough torture to burn their brains… This one is different. The main difference of this torture? No contact with any human soul. Ever. Ever since they took him, Thomas hasn’t seen anyone. Not even the adults working here. And even more shocking?
No telepathic connection. It’s like they never had it to begin with. And not for a long time Thomas feels completely lonely.
So there is sure a look of surprise in Thomas when the Ratman comes in. Thomas thinks he smiles at him but it just looks disgusting, to be honest. Like everything else here.
“I can congratulate you, Thomas. You have finished Phase 3.”
Thomas looks away.
“Hmmm, you once were on our side Thomas… You once believed in this cause…” He shrugs. “Well. I’m here to tell you that everything is set and our data is almost complete. Soon we got the blueprint to solve everything.”
Thomas can’t hold back anymore. “How does torturing us lead to this blueprint you’re still talking about? Doctor Cooper explained it and I guess I get the results you want, but aren’t there better ways than to send a bunch of unwilling children and teenagers to terrible places, watching some of them die?”
“Oh Thomas,” he laughs. “It has anything to do with it. And it sure would be in your great interest to follow along. Especially when we give your memories back soon…”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s say you are a different kind of Immune… Not only can it cure, but the Flare has Zero effect on you. That is why they call people like you ‘Munies’. The people outside I mean and oh boy do they hate you guys.”
Thomas huffs. “That’s no news. I know we are immune. That’s why you have put us in Mazes and all that. To make the immunity stronger.”
“Ha! Sure! But not all of you are immune, boy.” He laughs. “How funny you are…”
“Wait!” Thomas stands up. “Who isn’t immune then? I thought everyone in the Maze would be. I thought my blood was just more effective as a cure, but everyone else is still immune??”
Janson smiles again. “Take a shower, Thomas. You stink.”
“Wait, wait!” he shouts. “Why telling me this now? Why leave me in this weird white cell for I don’t know how long, just to come up with parts of the truth? What’s your damn deal?”
“Variables.” He answers. “Everything we’ve done to you has been carefully calculated by our Psyvhs and doctors. Done to simulate responses in the Killzone, where the Flare does its damage. To study the patterns of different emotions and reactions and thoughts. See how they work within the confines of the virus that's inside you. We’ve been trying to understand why in you, there’s no debilitating effect- It’s all about Killzone patterns, Thomas. Mapping your cognitive and psychological responses to build a blueprint for the potential soon to make cure. It was always about the cure.”
Thomas shocked by that still got a question. “What the heck is the Killzone?”
“Hmm, thought you would have this memory back. Especially with stinging yourself with that Griever… Simply put, the Killzone is your Brain. It’s the part where the virus takes place, spreads, changes and eventually makes the person a paranoid, violent and complete psycho.” He explains. “The stronger the killzone the more effective the virus is. That’s why we put you guys through the trials…” He claps his hands. “Well, that’s all for explaining! Now take a damn shower and put on new clothes.”
Thomas has no idea what’s going through his brain. Not everyone is immune from the Maze… Everything until this point is just part of their scheme? Really, everything ?
And most importantly, who is immune and who isn’t?
After that, it took Thomas half an hour to finish cleaning and he has to admit, it feels good to not smell like shit. They could have given him at least a place to shower in his stupid cell.
Thomas is arriving at another Lab but he isn’t alone anymore. He found Minho, Aris, Sonja and other teens that were taken away, standing in the lab.
“Minho,” Thomas whispers.
“Thomas!” He sighs. “You’re alright.”
“Well, as good as I can be… What’s happening here?”
“Something about removing our swipes…” Aris answers as they see Janson entering the room.
“Today you have the chance to get your memories back.” He starts. “By removing your swipes, the thing from your neck, the amnesia you once had will be no more. And most importantly, you will remember the cause of WICKED. Why WICKED is good.”
“What if we don’t want to?” Minho asks.
He shrugs. “That’s up to you. But… it would be in your best interest.”
“Why?” Thomas asks.
“Why? Hmm, well how about if I tell you that the rest of your ‘Glade’ is not immune? So what do you boys think… I could lead your friends to a trap full of Cranks, make them get infected and it’s over… And they would need you as a cure to heal them. Poetic, right?”
“We won’t let you guys into our shucking brains anymore, dude!” Minho shouts. “Right guys?” He asks looking at the others. Unfortunately for him, they don’t look too confident.
“Aris?” He asks but Aris looks a bit ashamed by his decision.
“Sorry but… I want back what they took from me…”
Sonja still looks thoughtful. “Sorry.. me too. I need to confirm stuff, too…”
“Guys…” Minho just says slightly disappointed by their friends.
“We can’t force them.” Thomas simply says, yet unsure. “But we can still decide for ourselves, Minho.”
Minho nods.
Janson looks at them blankly. “Sure. I will give you two a night to think about it then.” He says. “To the others! Tomorrow surgery begins.”
On their way to their new bunker rooms, Minho and Thomas gave each other a well known look.
No telepathy is needed when Minho gives him that look:
“We are gonna run away, aren’t we?”
Thomas smirks.