THE MAZE RUNNER • labyrinth

1 : an act of shock

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he stood at the front of the long table, staring down at the creators of wicked.
their corrupt eyes stared back waitingly.

"thomas?"

he turned his head slightly to his left to see teresa looking up at him with concerned eyes. he looked away and stared down at the papers laid out in front of him.

they were waiting, waiting for him to say something but he didn't know what to say. how could you make a decision when the choices you had were malignant?

he cleared his throat and looked up. "we aren't getting everything we need to finish this blueprint," he said, even though that was already cleared up and everyone in the room knew that.

"and..." Teresa urged him. "what do we do to change that?"

he closed his eyes again, trying to think. "i-uh.." he stuttered, the pain in his voice noticeable.

he heard a chair scratching against the floor, and opened his eyes to find teresa standing beside him. she placed her hand on his shoulder and motioned for him to sit down. he nodded back slightly and sat down where she was sitting just moments before.

teresa now stood at the head of the table with her back straight and a look of determination. "thomas is right. we don't have the responses we need for the blueprint and we're running out of time. we need to trigger a bigger response. i propose an act of shock. we give the groups something they're not used to."

thomas pulled away from his wandering thoughts and focused on what teresa was saying. he knew this wasn't going to end well. it never does. "as we all know, group a is all boys and group b is all girls, and every month we send up another immune. they always expect it to be of the same gender. well, what if we send a girl to group a and a boy to group b."

thomas's mouth gaped open and the room erupted with voices and gasps. he looked around the room at all of them, noticing how their reactions were all positive. they wanted this. thomas jumped out of his chair and grabbed teresa's hand, pulling her out of the room.

"you have no idea what you just started, teresa!" he yelled, every second that went by he felt himself getting angrier. "what were you thinking in there?"

teresa stared at him in shock, not knowing this would be his reaction. "i was thinking we need to finish this blueprint. you told me you couldn't keep standing by and watching them die, and i understand that. but what i don't understand is how you're willing to throw away everything we worked for. what we were raised to do."

thomas groaned in frustration and slammed his fists on the wall. "this isn't right. what we're doing to these people isn't right. we have to find another way." he was practically begging now.

"maybe not but our intentions are," teresa said. "you have to decide who's side you're on." she turned around and walked away without another word, leaving him standing there with a pounding headache.

he sighed and walked back into the room, where the others waited. he walked to the head of the table and leaned against it once again not knowing what to say.

everyone in the room began shouting question after question at him, but only one stood out from the rest.

"are we going to do it? maybe teresa's right."

thomas looked up and found the owner of the voice. it came from a.d. janson. he stood up from his chair and looked around the room. "i say we give them what they don't expect. let's send the other two immunes we were going to send up this month to the opposite groups."

the room finally went silent as everyone waited for thomas's response. he knew no matter what he said, it wouldn't change a thing. he closed his eyes and opened them again. "fine, but i want nothing to do with it," he replied angrily and walked out of the room.

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