The next morning, they bring us a large breakfast. The food isn't great, but I'm glad they're feeding us this time. Maybe they weren't lying when they said the Trials were over.
Maybe Chuck could fly. Of course they were lying.
Sonya is busy talking to her friends, and I convince myself easily that telling her about Newt can wait. Group B doesn't seem that different, in the end. They stay separate from us – or do we stay separate from them? – but the interactions and friendships are the same.
Friendship forged in fire, bonds created in horrific Mazes and the sands of the Scorch.
A WICKED guard enters after we've been eating for awhile and calls a short list of names for something he doesn't explain. Minho is called, and he flashes a cocky smile as he strides to the front. Only I see the tension in the way he's moving. I've seen him run enough times to know how he steps when he's scared.
I worry about him. Teresa and I glare at each other from across the room, and hours tick past.
Just before lunch the door opens and my heart leaps. All three of my closest friends are out there, and I'm dying to see one of them.
Minho stumbles into the room.
He's covered in bruises.
My gut twists with the look on his face. He's angry and exhausted, but worst of all he looks broken. I know WICKED well enough. They pushed him, found how to make him break. How dare they?
"Ash," a guard calls into the room.
I slip into the bedroom the Gladers have been using, my heartrate kicking up. Minho casually follows, as if he's going to take a nap.
As soon as he passes the doorway, though, he hisses at me: "Don't go."
"What did they do to you?" I ask, his injuries looking worse from up close. Some of the bruises split the skin slightly, and blood is dried on his face.
He glares at me. "Don't ask, and don't go with them."
The guard tromps into the room, no doubt looking for me. "Ash. Your turn."
Minho sighs as if he's mad that I didn't obey him, even though it wasn't my choice.
When I don't move the guard aims the launcher at me. What choice do I have? I can't fight my way out of here, and I can't run. I'm in the lion's den. How am I supposed to avoid them?
I drop my head and follow him.
YOU ARE READING
World Gone Mad (TMR fic 3)
FanfictionWiping Ash's memory was a mistake. As she slowly begins to piece together her old life, all her lost anger returns. If her life is falling apart, she'll make sure to set the world on fire with her. But will her focus on revenge destroy what good is...
