Till The WICKED End | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

21. Seperated

Quietly and light-footedly, I descended the ladder between Thomas and Francesca. Above us, I could hear the others making their way to the second floor from above for a short while, then their sounds died away as they disappeared into the ventilation shaft.
We descended lower and lower, and I was sure the building still went a good distance into the ground, which we hadn't been able to see from the outside, as we definitely descended longer than we had ascended outside.
"Careful, it doesn't go further here," Thomas hissed from below me. "Come on down, there's room for the four of us here. And I think there's a door in the wall."
While Francesca and Minho were still climbing down the last rungs of the ladder, I was already getting a flashlight out of Thomas's backpack and flicking it on. And indeed - there was a door right in front of us.
Squeezed together, the four of us now stood there and no one said a word.
"Alright... Shouldn't we go through it?" Minho asked after a few moments of silence.
"Okay, listen. We have no idea who or what is behind it. Let's open the door very slowly and carefully and draw our weapons. I guess they will have the labs down here, but I can't guarantee anything," Francesca said.
So we all drew our weapons and I clasped my pistol with both hands before Thomas slowly pushed the handle and opened the door a bit. No one made a sound, in fact I held my breath, believing that my friends did the same.
After several moments of nothing happening, Thomas pushed the door all the way open with his foot and it revealed a hallway that looked very similar to the one through which we had left the Maze that time. Cold lamps hung from the concrete walls and pipes adorned the sides.
"Tommy, come on. Go ahead," I whispered, then followed on his heels. "We're right behind you."
We followed the doorless hallway a good distance and I began to wonder if it was possible that this building was so long. Upstairs, I had still been thinking how small the footprint actually was.
The corridor seemed to have no end. But then it suddenly led to the left and we stood directly in front of a double door. Confused, we exchanged glances, then Minho stepped forward and pushed down the door opener. We were confronted with a horrible sight and I instinctively put a hand over my mouth.
Vessels containing various parts of the human body were everywhere, but brains were the most common. They adorned the entire center aisle that ran through the huge room and were hooked up to machines. In the fluid they were in, it looked like they were still pulsating.
"What the -," Minho began, but he was interrupted when the door slammed shut behind us and locked unmistakably.
Horrified, we stared at it, for behind it were still Francesca and Thomas, from whom we had just been separated, but were immediately distracted by another sound coming from the opposite side of the room. A door somewhere behind the one we could see was opened and we had to act with lightning speed to avoid being discovered.
"Shuck it, what a Klunk!" Minho cursed softly as we ducked under a table.
"What's going on here?" I hissed as I tried to catch a glimpse of the door, behind which human voices could now clearly be heard.
"... Can't be far now. I'm sure they'll show up here. Coleson's unit has just reported to me that four of them have been captured on the upper floors. They're trapped," I heard a man's voice say.
"Have they prepared everything for the transfer of A5?" a woman asked.
The door opened and they came in, accompanied by two unmistakable WICKED soldiers whose uniforms we had already worn.
"A5?" I murmured to Minho. "Where have I heard that before?"
He shrugged, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I should know. And when I looked at his face and realized he had his eyes wide and was biting his lower lip nervously, I realized he knew more than I did. But the adrenaline coursing through my body wasn't helping me dig into any memories.
Now it was time to get out of here and find Thomas and Francesca again. Hopefully they hadn't already been caught, I prayed. And how were we going to free Gally and the others?
"It almost sounds like they knew we were coming..." Minho whispered.
And that's when it became clear to me. They had known. They had been waiting for us, waiting for us to split up, hiding until we made easier prey.
"The radio message - this... that was a trap, Minho!" I stated in horror.
Of course. Now it was all beginning to make sense.
"What do we do now?" he asked me.
Now it was me who shrugged helplessly. I was thinking hard. We were in a very critical situation. There were only two of us left, Brenda, Jorge, Gally and Fry Pan had been captured and we were squatting under a table in the middle of brains and other human body parts. It was two against four if the two members of the High Council dressed in white, which I identified them as, were able to fight. But even so, we were vastly outgunned by the guards. All that was left was a surprise attack or the hope that Thomas and Francesca had not been captured and could somehow bail us out. And even then, we didn't know where our friends were or how to rescue them.
"Dr. Shepherd, are you sure the girl is enough? Why shouldn't we take the boy, too, if we can have both of them?" the man asked then.
"Because she'll come along willingly once I've had a chance to talk to her, Dr. Avery. I'm sure the boy would too, but the girl is more promising. And she'll cooperate if we let the others go in exchange."
Confused, I looked at Minho. Let the others go? The girl? Was she talking about me? What did she want to talk to me about? Far too many questions were buzzing through my head.
That's when I saw one of the two soldiers grab his ear, apparently receiving a radio message through a headset. The small group had stopped about 50 feet from us in the hallway and watched the man mumble something and then move closer to the woman, who reminded me a lot of a younger Paige in her manner and appearance, and whisper something in her ear.
"Are they still looking for the twins?" Avery asked her.
The woman smiled and there was more about her that reminded me of someone, her way of smiling, her features. I just couldn't think of who it was.
"Oh, they don't have to. They're already here."