The Deadliest Generation: The Maze Of Monsters

The Beginning Of The End

"What's that?"

"What? Oh, that."

Thomas had stopped running, and had started messing around with some ivy on the wall. He had pulled it aside to reveal the plaque he'd seen, silver and covered in dirt and tiny twines of young yellowing ivy.

It read something that made little to no sense, but sent chills down Thomas's spine as it gave off an eerie feeling.

WORLD IN CATASTROPHE: KILLZONE EXPERIMENT DEPARTMENT. 

"What does that mean?" Thomas asked while he blinked, making sure he read it right. 

WORLD IN CATASTROPHE: KILLZONE EXPERIMENT DEPARTMENT.

WICKED.

The words on the back of the Beetle Blade.

The garbled name of a facility from River's sinister dreams. 

What was WICKED?

Thomas was dragged away from his thoughts by Minho.

"I dunno shank, they're all over the place in this shuck maze. Like pretty labels for this thing they've built. I stopped wondering about them a long time ago."

Thomas turned back to the sign, trying to ignore the feeling of doom rising in his chest. "Not much here that sounds very good. Catastrophe. Killzone. Experiment. Really pleasant." 

"Yeah, yeah, real nice Greenie, whatever. Let's go."

Reluctantly, Thomas let the vines fall back into place and swung his rucksack over his shoulders. 

The rest of the day was a blur of exhaustion to Thomas. He and Minho made it back to the Glade, went to the Map Room, wrote up the day's Maze route, compared it to the previous day's, and then the walls closed and he went to dinner, tired out of his mind. Chuck tried talking to Thomas several times, but all Thomas could do was nod and shake his head. He was far, far too tired.

Thomas dejectedly headed to his favourite place to sleep in that forest corner where he'd slept last night with Newt, and the night before, after his second panic attack that caused him to loose consciousness. He curled against the ivy, vaguely wondering whether he could run again and how he would be able to do that tomorrow. Especially since it seemed so very pointless, every route leading to absolutely nowhere, the only seeming exit a Cliff that would kill you if you fell over it. Being a Runner had quickly lost his glamour, after one single day

Every ounce of courage he'd felt, the will to make a difference, the promise to reunite Chuck with his family, all vanished in his fatigue, into an exhausted fog of hopelessness and wretched weariness. 

He was somewhere very close to sleep when a voice spoke in his head, a light, high and almost unhappy voice that sounded like a young girl's voice was trapped in his skull. The next morning, when everything started going crazy, he'd wonder if the voice had been real or part of a dream. But he heard it all the same, and remembered every word.

Tom, I just triggered the ending.

The only thought in Thomas's mind after that was registering that it was sister talking again, and never registered the words. He hated it, it was 

Please stop. He thought. Please.

Then he drifted off.

Thomas awoke to a weak, almost lifeless light. His first thought was that he must've woken up earlier than usual, that dawn was still an hour away. But then he heard the loud shouts. And then he looked up, through the leafy canopy of branches.