Like Ashes We Fall

Chapter Eight

They threw me back in the cell unceremoniously. I hit the ground with a dull thud and coughed out a mouthful of blood.

Minho dropped to his knees beside me. "Ari? Shucking hell, what happened?"

I shook my head feeling more blood trickle from my nose. "Teresa."

"Teresa did this?"

"No." I spit out another mouthful of blood. "The guards did after I tried to strangle her."

"For fuck's sake," Minho muttered and helped me sit up. "I already threatened to kill her."

"Funny because I did too. Looks like I got closer than you did."

"I was unaware it was a competition." He started using the edge of his shirt to wipe away the blood.

I winced. "It wasn't in vain. Look." I opened my fist, showing Teresa's hairpin.

Minho stared. "Holy shuck. I would kiss you if it wasn't- ya know." He gestured to my face.

"Shut up." I studied the cuffs around our wrists. "Let me try yours first."

He held out his hands and I eyed the keyhole. Carefully, with the end of the pin, I set to work picking the lock. After fifteen minutes of silence and no success, I sighed. "I don't think-"

The handcuffs suddenly released with a hiss and fell away from Minho's wrists. We both stared in surprise. "Never mind," I said. "Make sure to keep them around your wrists without actually closing them. So they don't suspect."

"And then what?" Minho asked as I handed him the pin. He set to work on the cuffs around my wrist.

"I have no idea. That's as far in the plan as I've got so far."

He paused to look up at me. "What about-"

The door swung open, sending us both scrambling back. Minho pressed the hairpin into my hand just as the arms hoisted me up.

"Where are you taking her?" He demanded.

"Shut up," the guard snapped, nailing Minho across the face with the butt of his gun. Minho hit the ground.

I slid the hairpin up and into my sleeve as they dragged me into the hall. They took me a different way this time, through halls I'd never seen before. But when they dragged me into the final room, I recognized it was for what it was.

A lab.

There was a bed in the center and they prodded me forward. There was a click and the cuffs around my wrists fell away. For a few blessed seconds, I could taste the freedom. Then there was a prick in my neck. The world became hazy.

I stumbled to the bed where they forced me to lay on my back. The ceiling swirled above me, the tiles ducking and bobbing. I twisted my head to the side but all the doctors in lab coats looked the same.

The doors to the lab hissed open. Heels clicked on the floor. Teresa's face swam into view. "I'm sorry about this, Ari. I really am."

I tried to make my mouth form words but they felt stuck in my throat. I fought the drugs, refusing to slip into unconsciousness. I could feel the hairpin in my sleeve but my arm was too heavy to lift. My muscles refused to obey.

Teresa moved beyond my field of vision. "We won't be taking much today. Just enough to nail down the procedure for a cure. We won't take larger doses until we're 100% sure of the process we need to use."

I twisted my head to the right. A massive viewing window was there. I could have sworn I saw two figures, one dressed in all white, her face like a crow. The other was a man, his rat-like face glaring at me. A cruel smile twisted across his mouth.

I tried to rise from the bed but my body was no longer my own. My legs and arms wouldn't work. I started to panic, my chest constricting.

"Should we start the simulation?" The voice bounced around inside my head. Echoing off the walls.

"Yes. Let's begin. Her blood is already so potent, let's see if by using the same process as the Maze Trials we can achieve even more. Perhaps we will need to harvest less for each vial of a cure then."

"Injecting sedative." I felt a prick on my neck again, this time the drug taking effect immediately. I couldn't move. I could blink or breathe or-

"Beginning stimulation."

My vision went black even though my eyes were open. Everything faded away, the feeling of the bed, the smell of the bleach, the sounds of voices, and the clicking of vials.

Suddenly I was free.

I wiggled my fingers and then my toes. I rose onto my legs and stretched out my arms. I was barefoot. My clothes had been replaced with white pants and a white short sleeve shirt. I spun in a slow circle. It was a never-ending void of black.

My breath felt raspy in my throat. "Hello?"

My voice echoed into the abyss, bouncing around me. No one answered. Then I heard clicking, so faint at first I thought I had imagined it. Then a whirring noise I felt deep in my bones.

No, no, no, no, no-

The Griever materialized from the dark, seeming to drop from thin air. It screeched and raced for me. I spun around but my legs wouldn't move. I looked down. My feet had disappeared, rooted into the black nothingness I stood on.

The Griever neared me. I jerked forward to no avail, panic clawing its way up my throat.

The gap between me and the monster closed. It lunged for me, jaws wide. I raised my arms above my head and screamed as its mouth closed over me and black enveloped me.