Cassie | Subject D-18 | The weak link
14 year old Cassie is the lone survivor of Maze D. Cassie isn't the fastest runner or the strongest, she doesn't even know if she's immune but somehow she's made it this far and doesn't plan on giving up anytime...
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The guards throw us into our bunk room…literally.
I stumble and hit my hurt hand against the side of the metal door which hurt a lot. Straightening myself up, I walk over to where all the boys are standing.
"What was that about?" Styled hair exclaims as we crowd around Thomas.
"You didn't really think they were just gonna let you through?" British guy questions Thomas as if he is insane.
Thomas shakes his head and fumbles around his pocket to reveal a key card. The same key card that the guards use to open the locked doors.
"Nah, of course I didn't. I'm gonna find out what's on the other side of that door." Thomas says determinedly.
I look around at the other boys to see them all looking unsure.
"Right…" British guy trails off.
"Newt, they're hiding something. Okay?" Thomas exclaims as the other boys spread out through the room a bit.
I nod, agreeing with Thomas. They haven't done anything to make me trust them so far. Including all their lacking lies and obvious distrust in us, I’m not surprised that it turns out they are hiding something.
“These people are not who they say they are,” Thomas continues, although I don’t think many of the others are listening anymore.
“No, Thomas, you don’t know that!” British guy exclaims as he walks up to Thomas again, exasperation lacing his tone.
“The only thing that we do know is that they helped rescue us from WICKED. They gave us new clothes. They gave us food. They gave us a proper bed,” British guy lists off before taking a small pause as he looks at Thomas, “Some of us haven’t had that in a long time.”
“Yeah, but…” Thomas starts to argue back but british guy cuts him off.
“Some of us a lot longer than others.” he says this directly pointed at Thomas. I wonder if Thomas was the newbie in their maze when they escaped?
Thomas’s eyes widen slightly as he stares at british guy in shock, probably from his outburst.
A sudden rattling from behind us startles me and causes me to jump slightly.
“What was that?” I question aloud as we all turn to the source of the noise which was the cover of an air vent sliding across the floor, followed by…Aris crawling out of a vent under the bed?
“Hey Thomas, Cassie,” he greets us casually as if he didn’t crawl out of an air vent.
“What the…?” someone in the group mutters in shock.
“You got it, didn’t you?” Aris asks Thomas, probably referring to the key card he stole off of one of the guards. What are those two planning? Thomas holds up the key card for Aris to see as the group of boys stare at each other in confusion.
“Yeah, yeah lets go,” Thomas says as he walks over to Aris who is still half under the bed. We all follow behind Thomas curiously.
“All right, look, maybe you guys are right. Maybe I’m just being paranoid,” Thomas says as he starts to climb under the bed and into the vent feet first. Why is he going feet first? Doesn’t that mean he’ll have to try and turn around while in the vent?
“...But I have to find out for sure,” Thomas continues, “Just cover me. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” And with that, Thomas slides under the bed and into the vent, disappearing from view.
Styled hair quickly replaces the vent cover while the others sit around in shock and confusion.
“I can’t believe Thomas thinks that they are the bad guys. WICKED is. These people didn’t put us in a maze, they saved us!” Newt exclaims as he sits down on his bed with a huff.
I furrow my eyebrows slightly.
“But what about all the weird stuff that they’ve done?” I question, causing all of the boys to turn their attention to me.
“What do you mean?” Styled hair asks.
“You know, the weird medical tests and injections we got when we arrived. The fact that they lock us in our rooms at night. Or that they only allow a small number of kids at a time to go to their ‘safe haven’ and even then we don’t have any idea where this ‘safe haven’ is or what it looks like?” I semi-rant as I absentmindedly fiddle with the thick bandage that covers my forearm.
“What's that?” British guy asks, nodding towards my bandaged arm.
“Yesterday when Janson took me out of the dinning hall, he took me to the medical room. Said they had extra tests to run. They injected me with a sedative and when I woke up I had this bandage wrapped around my arm. They said I fell off the table and needed stitches for the gash that it caused,” I explain as I trail my fingers over it lightly.
“I agree with Thomas, they’re definitely hiding something. Something big.”
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We continue to talk for a while more and I also learn everyone’s names. ‘Styled hair’ is actually Minho, ‘British guy’ is Newt and then there is also Winston, Frypan and Jack. Most of them were in their maze for about two to three years whereas Thomas was only in the maze for a couple of days.
“What about your maze?” Winston asks curiously. So far, they’ve told me everything about their maze and their ‘glade’ but I haven’t said anything about mine.
“Well for starters, there were girls and boys in my maze, not just boys like yours,” I start as I recall my time in the maze, “Uh, I was the youngest in my maze. I was thirteen when I first got there so the others tended to baby me. I wanted to go out in the maze and help the searchers…” I’m cut off by Newt.
“Searchers?”
“Yeah, that was our version of your runners. Anyway, but the leaders wouldn’t let me so I just became a helper to the Medics instead. Mostly helped keep track of stock, clean and bandage a few wounds here and there,” I tell them, smiling lightly as I remember all the times Scott, the leader of the medics, would get mad at me for spending too much time talking to the patients and not enough time actually helping them.
“How’d you get that scar on your face?” Frypan asks curiously, causing me to stiffen. I bring up a hand to my scar and shiver lightly at the memory.
“Uh…” I start, not sure what to say but am thankfully saved by the sound of our door opening.
We all quickly scurry around to hide pillows under Thomas’s bed covers and make it look like he is asleep.
“Janson wants you,'' the same guard that was arguing with Thomas earlier says, nodding his head at me. My eyes widen slightly and I feel my posture stiffen. Minho takes notice of my change in attitude and narrows his eyes at the guard.
“Why?” he questions as he comes to stand next to me. The guard visibly brushes a hand over his taser that is attached to his belt.
“Extra medical examinations,” he answers as he eyes Minho, probably wondering if he’s a threat.
“I’ll be fine,” I whisper to him before walking over to the guard who grabs my arm and escorts me out of the room, closing and locking the door behind himself.
“I hope…”
(1250 words)
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