Subject of the Flame | Maze Runner [2]

ELEVEN

[ ELECTRA ]

❧

She wanted nothing more than to slink off into the bathroom and scrub her back until the skin was raw in hopes it would wash away the ugly tattoo. Instead, Electra just sat there, staring off into nothing as her mind spun with a million different thoughts at once.

Where were they? How did they end up here? Where was WICKED? Where were Teresa and the Group B girls? Why were they tattooed? What did the tattoos mean? Why hadn't she gotten a number like everyone else? Were the girls tattooed? What were they supposed to do now? Why were there Cranks outside the building? What about the dead bodies? Who had killed them?

Through the millions of questions, one seemed to encapsulate her resounding feeling of confusion.

What did it all mean? Electra had no clue.

The Gladers were a flurry of chaos around her. All of them yelled on top of one another, desperate to try and find answers, although it was obvious that none of them had any.

A clanging bell began ringing through the room. It was so loud that Electra instinctively covered her ears with her hands. She looked over at Newt and neared him when she saw recognition on his face.

"It's the bloody Newbie alarm!" He shouted into Thomas' ear, and Electra could tell what he was saying by reading his lips.

Newbie alarm? Like the one from the Glade? Electra realized she'd never heard it before, or if she had, it had been a very subtle ringing in the back of her mind. It definitely wasn't as loud or echoey as the one right now which threatened to burst her eardrums. She noticed Frypan in the distance trying to open the door into the common area but had no luck.

She drew her attention away when a memory started to come back. She was reminded of the voice. The ferocious intensity of the alarm mimicked how she felt on her first day in the Maze when the voice yelled in her head. She couldn't escape it, and the sound filled her entire being. She felt it behind her forehead, and it pressed up against her skull, filling her head with pressure.

Just like the voice, the alarm stopped right before Electra's head burst. Her ears rang at the sudden silence, and she slowly removed her hands from her ears. She became too aware of the shallow and quick breaths around her. The Gladers looked around in fear or nervousness, unsure of what to do next.

Newt was the first to speak, and his voice felt soft yet blaring in relation to the ceased alarm. "Don't tell me we're still gonna get Newbies thrown in our laps."

"Where's the Box in this shuck place?" Minho muttered sarcastically beside Electra. Instead of responding, she got up and made her way toward the door.

The door — while during the alarm was locked — was now cracked open a couple of inches. Electra was the first to notice, but once she had the rest of the Gladers curiously looked over. Beyond the sliver of the opening was complete darkness. Had someone been in there? What turned off the lights? What opened the door?

"Guessing they want us to go out there now," Minho said, and he slowly approached the door.

"Then why don't you go first," Frypan offered.

Electra looked back at Minho, who seemed confident and stable amid the situation. She knew he would go out first, especially now that someone had offered it. However, Electra was the only one with a weapon so without a word she slipped into the darkness first. She drew her knife in front of her chest in protection.

She took small steps and with the hand that wasn't clutching her knife, she tried to feel out for any chairs, tables, or even the hanging bodies. She heard footsteps behind her, no doubt Minho, but they trailed away from her.