Everyone took a step back, but I stayed where I was. I didn't want to look scared, because I wasn't. My body was humming with unbridled rage and I saw every way that I would kill them. But I also saw every way that they could kill me. Maybe set the grievers free, maybe shut my brain down with those weird glowing screens in front of them. I stayed where I was.
"Who are those people?" Chuck asked in a small voice.
"The creators." Minho answered. He had also stayed where he was. "I'm gonna break your shucking face." He had screamed so loud I winced.
"What do we do now?" Thomas asked. "What are they waiting for?"
Newt had started to say something about the grievers but was cut off by a loud beep. I pictured a huge truck backing up and looked around. But it was still the same as before, only the sound now echoed around the chamber.
"What now?" I asked. We all looked at Thomas, but by the look on his face, he was as clueless as us now. He had gotten as far as his scattered memories had allowed him, and now we had to figure it out.
We all waited, tense, hoping nothing would come out and kill us. Maybe they really were getting the grievers ready, using the beeping to distract us. I watched the egg-shaped chambers, waiting for them to pop open and praying that our deaths would be swift.
But the beeping stopped and silence like I have never felt before settled in the room. A door opening scared me and I made sure that it wasn't actually the grievers. Instead it was two people. One was a woman, older than us with short brown hair and dark eyes. Her face held no emotion and she made the people behind the glass look alive.
The person walking beside her had a gray pullover on and the hoodie covering their face. They were shaped like a boy.
"Welcome back." She spoke. "Over two years and so few dead."
I looked at her with a slack jaw. My anger that was distracted by the beeping resurface.
"Excuse me?" Newt asked, the same amount of rage on his tongue.
The lady's eyes scanned the room. "Everything has gone according to plan, Mr. Newton. Though, we expected some of you to give up along the way." She gave him a lingering look and I felt protective of him. The lady turned to the boy beside her and pulled down his hood.
A gasp got stuck in my throat and I almost choked. "Oh my god. Gally." There was no way. I saw him being taken by the griever. I was sure he...died. So if he was alive, does that mean that the other boys are alive as well? If they weren't, why just keep Gally alive?
"What's he doing here!" Minho shouted.
"You're safe now," the woman responded as if she hadn't heard him. "Please, be at ease."
"At ease?" Minho barked. "Who are you, telling us to be at ease? We wanna see the police, the mayor, the president-somebody!" I worried about what Minho might do-then again, I kind of wanted him to go punch her in the face.
She narrowed her eyes as she looked at Minho. "You have no idea what you're talking about, boy. I'd expect more maturity from someone who's passed the Maze Trials." Her tone shocked me.
Minho started to say something but Newt stopped him with an elbow in the gut. "What's going on Gally?"
The boy just looked at him, his eyes red with tears. He tried to say something, but struggled and then shook his head. He looked horrible, worse than before and was shaking. The woman nodded as if proud of him. "One day you'll all be grateful for what we've done for you. I can only promise this, and trust your minds to accept it. If you don't, then the whole thing was a mistake. Dark times, Mr. Newton. Dark times." She paused. "There is, of course, one final Variable." She stepped back.
Gally looked like he was two seconds from throwing up. His lips were shut tight but the skin around them twitched, like he was trying to open them but couldn't.
"Gally...?"
Words fell out of Gally's mouth. He was struggling around them. "They can...control me." He stuttered and choked, holding his hand around his throat. "I have...to..." He choked and then his face stilled, he was calm.
It was a weird thing to see. He was choking and looking close to passing out and then he was still, like a stone statue. He reached behind him, pulling something shiny and long out of his back pocket. He pulled his arm back and then it was pinwilling towards Thomas.
Time slowed to almost nothing. I watched as it flew, centimeter by centimeter, inch by inch. No one moved, no one made a sound. But then someone on my left moved. Chuck was making his way in front of Thomas and I saw a flash of this little boy laying on the floor, knife in chest, not breathing. It sprung my muscles into action and suddenly I was standing in front of Thomas and Chuck and there was a searing pain in my back.
I stumbled forward, holding onto Chuck, but he wasn't strong enough and I hit the floor, knees stinging. I heard myself gasping, wincing when my lung moved against the blade that was lodged in it.
"Jane." Their voices were an echo and it was all I could do to look up at them. I saw my friends, all of their eyes filled with fear and worry. But past them I saw my whole time, or what I could remember since waking up in the box. I remember something about your life flashing before your eyes, you get to relive your memories before you die. But Clint had told me once that he remembered reading somewhere that that wasn't the case at all. Instead it was the body finding a way to save itself, only it has never in this situation before so you saw everything.
It was more depressing, but I was glad that I never had to be put in a situation where I was stabbed in the lung before, because it really hurt.
Black dots clouded around my vision and I saw something flash beyond my friends. Well really it was someone.
He stood with his blonde and caring hazel eyes. He looked the same as he had only minutes before his death and he was smiling at me. "Nick." He smiled wider, his teeth showing.
"Jane." Newt crouched in front of me, tears streaming down his face, Minho was beside him, looking just as distraught.
I lifted my hands and held their faces, despite the ache I got from the knife. "I'll tell Nick...you said...hi..." I was wheezing worse, but I needed to tell them, needed to let them know.
The black edges grew and I was almost expecting a blinding light, but it was just like falling asleep, and I couldn't feel anything anymore.
I wondered when I woke up from this horrible nightmare if Nick would be waiting for me, waiting for our date, holding me when I told him everything I dreamt of.
Yeah. It was just a dream...It was once again dark and cold.
