One Lucky Winner

Chapter 2 ~ Thomas

This takes place near the beginning of The Scorch Trials.

* * *

I walk into a large room that resembles a lunch room. I see way more people than just Newt, Minho, Frypan, and the other Gladers. There are tables full of teenagers I don't recognize. I'm confused.

"Hey, Thomas!" I hear Minho say. I look over to see him coming towards me.

"We weren't the only maze," he says before I can speak. He leads me to a table with Newt, Frypan, and a few others, ones I don't recognize. I sit by Newt.

Some guy that's sitting by us is explaining to us how he got out of the maze. I don't really listen. I continue to look around, wondering where the hell I am and who the hell all these people are. But most of all, I wonder where Teresa is. I haven't seen her since a lady took her away to 'run a few tests' on her. I'm worried about her and I miss her.

"...That guy over there has been here the longest. Almost a week," the dude I don't know says, which captures my attention. I and everyone else looks to where he's pointing. A small, skinny kid with his hood up is sitting there, all alone at a table. He looks suspicious, but I oddly feel bad for him and suddenly want to invite him over here to sit by us.

"His maze was nothin' but girls," another kid I don't know says.

Minho snaps his head towards him. "Really?" he says, interested.

"Some guys have all the luck," Frypan says.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," the strange man named Janson says, suddenly appearing at the front of the room. He's holding a clipboard.

"You all know how this works. If you hear your name called, please rise in an orderly fashion and join my colleagues behind me...where they will escort you to the eastern wing. Your new lives are about to begin." I'm confused and scared. I like the sound of a new life, but I don't want to be taken anywhere without Minho or Newt or even Frypan. What if one of us is called? Where will we be going? I don't want us to be split up.

I stiffen up as Janson starts reading names. "Connor. Evelyn. Justin. Peter. Allison. Squiggy. Franklin. And Abigail."

A big wave of relief washes through me. None of us got called. But the wave is immediately followed by disappointment. I wanted a new life. I don't trust these people and Janson. I have a bad feeling about all of this.

"Now, now, don't get discouraged. If I could take more, I would," Janson says. "There's always tomorrow. Your time will come. Go on, eat up." Janson's so called 'colleagues' lead Conner and Evelyn and Squiggy and all the rest out of the room. Janson himself walks towards a door, where he's stopped by a lady in a white lab coat, the one that took Teresa away.

Conversation sparks up at our table but I don't listen. I watch Janson and the lady talking. Janson looks confused and somewhat mad, and the lady in the lab coat looks plain terrified. I wonder what they're talking about. Maybe Teresa?

With this in mind, I elbow Newt in the ribs. "What do you think they're talking about?"

He looks to where I'm pointing and watches Janson and the lady for a second. He looks at me and shrugs.

"Do you think they're talking about Teresa? That was the nurse who took her away, I think." I say.

"Maybe," he says dully, clearly not wanting to talk about it. I watch Janson and the lady until they both walk out of a door and out this room.