Into the Maze (English Version)

15

Behind the slide was a room, that J thought could also be the interior of a spaceship. Metal countertops, flashing buttons, and modern screens were everywhere the gladers looked. But somehow everything seemed a bit battered, as if someone had tried to destroy everything here. And then there were... J gave a shrill scream, as she stepped on the dead hand of a body, lying on the ground.

"What happened here?", Pan gasped, but of course no one had an answer.

"So they were really watching us," Newt nodded towards a split screen, that showed several shots of the glade. J didn't know why, but somehow it sent a cold shiver down her spine. She suddenly felt so exposed.

"Look at this." That was Thomas. He had pressed one of the flashing buttons. Now a video was playing on the screen in front of him. So the others ran to Thomas. But J regretted it almost immediately after a few seconds of the film. There was a blonde woman, maybe around fifty. She talked about a terrible world, the earth, which had been half turned into a hot desert planet. After the heat, the illness had come. When J saw pictures of the infected people, the cranks, her stomach almost turned. The others also groaned in shock, but no one took their eyes off the screen. It was about them. The children that W.I.C.K.E.D wanted to use to find a cure for this disease. So now they knew why they had been in this labyrinth.

But then the video became even more confusing, if that was possible. Behind the woman who was speaking, Eva Page, armed people suddenly appeared. They shot through the laboratory and pounced on the W.I.C.K.E.D employees. When Page noticed this, one of her hands briefly disappeared from the screen. The next moment she held a gun to her temple and pulled the trigger. The gladers in front of the screen gave a strangled scream. Newt had clutched his chest. Minho raised his eyebrows and looked decidedly unimpressed. "What kind of horror movie was that?"

"It wasn't that bad, you weren't casted," J replied because she wanted to concentrate on something other than this film. Minho was already taking a breath for a comeback, but Teresa interrupted him. "That's... the same laboratory."

"What?", Winston asked. Now J saw it too. Of course, where Page had been sitting in those video messages, that was here. And there was she, the woman was lying there too. Eva Page. Teresa had discovered the dead body first.

Instinctively, J wanted to cover Chuck's eyes. But what would that change anymore? He had already seen far too much. So they all just stared silently at the dead woman in front of them.

Suddenly a rumble broke the silence, then a click. Someone had fallen down the slide and then come into the room with them. The gladers tore away from the blonde corpse and spun around, to face the source of the noise.

When they recognized him, they breathed a sigh of relief. It was just Gally. He looked worn out, he had probably also had a strenuous journey through the labyrinth. But it wasn't anyone from W.I.C.K.E.D.

However, upon closer inspection, it became apparent that there was something very wrong with Gally. There was sweat on his forehead, his eyes were bloodshot and he had a dark wound on his right arm. Newt was the first to understand. "Get away from him, he's been stung!"

J had already taken a step towards Gally, but Newt grabbed her shoulder and dragged her back. At first J wanted to complain, but then she saw what Gally was holding in his hand.

"Put the gun away Gally!" Pan had also discovered the gun when Gally slowly pointed it towards them. More precisely, he pointed it straight at Thomas.

"You don't understand. We can't get out of here. They won't let us go. The maze isn't enough," Gally sobbed as his finger slowly reached for the trigger. J saw how Minho closed his grip around the spear he had brought down here. If Gally wouldn't lower the gun right away, Minho would throw that spear. And if Minho wouldn't throw the spear, Gally probably would shoot someone. J thought feverishly if there was anything she could do. But she couldn't think of anything, nothing that would change anything, so she stood there like an idiot and didn't move.