Into the Maze (English Version)

17

As soon as the helicopter landed again, chaos broke out. Janson's men jumped outside, landing on the desert sand with their weapons raised. Wild shooting started, screams followed >both human ones and those that sounded more animal-like<. The young people were grabbed and pulled out of the interior of the helicopter. J lost her orientation for a moment. It was a dark night outside, and at the same time they were blinded by blazing headlights. The noise of the helicopter and the gunfire drowned out everything else. She found a hand, Teresa's, that gripped hers tightly. Together they rushed after the others. J kept looking around, trying to figure out why these people were firing their cannons in the first place. But she hardly saw anything. Every now and then she thought she saw a scary figure in the corner of her eye. But in this situation she couldn't tell what was imaginary and what was real. So she focused on what was in front of them. When she saw the huge stone walls, J almost stopped, just to make sure they weren't back in the labyrinth. But those were different walls. There in the desert in front of them stood a huge building. It didn't look particularly inviting, just a massive stone and metal building. But it was definitely safe inside. Safe from the strange shouting and gunfire out here.

J thought >regarding the chaos outside< it was a miracle, that all the gladers reached the entrance safely. But they didn't have much time to celebrate, because they were pushed straight on while the metal entrance gates to the building slid shut behind them.

Without much explanation, they were all brought into a room, one at a time. J, who until then had still been holding Teresa's hand, didn't like this. But because she was quite exhausted by the events of that night, she was relatively cooperative.

Still, she didn't make it easy for the man who finally sat down across from her. The room wasn't big, but there was enough for a table, the guy and J. There was also a camera that the stranger had previously pointed directly at J. Now a small red light flashed on the top, signaling that J was being recorded.

"Why should I answer you?", the girl finally asked unmoved and leaned back in her chair. The man >with messy brown hair, who had introduced himself as Mr. Miller< had now tried several times to make her say something about W.I.C.K.E.D, the labyrinth and the gladers. Now he sighed in annoyance. "At least we got you out of there."

"And who are we? Why are you and Janson interested in helping us? What did you get from the rescue? And what's in it for me?", J didn't know the man, who knew what he planned to do with the information afterwards.

"Why should I answer you?", Miller turned the tables, which elicited a dry laugh from J. "Not bad."

Then they stared at each other in silence. Waiting to see who gave in first. But J already knew that the man would give in first. She didn't necessarily need to know who the guy across from her was, she didn't care that much. But what he wanted to know was important to him. She noticed this because he was tapping his finger on the table more and more impatiently. "So again. W.I.C.K.E.D..."

J sighed before finally taking pity. "Let me put it like this, my answer is whatever Minho says."

"You don't even know what he said," Miller replied. He didn't seem at all satisfied with the answer.

"Don't you know? I bet he has an equally nice colleague of yours sitting with him right now," J gave Miller a cheeky wink. "And I bet you're exchanging information too. So you'll find out."

"Can't you talk yourself?" Miller tried hard not to show how irritated he was. J shrugged. "Of course, but then it would be the same as what Minho said."

Miller was starting to look, like he was going to jump over the table and go for her throat. Instead, he suddenly tapped his ear. As he began to speak, J realized that he and his colleagues were probably connected via some kind of headset. "Dean, what did yours say? Mine doesn't want to talk."