Into the Maze (English Version)

20

After crawling through the sand for a while, to avoid detection, Teresa suddenly jumped up and started to run.

"Teresa!", Thomas shouted in alarm, but she ignored him. So the others followed her and finally ended up in a large hall. J looked around with wide eyes >as far as that was possible in the darkness<, this entire building had been buried under sand. What had happened to the world? She didn't have many memories, but she knew this wasn't normal.

"Are we complete?", Minho scanned the group. J did the same. "All the gladers are here, all the gladers plus Aris."

"Great," Minho gave Aris a disapproving look. Then he turned to Thomas. "So Thomas, what just happened? I realized it was W.I.C.K.E.D. But if they didn't want let us go, then why did they take us out of the maze in the first place?"

"I don't know, I think it was all a big lie. The inky thing I know is, they need us. They need something that's inside of us," Thomas explained. "What Aris and I saw, what they sucked out of those bodies."

"Hmm," Newt said, looking like he was thinking about something else. "So what do you want to do now? Do you have a plan Tommy?"

"Well..", Thomas shrugged his shoulders. Newt quickly became short-tempered. "Thomas! We followed you out here and now you telling us you have no idea what we're doing or where we're supposed to go?"

"I don't know... Janson was talking about some resistance movement...", Thomas didn't seem particularly convinced by what he was saying. But Aris came to his aid. "The right arm. Eva called it the right arm."

"Eva Page?" J looked at the two confused. As far as she knew, the woman had shot herself a few days ago. But Thomas nodded. "Exactly, she's not dead, not at all. And she talked to Janson about these people who live in the mountains."

"In the mountains? Mountain people?", Newt uttered contemptuously. J didn't particularly like that either, but they didn't have any other choice. So she tried to smile because the mood was seriously in danger of changing. "Now don't be so judgmental. We don't really have a roof over our heads right now. We'll be fine as long as W.I.C.K.E.D. doesn't find us again."

"Hey! Stop arguing and look at this!", Winston had moved a little away from the group and was crouching over something he had discovered on the sandy ground. As she got closer, J also recognized what it was. "Footprints, and they didn't look that old."

It was a risky decision to follow the footprints, they all knew that. But maybe there was someone behind it who could help them. And if not, they might at least would find something to eat or drink.

J would have classified the crumbling building as an old department store. They also found some flashlights in a few old cupboards and clothing in another. Eventually they split up. Thomas, Minho and J went off, while the others stayed together.

"I'm going to throw myself into the darkness now, come save me if some zombie bites my calf," Minho said, and walked through a metal door that consisted of two wings. Thomas and J followed.

"Forget it," J replied jokingly and Minho narrowed his eyes in mock offense. Then he led the way into the darkness.

As he walked he turned to Thomas. "Listen, the people W.I.C.K.E.D. was sucking out in this room... I don't want to end up the same way."

J gave him a quick look, but Minho continued to look at Thomas. The brown-haired boy answered immediately. "You won't. I promise."

Then Thomas looked at J. "None of us will."

J didn't know what to say to that. It wasn't often that Minho got so serious. It gave her an uncomfortable feeling. So she just nodded.

As they walked a little further, the beam of their flashlights suddenly hit something gruesome. J sucked in a startled breath. Someone was sitting there, but not really. It was a putrid corpse with a plastic bag over its head.