Antidote | A3

c h a p t e r . f i v e

I woke to the sound of mechanical beeps filling the room.

I blinked my eyes open, disorientated, to feel Newt also stirring beside me. A yellow blast lit up my vision as the lights came on. I detangled myself from Newt's arms and swung my legs off the bed, sitting up groggily. I let him up past me and spent what was probably far too long just sitting on the edge of the bed. Psyching myself up, I suppose.

Gladers were up and shuffling around, some clearly more awake than others. A few disappeared off to the bathrooms to shower, while others started stripping the bedsheets.

I noticed Minho was long gone from the bunk above us, and I spotted him on the other side of the room by the chest of drawers, sweeping over them in final checks.

After I'd been to the bathroom myself and freshened up as best as I could, I came back to my bunk to find Thomas and Newt stood together.

"Thought we should bring the bedsheets with us," Thomas said as I approached. "Will be useful for some kind of cover, or material."

"Good idea," I said. I moved back to my own, unused bunk, glancing at my watch. We had ten minutes until the time appointed by Rat Man.

Teresa was sat on the top bunk, swinging her legs idly. I nodded to her and began stripping the sheets of the bottom one, when she poked me with her foot.

"You ready for this?"

"We're all as ready as we can be," I shrugged.

She hummed her agreement. "Sleep okay?"

I felt my cheeks flush. "Yeah. Did you?"

"Eventually. Spent a while talking to Thomas up here." She tapped her temple. "It's just... terrifying. Not knowing what we're up against. Knowing what they're capable of."

She wasn't wrong. Fear gripped all of us, I was certain. WICKED had made it clear that they'd stop at nothing to get what they were looking for.

"Did you think you were crazy?" I asked, shifting the subject. "When you first heard him in your head?"

"Yeah. But at the same time, when I first got to the Glade, speaking out to Thomas felt like the most natural thing in the world. If he hadn't accepted it and spoken back, I'm pretty sure I would have lost it."

"That makes sense. I guess it's still just freaking me out a bit," I admitted. "I just wonder... what's it for? Why us?"

"I wonder what any of it's for," she shrugged.

"Some of the boys think maybe me and Leo are siblings. I don't... I don't know what to think about that."

Teresa looked surprised, and she took a moment before opening her mouth to respond. Before any words came out, Minho's voice rang out through the room.

"We've got three minutes!" he called out, for once looking completely serious. "Everybody sure they still wanna go? Anybody change their mind overnight?"

A chorus of mumbled 'no's sounded throughout the room. Teresa pushed herself off the bunk and grabbed the bag that had been on the ground next to it. I headed back over to Newt's bunk, my bedsheet folded up under my arm, to retrieve my own bag. I stuffed the bedsheet inside, shouldered it, and picked up my bag of water. I'd decided, like the others, to hold the water in my hand to make sure it didn't spill or leak.

"It's six o'clock!" one of the Gladers shouted.

As if this proclamation had triggered it, the wall at the far side of the room suddenly vanished, transforming into a flat, shimmery surface of murky grey.