The Maze Runner: The New World

Chapter 5

"What did you dream?" Minho asked, reading his friend's mind.

"I came here because I needed space! I was going to lash out, I don't know why. It was almost like something was controlling me!" This was the point that alarm bells started ringing in Thomas's head. That not all was true. After all, it wasn't the first time WICKED had messed with people's brains. He kept listening with a danger alarm drumming against the inside of his skull, trying to escape, "I couldn't stand it! I felt like I was going insane! But I didn't know what else to do except try and release my anger," She thrust her arm in the direction of some mangled grasses a little along the beach, clearly what she'd used as a stress ball. She sucked in a deep breath. Slowly she was beginning to calm down, "And then a wave of sleepy and dizzy came over me - I could barely stand up. So I came over to here to sit down. Suddenly I was back in WICKED's head quarters." The alarm in Thomas's head disappeared, replaced with a chill that bolted down his spine. WICKED was becoming a real possibility all too fast, "They were talking. I was there, but not there at the same time. It was like I was watching, observing. They didn't know I was there. Sort of like I was watching through a TV screen. But it was real, Thomas! I could have sworn that I was really there! It happened!" Thomas was dying to know what Brenda had dreamed they'd said, but didn't want to interrupt her flow. He just hoped she'd get on with it soon. His wish was granted, "They were saying disturbing things. A woman with greasy, grey hair scraped back into a pristine bun so tightly that it pulled her face back as if she was disfigured and dressed in an oversized lab coat was speaking, 'Ninety five percent of the living population on Earth are cranks past the gone. According to my calculations, everyone will be past the gone in a month. We have to destroy the earth before we all reach the gone. Before cranks run rampage all over the globe without anything even attempting to stop them. We can't leave the Earth to fester in its own filth until monsters have inevitably fought each other to the death and exterminated their own kind. We have to deploy the nuclear killer 1.01,'" The fear in Brenda's eyes was beginning to spark up again, "And then the man replied, 'tomorrow'. I don't know what happened next, everything sort of fast forward. The distorted faced woman was putting our package through the flat trans and then set fire to the grey screen. The flames rose to the ceiling, singeing it black. The flames were scorching hot! I wasn't even fully there and I felt it! It engulfed me and I could have sworn I was about to melt. They were screaming but the fire had already obliterated the room. I don't know what they were trying to achieve but it certainly didn't go to plan. The screams cut short and in an instant I knew they were dead," Brenda took in a sharp gasp of air, clearly traumatised by the whole ordeal, "Next thing I know, I'm lying on my back and you two are in a tizzy with each other."

               It wasn't like her. Not one inch of her had ever been so over-dramatic. All this for a bad dream? something didn't sit right. Thomas sensed something deeper. It confused him, dragged his thoughts across the ground. All this theories and possible explanations were jumbling together and tearing apart because there was such an influx of them all at once. He cleared his mind and began to start thinking again, logically this time. There had to be a reason why Brenda was like this. Maybe it was to do with WICKED. Maybe there were still humans on earth. Maybe there was yet another planet that was inhabited by humans who were controlling them. Maybe Brenda was sick with some new disease. The thought delivered a pang of pain to Thomas's heart. Like he'd caught Brenda's disease, but deep down he knew it was because he was scared of any of these things being the truth. He wanted and explanation so badly. He needed an explanation. Another question that the only answer to was time. It was so aggravating. 

                Forcing himself to put his thoughts on the back burner, Thomas peered up to Minho, then averting his gaze to Brenda. Minho spoke up, "Something is clearly not right," he began, some of the tension in Thomas's body unravelling. He could always count on Minho to use his seemingly permanent level-headedness to talk when he himself had no words to say, "But we need to think this through properly. We have to go back up the cliff and use our brains like there's no tomorrow."

Brenda was looking frail in the aftermath of such stress but nodded, straining herself to stand up. She managed to get to her feet and the three began wandering back to the cliff path and back up to civilisation. 

                 It suddenly dawned on Thomas that they were meant to be holding a gathering and no one had the slightest clue where they were.