The Death Cure: Lab Rats : 3rd Book In The Maze In Her Heart Fic Series :

Chapter One: The White Room

Hey shanks! It's finally here, and we're jumping right into the action! I hope you guys like this chapter, and don't forget to vote and comment (seriously, I love reading your comments, so comment away! I might respond.) Thank you for sticking with me and reading! I love y'all!

CHAPTER ONE: The White Room

MARIE'S POV

Marie knew that it was a variable from the moment she woke up in this room. She had fallen asleep in it, ready to drop so quick that she didn't realize until she woke up that she probably made the wrong decision.

She sat alone in this white room, isolated with no source of communication with anybody. Multiple times, in the first few days, Marie frantically called out for her sister in her mind, and even Aris, but there was no answer. Marie often thought that during these times she had the Flare, and that it was already working in her. After all, being around Lola and Jorge and their friends might have driven her to a new level of insanity, the Flare in her activating as soon as she was around others with the same twisted fate as her.

Every day, when her meal popped through the slot, Marie's hand flew out to grab the tray, but another voice in the back of her mind drove her in circles, telling her to push through the slot and dig her nails into the nearest flesh she could grasp. But each time the meal came, Marie accepted it gratefully and went to her corner, bringing her knees up and eating her complimentary meal- a single chicken drumstick, raw carrots, mashed potatoes, and a slice of buttered bread. Despite the food, it came at odd times during the day, messing up her perception of time, and she noticed her already thin body was steadily growing more and more weary and weak through the passing days.

Each time she got up to stretch or pace, her eyes drooped and she found herself laying stomach down, feeling each shallow breath rack her body up and down. In this free time, she noticed a lot of things, and had a lot of time to think. She noticed as the days passed, she steadily got more hungry and hungry, each time after a meal, Marie's stomach growled and whined, causing her to grave delicacies she could never get her hands onto.

But she also thought about the letter. After George had told the group secretly about it on the helicopter, they all shared grim looks. It was clear nobody knew what to do, but Marie instinctively felt herself leaning towards the letter despite it's dangerous path.

But in the white room, she thought back to that letter, and wondered if the story was fake, and if it was just another variable to test the Gladers and where the loyalties stood. She knew Roxie was torn too, as was George, the pair of siblings look wrung out and exhausted the entire helicopter ride.

Her stench also made her feel like she was going crazy. She wasn't changed from her sweaty and bloody Scorch clothes, and each day she felt herself get more and more filthy with her natural cycle. She was driven insane by how dirty she felt, often picking at her skin and messing with her limp and greasy hair. Her mind sometimes wondered to how the others dealt with this- if they were even going through the same thing.

After about two weeks of this torture, the door finally opened. Marie could swear she was hallucinating as the slice of white room slid open to reveal Rat Man standing in the doorway. He showed no expression of guilt or remorse as he stared down at her, but Marie could swear she saw a glimmer of worry in his eyes.

"Hello Marie." He said, slowly closing the door. If Marie had enough strength to get up, she would have run to the door, and flailed through the halls of WICKED, or where ever they were, looking for her loved ones.

Marie didn't say hello in response. She hadn't spoken in so long her throat was dry and she humored herself in thinking of her throat as her own little Scorch, a remembrance that had to live on despite the nightmares in her brain. She simply mustered a weak sneer.