Edge of Insanity

Chapter Fifteen

Minho paced back and forth in front of my bed. "Tell the Alby now," he scoffed. "Tell Alby- that shuckface- who does he think he is?"

"Minho, slim it for like two seconds. Please." I closed my eyes. Eating always made my ribs hurt more than usual and his pacing and ranting was not helping.

Minho instantly halted. "Shit, sorry, Ari. What hurts?"

"Everything, slinthead." Okay, that had been a little harsh.

I slipped open one eye to see Minho standing at the end of my bed, arms folded and watching me with a faintly amused expression. Of course, I should've known he wouldn't take offense to it. I groaned trying to move into a position to lessen the pain. Nothing helped.

"Want me to go get Clint or Winston?"

"No there's nothing can do. I'm already at my capacity for drugs."

The dipped as Minho sat down beside me. "What do you think-"

"Hey guys!" Chucked bounded into the room in his typical fashion.

Minho jumped up from the bed quicker, than I'd ever seen him move before. Unfortunately for me, he shook the whole frame in the process. I let out a growl and his eyes widened. Sorry, I'm sorry.

"Um, I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?" Chuck was still in the doorway.

Minho folded his arms. "Yes actually, you were. A very important conversation about the Maze for Runners only." He jerked his head towards the door, basically saying get out.

Chuck held up his hands. "Okay, I'll come back later." The door shut behind him.

"Minho!" I scowled. "That was mean. You know he's just a kid."

"He'll get over it."

I rolled my eyes. Arrogant ass. "So are you going to the Homestead to find Alby?"

Minho looked startled. "Go to the Homestead and tell him? Without you?"

"Well it's not really like I can hike up there with you. Plus my whole body hurts more than usual thanks to your antics which means it's time for me to sleep in a pain-free world." I shot him a look. "So stop being a shucking baby and go tell Alby."

"What if he's really angry?"

"He probably will be but you delaying it will only make him angrier." I closed my eyes.

"I really don't want to do this."

"Minho."

"Fine, fine. But you owe me."

"Mmhmm."

"I'm thinking a shower... together."

"Minho, get your ass out of here before I shucking lose it."

He chuckled and I heard the door close behind him. Finally. I waited for sleep to come.

~~~

I dreamed about the Maze. I could see the Doors to the Glade but no matter how hard or fast I ran I could never get any closer to them. Slowly, they were sliding shut and there was nothing I could do to reach safety.

Then the scene changed and I was in a dark room laying on a bed. The ceiling above me was stainless steel. There was a woman standing next to me. She had a needle in her hand. "Remember, Ari." Her voice was barely more than a whisper. "WCKED is good." I felt the prick of the needle in my arm and everything started to spin around me.

Numbers and shapes and sequences and maps floated at a dizzying rate in and out of my vision. Thousands of different colors flashed and I squeezed my eyes closed so hard they burned. My head began to hurt but the numbers and shapes wouldn't go away. Instead they went faster and faster and just when I felt like I was reaching the end everything suddenly stopped.

My eyes popped open. I was back in the Infirmary in the Glade. Bits and pieces of the dream swirled in my mind. I reached out, trying to grab them and drag them back into the light where I could see them.

No. Not a dream.

Bright lights and colors suddenly burst in my vision. It was as if a vortex had sucked out everything else leaving only the flashes of lavender and teal and ashy gray. A dull pounding formed at the base of my skull. A searing pain danced up my arm as if someone had placed a burning match against my skin. I glanced down at the place where the woman had pricked me.

A very real, needle-sized mark stamped the flesh.

A cylindrical object was discarded by my bedside. It looked eerily similar to the tube Minho and I had found in the Maze all that time ago. The pain spiked in my head, sharper this time like someone was slowly driving a dull knife into my skull. I forced my eyes closed as the lights became too bright. My muscles began to spasm and somewhere in the back of my mind this process felt familiar. Something I'd watched at least a dozen Gladers experience. Except this time it was happening to me.

The tube was never a key to anything. It's whatever the Creators use to make us go through the Changing.

And someone had just purposely injected it into my body.