The Destroyed Girl

Chapter 8: Honoured Guests

MINHO'S POV
"We need to get moving. WICKED will be after us," I say.

"You think they know where we are?" Harriet asks.

"No doubt. They seem to know everything," Maria says.

"Did they inject you with anything?" Newt asks.

He stands beside Rhea, and I don't know if the others notice, but I can see that his hand is against her back, and I notice the way Rhea leans towards him as she seems to do more often nowadays.

"They injected us with tons of stuff," Rhea replies, shaking her head under that hood. "Took our blood and pumped us with all sorts of liquid vitamins. They could have easily put a liquid tracker in there. It's possible. I've seen it before."

"You've seen it? How?" Quill asks, folding her arms.

Rhea shrugs, "I've seen a lot of stuff. They inject it into all those in the Board. In case something happens to them."

"The Board?" Sonya asks, frowning in confusion.

"Those who are the main leaders in WICKED. Ava is the head. Janson is like the second. Doctor Crawford, the one who did tests on you, is also part of the Board. There's about ten of them," Rhea replies, waving a hand in dismissal.

Quill's eyes narrow. "How do you know so much?"

I decide to cut in here. "Point is, they could be tracking us. It's dangerous for us to stay here. We need to see if we really have those trackers. You guys might have them too."

"There are two different ones. An actual one and a liquid version. In order to get rid of the liquid one, you have to take in something gassy. Like Coke. For the actual one... that one is more complicated. You'll have to cut your skin where it is and disable it. Only professionals know how to do that," Rhea explains. "And if it's the actual one, it'll be where the mark is. At the back of our necks."

"Wonderful," I mutter.

"Any ideas?" Thomas asks.

"I might know someone who used to work for WICKED. His name is Hans," Jorge says.

"Hans? That guy hates me," Rhea mutters.

"He hated Anderson and Ava," Jorge points out, and Rhea stiffens.

Anderson. That must be her Father. Rhea's fists clench and Jorge winces. Newt looks between the two, eyes narrowing, but doesn't voice out.

"Never mind. Anyway, he knows how to do stuff like this," Jorge says.

"Where is he?" Newt asks, folding his arms at his chest.

"Denver," Jorge replies.

"Denver?" Thomas asks.

"It's a safe zone. There are quite a few. They don't let the infected in. Only the immunes or uninfected. Very careful about who they let in," Brenda explains.

"No. It's the only safe zone. We heard Janson mention it to our..." Rhea looks at me. She had meant to say scientists. "The people who used to experiment on us. Said something about all the other safe zones being infected, and there only being one left. He hadn't stated where but..."

Brenda goes white, exchanging a look with Jorge. "That isn't good. I can see why Ava is so desperate for a cure."

I glance at Rhea, surprised to see Newt leaning down as she probably says something to him, though I can't guess what, since her hood shields her face. Newt is frowning slightly though, so it can't be good.

"Anyway," Thomas says, and Rhea pulls away sharply from Newt. "When should we leave?"

"We've got two minivans but even then, it'll take a long time to reach Denver. A week, at least," Jorge says. "Not to mention we're running short of supplies."

"Denver," Rhea says slowly, and everyone turns to face her. "Denver was where me and Minho had stopped in the middle of our transport. WICKED's main location is Denver. That's where..."

"That's where what?" Thomas asks, frowning.

Rhea looks at him. "Remember what Marcus said? About WICKED collecting more kids? Why do you think so? Do you know what's in Denver?"

Thomas's eyes widen and he looks at Rhea, shock evident on his face. "You've got to be kidding me," He says.

"What?" Newt asks, frowning at both of them. I hate to say, but I'm just as confused as Newt is at this rate.

"The Maze, guys. The Maze is in Denver. They're putting more kids into the Maze," Thomas says.

We look towards Rhea who I'm sure is biting her lip.

"Minho... we are their honoured guests," She says, looking towards me. "This is what they meant."

My eyes widen. They wanted us to watch the kids being put in the Maze. Wanted us to watch them torment them.

"And they'll keep their promise," I finish.