The First Gladers; Into the Scorch

Chapter 7: More Changes

 "It's nice to meet you Aris." You reply gently, hoping to make up for your previous violence. "Can you tell us more, can you tell us about the Maze?" You ask.

Aris hesitates, shifting uncomfortably. Then he takes a deep breath, straightens his shoulders and starts to talk.

His Maze was just like yours, except for one key difference. His was full of all girls and one boy, him. Every other detail in his story is almost a perfect mirror image of your own Glade. Except, there was no male version of you.

The voices around you begins to fade as your thoughts take hold of you. It makes sense, it was always odd that you were the only girl for 2 years, but you never thought anything of it because you didn't know it was a test. Then Teresa showed up and it slipped your mind all together that you were out of the ordinary. Now you know that Teresa was some sort of variable, just like Aris was. Aris also said there were inly 5 Gladers at the very beginning. In your Maze there was a sixth, you. You weren't supposed to be there in the first place.

So why were you put in there? Why add you into the mix if that wasn't their plan all along? Or were you just an accident? Maybe they expected you to die on the first day and it wouldn't mess up the tests. Were you just an oddball meant to be thrown away?

You're suddenly brought back to reality when Thomas crouches down in front of you.

"What does yours say?" He asks.

You search his face for some sort of explanation to his question, yet no answer is to be found. "What does my what say?" You ask, your tone accidentally harsher than you meant it.

"The words on the back of your neck, we all have them. Newt is Subject A5, The Glue. Aris is subject B1, the Partner. And Minho is subject A7, The Leader. So what's yours?" Thomas explains.

Around the room, the boys are checking the back of each other's necks, their voices mixed with fear and excitement. Your own heart starts to race as you turn around to let Thomas read your message.

"Well...?" You ask after Thomas remains silent for a moment too long.

"Um..." He pauses as your turn around to face him. "There's nothing there." He adds awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh." You respond, failing to hide your disappointment.

"It's ok, they probably don't mean anything anyway." Thomas shrugs, as if trying to believe it himself.

"Why what does yours say?" You ask.

"Subject A2, to be killed by group B." He replies solemnly.

You nod your head slowly, "Yeah... I'm sure they don't mean anything." You add, trying to convince yourself and him that it's true. Yet there's something inside you, telling you that you're wrong, that these names are extremely important. And deep down you know it's right.

 Suddenly the room falls silent as a sound like rushing wind grows from outside the door. Immediately your mind is taken back to the night before when the same sound came from this very room while you were locked in the bathroom. You watch as Minho attempts to open the door. Just as you expect, it doesn't budge. Then, as quickly as it started the sounds from beyond the door are hushed and the building is once again silent and Minho's eyes meet yours, as if asking for your guidance.

"Try the door again." You suggest, remembering that once the room went quiet last night, the door became magically unlocked.

Minho nods, turning the handle cautiously while, to your confusion, plugging his nose. Without any resistance, the door swings open to reveal an empty cafeteria.

To your surprise, the boys around you gasp in shock, as of there was some sort of startling transformation. You glance over to Aris who looks just as confused as you are.

"They're gone!" Minho exclaims, unplugging his nose.

"What's gone?" You ask.

Minho turns to you with a face full of horror-filled memory.

"The bodies. When we woke up this morning the whole cafeteria was filled with dangling dead bodies." Minho pauses to take another glance at the now-empty room, "They smelled like clunk too."

Your stomach churns uncomfortably as the image enters your imagination. Yet the feeling quickly disappears as realization clicks in your mind. The sounds of rushing wind was the room changing. It happened exactly at midnight last night and replaced Teresa with Aris. That must've been when the tattoos appeared on the boy's necks. That must be why you didn't get one, you weren't in bed!

Your jaw drops as the pieces fall into place, catching the attention of Newt. He walks up to you quietly while the other boys admire the freshly cleaned cafeteria.

"You look like you just saw a bloody ghost, are you alright?" He asks.

You nod slowly, then look to him with wide, sorrowful eyes. "It all makes sense now. This is another test. This is still Wicked." You mutter.

Again, the room becomes deathly silent and all eyes are now on you.

You take a deep breath and glance around at the other boys, then you explain everything. Several of the boys check your neck, only to confirm what Thomas said earlier, there's nothing there. The rest of your story explains everything and by the end of it, each boy remorsefully agrees with you. This is still Wicked. It's been Wicked all along. You were never free, you're still one of their little lab rats trapped in some absurd experiment.

You wish you could truthfully say that you always knew, but you didn't. They really had you fooled. You were free, free to have a normal life. Now you're back were you started, clueless and afraid. But you do have something you didn't have before. Now you have a family. 

For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 

2 Corinthians 3:17