Surviving The Scorch

Chapter 7

We crawled to the vent, and when we finally got there, Thomas slowly opened it. We used our arms to jump down, making the noise quieter than it would have been.

I looked back, checking the hall, as Aris jumped down. Thomas swung the vent back up, each of us practically standing on our tippy toes to be silent.

Thomas walked over to the door, and clicked it open, as we followed. Inside, there were lab coats in the small intro room. To our right, a bunch of experiments in glass tubes, growing. Ones that very much so resembled Grievers.

I'm sure Newt would have been able to come up with an explanation, like machine testing and trying to understand us better, but I wasn't Newt. There was no real reason that someone would be growing Grievers unless it was W.C.K.D.

We stepped closer to the double doors in front of us, as I glanced to Thomas. It was pretty dark in this room, the only light coming from the illuminated Griever fetus's.

I stepped in front of Aris as the doors opened. Once again, there it was. The instinct, like I had with Chuck. He was younger, therefore I was making sure he was safe.

I quickly dropped any act I had picked up when I saw what was in front of us. I couldn't even focus on Aris, not with the sight.

Dozens upon dozens of bodies lined up, all strung from chords, being drained. The rows seemed to go on forever. All of them kids.

I slowly walked over to a boy, his feet far off the ground. He couldn't have been more than 13, and yet there he was. His brain hooked up to a machine, this weird liquid slowly being pulled out from him. He looked dead, but, if he was being used, he most likely wasn't. Yet.

I noticed another reason he wasn't dead, I could hear his breathing through the mask connected to his mouth and nose. 

"Teresa?" Thomas asked, his voice in a panic as I looked over. He was rushing towards a girl, who's hair was strung over her face. It did look like Teresa.

Aris and I ran over, as Thomas moved her hair out of her face, revealing another girl. We both sighed, it wasn't our friend.

"It's Rachel." Aris stated, as we looked over. He was watching the girl like Thomas had when he thought it was Teresa. "They took her the first night. I told her it was gonna be okay."

I was watching the boy's face, when a rumble echoed behind us. The doors opened quickly, as Thomas put his arm around me, pulling me to the side with Aris.

We ducked behind a few things as two people entered the room, walking down the row of bodies. I managed to sneak a look over the bin I was behind, to see Rat Man's figure.

"You sure this can't wait?" Rat Man asked the man he was walking beside, who was holding some sort of technology.

"She was very specific, sir. She wanted to speak with you personally." The man informed him, as I held my breath, watching them walk by.

"As if I don't have enough to deal with." Rat Man muttered, as both of them walked over to a big machine, the man hooking up the tablet.

"Just bear with me. I'm getting some interference from the storm." The man said, tapping a few more buttons.

"Come on it's good enough, make the connection." He ordered, as the machine lit up, showing a screen. "Good evening, Dr. Paige. Lovely to see you again. Although I admit, I wasn't expecting to hear from you quite so soon." 

I had to blink a few times to make sure I was seeing this right, and then look at Thomas for confirmation. Ava Paige. She had shot herself on tape, we had watched it. She had died.

"Change of plans, Janson." She said, shifting through papers on her desk. So, now someone who we had watched die, wasn't dead. If W.C.K.D could fake someone killing themselves, what else could they do. What else were they doing? "I'll be arriving a little sooner than expected. First thing tomorrow."

"Oh, we'll be uh, delighted to have you." Rat Man responded, as Ava got up and walked over, closer to Rat Man. As close as they could get through the screen. "I think you'll be pleased with the progress we've made. As you can see, early results have been extremely promising."

They pulled up a few charts, pictures of brains, labels, words. I didn't understand any of it, and I wasn't close enough to read it well.

"Whatever it is you've been doing to them in there, it's working." I felt my fists clench up, as my blood simmered. In there? In there?! As in the Maze?

"Not well enough." So not only did this shuck-face want us dead, she wanted us dead even more, because us dying wasn't enough for her. Wasn't satisfying enough. "I just received board approval. I want all the remaining subjects sedated and prepped for harvest by the time I arrive."

Harvest? So that's what she called this. And she wanted us ready to be harvested and strung up and drained like the others by tomorrow morning. Well, if I had a say in the matter, or if I got close enough, I'd harvest her a-

"Doctor Paige, we are going as fast as we can." Rat Man said, talking to her with such passive aggression. I thought I didn't like Gally in the Glade, but the hate I felt towards these two was so much more than my discomfort of him. "We are still running tests..."

"Try something faster." She interrupted him, shaking her head, as I grit my teeth. "Until I can guarantee their security, this is the best plan." She wanted to guarantee that we couldn't leave, that we'd never escape this.

"Ma'am, security is my job. We're on 24 hour lock down here. I am assuring you... the assets are secure." Assets? First we were subjects, now we were assets. Just a spec on their screen, just an object used to satisfy their needs.

"Have you found the Right Arm?" She asked, as I shifted slightly, Thomas glancing to me. Who were the Right Arm?

"Not yet. We tracked them as far as the mountains." He responded, barely getting his words out, before she raised her voice.

"So they're still out there. And they've already hit two of our installations." I felt Aris look to me, as I exchanged a glance with him. "They want these kids as badly as we do. And I cannot, I cannot afford another loss. Not now, when I am so close to a cure."

I had so many thoughts running through my mind, so many vulgar thoughts towards her. Every inch of me wanted her dead, and I didn't mean hurt, I meant dead.

"If you are not up to the task, I will find someone who is." She stepped back, walking around to her desk chair.

"That won't be necessary." He said, as she shot him a look. "Might I suggest we start with the most recent arrivals." My heart leapt out of my chest; that was us.

"Just get it done." She ordered, sitting back down, as I became fidgety. We needed to get back, we needed to warn our friends. "Janson. I don't want them to feel any pain."

"They won't feel a thing." And with that, the screen cut off, and both men left the room. And any string of hope I had kept for them burned to ashes, from the flames flickering inside me.

We escaped them once, we had to do it again. And this time, nobody dies.