Tricked (t.m.r.)

2.3 - Return

Imagine the surprise of the gladers when they heard a polite knock coming from the door a few days after the sibling's disappearance. 

Newt was among the first to jump on his feet, along with Thomas and Minho and the three of them worked together to open the door. The room had changed the next day Primrose and Liam had been lead away from it, and the boys found twelve victims with a thick, brown necklace laced around their necks as they hung from the ceiling, necks wrung at different odd angles, recognising them as the people who had rescued them from the maze before they were thrown into another world of the unknown. 

Walls of bricks had appeared over the window overnight as well, along with a boy named Aris who claimed he was from another maze full of girls. What shocked them the most, however, was the tattoos that grew on the back of their necks without any of the realising when it was done to them. Most of the gladers were weak by now, having deprived of food for days as they tried to sustain themselves by traveling to the bathroom for gulps of water multiple times in an hour. Newt swears that he felt his insides starting to devour itself as the pain grew from being dull to sharp, stabbing ones overtime.

Liam treated the trio with his signature, boyish grin as they stared wide-eyed back at him. Newt was astounded how much he had shown to be his usual self when half of his head was covered by a white bandage. Before he could ask Liam where Primrose was at, his breath was caught in his throat when his eyes traveled down and spotted Liam was carrying someone in his arms. 

"Who's that?" Thomas was the first to break out from their stunned silence. The girl had had the same bandage as Liam across her head, but they extended to her eyes, hiding their colour from everyone's sight. 

"Primrose, duh." Liam replied causally, "Are you going to let us in or not?"

"What the shuck happened to the two of you?"Minho asked in an alarmed voice, following after Liam after the three of them made a path for him to pass. Newt was right next to the young boy and had a hand underneath Primrose's head as Liam tried to lay her down on an empty bed as gently as possible. 

"Let's see, we met our older brother, fought a bunch of people, got tied up, and went through a surgery. Then I woke up with a note next to my head, saying that I should return here with my sister as soon as I wake up, so here we are." Liam summarised their adventure with his fingers. "Oh, don't worry about us too much, the surgery doesn't hurt. We can take off our bandages by tomorrow."

Thomas tried to peer at Primrose's unconscious body, "Why isn't she waking up like you? Have you seen Teresa?" 

"Maybe she's waiting for Prince Charming to give her a kiss?" Frypan suggested, looking at Newt teasingly.

Minho immediately made kissy noises at Newt upon hearing the cook's words. 

"Ouch!"  

Newt had reached over to give the boy a slap, "Not bloody funny, Tommy."

"Don't do that." To everyone's surprise, Liam was massaging the back of his head, wincing in pain. "They planted something new in our brains, whatever pain Thomas feels, we get a double dose of it."

"What about if we hit one of you? Would Thomas feel anything?" Minho asked eagerly.

"Don't you bloody dare." Newt warned. 

"No idea." Liam shrugs, eyes narrowing slightly when he spotted a stranger in the room, "Oh, hello there."

"Why did they plant a chip in ya heads and connected Thomas's pain receptors to yours?" Newt turned to ask him.

Liam knew better than to reveal it to the gladers, "Beats me." 

Aris widened his eyes at him before lowering his head and looked away, not acknowledging Liam's greeting the slightest. Both of the boys knew he recognised Liam, but it's too early to let the gladers know what WICKED had in store for them.