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3.
A tingle went up Blake's spin as the chilling realization that maybe they weren't lying hit her. All she could see was truth in their horror-filled eyes. There was no snake curl of a lip, just a blank face of truth.
They were in a Maze too...
"Maybe you should sit down," Thomas said. "I think we have a lot to talk about."
"What do you mean?" Aris asked. "Who are you guys? Where'd you come from?"
Thomas let out a slight laugh. "The Maze. The Grievers. WICKED. You name it."
"You're lying," Aris accused in a low whisper. Blake knew the situation was beyond crazy, even for her it was hard to wrap her head around the fact that they weren't the only people in a maze. Toby carried the same stunned expression of uncertainty, the same growing pale face.
"No, we're not," Newt responded. "Tommy's right. We need to talk. Sounds like we've come from similar places."
"Get anything on the two bozos?"
Blake's turned to see Minho, a pack of Gladers standing behind him on the other side of the doorway. Their faces were scrunched up in a weird disgusted look. Their eyes full of a new type of terror, a terror Blake didn't know what was caused by.
Minho's eyes flickered to Blake, glinting hard and dark as he stared at her. All the less, he smirked slyly. "Glad to see you ain't dead."
Blake's eyes rolled. "Yeah, what a morning."
He nodded. "Well, is anyone gonna answers my question?" Minho tilted his head towards Toby and Aris.
"Oh, uh. Minho, meet Aris and Toby," Thomas said, taking a step to the side and gesturing toward the two boys. "Aris. Toby. Meet Minho."
Minho stuttered out mumbles of words she couldn't quite catch. Probably a smart comment of some sort, or maybe it was his way to piece the puzzle of where to begin. In all honesty, Blake didn't know either. There were so many questions.
"Look," Newt said. "Let's take down these top beds and move them around the room. Then we can all sit and figure out what's bloody going on."
Thomas shook his head. "No. First, we need to go find Teresa. She must be in some other room."
"Isn't one," Minho said.
"What do you mean?"
"I just checked this whole place out. There's the big common area, this room, our dorm room, and some seriously shucked doors that lead outside―where we came in from the bus yesterday. Locked and chained from the inside. Doesn't make any sense, but I don't see any other doors or exits."
Thomas shook his head in confusion. "But... what about last night? Where'd the food come from? Didn't anyone notice other rooms, a kitchen, anything?" He looked around, his eyes searching, begging for answers.
"Maybe there's a hidden door," Newt finally said. "Look, we can only do one thing at a time. We need to―"
"No!" Thomas shouted, his voice filling the small space. "We've got all day to talk to these guys. The label by the door said Blake and Teresa so she should be here somewhere―we need to find her!"
"Yeah, well isn't strange how they only took Teresa," Frypan said, scratching his beard.
Thomas slapped his hands against his pants like a pouty child. "Why does that matter right now?"
He then stormed out without waiting for a response. "Thomas!" Blake called. She pushed herself up, fingertips brushing against the cold floor. Her legs felt drained but she managed to stumble towards the doorway, pushing boys out her way in the process. "Blake, leave him be. The shank will be back in here when he realizes there is nothing out there," Minho said.
Blake signed, looking out at the empty hallway. "Oh, and the bloody bodies. We have no idea where they came from," Newt commented. "Or who did that to them."
For a moment Blake thought it was a joke, but everyone seemed so grossed out by the hallway. So serious. She stuck her head out to make sure she didn't miss something, but she only saw a clear hallway.
"What bodies? You are joking, right?"
Everyone looked at her like she was crazy. "You don't see the dead people hanging?"
Blake's face crimpled with confusion. "No. I don't see anything out there."
"Great, now Blake is blind," Minho rolled his eyes.
"Or maybe something else is wrong with her. They could have done something with her when she was knocked out,'" Winston said sarcastically.
The room went still, quiet. People shared glances but no one said anything. "Can we worry about this later? Let's take the beds down, talk about Aris and Toby, then we will worry about what Blake can or can't see," Newt finally said.
The next few minutes they unhooked the upper beds from the lower ones and placed them around the room against the walls, creating enough space for the twenty other Gladers, Aris, and Toby to sit in a circle, everyone facing each other.
Minho was the first to see Thomas, he patted an empty spot next to him and Blake. "Told ya, dude. Have a seat and let's talk. We waited on you. But close that shuck door as much as you can first―smells worse than Gally's rotting feet out there. Blake, can you spell that klunk?
She shook her head as Thomas pulled the door shut, then walked over and sat down. "You're lucky, I guess. Spells like a porta-potty filled with garbage," Minho crimpled his nose.
Newt was one bed to the right, sitting forward with his hands on his knees. "All right, let's get started on the bloody storytellin' so we can get to the real problem―finding something to eat."
Thomas's stomach growl. Blake didn't realize the lack of food. The problem that they had water but not food. She cursed herself for not eating that much pizza.
"Good that," Minho said. "Talk, you two. Tell us everything."
The new boys were directly across the room from Blake. It reminded her of the day she sat in front of the Gladers, so untrusting and angry. She felt a bit bad for them but knew this was the only way to get the whole story.
Blake couldn't help but notice Toby staring at her, a puzzled look on his face. Aris shook his head. "No way. You guys go first."
Toby elbowed him in the side.
"Yeah?" Minho responded. "How about we all just take turns beating the living klunk out of your shuck face? Then we'll ask you to talk again."
"Minho," Newt said sternly. "There's no reason―"
Minho pointed sharply at Aris. "Please, dude. For all, we know this shank could be one of the Creators. Both could. Somebody from WICKED, here to spy on us. He could've killed those people out there―they are the only ones we don't know and the doors and windows are locked! I'm sick of him acting all snooty when we've got twenty guys to his one. He should talk first."
Blake looked into their eyes to find a slight flinch of fear but saw none. Both were good at hiding their emotions.
"Sorry about him. Never knows the right words to say," Toby said cooly.
Newt sighed and looked over at Aris. "He's got a point though. Just tell us what you meant about coming from the buggin' Maze. That's where we escaped from, and we haven't met you."
Aris rubbed his eyes, then met Newt's gaze. "Fine, listen. I was thrown into this gigantic maze made out of huge stone walls―but before that my memory was erased. I couldn't remember anything about my life from before. I just knew my name. I lived there with a bunch of girls. There must've been fifty of them, and we were the only boys. We escaped a few days ago―the people who helped kept us in a big gym for a few days, then moved me here last night―but no one explained anything. What's this stuff about you being in a maze, too?"
Blake felt burdened by so many questions. She felt lost of words.
"Wait a minute," Newt said. "You lived in a big maze, on a farm, where walls closed every night? Just you and a few dozen girls? Were there creatures called Grievers? Were you the last one to arrive? And did everything go buggin' nuts when you did? Did you come into a coma? With a note that said you were the last one ever?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Aris was saying even before Newt had finished. "How do you know all this? How ..."
"It's the same shuck experiment," Minho said, the anger gone from his voice. "Or same ... whatever. But they had all girls and two boys, we had all boys and two girls. WICKED must've built two of those mazes, run two different tests!"
Thomas finally said something. "Did they call you the Trigger?"
Aris nodded. Thomas turned his head towards Toby. "Did they say you were the thing that pulled the trigger?"
"Uh, yeah." Blake looked at him confused. It sounded like the boy Aris was like Teresa. And Toby sounded like he could be the same as her...
"And could you ...," Thomas hesitated. "Could you speak to one of those girls inside your mind? Ya know, like telepathically?"
Aris's eyes widened, staring deeply at Thomas. It was quiet for a moment as their eyes didn't move from each other
"What's going on?" Newt asked, looking back and forth between Thomas and Aris. "Why're you guys looking at each other like you just fell in love?"
"He can do it, too," Thomas answered, not taking his eyes off the new kid.
"Don't tell me you guys are..." Blake trailed off, piecing the pieces together.
"Do what? What are you guys doing?" Frypan asked.
"What do you think?" Minho said. "He's a freak like Thomas. They can talk in each other's heads."
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Sorry, it's been so long since I have updated but I hope you guys like the longer chapter. I have been quite busy with my own personal matters, so I haven't been on Wattpad a lot. But I'm trying to get back to my normal updating schedule.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the new chapter!
Marie.