There were flashes of blinding lights. He squeezed his eyes shut; pictures flooded into his brain, clouding his mind entirely, puzzling him. A man seated in a chair, a woman resting a hand on his shoulder, whispering in a drawn-out voice, "WICKED is good." These were all memories, but he didn't know that. Another woman materialized within his view, telling him she contracted the Flare, and that he could assist everyone in developing a cure.
When his eyes fluttered open, he realized something felt off. There was the rattling of metal, as he traveled up, he felt in a state of panic. Metal. He wasn't on the operation table anymore, he was in a container. He knew the familiar rattling of the object as the Box traveled up, but this was not his Box. He froze momentarily, gripping on the railing as it went sideward.
Soon enough, the door opened, and light flooded into the crack. No one opened it, it was automatic, and just then, memories faded from his brain, one by one. He leaped out, shafts of light passing over his face. It was tundra all around him, with some snow-topped mountains, others just had smudges of snow across the mountains.
"Oh, no," he whispered. This wasn't his maze, nor was it Thomas's and Teresa's unless they lied. There were mountains, snow decorating the dirty, chunky ground on some parts of it. "Damn it," he murmured. He would spend days figuring it out, but he was going to start now and trudged towards the walls
Some of them were marked with bold letters WICKED, and then, he noticed a sign that said, "C." There were numbers labeled on the walls, just like the old one. He examined each and every one of them, but there wasn't an exit to the Maze, at least not yet.
The walls were beginning to open now. He bolted right in, not even hesitating. He made a sharp turn, then realized there was a creature with claws, spiky bob body, and wings. So, it wasn't two creatures, it was completely combined. He bolted off, knowing that he'd need a weapon.
But when he exited the maze, he realized there was nothing. Not a single cabin was in sight. He sat down, burying his hands in his hands. What was he going to do? No weapon, nothing at all. An alarm pierced through the air, snapping him out of his daze.
The Box was ringing.
He trudged towards it and peered in. A kid was lying in the Box, crying. He leaped down and lifted the kid up. "Hey, hey, what's going on there?" he said, whimpering softly. Aris then noticed something, a tattoo on the boy's neck and also discovered his memories were beginning to return.
SUBJECT C1
"What's your name?" he questioned.
The little boy with blond hair shook his head. "Subject C1."
So, now, WICKED is getting more and more vicious. "Um....I--I am Subject C2."
They were manipulating his brain, he could tell. The kid must have felt it, too, because he whispered, "I love WICKED. WICKED is my life....my entire world."
Something was wrong. "Me, too. My name is Subject C1. Let's spend some time here!" The kid grinned. "Wait...a second, my name is Lucas. It's a pleasure to know you." Lucas extended a hand. "This is splendid, isn't it?"
"Oh, excellent! Like a vacation!" Aris agreed. Something was off with his head, as if he contracted the virus already. He felt giddy and light-headed with enthusiasm. "Hey, look, I see that thing. Maybe we can dance around there, explore around, then return here for supper!"
"Yeah, this is our home," Lucas agreed.
Something was very off. He wanted to be in the Maze, and this Lucas boy was very trustworthy. But then....wasn't there only two bands of kids? One, Group A, the other his band of girls. So, what was going on? Lucas glanced around, inspecting the walls "What is this place?"
"I've been in a similar area, but....not with trees and a few spots of snow here and there," Aris admitted. He looked around. Were they beginning a new Trials? What was going on? "I--" he said. His voice was disrupted by something in his brain in mid-sentence, freezing in place. "Let's just figure out this area."
***
Lucas agreed eventually to begin exploring. First, Aris tore off wood from the trees and fashioned it into a small spear and passed it to Lucas. "Is this a prison?" he muttered. "Or a...home?" He exhaled a breath, staring at the perplexed, frightened boy in the eye. He wanted the boy to feel high hopes, that they were going to flee, that he was the one in charge of fleeing the Maze.
"We'll figure it out," Aris said defiantly. "We will." At this time, a Shade charged into the Maze, circled around the Glade/Spring,, lunged at the boys, and vanished right back into the maze. and Lucas shrieked in fear. He grabbed the boy, seizing his shirt, dragging him back to the...Spring? Glade? He had no idea what to call it, not that it mattered, anyway at this point, and pulled the younger boy into his chest. "Lucas, hush," he whispered gently. "We'll flee."
Lucas peered into Aris's eyes, sobs racking him, then returned a firm nod.
This is my last book in the trilogy. I've written two prequels already, and I'm getting frustrated with writing. My guess is that 18 chapters - or less. I'm really sorry. I have life outside of websites, homework always comes first.
ns 15.158.61.12da2
