Hope let the hum of the Berg lull her into a fitful sleep. It was hard to sleep properly. Her head had been smacked around, she had a nasty gash on the back of her head, and her leg throbbed in sharp pain. Hope felt the dispare taking over, she hadn't seen what happened to Lanna or Papa. And she had no clue what happened to Vera. Hope squeezed her eyes closed, trying to keep the tears in.

Minho sat hunched and silent beside her. He looked miserable. I guess being shot by those electric guns twice in an hour would take its toll. He also had a person from his group betray everyone. Hope still didn't understand how you could not know.

Hope's head jerked awake again, she heard muffled talking beside her. She picked her throbbing head up and looked around. Sonya was sitting, talking quietly to Minho, the Aris kid sat sullen beside her. Hope felt her stomach drop. More of these maze kids were here. She wasn't sure how she felt now, knowing that WICKED only showed up because these damn elite maze kids showed up. She felt the anger and bitterness seeping in.

Sure her life wasn't perfect, far from it, it was dangerous, unpredictable, they were constantly on the move, but she didn't have traitors in their mix.

"Sorry if I woke you." Sonya's voice broke through Hope's brooding.

Hope shifted, wincing at the pain. It's fine." She snapped back.

Sonya frowned when she looked at her again. Hope avoided her eye contact, she was mad and didn't want to talk. Even associating with them hot her in trouble. Hiding behind a crate with Thomas, and now WICKED thinks she's his girlfriend.

Hope must have let out some kind of angry noise because a few heads turned in her direction. Minho raised his eyebrows.

"Something you wanna say Ace?"

Hope glared at him.

"Everything was fine until you guys showed up with a crank and a traitor." She finally spat.

"Hope!" Tim gasped.

"Well it's true. Mr Big shot thinks rules don't apply to him and brings a crank into the camp, she was almost stage 3, Tim! They're lucky Lanna wasn't infected! And then they had the traitor call WICKED. How many innocent lives were killed tonight because of her? Because these mighty Eleites show up! Bringing chaos and death!"

Tim hung his head.

"Alright look herE shuck face!" Minho snarled.

"The only one who knew Brenda was a crank was Thomas! And none of us knew Teresa was working with WICKED!"

"Seriously you had no clue? No hints, inclines, nothing?" Hope snapped back.

She watched as his face paled and then sagged.

"Thomas had some memories come back. He said they both worked for WICKED. They helped out us in the maze...."

"So both of them? That's why Chancellor Paige wants him back. Both of them were their little lap dogs!"

"Not fare!" He snarled back. "Thomas is done with them! He was the one who found out and got us out of their way station. We unfortunately went back for her," he indicated with his to the door Teresa went out of. "We found her in a hospital bed with some kind of IV and stuff. We had no idea what they were doing to her...now I know. Giving her memories back."

"And that didn't worry you? She was the only one?" Tim asked with a deep frown.

"Not at the time." Minho shrugged.

Hope scoffed and rolled her eyes. He was about to say something else when the door at the end opened and more guards with launchers came in, followed by more guards carrying hand cuffs.

"Everyone on your feet!" A short man barked, he was built like a tank. Big and bulky. The kids did as they were asked, Tim helped Hope up.

"Try anything and we"ll Fry your brains out!" He barked again.

The kids were cuffed, one at a time. When they got to Sonya, Aris and Minho a few more guards packed around, obviously expecting some kind of fight or struggle. They weren't wrong. Minho struggled.

He ended up knocking into Hope, and she went tumbling to the ground, with a wild cry of pain. She felt her leg start bleeding again. Tim went to help her, but he was grabbed and pinned to the berg wall. Another guard cuffed him and sent the but if his gun into Tim's stomach.

"Minho!" Hope screamed, through her tears "Stop!"

He looked around, seeing a guard swinging the gun again into Tim and Hope bleeding on the ground. He finally stopped struggling. He was also hit with the but of the gun and cuffed. A guard grabbed Hope roughly and yanked her up onto unsteady feet. Hope cried in pain again. Her leg just about gave out. The guard held her up as the ramp descended.

Janson matched through the crowd of kids, his arm in a sling now. Chancellor Paige and Teresa right behind him, flanked by guards. The kids glared at them as they walked past.

The door opened and guards started pushing kids out. Hope was dragged out, her leg making it hard to walk. The guard was doing most of the lifting. Hope picked her head up and looked around. It looked like they were on top of some building. The roof was flat and a few different bergs and helicopters sat. The hot dry wind whipped at Hope's hair, sending it everywhere. It was still dark out, but dawn was on the horizon.

The group of about 100 kids and their guards were met with more guards. They were split into two groups, and shoved into a huge elevator lift, obviously used for cargo. The kids huddled together and the guards lined the walls. Hope was shoved in. Sonya and Minho caught her, before her leg gave out. A guard scanned a key card and the lift doors closed and they started their descent.

Hope could feel her fear rising. There was no telling what was going to happen. Sonya had pulled her close. At this point Hope didn't care, her leg hurt so much she was whimpering now. The door dinged and slid open.

Hope flung her cuffed hands up to shield her face, as did most of the kids. The hall where they were was bright blinding white. The walls and floor were tiled white, the metal was a bright shinning silver that reflected the harsh lights. And plexiglass everywhere. Guards in black with shinny masks and guns were stationed everywhere. Men and woman in white were busy running here and there.

Hope was pulled from the lift. She realized they were being split up again. The guys were being ushered and shoved roughly down one hall and the girls down another hall. Sonya held her tight. She looked as pale and shaky as Hope felt. Once all the kids were separated and the girls were ushered down another long hallway. Before they were shoved into the room, their cuffs were removed. This room was long and skinny, tiles from floor to ceiling, even the roof was tiles. A robotic female voice made the girls all jump.

"Remove all clothing. If you do not cooperate you will be removed and dealt with individually."

The girls looked at each other nervously. The voice repeated itself. Slowly the girls started stripping down. It was humiliating. Hope could feel her face flushing in anger and bitterness, resentment and humiliation.
But once every girl was stripped down a light buzzed green and a door in the wall slid open. The robotic female voice came back.

"Please exit into the next room. If you do not cooperate you will be removed and dealt with individually."

The group of girls slowly shuffled into the next room. Everyone had their arms wrapped around themselves. And no one made eye contact, heads down and humiliated. This room looked exactly the same. What made Hope's panic spike were the shiny metal drains placed around the floor, and what looked like shower heads attached to the ceiling and walls.

The shower heads all turned on at once and it was not a gentle shower. It pelted them with ice cold water from every angle. It was harsh and stung Hope's skin, like it was trying to rip a layer off or stab her with a million tinny needles. The water was cold and it burnt the skin. The girls screamed in shock. Hope had a hard time getting her breath back. They were soaked in no time. The water turned off suddenly. The girls shook her hair from their eyes, everyone was shivering and teeth were chattering.

The shower heads turned back on. This time something other than water came out. It was almost like a sterilizer, some kind of sanitation. This time Hope cried in pain as the liquid sterile made contact with her open wounds. The girls were crying, it burnt the eyes and opened cuts. Everyone was sputtering and crying. The sterilization liquid stopped. This time the girls kept crying. A few were whimpering. Some tried to huddle in corners, but with the shower heads from each direction, it was useless.

The shower heads turned back on for a third time. This time they were the opposite, it was burning hot. It blasted them for a few seconds, getting all the sterilization off and then everything shut off.

"Please exit the room single file. If you do not cooperate you will be removed and dealt with individually."

A door slid open with a green light. Like a herd of beaten cattle the girls followed the robot voice, drenched and coughed, their skin red and raw the girls stepped single file down a tight narrow hall. This one was like a giant vacuum seal. It was obviously sterilizing them from the outside world. Trying to get rid of any lasting virus or disease they carried.

Hope followed and stepped into another room where clothing was laid out. Nothing was special. White cotton pants, white cotton t shirt, each with black letters stamped across the back. "PROPERTY OF WICKED." There was cotton underwear and bra in various sizes.

With her heart falling deeper into despair, Hope pulled the clothes on. The girls waited, sitting silently on the cold metal bench in the middle. Their hair was still wet, and their eyes wide in fear, they looked around trying to figure out what was next.

"Thank you for your cooperation."

The door at the end beeped and the door slid open. Standing, and waiting for them were more armed guards in their shiny black uniforms and slick fancy guns. They used the girls out of the room and down another hallway. This time once the door opened there was a huge open hall, with little stations set up with small examination centres. A doctor stood waiting with a guard. The girls were grabbed and shoved towards each station.

Hope gasped in pain as a guard grabbed her. She had started to bleed through her pants, and the guard paused for a moment. Hope couldn't see anything past the shiny black helmet, but the person behind it cocked their head. They showed down allowing Hope to hobble, she had tears brimming in her eyes.

She now sat in some chair that reminded her of a dentist chair. She had never been to a dentist, but she knew what it looked like. Will had gone to one once, he had come back saying his teeth felt super clean. The guard stood by the entrance and the doctor started.

It seemed like a basic medical exam. He took her blood pressure, and listened to her heart, checked her breathing and eyes. He tapped on her knees checking reflexes.

"Why are you bleeding?" He demanded.

"I was shot." Hope answered just as snippy.

He frowned.

"Pants off. Let's see."

Hope sat frozen for a moment. She had never been asked by a grown man to remove her pants. She blinked at him confused, her face heating up.

"I won't ask again."

With shaking hands and tears sliding down her cheeks she got up and slid her white cotton pants off. The doctor bent over and started to poke and prod. Hope gasped and hissed through the pain.

All he did was hum. He straightened up.

"It needed healing."

Hope was confused at that statement. Of course it needed to be healed, but bullet wounds take a long time to heal. She had seen many people shot.

"Sit back." The doctor demanded.

"What are you going to do?" Hope whispered, terrified.

"Heal it. Now sit back or I'll bring in reinforcements."

Biting her lip to keep from crying, Hope skid back in the chair. Immidiatly her wrists were cuffed, like the chair was waiting for her to learn back. The doctor strapped her ankles down before her brain caught up to what was happening.

"Wait! What are you doing? Stop!" Hope cried, finally finding her voice.

He pulled out some big scary contraption. It looked like some kind of lazer gun. It reminded Hope of a hair dryer with a huge connecting thing at the end. If she wasn't absolutely terrified she would have laughed at it.

Without waiting or explaining he turned a switch on and held it to her bloody leg. Hope threw her head back and screamed. It hurt worse then the gun shot. It was like a million tinny needles, but it burnt and she could hear her skin sizzling. Hope cried and begged for it to stop. She tried to wiggle free but she was strapped down.

It felt like it went on for ever. The smell of burning skin filled the little area. Hope's voice was raw from screaming, her limbs shook and her body shuddered.

The doctor put the device away. Hope's eyes rolled slightly, her body was exhausted. Everything hurt. She hardly noticed, after that, the doctor took many many viles of blood.

Hope sat panting in the chair, with tears sliding down her cheeks. He had uncuffed her and tossed a pair of clean pants at her.

"Odd." The doctor mumbled to himself reading the results of her blood work from a small computer tablet. Hope picked her head up. The doctor had turned to the guard. "Get the Director."

Fear flooded Hope. They were calling Janson.

•°•

He came striding into the area, flinging the curton back.

"What is so important?" He demanded.

"Ahh. A2's little girlfriend. Welcome my dear to WICKED."

"who's A2?" Hope asked. She hated that her voice was so weak already.

"Subject A2. Thomas."

Hope furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm not his girlfriend! I only meet him the day before!"

"If that were true, why would he fight so hard to save you?"

Hope frowned even more. "What are you talking about?"

Janson looked at her like he didn't believe her, he turned his attention to the doctor.

"Why did you call me? I was in a meeting."

"Thought you would want to see this, sir." The doctor handed the tablet to Janson. His eyes scanned the screen. Hope could see his eyebrows pull more and more together. His nose twitched more and more.

"How is it possible there is no record of you at all? None at all. No health records, dental records, no date of birth, nothing at all in the government system."

"Because I don't exist." Hope said narrowing her eyes. "My parents kept me a complete secret."

"Well...all secrets eventually come out. Look now, I have you now." He turned to the doctor. "get her information, add this into the system," he held up the tablet, "and if she's in cooperative...deal with it." He hissed the last words.

Hope felt a shiver run down her spine, and a small whimper escaped from her.