ACT I   SCENE XXI
MANTEIS

   THE HOMESTEAD had been boarded up tight, all the lights extinguished so they wouldn't attract attention to themselves. It had been three days now and the Grievers had been taking one boy each night. Zart was one of them. Cassandra tried to sleep, but closing her eyes was the farthest thing from her mind so she just clung onto Minho, listening to his soft breaths. They had squeezed into a room upstairs with Newt, Thomas and a few other boys. Everyone was tossing uneasily as they tried desperately to get some shuteye.

The night dragged on and eventually Cassandra had laid her head on Minho's shoulder and dozed off. It had probably been only a couple of hours when a loud bang woke her up again. Panicked, she reached for her weapon as her body instantly went into fight mode. Except when she looked up, she found Gally.

Confusion etched onto her face as she stared at him as if he was a ghost. The boy was bloodied, clothes torn, and his eyes darted around the room with feral lunacy. Thomas had fallen to the floor and was scrambling to get up. Minho reached over to pull him away from the psycho boy.

"It can't be solved," Gally was saying, his voice low and distant, "The shuck Maze'll kill you shanks... The Grievers'll kill you... one every night till it's over... it's better this way. They'll only kill you once a night... their stupid variables..." 

Cassandra froze upon hearing the word he used. Variables. It seemed so odd, so out of place for him to say something like that. Like they were in some kind of experiment. Then it dawned on her. WICKED—Killzone Experiment Department. She let out a short breath of disbelief. Things started to make more sense now.

"Gally, shut your bloody hole," Newt hissed. "There's a Griever right outside the window. Just sit your butt down and be quiet—maybe it'll go away."

"You don't get it, Newt." Gally turned on him. "You're too stupid—you've always been too stupid! There's no way out—there's no way to win! They're going to kill all of you! One by one!"

He let out a scream and suddenly hurled himself at the window like a rabid animal, clawing at the planks boarded across it. He managed to rip one off, throwing it to the side and immediately grabbed at a second. Newt yelled out and lunged forwards to stop him with Minho. Gally ripped the plank out and swung it around to collide with Newt's head. There was a spurt of blood as the blonde collapsed onto the bed and Cassandra cried his name with a shrill voice. Minho stopped in time, narrowly avoiding the same fate as his friend.

"Stop it, you slinthead!" he shouted angrily at Gally.

Cassandra scrambled forwards to tend to Newt, turning him onto his back to examine the wound. Blood soaked through his hair and was already sliding down the side of his face. She didn't know what to do, she wasn't a Med-jack, so she just grabbed the blanket and pressed it against his wound in an attempt to staunch the bleeding.

Gally had already torn apart the last plank and instantly, there was a burst of shards as a Griever rammed itself through the window. Cassandra screamed with her heart jumping into her throat before throwing herself over Newt. A metallic arm reached for her and she scrambled backwards, dragging the blonde across the bed to get away from it.

She could see the monster's pulsating grey flesh trying to ooze its way through the small opening, whirring gears and odd attachments banging against the side of the wall in a horrendous cacophony.

"No one ever understood!" Gally wailed in dismay. "No one understood what I saw, what the Changing did to me! Don't go back to the real world! You don't...want...to remember!"

With another anguished scream, he threw himself at the Griever. Cassandra shot up from the bed and grabbed hold of his arm. "Gally! No! You stupid shuck!"

The Griever dug its metal claws into his skin as it sucked the boy deep into its flesh. She felt sick watching it but she continued to tug on his arm, trying in vain to pull him back from its hold. Her feet budged from under her as the Griever moved away from the window and Minho caught hold of her from behind.

"Let him go!" he shouted into her ear and she released her fingers.

The Griever landed on the ground outside, its engines revving loudly as if cheering in triumph. Three others came forward to greet it and together, they started back towards the Doors.

"Shuck," Minho said, then shoved Cassandra towards Thomas. "Both of you don't move!"

With that, he sprinted out of the room and down the stairs. She blinked in shock then turned to Thomas, who appeared equally bewildered. They headed towards the window and looked out over the chaos. Minho was sprinting across the Glade towards the Doors, after the Grievers.

   Cassandra sat on the grass by the entrance to the Maze with Thomas. Dawn had broken, or whatever semblance to dawn did. Her fingers fidgeted as she waited anxiously for Minho to return. She then heard approaching footsteps and turned to find Newt jogging over to meet them. Behind him, she could see the trail of smoke coming out of the Map Room.

"We have worse things to worry about," he told them while still holding a rag to the wound on his head.

"What?" Cassandra exclaimed in surprise. "Why?"

"Someone—"

"There he is!" Thomas shouted, interrupting the blonde. They looked in the same direction and saw Minho rounding the corner up ahead, running back to the Glade. Thomas cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled, "What were you doing, idiot?!"

The Runner came through the Doors and stopped, bending down to catch his breath. He sucked in gulps of air before starting, "I just...wanted...to make sure..."

"That you could have died a grizzly death?" Cassandra chided.

"Lotta good you'll be, taken with Gally," Newt added.

"Slim it, guys!" Minho straightened up and put his hands on his hips. "I just wanted to see if they went to the Cliff. Into the Griever Hole."

"And?"

"Bingo."

"I can't believe it. What a night." Newt threw his arms up in the air. "By the way, all the maps got burned last night. Someone jumped Alby and lit the place on fire."

"Oh, really?" Minho raised an eyebrow.

Cassandra groaned. "Why would anyone do that?"

Newt shrugged in reply. "Beats me."

"Guys, I need to tell you something," Thomas started. "And we need to let Teresa out—she's probably starving and we could really use her help."

"That stupid girl is the last thing I'm worried about," Minho retorted.

"Hey, come on." Cassandra tugged at his shirt. "Don't be mean to her. He's right, she must be starving by now."

"Just a few minutes—we got an idea," Thomas continued. "Maybe it'll still work if enough Runners remember their Maps."

"An idea?" Minho looked back at him curiously, folding his arms. "What idea?"

"Just come with me," Thomas said impatiently and led them towards the Slammer. They couldn't see the girl inside through the impenetrable shadows but she was definitely there waiting for them. Newt rubbed the back of his head wearily as Thomas demanded for the girl to be let out.

"Tommy, this is—"

"Please, just open it. Let her out. Please."

"How can we trust her?" Minho questioned. "She admitted she triggered something and now the whole shuck place has fallen to pieces."

"He's got a point," Newt commented.

"It can't be her fault," Cassandra said. "She got put here like the rest of us. It's just the same as when Golden Boy came along."

Thomas nodded his head fervently, glad that she was on his side at least. Minho and Newt exchanged a long look with each other.

"Come on. What's she gonna do? Run around and stab every Glader to death?" Thomas asked.

"Fine." Minho rolled his eyes. "Just let the stupid girl out."

"I'm not stupid!" Teresa shouted through the bars. "And I can hear every word you morons are saying!"

Cassandra liked her already.

"Real sweet girl you picked up there, Tommy," Newt commented dryly.

"She's not half as sweet as Cass, though." The boy smirked.

She snorted in amusement. "Yeah, you better believe it."

"Cassie's mine," Minho added. "Go away."

Newt walked over to the Slammer and unlocked the door to pull it wide open. Teresa climbed out, her blue eyes blazing as she glowered at the blonde and threw an equally shady look at Minho. When she saw Cassandra though, she managed a small smile before standing next to Thomas.

"Alright, talk," Minho demanded. "What's this idea?"

Thomas looked to Teresa uncertainly, and she glanced back unhappily. "What? You talk—they obviously think I'm a serial killer."

"Yeah, you look so dangerous," he muttered before explaining the details to the three of them. Before Teresa woke up, she had told Thomas telepathically that the Maze was a code. That it could be trying to send them a hidden message.

"A code?" Minho raised a brow in doubt. "How's it a code?"

Cassandra gasped in dawning realisation. "The patterns, the clues—they're not a way out. They're an answer to a question we haven't asked." Minho then looked to Newt questioningly and the blonde nodded his head in return. The Keeper sighed and scratched the back of his head quizzically.

"What?" Thomas started slowly. "You guys are acting like you have a secret."

"'Cause they do, shuckface," Cassandra sniggered. "They hid the real Maps."

"Wha—?"

"We hid the freaking Maps in the weapons room." Minho gestured. "Put dummies in their place. Because of Alby's warning and because of the so-called Ending your girlfriend triggered. They're all safe and sound. Every last one of those suckers. So if you have a theory, start talking."

Thomas' face suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, and a wide smile started to spread across his face. "Take me to them," he requested eagerly.

"Okay, let's go." Minho waved his hand and turned around when he heard a thud next to him. Looking back, he saw Cassandra had fallen to the ground and quickly dropped down next to her. "Cassie! Not again!" he exclaimed and shook her.

Her fingers were tangled through her hair once more and she started muttering beneath her breath, "It has to be there, it has to be in there. It's our only way out. We need to find it."

"What's happening?" Teresa asked worriedly. "Is she okay?"

"It happens from time to time," Thomas told her.

Her episode was different this time, she could still hear everyone around her clearly. But images kept flashing across her mind—a shadowy abyss, a faint light at the end of a dark corridor, a computer terminal lit up with numbers. She could see herself inputting the familiar code, her eyes darting across the screen to commit it to memory. Push. Open. Gone.

Cassandra gasped, jerking her head up to look around her. Minho jerked back in surprise at her sudden action and stared at her with wide eyes. "What just happened?" he asked.

Her gaze darted from side to side as she slowly came back to reality; whatever just happened felt so surreal like an out-of-body experience. "Oh, my god," she exclaimed slowly.

"What?" Newt pressed uneasily.

She looked over her shoulder at the others as they gazed back expectantly. The vision continued to linger in her consciousness, seared to the back of her mind. "I think I just saw the way out."

"What?!" Thomas cried out excitedly. "What did you see?"

"Slim your pants, Tommy." She glanced at him with mild amusement before pushing herself off the ground. "It wasn't much. I saw some kinda computer screen and there were words on it but I don't remember what they were now. It was in a room, a really dark one, like it was underground or something."

"Cass!" Thomas grabbed her shoulders. "This is amazing!"

"Hey, hey." Minho placed a hand on his chest and pushed him away from her. "Back off."

"Damn, Minho, aren't you protective of your girlfriend?" Newt smirked.

"I'm his shucking princess," she joked. "And don't you forget."

"I don't know whether to bloody laugh or cry."

"Okay!" Minho raised his voice. "We got a clue—the Maze is a code and we need to put the words in some computer. Easy."

"We just need to figure the code out." Cassandra pointed. "That's where you two come in, I guess. Then we'll figure out the computer."

Thomas nodded and they made their way to the back of the Homestead where the weapons room was located. They shuffled into the storage space and Minho switched the lights on, then showed them the hiding closet in the corner. They helped him drag the boxes of Maps out into the open and Thomas immediately started rifling through them.

"Okay, so we know for sure that the Maze is trying to spell something out for us," he started, examining a bundle of maps in his hands.

"Dude, we've studied these things for years. How do you think it's spelling out freaking words? Think we'd have noticed 'em by now." Minho frowned.

"Maybe it's too hard to see with the naked eye." He looked up, the gears spinning in his head. "Maybe we need to look at it one day at a time instead?"

Newt crossed his arms. "Tommy, I might not be the sharpest guy in the Glade, but sounds like you're talking straight outta your butt to me."

Thomas paused and held a couple pieces of paper up to the light and his eyes grew wide as a thought occurred to him. "Wax paper..." he murmured.

"Oh, that's clever!" Cassandra started excitedly before scurrying around the room. "Wax papers and scissors, and all the pencils we can find!"

They spent the next few minutes gathering the supplies they needed, wax paper from Frypan and pencils lying in odd places around the Glade. There was one in the bathroom, and she couldn't explain how it got there. Their scissors had mysteriously disappeared amongst the disarray in the Glade so they had to settle with their knives instead.

"Okay." Thomas handed out wads of wax paper to them. "Start cutting rectangles, about the size of the Maps. Newt and Teresa, help me grab the first ten or so Maps from each section box."

"What is this, kiddie craft time?" Minho looked at him in disgust as he picked up his knife.

"Seriously, Minho?" Thomas looked at him in exasperation. "Just do it."

Minho sighed in irritation and glanced at Cassandra, who was already cutting the wax paper up methodically. Then he followed her, but not as neatly, and threw the rectangles in a haphazard pile in front of him. After they had enough wax pieces, they started tracing the Map sections on them one by one as efficiently as they could. Cassandra didn't even realise that three hours had already passed by the time she was done with her second sector.

"I've had enough!" Newt exclaimed while throwing down his marker. "My fingers are bloody burning like a mother. See if it's working."

Thomas started pointing at sections and telling them to sort the pieces out into stacks. They did as he asked and piled the map pieces up in an orderly manner. With shaking hands, he picked a piece from each pile and placed them on top of one another, making sure each section corresponded with the same day. Once he was done, he leaned back and stared numbly at the finished work. There was nothing; no word, not even a letter.

"Great, that was a bloody waste of time."

Thomas rubbed his eyes in frustration. "I was so sure..."

"Wait," Minho called and pointed. "There's a line out of place here going diagonal over the others. See? And over there."

"I see them too," Teresa said.

Thomas sat up straight in his seat again and examined the papers, then he started shuffling them around. Each time, he did it, the lines shifted across the page, always around the same area in the middle of the grid, but there was still no hint of a word or letter.

"What is this?" he asked with a deep frown. "There's something there, but I can't figure it out."

Cassandra looked hard at the lines as she tried to connect the clues together in her head. She was analysing the section patterns, the layout of each sector, when she realised something. It had nothing to do with the Maze at all. She stood up excitedly. "It's a sequence!"

"Huh?" Everyone looked up at her simultaneously.

"It's a sequence!" she repeated and grabbed the front of Minho's shirt. "Where is it?!"

"Where's what?" He looked at her as if she had just gone crazy.

"The box! The one Lee found that dropped from a Griever!" she said. "There were numbers in it, remember?"

"Oh." His eyes opened wide as he stared back at her. Then he ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him in a hurry. Cassandra quickly explained to the others and Thomas instantly gasped as he finally figured it out as well. He looked like he would have flung himself over the table to kiss her. That would have been gross. Once Minho was back with the box, they reshuffled the section pieces according to its sequence.

7  1  5  2  6  4  8  3

All of them leaned over the table with bated breaths as Thomas placed the pieces on top of each other one by one, and the lines started to fit into place. Instead of overlapping over each other randomly like before, they were now repeating themselves in a uniform pattern around the middle of the map grid. Slowly, it finally became clear.

A large F sat in the middle of the completed map.

Each vote and comment is dedicated to Thomas' love song for WICKED: A B C D E F U and your mom—