ACT I SCENE XXII
ODYSSEUS MAINOMENOS

   CASSANDRA FOCUSED on her breaths as she methodically ran through the Maze with Minho and Thomas. Her watch told her that it was almost half past ten in the morning but the walls continued to throw deep shadows along the stone floor. They were nearing the Glade now and it would have marked eight hours of running for them. Then a voice suddenly spoke into her mind and she stumbled slightly.

"Hey, Cass."

Minho glanced over at her. "You okay there?"

"Yes," she bit out before throwing a glare over her shoulder. The boy at her heel smiled innocently in her direction. "We are not doing this, Thomas."

"She doesn't like me," he commented.

Teresa's voice swam in her mind, "I can tell."

Cassandra mentally groaned and imagined herself smacking the both of them. "Seriously?"

"Why can't Minho talk telepathically to us too?" Thomas asked.

"There goes my theory that we were both lovers," Teresa remarked sadly.

Cassandra shook her head. "Goodbye!"

They finally walked through the Doors a few minutes later. She wasn't surprised to see that the Gladers were still stuck to the routines they had even though the sky was gone and everything had just gone to shuck. Soldiering on was kind of their motto around here. Her body felt heavy, weighed down by exhaustion. Newt and Teresa came running up to them a moment later.

"You're the first ones to be back," he said and his face was hopeful as he looked between them. "What happened? Did you find anything?"

There was a pause before Minho spoke, his voice filled with venom. "No. The Maze is a big freaking joke."

"What do you mean?" Newt's face fell, a perplexed look taking over.

"He's just discouraged," Thomas said. "We didn't find anything. The walls haven't moved, no exits. Nothing. Did the Grievers come last night?"

The blonde looked down to the ground, biting the insides of his cheek as he frowned. "Yeah. They took Adam," he answered.

"But I have some good news." Teresa stepped forwards with a piece of paper in her hands. "We finished the code."

There were only six words written down: FLOAT, CATCH, BLEED, DEATH, STIFF, PUSH. Cassandra took the paper and examined the words, trying to find some kind of hidden connection in her disorganised memory banks. But nothing came to her as she repeated the words in her head.

"But the Maze doesn't spell anything out after Push," Teresa told them. "It just goes back to the first word every time."

"I heard Cass say some of those words," Thomas pondered out loud. "Maybe we input them in that computer you saw? Your visions predict stuff, right?"

She nodded grimly. "They might get you killed though."

Just like Nick, she added in her head. They discussed the words a bit more before having a hastily prepared dinner of tomato soup and biscuits. Only the sink in the kitchen was working, which was a small mercy, as Cassandra went to wash her face.

Evening rolled over them and they all packed into the Homestead, deciding to rotate their sleeping spots each night. Their usual group sans Chuck huddled together in the living room, against the wall furthest from the windows. Cassandra shared a blanket with Minho, wrapping it tightly around the both of them as they tried to sleep.

The clicking and whirring came at the same time as the last, a couple of hours past midnight. Everyone started and pressed themselves into a tight group, trying to remain as silent as was humanly possible. Then there was a boom upstairs, the sound of wood and glass splintering, along with the screams of fleeing boys.

"It took Dave!" someone yelled loudly and there was another ripping explosion through the house.

Thomas suddenly jumped up, making everyone stop to stare at him as he ran across the room and yanked the door open. Newt yelled for him to stop but he just continued running like he was possessed with madness. A few of the Gladers got up and ran after him towards the entrance of the Homestead; there was a giant hole where the front door used to be as the Griever had torn right through it.

"What is he doing?" Newt exclaimed, grasping at his hair. "Has he lost his bloody mind?!"

"Thomas!" Minho yelled. "Get back here, you're gonna die, shuckface!"

Cassandra gaped as the boy threw himself at the Griever that held Dave. There was a shriek and the horde of monsters clustered around him, flailing their arms and attachments everywhere in the air. They could all see the Grievers handling him like a rag doll and pricking his skin with their needles, then he was rolling away from them and running back towards the Homestead.

The Grievers paused; looking as if they were confused with the situation then gave up and continued on their way back to the Maze. Thomas fell to the ground with a loud grunt and everyone rushed towards him. Chuck, Clint and a few others came to help as well, and everyone was yelling over each other at the boy. Minho and Newt hoisted him up by the arms and legs, then brought him back into the building and set him down on a couch inside.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Newt yelled at his face. "How could you be so bloody stupid!"

"Dude, you got stung like a hundred times," Cassandra told him, grabbing his head and shaking him so he'd stay awake for a few seconds longer. "Your death wish is showing again!"

Clint finally came back with a Grief Serum and jabbed the metal syringe into his arm. She wasn't sure whether one was enough; his entire system must be filled with poison by now. Teresa kneeled by the sofa and squeezed his ankle, her face filled with worry and distress. Cassandra could tell that she was speaking into his head; she'd been unusually quiet the entire time.

"Don't...worry..." Thomas rasped. "I did it...on purpose..."

Then he completely passed out. Cassandra turned to look at the others with a deadpan expression on her face. "He did it on purpose, the shuck idiot."

   Cassandra scratched the back of her head as she surveyed the damage from the night before. The kitchen was a total mess after the Griever had cut a hole through the ceiling and rammed through the wall to the front of the Homestead. From upstairs, Thomas continued to scream in pain. Everything that boy did just annoyed her, and she found herself scowling in the direction of his voice.

Minho came down to meet her then. "I'm thinkin' we should continue checking out the Maze."

"Yeah, I gave Lee and the others the go ahead at wake-up." She winced when the wailing suddenly got high pitched.

"I think my shucking ears are still ringing," he told her.

"Yeah, mine too." They started to walk across the Glade. She still wasn't used to the grey light and hated how they were stuck in that perpetual nothingness. They paused at the threshold of the Maze and exchanged looks with one another. It reminded her of the first time he brought her in there and she couldn't believe how much had changed since then. She reached out to hold his hand and he leaned in close to press their foreheads together.

"Runnin'?"

"Runnin'."

"You two are disgusting."

They turned around to find Newt standing behind them. He was holding some supplies from the nearby shed. He shook his head at them before turning around to leave, all the while muttering distastefully, "Shucking finally, can't believe it took them just about forever..." Minho and Cassandra grinned at each other before running into the Maze together.

Everyone kept their routines going for the next few days until Thomas finally got better from the Changing. Then Newt decided to round them all up for another Gathering. Cassandra was making her way to the Council Hall when she saw all the Keepers gathered by the door. Teresa was also there and she looked positively livid.

"No way, we're not letting her in." Alby folded his arms and glared at the girl.

"But I helped figure out the code, what'll it take for you to trust me?" she growled back at him.

"We're not takin' any chances," Winston said behind their leader.

Newt and Thomas looked up as Cassandra approached and she put her hands on her hips as her gaze swept over them. The absence of Zart's tall hulking figure made her feel hollow inside.

"What's goin' on here?" she asked.

"They won't let me in to the Gathering." Teresa pointed with an angry snarl.

"This isn't personal, okay? We're just being cautious," Clint told them.

Cassandra looked at the Keepers standing closely on the other side with firm faces, then to Newt and Minho who weren't really sure what they were supposed to do. Teresa still looked mad and Thomas seemed equally pissed off that they weren't letting his girlfriend join them.

She rolled her eyes and hooked Teresa's arm with her own, and pulled the girl with her towards the Council Hall. "Yeah, whatever, let's go." She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"Hey!" Alby yelled after her. "You're not in charge here!"

"Alby, I don't give a shuck," Cassandra retorted. "She was more help than any of you!"

"Well...she's not wrong," Minho quipped, earning a glare from Alby.

"Alright, let's all calm down," Newt said in an attempt to diffuse the situation. "Might be better to keep an eye on the girl than let her run around on her own."

After a moment, the Keepers finally filtered into the room and took their respective seats. Thomas sat on a chair facing them and fidgeted nervously. He threw a small smile at Teresa who returned it in kind. It seemed like he had something to say to them after the Changing and Cassandra only realised that he looked completely normal despite going through the harrowing experience. How did it not affect him like how it did with Nick and Gally?

"Fine," Alby glowered darkly. "Start talking."

"Okay." Thomas sighed and rubbed his eyes. "We're in an experiment that was created by an organisation called WICKED. Every single one of us were taken really young, I don't remember how or why—just glimpses that something really bad happened to the world. WICKED stole us from our families, figured we were special or something, then put us into special schools to live normal lives until they built the Maze. All our names are just stupid nicknames they made up—like Alby for Albert Einstein, Newt for Isaac Newton, and me—Thomas, as in Edison."

And Cassandra, the mad prophetic princess of Troy. It all made sense to her now and she looked down at the cracked ground as her heart plummeted to her stomach. She thought back to her dreams, those vague memories about her life before and tried to remember her real name. It had come up a few times but she could never recall it upon awakening.

"Our names..." Alby looked at him, flabbergasted. "They aren't even our real names?"

"Yeah." Thomas nodded and went on about how they were being studied to analyse their reactions to see who would make it to the end of the experiments. Most of the Keepers couldn't believe him; it was way too much for them to take in.

"Nick and Gally said the same thing though," Cassandra reminded them. "From what little slipped out of their mouths."

"They never really made much sense though," Winston muttered.

"They want to test our reactions to the Variables," Thomas told them. "See if we'll work together, build a community. They made the Maze—one of the most common puzzles known to civilisation. Encouraging us to find a solution and magnifying our discouragement when we can't find one."

"What are you trying to say?" Cassandra narrowed her eyes at him.

"What I mean is..." He took a deep breath. "The Maze can't be solved."

Dissent broke out amongst them. Frypan kicked his chair in a burst of rage. "Well, you better start talking about this magical escape then!"

Minho cleared his throat and looked around with a deadpan expression. "Something tells me I'm not gonna like what I'm about to hear."

"Probably not." Thomas closed his eyes for a second and folded his arms while leaning back against his chair. "The Creators made a way out of here...but we have to earn it." He paused. "The code."

"The code?" Frypan looked up hopefully. "What about it?"

"It was hidden in the wall movements of the Maze for a reason. I should know—I was there when the Creators did it."

"Hold right up." Newt raised a hand. "What did you just say?"

"Um...well, Teresa and I are different in another way," Thomas told them sheepishly. "The reason why everyone who went through the Changing recognised me...we...we helped design the Maze. We helped create the whole thing."

The blonde whipped his head around to look at Cassandra for confirmation, as did everyone else. She started and shrank away, staring back at them in consternation.

"Stop looking at me like that," she snapped. "It's true, he worked for them. Then they wiped him and put him in here like the rest of us. Well, until Golden Boy got himself stung like the shuck idiot he is."

Thomas rolled his eyes. "Thanks so much, Cass."

"You're welcome," she shot back then turned to the girl beside her. "What about you, Teresa? Do you remember any of this?"

"Kind of..." She frowned. "I remember working in a lab, analysing things."

"It's time for the final test," Thomas went on. "I just wanted you guys to know the truth, to know there's a chance we can do this."

Newt shook his head before looking up at the other Keepers. "The Creators—those shanks did this to us, not Tommy and Teresa. The Creators. And they'll be bloody sorry."

"Whatever," Minho said impatiently. "Who gives a klunk about any of this? Just get on with the escape already."

"Okay, so Cass saw it too." Thomas leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and told them about the computer station that they needed to punch the code in to shut down the Maze. "It's almost suicide...the Grievers will come after us whenever we try to do it. All of them. The final test."

"So where the bloody hell is it?" Newt questioned.

Thomas took another deep breath. "Over the Cliff. We have to go through the Griever Hole."

Minho slapped his knee and pointed. "I knew he was gonna say that!"

Alby suddenly shot up from his chair and grabbed hold of Thomas. "Fight Grievers? Jump off the Cliff? You're just being a shuck idiot, or a traitor! What are you up to?!"

"What am I up to?" Thomas repeated indignantly. "I'm trying to get us out of here or do I have to show you the bruises all over my body?"

Newt and Winston shot up to restrain Alby. His face was contorted with fury and his eyes completely bloodshot. There were tears starting to pool around them and a vein appeared on his neck from the strain of it all. "We can't go back!" Alby suddenly wailed, flailing his arms desperately. "I've seen what our lives were like—we can't go back!"

"Alby!" Newt started in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

The boy sank down to the floor and buried his face in his hands. His entire body started to shake as he cried. "I did it," he said, voice muffled. "I did it."

"Did what?" The blonde pressed, looking completely bewildered.

"I burned the Maps." Alby looked up with tears streaming down his face. "I did it. I slammed my head on the table so you'd think it was someone else. I lied, burned it all. I did it!"

"Well, good thing we saved those Maps," Minho said casually. "Thanks for the tip you gave us after the Changing—to protect them."

"Alby..." Cassandra said in an uncharacteristically sympathetic voice. "I know. I've seen it too. Hell, I relive it almost every night. It's bad out there, real bad, but what choice do we have? I would rather risk my chances out there than die a pathetic death right here."

"Then you should know we can't go back," the boy said—more like begged. "It's not worth it—the Flare. It was horrible."

"The Flare..." Thomas murmured and glanced towards Cassandra.

"If we stay here, we'll all die!" Minho yelled at him. "It's worse than that?!"

Alby stared at him for a long moment, his eyes wide and tormented. "Yes," he whispered loudly. "It's worse. Better to die than go home."

"Man, you are one butt-load of sunshine, let me tell you." Minho snickered and leaned back in his chair. "I'm with them. I'm with Thomas and Cassie one hundred percent. If we're gonna die, let's freakin' do it fighting."

"Inside the Maze or out of it," Thomas added. "We still live inside that world, you know."

Alby stood again but with a look of utter defeat on his drawn face and he looked to the ground sadly. "Do what you want," he said. "Doesn't matter. We'll die no matter what." Then he walked to the door and left.

Newt sighed remorsefully as he watched his friend leave. "Never been the same since...must've been one bugger of a memory. What in the world is the Flare anyway?"

"I don't care," Minho interjected. "We'll deal with whatever's out there when we're out there. But for now, we only got one thing to do. Go through the Griever Hole and escape. If some of us die, so be it."

"We can do it," Teresa spoke up. "I'm sure we can, they wouldn't plan it this way if we couldn't."

"You shanks are crazy!" Frypan threw his hands in the air. "This idea of hanging out with the Grievers in their bachelor pad sounds as stupid as anything I've ever heard in my life. Might as well slit our wrists."

The other Keepers started again, rising from their chairs and arguing with each other until Newt screamed for everyone to shut up. Thomas continued again when they quieted down. "I'm going through the Hole or I'll die trying. If we can fight the Grievers long enough for someone to punch in the code and shut them down, we can go through the door they came through. We'll have passed the tests and we can face the Creators themselves."

"You make it sound like a freaking video game," Cassandra commented with a bemused tone.

"You think we can fight off Grievers, eh?" Newt smirked humourlessly. "Even if we don't die, we'll probably all get stung, then what?"

"I don't think they'll sting us," Thomas said unexpectedly. "The Changing was a Variable meant for us while we lived here, but that part is over now. Plus, we might have one thing going for us..."

"Will you stop with the freaking suspense already?" Cassandra threw a ball of paper at him and it smacked him on the shoulder. "Just spit it out, god!"

He turned to give her an exasperated glare before continuing. "I think the Grievers have been programmed to only kill one of us each day. So somebody can sacrifice himself to save the others while we run to the Hole. I think they intended for this to happen."

"Okay, now shut up," she snapped. "That's shucking stupid."

"Are you asking us to throw some poor kid to the wolves so the rest of us can escape?" Winston scoffed out a laugh. "This is your brilliant suggestion?"

"Yes, Winston." Thomas rolled his eyes. "I'm so glad you understand. But it's obvious who that poor kid should be."

"Oh, yeah? Who?"

Thomas folded his arms and braced himself. "Me."

Cassandra threw her entire notepad at his head this time.

Each vote and comment is used to fling at Thomas' head whenever he has a 'great' idea lmao.