ACT III  SCENE LVIII
ATHAMAS

   CASSANDRA FELT her soul and essence, every molecule that constituted her being, escape through a vacuum in space to leave her insides desolate. Newt. Her best friend. He'd been at her side ever since the first day she arrived in the Glade. Even if she had seen the signs early, agonised about them, she still refused to believe it.

"Cass, Tommy, slim yourselves," Newt told them.

Cassandra let out the painful breath she'd been holding. What was it that they had branded him with? The Glue? It was true; Newt had always been the one holding them together. He was their voice of reason, he knew all the right things to say.

"Newt," she murmured, feeling her waterlines prick with sadness. His name tasted like ash to her tongue as she said it; crumbling and evanescent.

"Slim myself?" Thomas turned to him. "That old shank just said you're not immune to the Flare. How could you—"

"I'm not worried about the bloody Flare, man," Newt said with an incongruous grin. "I never thought I'd still be alive at this buggin' point—and living hasn't exactly been so great anyway."

"Dude—" Minho started but cut himself short. A muscle in his jaw twitched precariously.

Thomas swallowed and his next words seemed hollow. "If you're cool with slowly going crazy and wanting to eat small children, then I guess we won't cry for you."

"Good that." Newt nodded, the smile quickly disappearing from his face, and the conversation was dropped just like that.

The Rat Man went on with the list. Niels. Gemma. Cecilia. Roy. Graham. Amy. Almost two dozen names were called. The non-Immunes suddenly appeared as if they had aged twice as much in the following minutes, most of them breaking down in tears by the news. Cassandra had never been close to any of the other boys that were named but they had never treated her unkindly. Hopelessness was an acute feeling in that moment.

When he was done, the Rat Man walked towards the side to touch one of the metallic devices hanging from the ceiling. "This is something we're very proud of here—a feat of scientific and medical engineering. It's called a Retractor and it will be performing this procedure. It'll be placed on your face—and I promise you'll still look just as pretty when everything is done. Small wires within the device will descend and enter your ear canals. From there they will remove the machinery in your brain."

He paused to survey them. "You will fall into a trancelike state as the nerves repair themselves and your memories return, similar to what some of you went through during what you called the Changing back in the Maze. But not nearly as bad, I promise. Much of that was for the purpose of stimulating brain patterns. We have several more rooms like this one and a whole team of doctors waiting to get started. You can make your decisions now while I make sure that they're ready."

He then crossed the room to the steel doors behind them and left. There was a brief moment of static silence before everyone broke out into frenzied chatter. Thomas and Newt huddled close to Cassandra and Minho, with Teresa joining them a second later.

"You shanks know more and remember more than anybody else," Minho said, leaning closer to speak over the frantic conversations around them. "Teresa, I've never made a secret of it—I don't like you but Cassie does. So let's hear what you think."

"We should do it," Teresa said without hesitation. "I think we should. We need our memories back so we can be smart about things. Decide what to do."

"I can see where you're coming from—" Cassandra started but the other girl cut her off.

"I know it must have been hard for you," Teresa said earnestly. "But trust me, it's imperative that we know the truth. There's so much that we don't know and this entire thing is way bigger than all of us. We need to weigh our pros and cons carefully."

"They locked me up in a room, I doubt I'd know anything useful anyway," Cassandra said with a grimace. "I don't want to remember the rest."

"They can manipulate us, play with our shuck brains." Minho pointed out. "How would you even know if they're giving us back our own memories or shoving new ones inside us?"

"I'm willing to risk it," Teresa said resolutely. "Besides, they're also taking out the part that controls us. Sounds legit to me."

"I'm not convinced," Thomas said. "And I'm still not sure whose side you're on. You're not stupid, but you love WICKED."

Teresa sighed in frustration. "I've told you all I can tell you. There's so much that we don't know without our memories."

"What does Aris think?" Newt asked, his eyes flickering to the side to locate the boy. "He was with you guys before you came to the Maze, right?"

"I'll ask him," Teresa said before making her way to him. He was with the girls of Group B, talking furiously with each other. Sonya, Harriet and Eve looked as much convinced as everyone else about the procedure.

"She's not that bad," Frypan commented. Thomas started in surprise before turning to him, not having realised that the boy had walked up behind them.

"I don't trust her." Minho crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Me neither," Newt added. "And I'm the one who supposedly has the bloody Flare, so I have more stake in it than anybody. But I'm not falling for one more trick."

"She's looking at the bigger picture," Cassandra said with a frown. "If I'd been completely clueless about my past, I might want to do it too. But I'm not, and I don't want to remember a thing."

"Let's just hear what she has to say. Here she comes," Thomas said hastily.

Teresa returned to them after a brief conversation with the others. "He's even more sure than us. They're all for it."

"Well, guess I'm not," Newt proclaimed.

Teresa turned to Thomas with an expectant look in her crystal blue eyes, but he merely stared back at her impassively. The girl's face fell when she realised that his mind had already been set and she pursed her lips into a thin line. "Fine," she said before walking away.

It seemed that their little group of five were the only ones who were against the operation. Even the other Gladers had finally caved in to the lure of being able to remember their families and lives again. Thomas turned to them and lowered his voice with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "We'll stick around, play along and act nice. But as soon as we get a chance, we're going to fight our way out of this place."

Almost after he had said that, the Rat Man returned through the same steel doors. He brought along with him a group of doctors dressed in green one-piece suits with the word WICKED emblazoned on the front of their chests. Each doctor then presumed to take a place beside one of the beds, examining and tinkering with the masked devices.

"We've already assigned each of you a bed," the Rat Man told them, then proceeded to read out the list of names of those staying in the room they were currently in. Sonya and Aris were part of that group, while the rest of them followed the Rat Man down an empty hallway to another door. Yet again, a second list was read out which included Frypan and Newt this time.

"I'm not doing it," Newt announced. "You said we could choose and that's my bloody decision." He shot his friends a look to hurry up and Cassandra started to fidget her fingers nervously, feeling her palms slick with anxiety.

"That's fine," the Rat Man said nonchalantly. "You'll change your mind soon enough. Stay with me until we finish distributing everyone else."

"What about you, Frypan?" Thomas asked.

The boy suddenly looked sheepish. "I...think I'm going to let them do it."

"Are you crazy?" Minho asked as the four of them turned to him in surprise. He'd been against it from the start and now he was bailing.

Frypan shook his head. "I want to remember. Make your own choice; let me make mine."

The Cook took the opportunity to slip into the room with the others, guiltily avoiding their gazes at the same time. Cassandra really hoped that they would see each other again. She, Minho and Thomas were in the last batch along with Teresa and Harriet. So far, Newt had been the only one to refuse the procedure.

"No, thanks," Minho said when the Rat Man gestured for them to enter the room. "Appreciate the invitation. You guys have a good time in there." He waved mockingly.

"I'm happy just watching too," Cassandra said.

"I'm not doing it either," Thomas announced, earning an unreadable stare from the Rat Man.

"You okay, there, Mr. Rat Man?" Minho asked mockingly.

"My name is Assistant Director Janson," he snapped back in irritation. "Learn to show respect for your elders."

Cassandra snorted derisively and Minho crossed his arms. "You quit treating people like animals and maybe I'll consider it," he said. "And why are you goggling at Thomas?"

"Because there are many things to consider," the man said, "but very well. We said you could choose for yourselves and we'll stand by that."

"Let's see for how long." Cassandra rolled her eyes.

The Rat Man sighed in exasperation but looked as if he was used to their rebellious remarks by then. "Everyone come inside and we'll get things started with those willing to participate." Their group exchanged slight nods once his back was turned and they shuffled into the room after the others. The anticipation between them was aching for an escape soon.

Doctors were already standing at the ready next to six beds. The control panel was up and running on the farthest left of the room. Thomas sucked in a breath beside Cassandra then, his eyes set on the doctor stationed next to it. Casdandra turned her head to follow his gaze, frowning when she realised that it was Brenda and another wave of déjà vu rushed through her. In the next moment, Brenda was running towards Thomas and wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

"Brenda, what are you doing!" the Rat Man yelled. "Get back to your post!" Brenda pressed her lips against Thomas' ear and Cassandra saw them move slightly. "Brenda!" the Rat Man shouted again.

She finally stepped away with her head hung low. "Sorry," she mumbled out. "I'm just glad to see he made it through Phase Three. I forgot myself."

Brenda walked back to her post and turned around to face them blankly. Cassandra was dying to know what that was all about but she couldn't risk asking in front of the Rat Man. If Minho didn't trust Teresa, she didn't trust Brenda all the more.

"What's she doing here?" Teresa stepped forwards to whisper in Cassandra's ear. She didn't seem pleased by the turn of events either. "I thought she was a Crank."

"She's a lying agent of WICKED," Cassandra whispered back. "Tried to pretend they were just helping us, but I saw right through them."

Teresa smiled at that. "Good. I knew I didn't like her for a reason."

The Rat Man then assigned the willing participants to their beds while the four of them hung around the edge of the room to observe. Cassandra wondered when it would be a good time for them to make a dash when the Rat Man spoke up. "You four rebels are being watched," he informed. "Don't even think about trying anything. Armed guards are on their way as we speak."

"That's a bunch of klunk," Minho whispered when the Rat Man averted his attention from them. "I think we should take our chances, see what happens."

But just as he said that, the door opened with four men and two women storming through. They were all dressed in military black ensemble, carrying a small arsenal of gear that would be more than necessary to subdue them. Each guard held a large, bulky weapon that shimmered with shiny metallic grenades fizzling with blue electricity. They were all pointed in their group's direction.

"We waited too bloody long," Newt whispered harshly from the back.

The Rat Man walked over towards them and pointed at the weapons. "These are called Launchers. These guards will not hesitate to fire them if any of you cause trouble. The weapons won't kill, but trust me when I say they'll give you the most uncomfortable five minutes of your life."

"I think I've been through worst," Cassandra retorted.

"What's going on?" Thomas demanded. "You told us we could make this choice ourselves. Why the sudden army?"

"Because I don't trust you," the Rat Man responded before pausing to choose his words carefully. "We hoped you would do things voluntarily once your memories were back. It would just make things easier. But I never said we don't still need you."

"What a surprise," Minho said. "You lied again."

"I haven't lied about a thing," the man said coldly. "You made your decision, now live with the consequences." He pointed at the door. "Guards, escort these rebels to their room, where they can dwell on their mistakes until tomorrow morning's tests. Use whatever force is necessary."