ACT III  SCENE LXIV
ION

     THEY STOOD outside the large cement walls that encircled the entire city in a single filed line. The looming metal doors were filled with dents and rust covered the hinges with age. It reminded Cassandra of the Maze, though the WICKED compound was far more daunting than the city gates that loomed in front of them. Helenus let out a low whistle beside her.

"That's a pretty huge slab of cement," he commented.

"I've seen bigger," Minho said without missing a beat.

"You guys ready?" Brenda asked. Cassandra gave a curt nod along with the other Gladers but she felt her nerves buzz with anticipation. Her eyes automatically glanced towards Newt whose gaze was far away and almost unseeing. They'd drug him up on the Bliss to bypass the sensors. It usually worked ninety-nine percent of the time, according to Jorge.

"We sure we know what we're doing?" Thomas asked.

"Just keep your mouth shut, hermano," Jorge told him, "and leave things to me. We're using our real first names with fake last names. All they'll really care about in the end is that we're immune—they'll love putting us on record and we won't have more than a day or two before they hunt us down to do something for the government. And I can't stress it enough—Thomas, you need to keep that yapper of yours closed."

"You too, Minho," Brenda added and Cassandra snickered. "Got it? Jorge created fake documents for all of us, and he lies like a master thief."

"No kidding," Minho muttered.

They walked up to the immense metal doors and paused in front of them. Cassandra made it a point to keep an eye on both Newt and Helenus, hoping that neither of them would start acting up unexpectedly. She caught Teresa's eye next to Thomas and they exchanged anxious glances with one another. There was the sound of an electronic buzz, then a smooth female voice spoke from a speaker to the uppermost left corner of the doors.

"State your name and business."

Jorge started to introduce themselves loudly to the disembodied voice. "I'm Jorge Gallaraga, and these are my associates, Brenda Despain, Thomas Murphy, Teresa Blake, Helenus Wright, Cassandra Kim and Minho Park. We're here for some information gathering and field testing. I have all the necessary paperwork with me, but you can check it out." He pulled a few data cards from his back pocket and held them up to a camera in the wall.

"Hold, please," the voice directed. Cassandra could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest as they waited for the camera to examine them. She balled her hands by her sides, feeling them slick with perspiration. They waited for a prolonged moment before a series of clicks filled the air, followed by a loud thunk.

Slowly, one of the doors started to swing open with squealing hinges. They peered through the widening gap into an empty alleyway that led to another wall and set of doors. This part of the outer perimeter of the city looked more recent and modern, with screens and panels set into the cement wall.

Jorge strode forward confidently, making his way towards the largest panel where he started to key in their fake names and identification numbers. Cassandra observed him closely as she attempted to figure out how the panels worked. He then fed their data cards into a wide slot beneath the screen. She glanced towards the others, noticing that Thomas looked completely apprehensive as they waited for the verification to be done.

For whatever reason, she felt that she could trust Jorge to get them through the walls despite the nervousness she felt deep in her guts.

The lady's voice came back. "Papers are in order. Please move to the viral testing station." Jorge took a step to the right and a panel on the wall opened up. A mechanical arm emerged from the gap with eye sensors. Jorge leaned in to line his eyes with the sockets and a thin wire snaked out from the arm to prick his neck.

Cassandra exchanged a wide-eyed horrified look with Thomas.

The entire panel then rotated back into the wall, only to be replaced with a new identical one. "Next," the lady announced. Brenda walked up to the machine and leaned in just as Jorge had done. The wire pricked her neck with a hiss, then she stepped away with a relieved sigh.

"It's been a long time since I've used one of those," she whispered to them. "They make me nervous, like I'm suddenly not gonna be immune anymore."

"Can that happen?" Helenus mouthed to her.

"Of course not," Teresa hissed back.

"Next."

Minho and Thomas went forward before it was Cassandra's turn. She simply leaned in to the machine like everyone else and she could see flashes of light and colour. Hardly any pain registered at all when the wire pricked her neck and the panel was already rotating before she even stepped away for Teresa.

Newt was the last one to do the testing and Cassandra held her breath as Brenda helped him over. He lined his eyes with the machine and they watched as the wire pricked his neck. For that one agonising moment, before Newt took a step back, Cassandra could imagine alarms blaring all around them if they found that he wasn't immune. She prayed with every fiber of her being that he wouldn't be that one percent outlier.

"You've all been cleared of VCT and confirmed immune," the lady told them. "You do realize that the opportunities for your kind are vast here in Denver. But don't advertise it too much out on the streets. Everyone here is healthy and virus-free, but there are many who still don't take kindly to Immunes."

"We're here for a few simple tasks and then we'll be heading out again. Probably in a week or so," Jorge said. "Hopefully we can keep our little secret a... secret."

"What's VCT?" Thomas whispered to Minho.

"You think I know?"

"Viral Contagion Threat," Teresa explained. "But act like you know what it is so it doesn't seem suspicious."

Newt let out a short chuckle and everyone turned to stare at him in surprise. "Can we just bugger off, please?" he asked no one in particular.

"Sounds good to me," Minho muttered as the doors in front of them slid open.

Cassandra suppressed a groan as another hallway was revealed—this time made of metal—with yet another set of closed doors. "Enter the detector one at a time, please," the woman directed. "Mr. Gallaraga first."

Jorge entered the small space of the detector and the doors slid shut behind him.

"Where'd it take him?" Helenus whispered in alarm.

"He's fine," Brenda replied curtly.

An alarm buzzed and the doors re-opened with Jorge nowhere in sight. "Ms. Despain is next," the lady went on in a now bored manner.

Brenda nodded towards them before stepping in. Teresa and Helenus soon went after her, then it was Minho's turn. He looked at them with a dead serious expression.

"If I don't see you guys on the other side," he said in a sappy voice, "remember that I love you." Snickering at Thomas's eye roll and Casandra's groan, he went through the doors and they closed.

"Ms. Kim is next."

"If you don't see Minho on the other side, it means I stuffed him in a trashcan," she told Thomas before stepping into the detector.

"I'm counting on it," he replied right before the doors closed. A rush of air blew over her as a series of beeps sounded all around her. Cassandra glanced around the metallic confined space and almost had a panic attack as it reminded her of the box she was trapped in for hours back in the WICKED compound. But the feeling quickly passed as the doors in front of her slid open with a loud whoosh.

She clumsily took a step out onto a large and long walkway that was teeming with bustling people. Her eyes widened as she took in the tall storefronts that surrounded her on every side of the atrium and her jaw dropped. Brilliant lights and flashing screens lined the walls and the ceiling was made out of pristine glass, allowing bright sunlight to stream through.

She heard the door re-open behind her and someone crashed into her back. "Ouch! Cass!" Thomas cried out as she had accidentally trodden on his toes.

"Oh, sorry." Cassandra hastily moved away and spotted the others waiting for them towards the side.

"Where's Newt?" Teresa asked worriedly.

They turned around and looked back to the closed door with uneasy frowns. A second later, they opened and Newt ambled out. He glanced at the both of them before sweeping his dreamy gaze over their surroundings. "Wow," he merely said.

Cassandra pulled him to the side to re-join their group as they crowded around the side of the walkway. "What is this place?" Thomas asked with an awed voice.

Jorge and Brenda looked embarrassed to be around him but the girl's face suddenly melted with sadness. "I keep forgetting that you've lost your memories," she murmured. "It's called a mall—basically it runs along the entire wall surrounding the city. It's mainly shops and businesses."

"I've just never seen so many..." Thomas' voice trailed off as he caught sight of something ahead of them. "Hey," he whispered, nodding his head towards what caught his attention.

Cassandra turned to follow his gaze and saw a young woman who couldn't have been a couple of years older than herself walk towards them with long, assertive strides. She reached them in no time and held up a piece of folded paper between two fingers.

"You look like you're waiting for someone," she said and Cassandra noticed that her hazel eyes were set on Teresa.

"Who the shuck are you?" Minho asked.

The girl grinned at them, her eyes lighting up with pure exhilaration. "I'm the best person you'll ever meet in your life."

Helenus nudged Teresa in the side. "You know her?"

She turned towards them with a pleased expression. "This is Clark's daughter."

Author's Note:
Hi everyone! Bet you're wondering how da heck is Newt with them but let's all pretend that the Bliss is some kinda miracle drug that makes you immune for like ten mins hahaha. JD never really explained how everything works so I'm just gonna make things up to suit my story xD And in the books, there were people running around drugged up on the Bliss or who knows, maybe their needles don't really work haha. I did consider them somehow sneaking Newt in through a crack in the wall or something but then I was like...nah, Bliss sounds more fun :p