ACT III   SCENE LXVI
ANTIGONE

     HANS CAME back in a moment later to announce that he was ready. Aislin turned to nod at Thomas whom they decided would be the first to have the implant removed. He started to stand from his seat when his hands suddenly balled into fists and slammed against the tabletop. Everyone started in surprise and stared at him warily.

"What the shuck, Thomas?" Minho questioned.

"I'm not—" His body jerked forwards before suddenly kicking out at his chair. The piece of furniture clattered onto the floor noisily and everyone around the table jumped up.

"Thomas!" Brenda exclaimed. "What's wrong?"

He tried to speak but a low moan came out instead and drool dribbled onto his chin. Then his entire body went rigid and still, as if his limbs had just snapped back into place. His back straightened and he turned stiffly to walk around the table.

"Uh, Thomas?" Minho tried again. "Are you okay?"

"No..." Teresa started. "I think he's being controlled."

The boy's head twitched from left to right before his gaze set on the front door. He started towards it and Gally stepped in his way. "You need to stop right there, buddy."

Thomas shoved him to the side as his balled fists remained in the air. His voice was tight as he said, "I can't...let you...do this."

"Yeah, something's definitely wrong," Cassandra muttered. She jolted when Thomas pushed people away, sending them tumbling or tripping around the cramped apartment. He was starting to scream now, the same sentence over and over. Jorge grabbed hold of his arm but Thomas lashed out, swinging his fist into the man's face. There was a spray of blood that shot out from his lip.

"Oh, no, I was afraid of this," Hans murmured from the other side of the room. Thomas' attention suddenly swivelled onto the old man and he stumbled towards the kitchen counter. His hand reached for a knife and pulled it out of its holder. He gripped it tightly in his hand as he held it up in front of his face.

Minho stepped forward to stop him. "Thomas, you gotta fight it! Get those shuck people out of your head!"

"I can't...let you...do this!" Thomas merely shouted back in reply before lunging forwards. Cassandra let out a scream just as Newt jumped onto Thomas' back. The blonde grabbed hold of Thomas' arm and they grappled with one another. The knife was knocked out of his hand and it clattered onto the floor.

Cassandra ran forwards to retrieve it before any harm could befall someone. Brenda and Jorge immediately rushed forwards to help restrain the boy. Together with Minho and Newt, they each held one of Thomas' limbs as he continued to thrash like a lunatic. They lifted him off the floor and hurriedly carried him towards the room that Hans had prepared. Pictures hanging on the walls crashed to the floor where he passed and glass shattered against the floorboards.

Teresa let out a loud sigh as she collapsed back into a chair. She exchanged glances with Cassandra. "It's a failsafe," she explained. "I think they only put it in Thomas' brain but we should hurry. Minho, Newt and you haven't gotten your chips removed yet too. They can still control you if they're close enough."

Cassandra nodded. When the others returned, they sat around the kitchen table and waited for Hans to call them in one by one. Eventually, he called both Newt and Cassandra. Since they were switching chips, he had to do it as quickly as possible to avoid Newt getting his memories back in the small window when his chip was removed.

"Wait..." Cassandra turned to the old man. "Leave it out. I don't need anything in my brain anymore."

"Cass..." Newt started. "You know what that means."

"I know." She tried to get herself together but her hands couldn't stop shaking. She was scared. Whatever horrors that happened back in the Maze was probably nothing compared to what she went through in the aftermath of the Flare. She took it all back—she needed to know what happened.

Hans instructed them to lie down on the beds as he adjusted the strange contraption that hung from a coat rack. He handed her a gas mask to breathe in a sedative that instantly made her drowsy. "Wow, that's really strong," she commented, voice slurring in her own ears.

She laid back down on the bed as Hans placed the contraption on top of her head. A familiar cold feeling crawled into her ears and then she had fallen unconscious.

     Cassandra was aware that she was experiencing some kind of lucid dream of her memory. She was in her room—the one that she knew so well during her time in WICKED. There was a loud bang and a noisy clatter from a corner behind her. Cassandra immediately sat up and looked around in confusion. Then a face peeked out from behind the door to her bathroom. She recognised his young face and felt elation bubble in her chest.

"Minho?" she whispered.

He gestured for her to approach him and she hastily got out of bed. Her bare feet touched the cold tiled floor, sending a shiver rocking throughout her body. Her skin was raised in tiny bumps as she quickly crossed the small space to the bathroom. Once inside, she closed the door and looked around. The grill that covered her exhaust was lying on the floor beneath a hole in the wall. That explained the noise she'd heard earlier. Minho urged her to hurry and follow him as he went back to the opening. Another boy's face peeked out from the shadows of the hole and he reached out to help Minho climb back up into the opening.

"Cassie, come on!" Minho beckoned. She pattered after him, her feet making slapping sounds against the tiles. Cassandra had to jump a few times before Minho managed to catch hold of her wrists. He then pulled her up and she was crawling through the narrow space of the vent along with him.

"Where are we going?" she whispered loud enough for him to hear.

"We're getting out of this place," he told her. "We're getting you out of here, Cassie."

The dream started to evolve and soon they were running out of the facility. There was a large clearing in front of them and Minho threw his hand out to her. Cassandra managed to grab hold of it before floodlights erupted all around them. She gasped and stopped, turning around to find armed guards suddenly surrounding them. They had barely even crossed half of the clearing when WICKED caught them.

"You kids will understand once you see what's down there," one of the guards told them before ushering them down the side of the facility. Minho turned around and yelled at the other guards. She could see them bringing Newt away, back into the building as his wide eyes watched them leave with fear.

Cassandra turned back around and saw Thomas had a worried frown across his brows. He looked scared too. The guard finally stopped in front of the entrance of a cave or tunnel, by the looks of it. Thomas and Minho turned to look at her simultaneously before walking forwards. They were soon enveloped by the darkness and Cassandra stood there rooted to the spot. It was like there was some kind of invisible force that was blocking her path. It was trying desperately to get her to stay away from whatever lied inside.

She placed one foot in front of her and felt another wave of paralysis take over her body. Another foot in front. Her heart was drumming rapidly against her chest and she was afraid that it was going to explode from the strain. She was finally within a foot away from the threshold when she heard voices. It sent a cold shiver down her spine and her mind was screaming at her to stop.

Cassandra balled her hands tightly before pushing her body into a sprint. She ran inside, through the gloom until she reached the end of the short shaft. Minho and Thomas was standing in the middle of the area. On either side of them were metal bars and clawed hands were trying to reach through the gaps to get at them. Cassandra felt her breaths start to hitch as the deranged people muttered and hollered above once another.

Then she heard it. A familiar voice.

"Daddy loves you. Daddy loves you. Daddy loves you."

She was inexplicably drawn to the voice, tremors ravaging her body as a cold draft blew in from somewhere deep within the tunnels. He looked just as she remembered him, but scarred and filthy. His eyes that used to hold so much warmth and happiness were now dark and unseeing. He muttered the same thing over and over again, not knowing how much it meant to her.

Cassandra couldn't handle it. She screamed.