"Who turned the bloody lights on?" Newt asked. He was looking around the group, but everyone was just as confused.

"I think They did." Alex replied quietly.

Her eyes were flitting around the room, her nerves felt fried and she felt so drained. She slowly stood up, using the wall to steady herself. Her mouth fell open.

"Uhhh guys...?" She stammered.

Everyone else scrambled to their feet and looked where she was pointing. On the far side of the room was a long table. On that table was food. All sorts of food. Pizza, rice, chicken, meatballs, mashed potatoes, all kinds of fruit and vegetables, just to name some of the food. There were big pitchers of ice cold water. The table was set with plates, cups, cutlery and napkins. Everyone stood stunned for a second.

Where'd this come from? How did these people know how many places to set? Why is there a mini feast inside a storage room? Something doesn't feel right.

Frypan took a step forward, his mouth hanging open.

"I call dibs on the rice!" He called, running to the table like an excited child. Everyone else followed with wild whoops and cheers. Alex hesitated, but followed behind everyone. She still felt nervous about this place, the guard on the helicopter, the major defense these guys had on the building, locking them inside a room, with a table full of food and just enough place settings for the number of Gladers left. Something felt...off. The unsettling feeling she got on the helicopter hadn't gone away.

Alex slipped onto the bench at the end, beside Newt. She slowly took some of the food that was in front of her. She wasn't as hungry as everyone else, apparently. She nibbled on some grapes. Her stomach just didn't want to consume food. She would have preferred to curl up in a soft place with Minho beside her and sleep, maybe with some pain medicine. Newt leaned over and placed a chicken leg on her plate, then grabbed a bowl of mashed potatoes and scooped a big pile onto her plate, with a scoop of meatballs and sauce. He looked at her with such a mother hen look she cured the sde of her lip up at him.

"Eat. You will feel better. Trust me."

She sighed and took a few small bites. "Thanks Mama Newt."

He watched her for a few minutes, making sure she was eating, nodded, gave her a small sad smile then turned back to his plate which was heaped high with food.

She had to admit, it was good. She looked down the table watching everyone, her forke loosely held in her hand. Everyone was shoveling food into their mouths. Swallowing without chewing and shoving more in. Minho was drinking the water straight from the pitcher. Frypan was using the serving spoon to eat straight from the rice bowl, which he had claimed and wouldn't let anyone else have.

"This is way better than Frypan's slop!" Winston laughed, his mouth full of food.

"HEY!" Frypan yelled back "You're lucky you had me at all! You'd have all starved!!"

"Maybe at first...but we then had ALex...and her cooking was way better then yours!" Winston teased. Frypan scoffed at him. He couldn't defend himself now, he had just shoveled a spoon full of rice into his mouth again.

Everyone lauged. There was a few minutes of quiet as the Glders shoveled more food into their mouths. Alex figured fighting for your life, being in a high stress situation for a few straight days made you have an appitiet. Alex watched as Teresa tried to grab a muffin but Clint leaned over the table and smacked her hand making her drop it. He grabbed it from the table and shoved it into his mouth before she could grab it back. She gasped.

"Clint!" She shrieked. Her usual sweet face cured into an evil smile when she nonchelontly took a handful of grapes and threw them at him. A few bounced off his face. She snorted in laughter.

"Oh no! Don't start something you can't handle Shanket!" He retorted with an evil smile of his own. He grabbed a handful of the cooked green beans in front of himself and threw them back at her. She threw her hands up to block them. A few of the beans landed on Thomas and Minho, who were sitting on either side of her.

"Dude! Don't mess with the hair you Shank!" Minho yelled appalled that Clint would even do something.

"Oh...I do think I might." Clint sniggered as Minho tried to brush the beans out of his hair. Thomas didn't seem to notice, he just kept shoveling food into his mouth.

Teresa took another grap and as slowly as possible, with such an evil glint in her eye it made Clint lean away. She placed the grap on a spoon, looked him in the eye and used the spoon to fling it across the table. It hit him in the eye. He shrieked as Teresa howeld with laughter.

That's when all out food fight broke out. Food was being grabbed and lobed across the table at each other. Frypan had grabbed a huge bowl off the table, he was trying his hardest to protect his bowl of rice with his body.

He kept yelling "NO! NO! NOT THE RICE! THE RICE!"

Alex sat at the end of the table and watched with a blank face.

She wasn't entirely sure why she didn't want to join in. She watched in mild amusement, but her body just didn't want to smile or laugh with the others. Her thoughts went instantly to Chuck and Matt. This would have been something they would have loved to do. They always talked about it a lot. They had planned it all out too. They just never had the food fight because everyone in the glade knew that supplies were limited and they knew they couldn't waste what they had. Just thinking of the food fight Matt and Chuck had always dreamed of made her heart feel heavy and squeeze. She felt a few more of her heart string fibers rip apart.

She smiled sadly, thinking of her dear friends, her little brothers. Her eyes stung, and her throat felt tight. She looked down at her plate quickly. The Gladers stuffed their mouths with one hand and tossed food at each other with the other. Alex looked down at her plate quickly, playing with the food on it, pushing it around her plate with her fork. She was lost in her melancholy thoughts. Something warm, soft and sticky hit her on the side of the head. She felt it slide down her neck and down the front of her shirt.

She instantly stiffened. The guys around the table went quiet. Everyone went quiet, watching her reaction, unsure what she would do. Alex blinked. She slowly turned her head to face the guilty faces. Frypan had his spoon in the air, his eyes wide. Winston had fear written on his face. Clint looked guilty, he was holding the bowl of beans, his hand buried deep in the middle of it. A.J and Leo look terified. Newt looked amused, his chin resting on this hand. Thomas looked like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Teresa and Minho however, they were both trying very hard not to laugh. Minho had his fist in his mouth, biting down, tears running down his face. Teresa was biting her lip, both hands clamped over her mouth trying in vain to act shocked.

"You think this is funny?" Alex whispered threateningly. Minho and Teresa both snorted and shook their heads. Everyone else slowly leaned away from the table. The amused faces slowly morphed into fear.

"Are you sure?" Her voice was dangerously low. Her eyes were narrowed, her jaw was clamped shut. Her fists lay clenched tight ontop of the table.

Teresa and Minho both nodded, sniggering behind their hands. Trying and failing miserably to keep straight faces.

"Uhh huh." She responded, with a deliberat nod.

Alex looked back to her plate. She slowly placed her hands on the sides of her plate and stood up, aganizingly slow. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Newt lean away from her. At first he looked worried, but then he let out a small snort of laughter when he made eye contact with Minho. Without looking at anyone, her eyes still looking down at the table, she grabbed two handfuls of the mashed potatoes from her plate. Quick as lightning she chuckled one handful in Teresa and Minho's direction and smashed the other handful into Newt's hair.

The whole tabe gasped. Alex smiled evilly. Newt sat there in shock with mashed potatoes smothered into his hair.

"Don't start somethin' you can't finish, honey." She whispered deviusly, with a wicked glint in her eyes. She picked up her spoon and a huge scoop of meatballs with sauce. She aimed it at Minho.

"You wouldn't dare, Sunshine." He said with a cocky smirk.

"Hmm. Yes. Yes, I think I would dare."

For Chuck. For Matt.

And she flung her spoon with deadly accuricy. The saucy meatballs spattered on his forehead and up into his hair.

"Not so funny now is it?" She whispered, raising an eyebrow.

"NOT THE HAIR! Alex! How could you? I trust you, of all people!" Minho shrieked.

Teresa giggled. She stood up and grabbed her spoon and then made a show of taking a big scoop of rice. Then flung it at Alex. Alex had grabbed a plate to hide behind.

The food fight started all over again. This time it was war. Alliances were formed. Plates were used as shields, and forks became mini swords and spoons were used at catapults. During the middle of the great green bean assault, Alex snuck to the other side of the table. On her way she had snagged a huge bowl of applesauce from the table, she was going to try to applesauce the opposing team. Alex snuck up behind the lines, she got within a few feet, when Minho swiveled around and grabbed her wrist and waist.

"Ah ah ah there Sunshine." He smirked down at her, "I wouldn't do that." His tone was so cocky, like he had already won.

Alex looked up through her eyelashes, bit her lower lip, batted her eyelashes. "Do what Love?" She asked innocently.

"Let's see the bowl. Hand it over." He held out his hand. She had the applesauce bowl behind her back, out of reach for the moment.

She looked up at him through her lashes, again. She ran her finger down his chest, and whispered seductively, "I think, my dear incredibly handsome man...you forgot something very important."

His smirk grew as he raised an eyebrow at her, "Oh ya? And that is?"

Her sweet seductive smile changed into a wickedly evil smile, "I don't go down without a fight, there hot stuff."

Before she was done talking she pulled the bowl from behind her and flipped it upside down onto his head. He froze in shock as apple sauce oozed down from his hair, onto his face and down his neck. He blinked. He slowly reached a hand up to the bowl, removing it from his head. Alex snorted with laughter. He lifted an eyebrow at her, and tossed the now empty bowl aside. Alex kept giggling, she couldn't keep hold of the sweet innocent act much longer, she was bting her lower lip hard to keep a straight face. That was until he had taken a handful of the applesauce on his head and smashed it into her face and rubbed it into her hair.

It was her turn to gasp. "MINHO!"

"ALEX!" He copied her with a wicked smile of his own.

He was still holding onto her waist, and pulled her closer. He leaned in closer, so she could feel him breathng.

"You need to use that voice again." he growled.

Alex smirked at him. She tilted her head down and to the side, looking up at him through her eyelashes, "which voice? This one? Does it get you all hot and bothered?" She teased, using the same seductive whisper. She pushed up onto her toes and whispered, so her lips tickled his ear, "does it make your knees weak, and your heart beat faster?" She gently bit his earlop and pulled. "If it makes it easier to get what I want...I'll use it any time."

She heard him growl at the back of his throat. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her roughly into his chest.

"Shuck Alex, that's hot." He planted a kiss on her lips as she laughed. She kissed back immediately.

He pulled away "mmmm you taste like apples."

"And who's fault is that?" She teased.

She wrapped an arm around his neck and placed her goopy applesauce hand on the back of his neck and pulled him back in for another kiss. This time he licked her bottom lip, humming while doing so. She opened her mouth, letting him in. They were so wrapped up in their own world they weren't paying attention to what was happening in the food fight.

"TRAITOR!!!!" Frypan screamed.

Everyone stopped throwing things immediately for a second to see who broke their alliance. Frypan was pointing at Alex, who was unmistakably wrapped up in Minho's arms, caught in the act of making out with the enimy.

"Stockholm syndrome?" Alex asked.

The whole side of the table, Frypan, Winston, A.J and Newt all started yelling traitor. Teresa Thomas, Leo and Clint started yelling traitor at Minho. And both sides were now throwing food at Minho and Alex. Who finally broke apart only to be pelted with whatever was left on the table, as they did their best to defend themselves against both sides who ganged up on the couple.

_______________________________

The Gladers lay around the room full and content. Alex hadn't laughed like that in a while. She sighed, contently. The knote of unsettled anxiety had temporarily been forgotten. Minho tried to run his fingers through her hair, however with the amount of Griever goop, blood, sweat, sand and now food matted in her hair his fingers couldn't get far.

"Ouch! Mean-ho!" she swatted his hand away.

"Sorry!" He chuckled, he layed his hand on her head instead.

"So...what do you guys think?" Thomas asked from the corner. He was sitting down on a sack of flour, Teresa leaning against his legs, he was twirling a piece of her hair around his fingers absentmindedly.

The happy mood shifted quickly. The room was now tense and uptight. That ball of anxiety flew right back into Alex's chest.

"I don't know...I've had an uneasy feeling since the helicopter. But...I don't know." Alex replied, she was sitting on the bench, with her head on Minho's chest, who was laying on the now empty table, with his hands behind his head. She propped her chin on her hands, looking at Thomas.

"Something just feels...I don't know off. I just don't feel comfortable here." She said quietly. She didn't know how to express her feelings. It was a gut feeling, but she had no proper words to express how she felt.

"Why would they throw us in here? And where did the food come from?" Thomased asked her, but everyone in the room shrugged, Alex included. She was passed out when they got here, so she really had no idea, but from the surprised looks when she pointed out the food, everyone here had just as much information as she ddi.

"Well, whoever they are...they can sure cook!" Frypan interjected. Somehow he managed to keep his bowl of rice.

Alex hummed. She didn't think Fry's food was that bad. But then again, she had no memories to compair it to. Tonight she didn't really eat much. Sure she was covered in it, but she hadn't avtually consumed a lot of the food.

Teresa was rubbing her forehead, her face scrunched. "Ya...but who are they, really? We don't know anything about them!"

"I agree. I don't know...I just...it seems weird, I have an uncomfortable feeling in my gut." Alex agreed with a nod to Teresa.

"Well, we know they're no friends of WICKED." Newt spoke up.

"That's good enough for me! Ah, you guys think too much." Minho said lazily, closing his eyes. "We're free. Enjoy it."

"Ya maybe...but don't you think it's convenient that they show up right as we escape the maze and watch a video...and then we get tossed into a room that locks from the outside? And there was just enough place settings for each of us, no more or no less?" Alex argued.

"We escaped a maze to be locked in a closet.. doesn't exactly scream free." A.J added quietly. He was laying on the ground behind Alex. Thomas and Teresa were both nodding.

"Exactly." Alex agreed.

"Hmmm, ya I guess you're right. A little sketchy. I guess we'll wait and see." Minho replied thoughtfully. He lifted his head slightly and gave Alex a reassuring smile.

Alex heard a noise that sent her flashbacks of the maze doors opening; rusty metal on rusty metal, stone grinding on stone.