"I told you, Jina. You were the problem, and I would resort to drastic measures if you kept it up." Teresa said, her icy blue eyes were cold as they regarded Jina on her knees. They flicked up to Thomas and she looked at him and then back to Jina. "You're just lucky Thomas confessed everything."

Jina felt the floor shift under her. Her whole world rocked dangerously to the side. Thomas confessed? No...he wouldn't do that... She flicked her eyes to Thomas. He stood stiff and straight, every muscle tense. The only thing that was moving were his eyes filled with tears. Then his head gave a weird jerky nod. She felt like she was just kicked in the gut. 

Behind them the Flat trans shimmered again, Rachel and Aris came through and they were both grabbed and pinned to the wall. 

"What-"

"HEY!" Aris yelped in surprise, "What's going on?" 

"Dealing with a small problem." Chancellor Paige said, her voice was icy. "This is what happens when you think you're smarter then WICKED." 

"I am smarter then WICKED." Jina said, she couldn't help it. "Why do you need children to help find a cure...I thought you grown ups knew everything?" The gun pressed aggressively into her skull this time.

Tommy? What's going on? She tried connecting their minds, but she felt a block; she couldn't feel him, his constant comforting presence was gone, blocked by something cold and cruel. Thomas just stood frozen, coiled tight- but unmoving. 

"Once Thomas realized what you were about to do, he came to me this morning...confessed everything." Teresa sniffed. 

"Was that before or after your argument at the loading bay?" Jina snapped. Jina groaned as the but of a gun slammed into her face.  She fell forwards, onto her hands, her head already sore from smacking it in the fight with the crank. She heard cries of outrage from Aris and Rachel. But Thomas said nothing. That hurt her more then the split lip.

"We realized you were stealing information and trying to move it out of the facility. Did you think you could stop us?" 

"One piece-" she spit her blood onto the white tiled floor as she slowly sat up, lifting her chin in defiance, "-of stollen paper at a fucken time." She hissed at them, her eyes narrowed. "I'll take you down, starting with you Ava fucken' Paige." 

The guard went to slam the gun, when Janson held up his hand. Jina didn't intend to flinch, but it was a reflex. The gun froze. Janson looked down at her, and smiled. "And how did that work out for you?" 

"Great." she spit another mouth full of blood onto the nice shinny floor. "All the information is in the hands of the Right Arm now. A good chunk of your people defected, taking the supplies you so generously donated." Jina couldn't help but laugh at the shocked looks on The Chancellor and Director's face. "Who out smarted who?" 

"There's trackers, we'll find them." 

"Ha!" Jina laughed again. "Good luck, those trackers have been removed and placed randomly around the Berg, which is now, back in your hanger. So...ya, go find them." 

The room went silent, all scared of the reaction to this news. Janson looked like his head was going to explode. And Ava's face was so twisted in rage she looked like an old movie horror villain, some wicked witch of the west. Jina really did out smart WICKED.

"I knew it!" Teresa hissed. "You're the problem. We remove you and we can go back to working on actually finding a cure!" 

"There is no cure Teresa!" Jina yelled. "I was just attacked by Randell, a crank so Gone there was no humanity left and guess who sent him?" Jina yelled. "You think harming kids will find a cure? You think manipulating me into killing for you is gonna find a cure? No. You're just as jacked as the cranks. Teresa your just as brainwashed as the next idiot. What your doing to your friends...to me to Tommy? That's not finding a cure. That's killing off an entire generation of kids."

Jina could see a sed of doubt in Teresa, just for a second, and then it was gone. "No, if that were true, Tom would back you up...but seeing as he has not come to your defense and confessed everything- how you forced him to keep secrets. How you told him you stole files from the old Chancellor and from Ava... using him as a cover story. Even using him yesterday in the computer room." Her face became red with anger, maybe humiliation, but her icy blue eyes held something else. Doubt, maybe, regret? Jealousy? "Tom for some reason chose you, and all you did was use him!"

Jina raised her chin. And looked them all dead in the eye. But she didn't confirm Teresa's theory or deny it.

"Is that WICKED's story? Or yours? You know they faked many emails and reports... directly from Tommy's email, ya? Putting words in his mouth, and mine. We never appointed these two idiots. What else are they lying about?"

"Enough!" Janson yelled.

"No!" Jina screamed. "Not enough! You just killed a young immune guard back there trying to what, exactly? Monitor my Killzone patterns? Kill me off? Test so fucked up new theory? Tess, they killed one of their own fucken workers! And you expect me to trust them? I'm electrocuted for a mistake someone else made. And you want me to follow them blindly? Tess, think of who you're working for!"

She was grabbed by the hair and yanked backwards. Her eyes though never left Teresa's. Maybe...just maybe she had got to her. She could see her chewing her cheek, her eyes darted around taking in the room. Jina wished Thomas would say something, anything...she thought he was with her. She thought Thomas was on her side. After everything he said. After everything he promised. 

"Jina!" 

Jina couldn't move her head much, but she looked over at Thomas. His head was jerking, but he called her name, his body was so tight and wound up, every muscle was straining, he had veins popping in his neck. It looked painful. And then he stilled, his muscles relaxed, and he looked at Jina. There was still something off, Thomas was never quiet like this; either he was rambling or he was asking questions.

"Teresa is right." Thomas said flatly. "You're a traitor."

Jina's mouth dropped open for a second, and then she snapped it closed and clenched it, her hands formed fists. She blinked hurt angry tears back. How could he do this? How can he say that now, after what he said back in the scorch. 

"Tommy?" She whispered, "What about...everything you said..?" 

"You're a traitor." He repeated. "Teresa is right."

Jina looked away, all the fight and defiance left her. WICKED would win. Again. Somehow they got to him, somehow their poison claws pierced him and snatched him back. 

"Take her away. Prep her. She goes in tomorrow." Janson ordered. "As for the rest of you...this is what happens to traitors." 

Jina was grabbed and yanked to her feet. Aris and Rachel watched horrified and confused, with tears in their eyes, they just watched. One last ditch effort, she turned her head to Thomas. He stood stiff, but his eyes followed her and a tear slid down his check. It made her sick, as Teresa slid over to him, wrapping an arm around his arm. She gave Jina a look that said 'I warned you.' She then smiled up at Thomas, who still had his eyes glued to Jina, but he hadn't removed his arm from her grasp. 

"I loved you Tommy..." 

He didn't say anything. The door was slammed shut and she was hulled down the hall and into the elevator.

"What happens to me now?" Jina asked the general group of guards. Her heart was breaking into many small pieces.

"Your mind is swiped and then you're sent into the Maze." One guard answered honestly. 

"Oh goody." She said. Internally she was freaking out, trying to keep a lid on a full blown panic attack. She wouldn't remember anything; not her brother or Thomas, or her friends...no one. All her good memories with Thomas would be gone, all her giggles and late night girl talks with Aris. All the memories of her time in the Maintenance room. 

"You're lucky- someone talked them into the Maze and not death." 

"Death would have been kinder." Jina said quietly. 

"You'll be part of history- finding a cure and-"

"Shut up." Jina snapped suddenly angry, "Don't spew that WICKED shit at me. I don't wanna hear it!" 

The elevator dinged and she was shoved out, a launched jabbed into her back. Two guards grabbed her, one on each side of her, dragging her down a bright hall, full of masked doctors and nurses walking back and forth in a rush. They dragged her past a room full of those terrifying masks with wires all over them. She held back a sob, she would be subject to those things for a third time. But not just a week would be erased. This would be her entire life. Everything would be gone.

This hall looked different from the halls she had grown up in; smaller and the walls were white washed concrete and not shiny white plastic and metal. 

"We're in the Scorch base, aren't we?" She asked her guard escort. 

"Ya. Once yourt swiped we get to fly your ass back to Alaska and up ya go." 

"Oh goody." She said again. 

She was forced to stop and wait for someone to swipe a card and then the door slid open. A launcher gun forced her forwards. She was marched through a few halls. They stopped at a door and one of her guards knocked. They waited. The door swung open and someone in a white lab coat and fully masked up stood leering down at her. The doctor stepped aside, and her guards yanked and pulled her into the room. It was an operating room and there was one of the masks waiting for her. 

Now she felt the full fear. The full weight of what was going to happen to her. Now she felt the panic. She started to struggle, she tried twisting and wiggling. 

"No! No please!" She cried. 

"GET HER SEDATED!" 

"No!" She screamed. Panic rose like nothing she had experienced. She hated her life, but she didn't want to forget Tommy, or Minho. "TOMMY!" She screamed. She knew he couldn't hear her, he was probably being grilled by Janson right now- or forced to watch in some control both. But maybe... just maybe he would rescue her...he had in the past. He had never let go before... They were supposed to be together, doing everything together. A sob bubbled up inside her chest and escaped.

She felt a sharp pinch in her neck from behind and the sedation flowed into her veins. Her eyes became sleepy, her limps became heavy. Her struggles became feeble movements as she slowly succumbed to the drug, she collapsed to the ground. She felt her body being picked up off the floor and laid on the table. Before her mind slipped into medical induced sleep she heard a voice whisper, 

"Remember Jina, WICKED is good..." 

< • >

Her eyes shot open as she gasped for air. She coughed, choking on some liquid in her lungs. She rolled onto her side and coughed up whatever it was. She didn't move, laying on her side panting and shivering she blinked a few times trying to get her eyes to work but her vision stayed the same, everything was pitch black. She couldn't see.

Her limps felt shaky and there was no way she would be able to stand. But she slowly pushed her self up to sit. Blinking furiously still, she looked around, confused. Where was she? She couldn't see anything around her, not even her own hand in front of her face. She felt the rough hard wall dig into her back and something similar under her. Her head was throbbing. She tried to stand up, but her legs were still too shaky and she crumpled back to the ground just as a loud buzzer went off and a bright red light flashed, lighting up her surroundings for a moment.

She was surrounded by boxes and crates and she was stuck in some kind of cage. The red light burnt her eyes and it made her throbbing head worse. She clamped her eyes closed, but the red was burnt into her eyelids.

There was a jerking motion; and the loud noises of grinding gears. She sat huddled in the corner, terrified. Tears slid down her cheeks. She shivered and shook, not understanding anything. 

She squeezed her eyes closed and pressed her forehead to her knees. The sound of the cage, the smell of stale air, sweat, rusty metal and cleaning disinfectant- it all made her stomach sick. Especially with the motion of the cage. Her stomach twisted and turned, until she finally turned to the side and threw up. She let a sob out as her stomach contents dripped through the cage holes in the floor. 

Whipping her mouth again she pressed tighter into the corner. As she closed her eyes and buried her head she felt a sharp pain in her skull, starting at the base of her spine it shot forwards to the front, right behind her eyes. The pressure was building, it was like a knife slicing back and forth. And like a slide show, her memories played behind her eyes; they say when you're close to death, your life flashes before your eyes. This was exactly what she thought- maybe she was dying and on her way to hell. (No way the trip to Heaven would be this terrible.)

"I have a brother- his name is Minho..." She whispered. "I have a boyfriend named Thomas. My name is Jina..." 

More memories flashed. And then like trying to hold water in a strainer or sand in her fingers her memories slipped away, one by one.

"I have a brother...his name is Minho. I have a boyfriend...his name is Thomas. My name is Jina..." She whispered. "His name is Minho...his name is Thomas...who's name? My name? My name...my name is Jina... Minho and Thomas..I know them...I know them... Thomas and Minho- please don't let me forget...I can't forget...Minho and Thomas... What's my name?" She grabbed her own hair, holding her throbbing head, pressing her forehead into her knees. "Minho. Thomas. Minho. Thomas" 

She repeated those names over and over. She had no idea who they were. She didn't know how they related to her. She couldn't put those names to faces. Somehow deep down she knew they meant something to her. "Minho...Thomas...Thomas...Minho..." 

The cage she was in came to a rough stop, tossing her to the side. A bright green light flashed with a buzzer. She threw her hands over her ears. And waited. Nothing moved, nothing made a noise. She sat in cold dark silence. Fear and anticipation grew, she wrapped her arms tightly around herself. She was biting her bottom lip so hard she was surprised it didn't bleed. 

She scrambled to her feet when a loud screech filled the silence. She looked up, just as the ceiling started to crack open. Bright warm sunshine blasted her. She threw her hand up, blocking the sun, it burnt her eyes after the solid black. 

She heard the sound of muffled footsteps and laughter. The girl in the cage spun in a circle, she heard voices laughing whispering and calling to each other all around the cage above her. Fear spiked through her body. She had no idea where she was, but she would go down fighting. She knew that much, she wasn't going down easily.

She scrambled to the corner again, pressing her back into it, as the cage top was thrown open. Two people dropped the heavy cage doors. And someone jumped down, making a clanging noise. She threw her hands up, fists raised. She was trapped, feeling very much like a caged animal. 

"Whoa there Blondie!" Someone chuckled. "No need for a buggen fist fight." 

She blinked a few times, there was a girl with a blond braid and warm brown eyes staring at her with an amused smile. 

"You're a feisty one. I like that." She chuckled. 

"Where am I?" 

"The Glenn. Come on, let's get ya out of the bloody Cage. Names Sonya. You remember yours?" 

"I...I don't remember...but...Thomas and Minho. Do you know them? Who are they? Why can I remember those names and not my own? What happened? What did you do to me?" 

The girl named Sonya looked shocked for a moment. Then she covered it with a smile. "Nah, those are names of blokes, only girlies in this pace. Come on Blondie, lets get outta the buggen cage and I'll answer all those bloody questions." 

She turned and called up. "Yo, Harriet, send down the ladder!" A moment later a roughly made ladder was lowered down and Sonya waved her hand. 

"Blondies first." She grinned. Her smile made her eyes sparkle, like they were ready to laugh. With shaking hands she climbed the ladder. A hand was held out to help her out. She scrambled to her feet.

Her head swiveled around trying to see everything at once. Her heart was beating so fast it hurt. She stood in the middle of four huge walls; they were massive, hundreds of feet in the air, and old, like they had stood there like a test of time. Girls of different ages, ranging from sixteen all the way up to eighteen stood around her. They all looked at her with a soft kindness and sadness. They all seemed to nod in understanding. A dark skinned girl with dreadlocks capped her on the shoulder. 

"Names Harriet, Blondie. You meet Sonya already."

"Where am I?" She whispered, terrified.

"Well Blondie...welcome to the Glenn." 

< • >

< END OF PART ONE>