| chapter 31: into the lion's den |

LISA

The first thing I noticed was the horrible smell. Oil, rotten flesh and blood. I let out a shaky breath and carefully opened my eyes...I wasn't dead. Maybe I should've been happy about that but as soon as I scanned my surroundings I wasn't so sure about that anymore.

The room I was in appeared to be some sort of lab. The floor was so clean it was shining in the fluorescent lights. I tried to move and panic washed over me when I realised I couldn't, my hands, arms and legs were bound on the operation table I was lying on.

A wave of nausea hit me and I started coughing. Then I closed my eyes and lay back, taking a steady breath. I had to think, had to come up with a solution to get out of here. A sudden human groan made me jump. Carefully I turned my head towards the noise on my right. My eyes widened. Next to me stood the same operation table I was on, but only with a different person on it.

'Gally?' I whispered, my voice hoarse.

The builder seemed to much worse than the last time I saw him. His face was green from old bruises and he seemed like he hadn't showered or changed his clothes in days. I was starting to wonder how bad I looked. Then he slowly opened his eyes. It took a while before he finally saw me. First he seemed to be filled with panic, he started pulling at the ropes holding him down to table. When he realised it didn't have any use he calmed down and looked around. That's when he saw me.

'Lisa,' He breathed.

I tried to smile. 'That's me.' 

He nodded slowly before looking around the room again. 'Where are we?' His voice croaked. 

'I have no idea,' I sighed, looking around as well.

'What happened?' Gally asked, turning back to me.

'After you were taken by a Griever or after I was taken by a Griever?'

A frown appeared on his face. 'I was taken by a Griever?' 

'Yeah, you came bursting into the Homestead mumbling in crazy language 'bout how we were all going to die and-' I stopped talking when I noticed the baffled look on his face. 'You don't remember?' 

He shook his head, sadness clouding his eyes. Then he sighed. 'It happens a lot, you know? That I wake up in the Glade not remembering what I did the past day.'

I frowned at the guy. 'Gally? Do you remember the gathering you had after Dawn and Thomas had ran inside the Maze?'

A slight frown appeared on the Glader his face. 'I remember...a bit, only the beginning but then, after Minho pushed me...Everything is a shucking blur.' He seemed scared of himself when he spoke. 

And I felt a wave of compassion wash over me. 'Do you think, maybe, the people who send us into the Maze were somehow...controlling you?'

Gally looked me straight in the eye, not a single trace of a lie in his voice. 'Honestly, that's what I've been afraid ever since it happened for the first time.'

I took a deep breath, feeling dazed by all the pieces of new information. I'd known the people who would send us to such a horrible place were crazy, but controlling people? That was just...I had no words for it. And suddenly I thought back to what Dawn had told me. We were mistakes, never suppose to be in the Maze to begin with. The voice in my head when I woke up in the elevator, telling me I had to safe everyone...

How could I safe all those Gladers when the people I was up against were powerful enough to control our shucking minds. I took a shaky breath, forcing myself to calm down. There wasn't much I could do now anyway.

'So, how did you end up here?' Gally broke the silence.

'The Grievers broke into the Homestead. They were gonna take Chuck.' I closed my eyes for a second as the horrible image replayed itself in my mind. 'I didn't think, really. I just pushed the kid out of the way.' I tried to smile as I added jokingly: 'On my injured leg I might add.'

Gally let out a small chuckle. 'Quite the heroic story you got there.'

I felt myself chuckling as well, despite the horrible situation. 'More like a stupid decision, really.'

We fell silent again as I played the moment over and over again in my head. Chuck had been clutching onto me ever since the Grievers had come. And when they broke into our room he simply hadn't been fast enough to get away. So, I had done something I never thought I would do. I saved him, instead of saving me.

Suddenly I felt like my heart was crumbling as I remembered something. The horrified look on Minho his face as he took Chuck in his arms and watched me get beaten unconscious by the horrible monster.

'Hey, you okay?' Gally his voice broke through the silence.

I realised a tear had been crawling down my cheek. I took a shaky breath, wanting to wipe it away only to find my hands were still bound. 'Fine,' I answered, though I couldn't keep my frustration hidden completely.

Gally opened his mouth, probably to reassure me or something when suddenly the sound of a door opening sounded through the little laboratory. Immediatly we both fell silent. I tensed up, moving my head to see who or what was coming inside.

'Here we have our two possible Subjects, both of them have been tested and have the perfect qualities to participate in this last Phase of the Maze Trials,' A deep male voice spoke.

'What? What's going on!' I yelled, pulling at the ropes holding me down.

But the person the voice belonged to completely ignored me. I heard two pair of footsteps make their way over to Gally. I turned my head to look and saw two doctors in white uniforms standing next to the Glader's bed. One was male with short blond hair and the others was female, her black hair cut to her shoulders. I couldn't see their faces, as they both stood with their backs turned to me. Panic washed over me as they continued to talk against Gally.

'Gally, we are going to put you to a very heavy test that requires your full participation, understood?' The Glader kept his mouth shut but that didn't seem to bother the doctors. 'We are going to put you under mindcontrol, but it will be for a good cause.'

'Hey!' I yelled, pulling the ropes again. 'Keep your shucking hands away from him!'

The male doctor turned towards me. 'Please stay calm, you are next.'

I felt myself breathing heavily. How could I stay calm? What was going on? I groaned, pulling the ropes once again, but again failed to free myself.

'What do you mean "good cause",' Gally spat at the doctors. 

'We want you to kill Thomas,' The female doctor replied, her voice as cold as ice. 

My eyes widened. It was silent for a minute and I was hoping against all hope Gally would say no, make it harder for them to fulfill their goal but I knew how hopeless it was. Dawn told me everything that had happened during the Gathering. How Gally blamed Thomas for everything that happened in the Glade, because he saw in his Changing working together with Wicked. He even treatened to kill him. And so I wasn't surprised, but still disappointed when I heard him answer. 'Go right ahead.'

The male doctor wrote something on the clipboard in his hand. Then they both turned to me and I felt my heart beating faster.

'As for you, Lisa, we would ask for your participation as well-' 

'You don't have it,' I spat at the doctor, filling my voice with as much hatred as I could muster. 

He didn't even blink at my outburst and just continued talking. I started to wonder if they were even human at all. 'We will put you under mind control as well, and we ask of you to kill Dawn.'

Terror spread through me and hatred overwhelmed me. 'Never,' I hissed, my voice calm but with an underlying threat.

The doctor sighed. 'That's too bad, that means we will have to anaesthetize her.' 

'What no!' I yelled, pulling the ropes until they were cutting my flesh. I kicked my legs but none of it worked. Panic got the best of me when I saw the female doctor walking towards me with a huge injection needle.

'Don't!' I screamed.

She didn't listen, of course she didn't. And without any kind of warning she pushed the needle in my arm. I let out a scream as the needle broke through my skin. Then I was left with nothing but a numbing pain in my arm, slowly spreading through my body.

I could find just enough strength to turn my head to Gally, who watched me with an emotionless mask. 'Just when I believed you could be redeemed,' I whispered, tears streaming down my cheeks. Then the world around me disappeared.