Charlie

I sat strapped to the hard cold metal chair, the cold metal dug into my arms and ankles, monitors stuck all over my body, but I didn't pay attention to any of that; my attention was glued to the screen.

I'm not sure how they were getting the footage, a flying beetle blade, probably, but the image showed Janson holding onto a strap on the roof of a helicopter. Men in tactical gear helmets and guns strapped to their backs stood around him.

The helicopter was circling an old warehouse. It just kept circling.

"Engage." Janson barked the order.

All of a sudden the Solider started dropping out of the helicopter and the one beside it and out of the Burg, sliding down ropes onto the ground outside. They detached from the ropes and pulled their guns up, walking slowly and carefully towards the building.

The screen broke into many different views. Like each solider had a camera strapped to their helmets. My eyes flicked back and forth between each screen.

Terror was flooding my system like a tsunami . It crashed over and over. I was sweating, I could feel it running down my neck and back, making me shiver. My teeth were chattering because of the fear and adrenaline.

"We're in position." Rex's harsh voice whispered. I flinched. His voice came through like he was standing beside me.

"Send them in!" Janson replied, an eager twisted excitement behind his words.

I knew he was sitting in the safety of his helicopter, I could see him in the corner feed. My eyes flicked around and I saw different guys slipping quietly through the doors. Quickly spreading out, deeper into the building, a few guards took out some of these rag tag Solider.

Janson looked into the camera, however they were filming this, and gave it a twisted evil smile.

"I hope your enjoying the show, my dear."

I shuddered and held back a sob. He turned away and held up a megaphone.

"Good evening!" Janson yelled. "This is the World in Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department."

He paused. Reveling in the chaos that took place. I watched mouth open and eyes wide. I could feel my heart slamming into my ribs.

"We have your compound completely surrounded. You find yourselves, through no fault of your own..." He paused again, and chuckled, but it was an evil awful laugh. "...in possession of WICKED property. Return them to us unharmed and we'll consider this a simple misunderstanding.
Or you can resist......and every last one of you will die!"

He sounded rather happy about that fact, a few tears leaked out of my eyes and slid down my cheeks. Janson continued yelling through the megaphone. The Solders inside the building were pushing further and further. For the most part leaving the panicking civilians alone. Anyone who resisted, though they wouldn't think twice about shooting. 

Janson continued his yelling, he sounded serious, but the twisted grin on his face said he was enjoying this terror and blood shed way too much. 

"It won't be long before the Flare wipes out the rest of us. The hope of a cure lies in your hands. The choice is yours." Janson finally lowered the megaphone. He was still leaning out the side of the helicopter, watching the chaos below. 

A voice cracked through the walkie tallkie on Janson's hip. He pulled it out and held it up. 

"Janson, I got 'em for ya. I'm bringing 'em down. Don't shoot us." The voice sounded deep rough and scratchy. 

Janson's face lit up like Christmas. HE looked directly into the camera again, it was like he was looking right at me, into my soul. Fear I didn't know was possible shot through me, it physically hurt. What was he going to do to them? What was he going to do to Thomas? 

"NO!" I screamed at the screen, like Janson could hear me. I didn't care, I screamed and cried and begged.  

"Come on. Let's go." The voice on the walkie talkie cracked,  there was a slight pause, "I said let's go." The voice, who apparently belonged to a guy named Barkley, sounded angry, he was loosing patience. What was Tommy doing? I wish I could see them, I wished I could see his face.  

There was a loud bang. A gun had gone off.

"NO! TOMMY!" I screamed, I strained against the metal restrains. I could feel the metal biting into my skin. A trickle of blood made its way down my wrist to my hands. I didn't notice, not now, not when my brother was fighting for his life and the lives of the Gladers who escaped. 

"You little bastard!" Barkley's voice was furious now. 

There was loud scuffles and random yelling, I couldn't figure out what was going on. There was another loud bang, another gun went off. More scuffling and movement. Janson obviously didn't know what was going on either, because his face had lost its twisted glee, and he was now screaming into the communication device.

"Barkley, what's your location? Barkley, are you there?" 

He got angry and chucked the communication device with a wild snarl. The device flew across the helicopter, slamming into the back wall. I ripped my eyes away from Janson's section of the screen, looking desperately through the other feeds, trying to see if I could get a gimps of Thomas and the others. Slowly the heavy breathing for the solders was joined with classical music. It steadily got louder, blasting through each feed. Including Janson's. Someone inside the warehouse was blasting classical music through each available speaker. 

"Sir, you hearing this?" Rex yelled into his coms. 

"What is that?" Janson screamed.

" All units, push in!" Rex yelled, a rush of men stormed up the stairs.

"They're on the top floor!" Janson screamed and pointed at something. The helicopter swiveled around and flew closer, there was a figure flying through the air. It took me a moment to realize it was a zipline! Through my tears I laughed, but only for a second, because I heard Janson roar to open fire.

"NO!" I screamed

"Top floor!" Rex's voice cut through, catching my attention, I searched the feed to find him. He was running after two teens. A tall dirty, sweaty male and a tall dark haired female. Rex took a few shots, breaking the glass windows, the girl pushed the guy over. Ducking behind a table. The face that appeared around the corner for a split second made me scream. It was a mix of terror and relief. It was Thomas! Why wasn't he with the others? 

"We're on the move!" A voice yelled as Thomas and the girl sprinted down the hall. She was yelling something at Thomas, who just sprinted after her, following her blindly. 

"Alpha 22 in pursuit. On the east!" Rex yelled, he had sprinted after them. He wasn't as fast, Thomas was always a fast runner, and he also didn't have extra weight of tactical gear. 

"- Cut 'em off!" Rex yelled at another group of solders, they broke off and went a different way. 

Thomas and the girl had stopped and climbed onto a metal support beam. She was already halfway across when Rex  burst into the open hall. 

"I got eyes on them!" He yelled into the com that went to Janson. I couldn't detect Janson's mood anymore, but it was terrifying. 

"Stop! Stay right where you are!" Rex yelled, he was now at the railing, pointing his gun directly at Thomas.

"No!" I screamed at the screen. I was now screaming and crying, pleading for them not to shoot Thomas. Like Janson would even listen if he could hear me. My heart was beating so hard and fast it actually hurt. Someone behind Rex took a shot. The bullet dinged off the beam inches from Thomas's feet. 

"No, we need him alive!" Janson screamed.

"You go around. I'll go after them." Rex yelled, commanding his guys.

My eyes were bouncing back and forth between Janson's and Rex's feed. It was torture watching this live, but I couldn't look away either. The classical music was still playing in the background, and it made the whole situation even more sinister.

Rex had climbed over the railing and was now slowly shuffling along the beam after Thomas and the girl, who had made it to the other side. 

"Kid, don't move!" Rex yelled.

I faintly heard Thomas call to the girl, "Brenda, where are we going?" 

She didn't answer, just waved him on. "Hurry! The song's almost over!"

Rex was creeping slowly closer, Thomas had stopped and looked over his shoulder. He yelped and moved his feet a little faster. 

"Go Tommy! Go! Faster! Please!" I whispered desperately. 

The weird classical music suddenly shut off. It left every feed in an eerie silence. That's when the explosions started. Rex's camera shook violently. There was wild screams, loud explosions, and then all feeds went fuzzy or black, except for Janson's. 

I was leaning forward as much as the metal cuffs would allow, my mouth open and eyes wide in fear. The building exploded...it exploded with Thomas still inside! I lost it. I had never screamed so loud or long. I thrashed, and cried. I just watched my brother die in a huge explosion! I didn't know I had a heart left to break, but I felt it shatter. 

The doctors must have given me something, because I just remember screaming and thrashing, and then waking up when someone yanked me from a bed. It was Janson. And he looked insane. His eyes were wild and the snarl on his face made me flinch. 

His fist made contact with my face. I wasn't even fully awake from whatever the Doctors gave me, so I crumpled to the floor. 

"I lost them all!" He screamed at me. 

I blinked the black spot from my eyes. the throbbing pain in my cheek bone made it hard to concentrate. 

"All those subjects! Especially A2! I needed his brain!" He screamed at me again.

I frowned, confused. "How...how is that my fault?" I whispered, looking up at him. 

Apparently he did not like that, because he bent down and grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled me up. My hands flew up, trying to hold his hand to stop the pulling. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of me crying in pain, but a small gasp left my mouth. His twisted face was inches from mine. 

"You don't get to talk to me, Subject A3." He hissed. He let go of my hair only for his fist to make contact with my jaw. Sending me flying into the wall. I caught myself, before I slid down the wall. 

"You were only brought into this facility because your mother bagged me. I just wanted your brother! You were a waist!" He whispered, all of a sudden calm, well his voice was, his body language said otherwise. He took a step closer, there was no where for me to go, I was trapped in a small room, in the corner with a mad man. He slammed his fist into my stomach. Making me double over. 

"So know what we did? I played with your brain. I inserted a chip into your brain!" He said as he slapped my face, making my head fly sideways and making me stumble. I had bit my lip to keep from crying, but tears leaked out of my eyes, sliding down my cheeks. 

"Yes, niece," He sneered, "I played with your brain, I took your rebellious streak, and amplified it! A few simple alterations, adding a few little machine parts in there and I made you! I MADE YOU!" He screamed, while he threw another punch into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me, I slid down the wall. 

"I created you!" He brought his foot back and it connected with my side. "YOU ARE JUST A CREATURE OF MY CREATION!" He kicked me again, this time I cried out in pain. 

"Your nothing special. You were designed to be a distraction. Give those subjects a year of routine and scheduled lives and then throw you into the mix, the distraction, the disruption. You were created on an operating table." He kicked me again. 

I did my best to curl up and protect my stomach and ribs. Tears streamed down my face, the physical abuse and the words he was spitting at me, it hurt. Was this part of the Fear Ladnscape? At this point, I honestly couldn't tell. My entire existence was filled with fear.

"Everything that you think makes you you? It was all altered inside your brain! And it made the killzone patterns in the other subjects very interesting to monitor. You did your job well! Especially," He crouched down in front of me, and yanked my face up to face him, "Especially when you got pregnant, you little slut. The best possible distraction! I should give you some credit," 

His voice took on a softer tone. When his hand came up, I flinched, and he grinned. He gently caressed my face. 

"Yes, you little hore, you sure did do a wonderful job as a rebellious little distraction for all those hormonal teenage boys. Those alterations did wonderers." He paused, his grip tightened on my face, Janson's eyes were wild, and unsteady. "But what to do with you now? I guess you take your brothers spot in my plans." 

He released my face and stood up. Without another word he walked out of my little cell and slammed the door. I curled up as best I could, and cried. My body hurt, my face was throbbing, and I could feel blood from my lip. But it was my heart that hurt, my soul. I wish I could just bleed out on the floor. Just lay my head down and let my heart stop. Everything about who I thought I was was implanted. I had chips implanted in my head, into my brain. The voice from way back in the glade made sense now, that weird dream I had; it was Janson, telling me to be the distraction I was designed for. 

Why couldn't Gally just kill me? I cried even harder. I needed him. I wanted his arms around me, his strong steady heartbeat, his strong arms around me. I missed his voice telling me it was going to be okay, that he was always going to be there. 

That was just another broken promise. He was dead. Left behind on the WICKED control room floor, or maybe just a body in WICKED's morgue. But he wasn't here. I would never see his face or hear his voice or feel his arms around me. I would never feel Tommy's hugs, or see him roll his eyes, or his stupid puzzle face. I was beaten, battered, tortured and alone. So so alone. 

I curled up on the cold white tiled floor and cried until my exhausted body feel asleep.

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** Well...Damn**