the scorch trials
chapter two

❛❛ i know there's something weird going on here, and i know you think so too❜❜

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Poe shifted his gaze around the cafeteria, looking at almost every teenager, he found himself in a slight disbelief. To see how many there are made him to wonder of how many Mazes there were and if he designed all of them. It baffled Poe.

He approached the table with Anton, Teo, Nico and Frypan sitting in and beside their table were Newt, Minho, Winston, Jack's with the two other boys, one was dark skinned and the other had olive skin. As Poe sat down beside Teo, the black haired boy gestured at the two boys, "Poe, this is Noah and Leo. Guys, this is Poe"

The two boys merely gave a weak wave at Poe and while he nod his head. "Leo? Seriously?" Poe wanted to laugh, looking at his friend who beamed. Poe wanted to joke about Leo and Teo but he didn't. Leo was the one with the olive skin and Noah was the dark skin.

"Here, Poe—" Anton slide a tray of cafeteria food to Poe, "in case you're still hungry"

The cafeteria food didn't look great as the feast food from before, but it look better than the Glade food and he felt it would be a waste of food if he doesn't eat it. Noah and Leo were talking to the Gladers while Poe was slowly eating. "How many of you survived?" Minho asked them.

"I don't know exactly, some got left behind," Noah answered, "we're the only ones that got out. The rest couldn't, they stayed in the Den while couple of us had to fight off the Bulbers"

"Bulbers?... Den?" Nico repeated with his brows raised.

"The Den is what we call our sanctum, where we live. Bulbers is short for Bulb Monsters. They're these large humanoid creatures that roam in the night in the maze. They had these sharp long fingers made of long knives, they had no eyes or nose but mouth" Leo explained, "they move slow but they were large and can swing almost quickly. We lost our girl during the fight"

Girl. Just like Teresa. This hints that every maze are the same experiment. But the majority of girls in the cafeteria made Poe to theorize that there might be a maze full of girls. "There was a girl?" Newt questioned, "like the only girl and she came just within a week after the Gree— new boy arrived?"

Noah nodded, "Exactly, it goes the same as the others. Same experiment"

Noah and Leo went on about their own maze, how they had a different atmosphere in their own Glade, while the Glade was always summer and sunny where it rarely rains, Noah and Leo's were a constant rain and thunderstorms and hardly any sunshine. It's like their mazes were in different season, then Glade was always Summer meanwhile the other was Spring.

"Hey, Thomas is here" Anton told the Gladers.

"Hold that for a second—" Minho told Noah and Leo, and went to go get Thomas. Poe was getting too full to eat so he couldn't finish.

As Thomas joined the table, Noah continued the story of the part where they were rescued while they were fighting against their own monsters in the maze. "—and there was this big loud explosion, and these guys came out of nowhere. Starting shooting up the place"

"It was intense" Leo added.

"They pulled us out of the maze and brought us here" Noah finished.

"What about the rest?" Newt asked, "the other people left behind in the maze, what happened to them?"

"I don't know" Noah shrugged, "I guess WICKED still has them"

Poe thought of those Gladers that stayed behind, if Gally got stung and made it through, then the Gladers that stayed in the Glade could be all dead. Perhaps Noah and Leo don't know that the rest of them are all dead instead they're guessing that WICKED has them. Neither of the two had mentioned about going through into the WICKED headquarters where they would see someone like Ava Paige on the screen who congratulates them.

"How long have you guys been here" This was from Nico.

"Just a day or two. Those two—" said Noah, he shifted his gaze over his shoulder and nodded toward the other table on their far left. Poe guessed he was pointing at the boy with a grey hoodie, hood over his head, his arms on the table and looking rather doleful. The other was a girl, with a dark crimson hoodie, she had a long, straight, light brown hair that was mostly tucked under her hoodie. "Those two have been here the longest. Almost a week"

Then Leo looked at the Gladers, "That guy's maze was nothing but girls"

"Really?" Minho raised his brows.

"Some guys have all the luck" Noah lightly shrugged.

Poe's theory was right after all. About there are mazes full of girls. "Good evening, gentlemen!" A voice announced from across the cafeteria and every turned their heads, "Ladies"

Poe and Teo turned and faced toward where Janson was, everyone's attention were on him.

"You all know how this works. If you hear your name called, please rise in an orderly fashion, join my colleagues behind me where they will escort you to the eastern wing. Your new lives are about to begin"

There were few of the teens that clapped as the excitement and anticipation filled around the cafeteria meanwhile the Gladers are confused on what's happening.

Janson opened his clipboard and look down at it before he began to call out the names, "Connor—" there were two boys behind Anton and Nico, a boy rose from his seat as he high-fived a friend. "Evelyn—" there was girl on Poe's right at the end of their table who got up as she smiled at her friends. "Justin. Peter. Alison... Squiggy—"

There were chuckles from almost everyone broke out when they heard the name.

"All right, settle down" Janson went on. "Franklin. And Abigail" with that, he closes the clipboard and everyone around the Gladers let out groans of disappointment. "Now, now, don't get discouraged. If I could take more, I would. There's always tomorrow, your time will come... go on, eat up"

Not everyone were clapping, Poe and the Gladers were still perplex, every couple of kids get called up and escorted out of the cafeteria to God knows where. "Where are they going?" Teo asked the two boys.

"Far from here" Noah shifted around and faced the Gladers, "Lucky bastards"

Leo turned around as well, "Some kind of a farm. A safe place. They can only take in a couple of people at a time"

Poe shifted around, he almost forgot about Teresa, he wondered where she is, he kept his gaze on the entrance of the cafeteria until he spotted a woman who treated Teresa before just across the cafeteria, but in the hall of the other side of the wall and can be seen through the windows. Behind her is Teresa.

Poe, knitted his brows together as he watched her following her doctor to eastern wing where the those kids who were called up went to. "Teresa" Poe got up and went rushing toward the windows and called out, "Teresa?!"

She didn't hear him, she kept walking and following her doctor to the wing.

"Hey, Teresa!" He yelled, a little more louder before. There was a split second where Teresa had shifted her gaze at Poe before disappearing into the corner and he was stopped by two guards that was guarding the doors.

"Hey, hey, hey" the guard had his hands on Poe's shoulders, preventing him from going to the doors.

Poe looked to the window again but Teresa was gone already, "Where are they taking her?" He was rather concerned for her. Especially that she had gone into the eastern wing where those kids went to, and he can't help to think that they're taking her away as well.

"They just have to run a few more tests" The man responded sternly. "Don't worry, they'll be done with her soon"

"Is she okay?"

"She's fine" the man said it rather bluntly.

Poe knew the man wasn't honest, he can't help but to still worry about Teresa. Poe reluctantly went back to his table.

There was Thomas leaning over the table, "Poe" He met the boy's glance. "What did they say? Is she okay?"

Poe shrugged, "They just said they're running a few more tests and that she's okay" he glanced over his shoulder and gazed toward where Teresa had went. Should he be worried? She might be doing better than the Gladers. Or the Gladers are doing better than she is.

They announced that it was time for everyone to get to their dorms, and to call it a day and rest. The Gladers were the last to leave the cafeteria since they had no clue where they should be going until a guard came to them to escort to their new dorm room.

The guard guiding the Gladers to their dorm, it was in the same floor as the rest of them. The guard opened the door of the room and the Gladers went inside.

There were bunk beds, about five of them. There were lockers, tables, bathrooms, and shower rooms. Poe admits that he was really liking this place and yet can't help that everything seems too nice, it all feels like it was a safe haven but it's not.

All too damn good to be true.

Minho and Frypan were sharing a bunk, with Minho claiming the top bunk first. Winston was already lying down on the bottom bunk, "I could get used to this" he smiled, and Teo climbed into the top bunk. Next to Winston and Teo's bunk were Nico and Jack.

"Yeah, it's not bad" Newt looked around as if he was in awe. The guard that was escorting them closed the door and locked it.

Poe was sitting on the bottom bunk next Thomas's and Newt's but Anton was still on the floor, "Can I get the bottom one?" He asked Poe as he pout. "A little kid like me to sleep on the top? Doesn't sound good to me"

Poe softly chuckled, "Sure" he got up and let Anton take the bottom bed.

Thomas was leaning back against his own bunk and he was looking over at Poe, "Hey, what you think those guys want with Teresa?" He was asking Poe who was about to climb onto the top.

Poe didn't answer right away, it really killed the mood to know the fact that Teresa has gone to somewhere else of the building. "I don't know, man"

"Look, guys—" Newt looked at Poe, "if there's one I know about that girl, she can take care of herself. Don't worry about it" he then went to climb up to the top bunk. Poe went to his own bed.

Of course, Poe couldn't sleep, he can hear Anton snoring beneath him, even from Teo and Winston. He was still having doubts about this place, everyone else seem to be fine with it. If only Teresa had been here then everything will be fine. Yes, he has Teo, Anton, Winston and Newt with him. But to have someone missing in the group, it didn't feel like everything was fine.

If Bark were here, it'll most likely that nothing would even matter. He suddenly felt terrible for forgetting about Bark nearly all day, the dog must be dead by now. The thought suddenly depressed Poe even more.

He heard someone getting off their bed, he shifted his head and looked up, it's Thomas who got up and gone to the bathroom. Poe shifted to his side and faced the wall. He was just closing his eyes until he heard something.

The sound of a deep metal being pound beneath his bunk. It sounded like something was in the vents. He brushed it off for a moment, thinking it's the air conditioning, but another strange noise followed like something opened. Something creaked. Poe decided to check, he sat up, slowly and quietly climbed down. His bare feet touched the cold solid floor, Anton stirred in his sleep before shifting, Poe got down on his knees and peered down under the beds. From left to his under bed.

"Hey" he heard a boy's whisper from Thomas's and Newt's bunkbed. Poe was startled to see a boy from the cafeteria, the boy who is known to be here in the place the longest, he had his finger to his lip and telling him to be quiet.

"What the fu—" Poe whispered under his breath.

"What are you doing?" Thomas was standing by Winston's and Teo's bed and stared down at Poe.

"Shh—" Poe shushed him. He then nod his head, telling Thomas to come and see.

Thomas came to see, he was startled "What the hell"

The boy gave a slight infuriation sigh, "Come on, follow me" the boy began scooting backward and crawled into the vent.

Poe and Thomas exchange perplexed and odd looks. Then Thomas decided to follow the strange boy. "Whoa, really?" Poe said.

"Why not?" Thomas was on his belly and under his bed.

"Don't you think it's too convenient that some random kid found himself here and he's telling us to follow him? Out of all the other dorm rooms and he comes through here"

"I think you and I both have a bad feeling about this place, don't you want to find real answers about this place?" Thomas sighed, he was pulling himself into the vents, Poe peered down and Thomas glanced back at him, "Stay here if you want"

Poe hesitated, but his old curiosity came crawling back to him and went far too great to ignore, so he decided to go follow the boy as well.

Poe was almost far behind but he could still see where Thomas had went. There were couple of twists and turns, they were getting a bit further from their dorm, Poe kept on muttering to himself "What am I doing?", "Why am I following some random strange kid into the vents?", "Jesus, this is kinda stupid".

Poe managed to catch up with Thomas and they finally arrived to a large crawl space where they can almost stand but the ceiling was still too low. "What are we doing?" Thomas hushed.

"Shh— come on" this whisper was different, but rather from a girl.

As Poe crawled into a large vent, he saw the boy in the corner, glancing down, and also the girl they saw in the cafeteria. Poe moved ahead and see that they're gazing down through a squared threshold. Down there was a hall and Poe realizes they're on a ceiling. "Did we miss it?" The boy asked the girl.

"No" the girl replied. She looked to be few years older than the boy, she looked to be around sixteen, her skin looked clear and her skin tone was almost the same as Poe's.

The boy was on his knees, glancing down on the left side of the grate, Poe made his place on the right, Thomas at a bottom and the girl on the top. "What are we doing?" Poe questioned.

"Just watch" the girl told him.

There are faint sounds of footsteps coming their way. Poe watched and saw the same woman doctor that was escorting and treating Teresa. She stopped for a second as she was waiting, pulling out card. Then some sort of a gurney appeared, pushed by a nurse and there is another one. These gurneys had a body on them, Poe could tell, but they were covered by a white sheet or a tarp, there was a transparent screen over where the head could be. On those transparent monitors were sort of an x-ray showing a human body's tissues. That woman doctor opened a door and that's where those bodies had went. Poe can't be sure who's under those sheets. They didn't seem dead because there were these sounds life-support machines keeping them alive. Once they were gone into the room. The door closed behind them.

Poe was confused but at the same time, worried. "What the hell was that?" He glanced up and met the girl's and boy's glances.

"They bring in new ones every night like clockwork" the boy answered.

"You know what they do with them?" asked Thomas.

"I don't know" the boy looked at Thomas, "this is as far we've ever gotten. The vents don't even go into that section. But once they go through that door, they don't come back out... I don't think anybody ever really leaves this place"

Poe never really thought of that way, he thought about those kids that get called up every day and those bodies under those sheets could be them. There was this rush of anxiousness running through him and the thought of Teresa. What if one of those bodies is her?

"Come on, we should go" the girl said, "we gotta get back before anyone notices we're gone"

The boy was already moving to the opposite from where Poe and Thomas came from. Poe quickly asked them "Hey, why'd you show this to us?"

The girl looked over at her friend who was about to enter the tiny crawl space, she then looked at Poe, "Because he thinks maybe others will listen to you. I know there's something weird going on here. And I know you think so too"

Of course, Poe had known that. But he'd hate to tell this to others what he and Thomas saw, because they've been wanting a place like this for a long time and they finally got it. But this place is not what it seems to be.

"Hey wait" Thomas called the two, but the girl was the only one who stopped while the boy went on. "What's your name?"

The girl looked into the left vent before gazing back at the two Gladers. "I'm Leigh... and that's Aris" then she left and followed Aris.

The two Gladers stared at each other in bafflement. Poe let out a sigh then looked to the direction where they came in from. "Do you remember the way back to our room?" He asked Thomas.

The next day, in that morning, once everyone woke up, they showered, changed to cleaner clothes despite they just changed yesterday then went to breakfast. The only places that they were allowed to go to were their own dorms and the cafeteria.

They spent most the day in the cafeteria, Thomas and Poe were cautious of breaking the news of what they saw last night, making sure no one else was listening to them or that they're already aware that something suspicious is going on around here.

In the evening, still no sign of Teresa who Poe have been waiting for all day and he began to worry about her.

It was supper for everyone, and they were at the cafeteria. Thomas had already told the Gladers what he and Poe saw that night. "I'm telling you guys, I know there is something really weird happening here" Thomas told them as he kept his voice lowered, "I don't think those kids being called up never leaves this place" the ten Gladers gathered closely around one table.

"Come on, man. You don't know what you guys really saw" Nico groaned as he palmed his head, "Why are you always onto something?"

"I'm telling you what we saw, something's off—"

"All right, ladies and gentlemen" Janson announced, "Hope you're all having a good evening. You know how this works, you hear your name, you come up here and you will be escorted into the eastern wing"

The Gladers sat down on the seats of their table. Poe was seated between Anton and Newt. Frypan, Jack, Winston and Nico were at the other table beside them. Janson opened the clipboard and read the list of names.

"Florence..." he began, "Kenny... Alice... Barry"

The four kids that were being called all went to the front behind Janson. All of them having smiles plastered on their faces. Poe felt terrible for them knowing they have no clue that they're not really going to leave this place.

"Walt . . . Edgar . . . Samantha"

"I wanna know what's through that door" Thomas murmured.

Both Newt and Poe glanced to their right at Thomas. "Now we've been over this" Said Newt "you said they were covered up, so you don't know what you saw. It could've been anything under there"

"I know exactly what I saw, they were bodies" Thomas assured, "Aris and Leigh said they bring in new batch every night"

"Who the hell are Aris and Leigh?" Asked Minho.

Thomas pointed across the room, pointed at Aris and Leigh sitting at the usual table. Aris can be seen looking at a small bread in his hand and Leigh has her head rested on her palm with her elbow on the table, obviously didn't get much rest last night.

"Well, I'm sold" Minho responded sarcastically.

"And last but not least—" Janson went on, they been ignoring the names being called up until the last name being called got the Gladers' attention, "—Poe"

*****

Oh dear, I wonder...

A lil book version reference in this chapter and I don't know if you guys know what I mean *L