˚ ༘✶₊˚.                         ⊹ ˚ .  SECOND ACT
❪       TWENTY-TWO    ♥︎    ₊˚༢࿐
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SHE CRAWLED HASTILY ON HER hands and knees through the vents, following Teddy through multiple corners. Mae was done asking him where they were going, just following his lead and hoping she wasn't making too much noise.

     The little boy kept glancing back at her once and a while to make sure she was still following.

     Then, Teddy had come to an abrupt stop at a dead end. Mae tilted her head at the light shining through the vent front the floor below them, which — from what she could see — was a silent hallway.

     He looked pleased with himself, but she couldn't be any more confused.

     "Teddy, what are we looking for?" She whispered. The boy scrunched his nose in response, simply turning his head toward an open section of the vents, "Teddy—"

     The sound of scurrying feet made the blonde freeze up, her eyes snapping toward a pathway. Her first worry is that they've been caught, but when Aris crawls through a section and made himself known, the girl had let out a relieved huff.

     That was until Thomas followed closely behind, looking as confused as ever.

     They locked eyes, and Mae felt the need to shrug her shoulders so he knew she had no idea what was going on either.

     "What are we doing here?" Thomas asked.

     "Come here," Aris waved him over. "Watch."

     Thomas crawls up beside Mae, and together the four of them had peered back through the vent, just as a group of Doctors came down the hallway.

     Mae could spot what looked like Dr. Crawford, followed by two other people on white coats.

     They carried what looked like a casket, the holographic panel exposing the body inside of it like an x-ray. Dr. Crawford swipes her keycard, and all three doctors walk inside before the metal doors closed.

     The exchanged happened so fast that Mae didn't register what had happened until they were gone, but what she did know was that the whole situation was unsettling.

     "What the hell was that?" Thomas asked.

     "They bring in new ones every night like clockwork," Aris explains.

     Mae frowned. "What do they do with the bodies?"

     Teddy shrugs, "Dunno, only been here a week." He reminds her, "Whole thing is creepy."

     Aris nods in agreement, "This is as far as 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." He pauses before adding, "I don't think anybody ever really leaves this place."

     Mae's heart sunk, turning to Thomas. "That safe farm those boys were talking about, it must not be true then." She says.

     Thomas is deep in thought, looking almost uncomfortable with the information he was given. He wanted to know more, he wanted to know what was behind that door.

     "Come on," said Aris, "We've gotta go before somebody notices we're gone."

     "Why did you show us this?" Thomas questioned. Mae turned to Teddy, curious to know why he picked her of all people.

     "Because maybe the others will listen to you," Aris tells him.

     "I like your hair," Teddy tells Mae, as if somehow that justified everything.

     The girl hummed, "Right. Thank you."

     "There's something weird going on here. And I know you guys think so too," Aris adds.

     With that, Aris tapped Teddy on the shoulder and with a quick salute from the little boy, they had ventured back into the vents, leaving Thomas and Mae alone with their thoughts.

     "How are you holding up?" Thomas suddenly asked her. He hadn't had the chance to speak with her since they got there — which was something that he wanted to do long before they escaped the Maze, "Newt told me that Janson interviewed you, too."

     "He was asking me things about WICKED," She admits, "Apparently my blood sample tipped them off and my file popped up as a 'Property of WICKED.'" She sighed, "They confirmed what you saw in your dreams. . .about me working for them."

The thought alone hurt her heart.

     Thomas shifts at that, looking down at his hands to avoid looking at her eyes, "Guess that means what I said about us is true. ." He trailed.

     Mae offered him a soft smile, not knowing what to say. She knew her connection with Thomas ran deeper than just a nostalgic comfort but whenever she tried to push past the Wall in her brain the hazier it felt.

     Mae felt safe with Thomas, and that was all that mattered now.

     "Hopefully tomorrow we can see Teresa," She changes the subject, "I hope she's okay. . ."

     "I'm sure she's fine," Thomas nods, looking down the vent, "Look's like we have a lot more to deal with then I thought."

     Mae reached up and grabbed his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. "I'm with you," She reminds him, "Whatever wacky plan you have cooking in your head, I trust you."

     Thomas smiled, looking down at their semi-intertwined hands. His heart gave a tight squeeze at her touch, and the boy almost leaned in right then if it wasn't for the obvious elephant in the room — Gally.

     He knew it wasn't the right to say anything about what he felt for Mae ( even though he didn't really know himself.)

     So, for once, Thomas closed his mouth, squeezing her hand back.

✿ ❀ ✿

BY THE NEXT DINNER THOMAS AND MAE had already informed the other Gladers of what they had seen in from the vents the night prior, sitting side-by-side as the watched Janson call out another handful of names.

Mae's stomach dropped a little when Kenzie was called, and the girl made a dramatic notion to wink at Mae before she walked up to the Wall.

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

Newt looked patiently at him, "Now, we've been over this." He says calmly, "You said they were covered up, so you don't know what you both saw. It could've been anything under there."

Mae huffed, dropping her plastic spoon into her potatoes, "It was a body-shaped objected, with a body-shaped picture on it. . .I don't know much but I think it might be a body."

The boys stare at her for a long moment, not knowing how to respond to her new found attitude. Mae falters at their gaze, looking back at her dinner.

"Sorry. .just tired," She mumbled.

Thomas sighed, "We know what we saw. They were bodies. Aris said they bring in a new batch every night."

Minho, who had been completely on Thomas' side said, "Who the shuck is Aris?"

Mae pointed toward the table on the far left, where Aris and Teddy sat in silence. Teddy was hounding down another cup of pudding, while Aris was staring aimlessly at the bread loaf in his hand. Minho looks back to Thomas with a straight face.

"Well, I'm sold." He says sarcastically.

When Janson had completeed his list of names, the room had echoed in scattered applause. Mae furrowed her brow at the rat-faced man, who gave them all a small nod and motioned them to continue their dinner before he turned on his feet toward the doors.

"Okay, until we know anything for certian, we should keep our heads down and try not to draw any attention to ourselves, all right?" Ordered Newt.

Mae and Thomas locked eyes, and with a firm nod they both rose to their feet. She didn't know where her new confidence had come from, but she had never felt more determined in her life to take down WICKED and any one who stood with them.

She was doing this for her fallen friends. For Gally. And that alone was enough for Mae to follow Thomas to the end of the world.

"What are they doing?" Newt deadpans.

"I think they're drawing attention to themselves." replied Frypan.

Thomas tried to walk straight through the door, but a guard had grabbed him by the chest and stopped him quickly. While they had their eyes on Thomas, Mae tried to sneak pasted them. She got as far as the door before she was pulled back by another guard.

"Hang on." He said, scoffing. "You two weren't called."

"I know, I'm just gonna be a second." said Thomas.

The guard pushed him again, "This is a restricted area, kid."

Mae stood in front of the guard. "We want to see our friend," She thought using Teresa as an excuse would make them more likely to let her through, "We haven't gotten any word about her. Can you just let us in?"

The man jabbed a firm hand into Mae's shoulder, "Get your ass back in that chair." He said lowly to her.

Mae had barely a second to speak before Thomas had thrown himself on top of the guard. The sound of rapid foot steps behind Mae caused her to turn. Newt, Minho, Frypan and Winston had rushed forward, grabbing at Thomas to break them up.

"Get back!"

"What's your problem, man?" Thomas bellowed. "What the hell, huh? Why won't you let us see her?!"

"Control you friends!"

Newt stepped between them, pushing the guard back.

"What's happening here?!" Janson shoves himself through the group, looking much calmer than the others, "Thomas? Maeve? I thought we could all trust each other. You know we're all on the same team here."

"Are we?" Thomas replied, heaving a breath.

Mae narrowed her eyes at Janson, "For a team, you act quite secretive, Mr. Janson." She adds lowly.

At that, Janson looked almost amused, "Get them to their bunks." He orders.

✿ ❀ ✿

MAE HAD BEEN SHOVED VIOLENTLY INTO the room she shared with the girls on the bottom floor, all of them glaring daggers at the blonde for being sent to their rooms early. Mae didn't spare any of them the attention, crawling up to her top bunk and grabbing her bag by her pillow.

"What was that?" Deena huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the door, "And where are you going?"

"To my friends," Mae responds shortly, reaching down to tie her shoelace.

"You gonna poof there, newbie?" The girl questioned.

Mae turned to her, "Look, I don't expect you to understand but whatever is going on here is far from kind! These people, Janson, there's something bigger going on-"

Deena shook her head, "I don't care if they praise Satan himself. What I don't expect you to understand is that these people rescued us from WICKED, rescued us from starvation in those cities and gave us a home! Food and shelter!" She jabbed her finger into Mae's chest, "The last thing we need is for some newbie to come in and make them angry, to ruin what some of us call home."

She froze. She was their Thomas. Mae hadn't been here for more than three days and she and her friends were already changing the order within these walls, the same walls that people like Deena depended on to surivive. It didn't matter how they got there, or who was pulling the strings, to them they were safe.

"Gally thought that way," Mae said to her softly. "He wanted so desperately to believe that our Glade was our home - no matter who was pulling the strings. It was the only thing he knew." She placed her hand on Deena's shoulder, "Whatever this is, it's not home. It's not safe."

"Maybe not to you. ." Deena muttered.

The vent from the ceiling bursts open, and Teddy quickly dangled his head through it, causing his glasses to slip a little. He searched panicked for Mae, and when his doe eyes landed on the girl, he gave a sigh of relief.

"Come on!" He shouts, waving his hand rapidly toward him, "We gotta go!"

Mae turned to Deena, who never looked more hesitant. "I'm going to find out what is going on here. Maybe I'm crazy, I don't care but I'm going." She held her hand out, "Come with me."

Deena frowned, and shook her head, "Good luck with the guards."

The blonde dropped her hand with an understanding nod, and hoisted herself into the vent.

Crawling on her hands and knees, Mae had followed Teddy through the now fimilar turns and corners of the vents. Up ahead, she stopped Thomas, who looked almost as impatient as she felt.

With a quick nod between them, Aris had pushed down the vent that led into level five. Using his upper body strength, Thomas had lowered himself down first, followed by Aris. Mae let out a shaky exhale, and dropped herself down next, looking up at Teddy.

The little boy looked hesitant, far different then his usual mature attitude as he stared back down at Mae. He had never gotten this far. It was something she needed to remind herself. Teddy was all talk. He was after all, a child.

Mae mustered a comforting smile, holding her hand up, "It's okay. ." She says softly, "You can stay if you want, but I'll catch you."

Teddy lets out a small exhale, and nods. Mae was quick to catch him when he felt forward, the little boy yelping in panic when he though it was a close call but Mae made sure to squeeze him tightly to her chest so he knew everything was okay.

Aris closed the vent quietly, and they all rushed to the door.

Thomas swiped the keycard of the door, and Mae stepped back at the cold breeze that followed. Inside of the room, was a small hallway. Teddy made a noise of disgust, and Mae followed his gaze toward the window, where dozens of pods showed dozens of shrimp-like creatures.

Mae's heart dropped, "Thomas. ." She tapped him breathlessly, "Those are Grievers."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"I know a Griever when I see one," She tells him, "And those are it."

"Come on," said Aris, "We needa make this quick."

Thomas nods, and swipes the keycard on the second panel. Mae tore her eyes away from the pods, and followed Thomas into a room where multiple children around their age had been strung up in rows by their limps, tubes attached to their mouths.

Mae's eyes began to water, "Aris was right. . .they never left."

These kids thought they were going somewhere safe, they trusted Janson, they though their suffering was over. It had hardly begun.

"Teresa?" Thomas voiced, rushing over to a girl that Mae couldn't see.

The blonde dropped Teddy's hand and rushed to Thomas' side, "Teresa?!" She cried, reaching up and brushing the hair out of her eyes. Mae didn't know whether to be relieved or guilty that the person hadn't been Teresa, "Oh, god. . ."

"That's Rachel," Aris whispered, his eyes flashing in pain. "They took her the first night. I told her it was going to be okay."

The front doors whirl open, and Mae grabs Teddy by the collar and quickly pull him behind a pillar on the other side of Thomas and Aris. The girl makes panicked eye-contact with Thomas, who cursed himself for not grabbing Mae too, so she wouldn't be so far from him.

Janson walks into the room with another man at his side, who was poking at a tablet in his hands. they both walked through the rows of children - completely unbothered.

"Can't this wait?" Janson huffed.

"She was very specific, sir." Replied the man, "She wanted to speak with you personally."

"As if I don't have enough to deal with," Janson grumbles.

"Just bear with me. I-I'm getting some interference from the storm."

Janson waves his hands impatiently, "Come on, it's good enough. Make the connection."

With a few clicks of his tablet, Mae watched from behind a pillar as the mirror in front of them flicked on. A hologram of a woman sitting at her desk appeared with a light static, and Mae's brows furrowed when she realized that it was the woman from the Lab at the Maze, who shot herself in the head.

"It was a set-up," Mae whispered to herself. Teddy shushed her.

"Good evening, Doctor Paige." Janson greeted with a smile. "Lovely to see you again, althought I admit. . .I wasn't expecting to hear from you quite so soon."

Even through a hologram, Mae could see how tired the woman looked, "Change of plans, Janson. I'll be arriving a little sooner than expected. First thing tomorrow." She announced.

"Oh. We'll be delighted to have you," Janson says. "I think you'll be pleased with the progress we've made." He motions to the man beside him, and with a flick multiple charts filled the screen. "As you can see, early results have been extremely promising. Whatever it is you've been doing to them in there, it's working."

Doctor Paige looked unpleased, "Not well enough. How is my. . .other task for you going?" She asked him, her face twisting into something hard.

Janson shifts. "Well. . .we haven't begun the memory reversal yet, but the other has already finished her processure. I haven't gotten the chance to-"

"You should've started on her the second she stepped into the building," Doctor Paige said impatiently, before instantly composing herself. "Get it done, Janson. I've just revieced Board approval. I want all the remaning subjects sedated and prepped for harvest by the time I arrive. The other seperate from them."

"Doctor Paige, we are going as fast as we can." Janson explained, "We are still running test."

"Try something faster." She insists, "Until I can gaurantee their security, this is the best plan."

"Ma'am, security is my job. We're on the twenty-four hour lockdown here." He reassured.

Mae shifted to get a closer look, her hand wrapping around the pillar anxiously. Her attention shifted from the conversation to a small flash of light in the corner of her eyes. Mae looked up at the body across from her, and she almost yelled right then.

Kenzie hung stiffly in one of the rows, her red hair still pulled up in a tight ponytail as the airbag at her side rose and fell slowly. Mae clenched her jaw, an anger rising in her chest. Kenzie might have been talkitve, but she was kind. She didn't deserve to be treated like an experiment, none of them did.

"Mae, don't." Teddy whispered to her.

She wanted to hurt Janson right there. There was no guards, no weapons, it was the perfect time to strike him down, he was outnumbered and he didn't even know it. Mae's hand itched at her sides, wanting to attack Janson with every ounce of strength she could muster.

"Mae," Teddy continued on, "Please."

Mae had never felt so angry, she had never felt so much hatered toward a person.

Teddy's hand wrapped tightly around Mae's, snapping her out of her thoughts with a soft shake. He looked up at her with panicked eyes, the brown of his iris glossing over in worried tears. He was begging her not to.

     She assumed it was because he was scared to get caught, not knowing that it was because he was scared she would get hurt.

     The girl eased, giving a reassuring squeeze.

"Have you found the Right Arm?"

Teddy instantly stands straighter at the words.

"Not yet. . ." Janson says, "We tracked them as far as the mountains."

"So they're still out there! And they've already hit two of our installations. They want these kids as badly as we do. And I cannot," She inhales. "I cannot afford another loss, not after—not now, when I am so close to a cure. If you are not up to the task, I will find someone who is."

"That won't be necessary," says Janson, "Might I start with the most recent arrivals?"

Thomas and Mae share a worried glance.

"Just get it done." She replies. "I don't want them to feel any pain."

Janson smiled, "They won't feel a thing."

[ authors note: if you haven't
guessed it then I'm not saying it ]
pls don't forget to comment
it helps writers stay motivated
& I'd love to interact with you!

NOV / 23 / 2021