Quiet is Violent {Newt | The Maze Runner}

24. Black or Blue

The slow creak of a door is accompanied by a thin strip of white light that illuminates the little stone room they found themselves in. In the darkness, Tasha's grip on Newt's hand is so tight she knows it will leave bruises, but that's OK, because he's gripping her just as tightly. There's a sort of uneasy comfort in that knowledge that they're all equally confused, dirty and tired, not a sound to be heard now but their panting for breathing, fear and uncertainty reflected in each pair of eyes. Teresa's the one who finally moves, pushing the door open and not flinching when it's accompanied by a loud groan of metal, not like the Grievers, thank goodness, it's too dull of a sound to be the Grievers. She looked back, hovering between stasis and action as if waiting for confirmation, before she stepped outside, followed by the remaining Gladers. A grey concrete tunnel is what greeted them as they emerged, lined with blue piping along the walls. Artificial lights flickered at the end of the hallway which made Tasha flinch, her mind alight with memories of nothing but water and screaming, but it's the mechanical snap of lights and row after row of lights, seemed to advance towards the, that snaps her out of her thoughts. The lights switch on, one after the other, until the Gladers are bathed in the lifeless white glow. The lights seem to continue forever an age in both directions, one curving until the end is out of sight, the other stopping abruptly at the end of the tunnel that stretched before them.

None of them spoke, they simply watched, and then slowly began to walk. Heading down to the visible end was Thomas's suggestion, of course. It's a good suggestion, communicated with a mere wave of his hand, but they all followed suit and began heading down to the right, following the Greenie, all buzzing with fear and adrenaline. However, not even one hundred metres down the tunnel they all slow to a stop in front of a non-descript black door. It's shiny and intimidating, three slit-like windows hovering at eye level with a glowing exit sign above them. Exit, that's what they needed.

"Seriously?" Frypan's the one to break the silence, with his trademark skepticism. Thomas edged towards the door, grasping the handle with almost painful delicacy, as if ready to attack whatever was on the other side of the door. It opened with a click and was wrenched open with a loud squeal, the scene before them a stark contrast to the one they had envisioned. An alarm wailed faintly and Tasha could feel herself tensing up, the only sign of movement being the solitary, orange, flashing light at the end of the short hallway, illuminating the still bodies scattered about on the ground. One light hung loosely from it's overhead fixture and man in a lab coat was slumped against the wall, the buzzing of the other light periodically illuminating not only him, but the glossy, red blood stain smeared down the wall behind him..

He was dead. Everyone here was dead.

There was nothing living apart from the Gladers, nothing but bodies; even the people behind glass screens, presumably half-way through an operation, were unmoving, their blue hospital gowns stained with blood. Tasha felt her heart rise into her throat and could feel the beginings of a panic attack thumping throughout her body, but she pushed it down. Her hand were still shaking as she held Newt's. Lying on the floor, another dead body reached out to them, as if looking for some help, but there was none to be found. They too were too late.

"What happened here?" One of the Gladers asked. Tasha daren't open her mouth for fear that she may just start crying, so she shook her head and pressed on. The doorframe at the end of the tunnel lead to a large, open room, illuminated by ominously sparking lights and a collection of blue screens and monitors, some still halfway active, showing scans and readouts while their operators lay dead on the floor. Tasha and Newt made their way over to a set of monitors displaying a brain readout with a live feed of the Glade above it. Tasha, in an attempt to distract herself from her horrible reality by squinting on the blood splattered screen before her and the name it displayed.

A11 : Nikola Tesla : The Fuse

"They were watching us." Newt's voice is heavy with betrayal, as he gaze was fixed on the video of the Glade. She could barely hear him as her hand dropped from his grip, his hands balled into angry fists as hers hung limply by her sides. "All this time." He muttered, bitterly. Tasha's gaze was fixed on the vital signs of the person on the display, watching as every little movement she mades was reflected on the screen, her heart rate climbing and her breathing becoming more frantic. She knew what was happening, could feel the shaking in her hands and body, heart beating painfully against her ribs in her chest, her breathing coming in shorter and sharper until she felt like she couldn't breath at all, like she was being choked. This wasn't right. This isn't what's meant to happen! It's supposed to be good! Her hands came to clasp at her neck as she struggled for to even inhale -

"Hello." She spun around, startled into a gasp by a cool, female voice behind her. There was a woman on the largest screen in the centre of the room, white lab coat pristine in the recording as workers hurried about behind her. Tasha's breathing, while still short and sharp, had returned to her, as had the shaking of her hands and the tight, constricting pain of her chest. "My name is Doctor Ava Paige." The woman on the screen told them, as if it meant something. "I'm director of operations of World Catastrophe: Killzone Department." She was so clean and clinical, like over half of the people in that video weren't dead bodies on the floor around them. A laugh, she wasn't sure if it was nervous or genuine, escaped Tasha's lips at the stark contrast but she quickly pressed her lips together "If you're watching this, it means you've successfully completed the Maze Trials." Maze Trials, Tasha turned the phrase over in her mind and felt her anger grow with every passing moment. It means that all the death, all the suffering that the Gladers had endured in the past year, that was all a game to these people. "I'm sorry I can't be there in person to congratulate you, but circumstances seem to have prevented it." The backdrop of her video had begun to grow busy, workers panicking as an alarm had begun to go off. "I'm sure by now you must all be very confused," she continued, completely ignoring the alarm, "angry, frightened... I can only assure you, that everything that's happened to you, everything we've done to you; it was all done for a reason." Tasha felt like she might throw up, all the horrible things she'd seen and done in the Maze and in the Glade whipped through her mind, her thoughts lingered on a few select moments - the night she'd held the gun to her own head, the night she had waited by Newt's bed after he had jumped off of the walls.

"You won't remember, but the sun has scorched out world," a glowing bright image of a sun takes the woman's place on screen and Tasha almost doesn't recognise it; she hasn't seen the sun in so long... "Billions of lives lost to fire, famine; suffering on a global scale." Images of fire ruined cities, wreckages and starving children assault the eyes of the Gladers, who watch in mute horror, followed by pictures of corpses littering streets. "The fallout was unimaginable... what came after was worse. We called it 'The Flare'," an image of what could only be a virus attacking a healthy cell was projected onto the screen, "a deadly virus that attacks the brain," videos of people scrapping at brains through open skulls is enough to make Tasha dry-retch, and she had to turn away, pressing her face into Newt's shoulder. "It is violent, unpredictable... incurable. Or so we thought. In time a new generation emerged that could survive the virus; suddenly, there was a reason to hope for a cure." There was a pause and Tasha turned, hoping that the disgusting images had stopped. The woman, Ava Paige, was addressing them once more, and Tasha couldn't help but be intrigued, a barrage of questions flooding her mind, though she kept her mouth closed. "But finding it would not be easy, the young would have to be tested, even sacrificed, inside harsh environments, where their brain activity could be studied; all in an effort to understand what makes them different... What makes you different." Her gaze seemed to be staring into the very souls of the Gladers, but it was gone as soon as it had come. "You may not realise it, but you're very important. Unfortunately, your trials have only just begun." The background events had gone from busy to maniac and the sound of explosions was muffled by the glass behind her. "As you'll soon discover, not everyone agrees with our methods. Progress is slow, people are scared; it may be too late for us," she paused, "for me," she added, almost as an aside, "but not for you." The figures in the background were being gunned down by soldiers in all black, workers falling left and right, their deaths painting the story of how the Gladers had found them. "The outside world await, remember -" she pulled a gun from beneath her desk and held it to her head as a soldier in the background began shooting at the glass protecting her. It didn't shatter. Tasha knew what was coming. It was the same thing she had planned to over a year ago... Her heart was in her throat as her eyes stayed glued to the woman on screen. "WCKD is good!" Ava Paige declared, before squeezing her eyes shut and pulling the trigger.