فصل 50

CHAPTER 50

The trees might have been dead, but their branches still pulled on Thomas’s clothes and scratched at his skin. The wood shone white in the moonlight, and the streaks and pools of shadow across the ground gave the whole place a haunted feel. Teresa kept walking in silence, floating up the mountainside like an apparition.

Finally, he found the courage to speak. “Where’re we going? And you really expect me to believe all that was an act? Why didn’t you stop when everybody else agreed not to kill me?” But her reply was strange. Barely turning her head, she asked, “You’ve met Aris, right?” She didn’t break stride, just kept moving.

Thomas stopped for a second, completely taken aback. “Aris? How do you even know about him? What’s he got to do with this?” He hurried to catch up with her again, curious but dreading the answer for some reason.

She didn’t respond right away, picking her way through a particularly tight pack of branches; one flew back and smacked him in the face after she let it fly. Once through, she finally stopped and turned to him, right where a shaft of moonlight illuminated her face. She looked unhappy.

“I happen to know Aris very well,” she said in a tight voice. “Much better than you’re going to like. Not only was he a big part of my life before the Maze, he and I can speak in our minds, just like you and I used to do. Even when I was in the Glade, we communicated all the time. And we knew they’d eventually put us back together.” Thomas searched for a response. What she’d said was so unexpected he thought it must be a joke. Another trick by WICKED.

She waited, arms folded, as if she enjoyed seeing him struggle to speak.

“You’re lying,” he finally said. “That’s all you do is lie. I don’t understand why, or what’s going on, but—” “Oh, come on, Tom,” she said. “How could you possibly be so stupid? After all that’s happened to you, how could anything surprise you anymore? Everything about us was part of some ridiculous test. And it’s over. Aris and I are going to do what we were told to do, and life goes on. WICKED’s all that matters now. That’s it.” “What are you talking about?” He couldn’t have felt any emptier.

Teresa looked past him, over his shoulder. He heard the snap of breaking twigs on the ground, and somehow he held on to his dignity enough to not turn around to see who had snuck up on him.

“Tom,” Teresa said. “Aris is right behind you, and he has a very big knife. Try anything and he’ll slice your neck. You’re coming with us and you’re gonna do exactly what we tell you. Understand?” Thomas stared at her, hoping the rage he felt inside showed clearly on his face. He’d never felt so angry in his life—what he could remember of it.

“Say hi, Aris,” she said. And then, the worst thing yet—she smiled.

“Hi, Tommy,” the boy said from behind. It was definitely him, just not as friendly as before. “Such a thrill to be with you again.” The point of his knife just touched Thomas’s back.

Thomas remained silent.

“Well,” Teresa said. “At least you’re acting like a grown-up about this. Just keep following me—we’re almost there.” “Where are we going?” Thomas asked in a steely voice.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” She turned and started walking through the trees again, using her spear like a staff.

Thomas hurried to follow before Aris got the satisfaction of pushing him. The trees got thicker and closer together, and the moonlight flitted away. Darkness pressed in, sucking light and life right out of him.

They reached a cave, the thick copse of trees serving as a tight wall at its entrance. Thomas didn’t have any warning—one minute they were picking their way through prickly branches, the next they were in a tall, narrow hole in the side of the mountain. A dull light source shone from deep inside, a sickly green rectangle that made Teresa look like a zombie when she moved to the side for the other two to enter.

Aris stepped around him, his blade aimed like a gun at Thomas’s chest as he backed to the wall opposite Teresa and leaned against it. Thomas could do nothing but look back and forth between them. Two people who every instinct had told him were his friends. Until now.

“Well, we’re here,” Teresa said, looking at Aris.

He didn’t take his eyes off Thomas. “Yep, we’re here, all right. You’re serious about him talking the others into sparing him? What is he, some kind of superpsychologist?” “It kind of helped, actually. Made it easier to get him here.” Teresa threw a condescending glance toward Thomas, then crossed the cave to Aris. As Thomas watched, she stood on her toes to kiss Aris on the cheek and grinned. “I’m so glad we’re finally back together.” Aris smiled. He shot Thomas a look of warning, then risked looking away long enough to tilt his head toward Teresa. And kiss her on the lips.

Thomas tore his eyes away and closed them. Her pleas for him to trust her, her quick whisper to hang in there—it had all been to get him here. To bring him more easily to this point.

So that she could fulfill some evil purpose concocted by WICKED.

“Get it over with,” he finally said, not daring to open his eyes again. He didn’t want to know what they were doing, why they were quiet. But he wanted them to think he’d given up. “Just get it over with.” When they didn’t answer, he couldn’t help but take a peek. They were whispering to each other, stealing kisses between words. Something like burning oil filled his stomach.

He looked away again, focusing on the odd source of light in the back of the cave. A large rectangle of pale green, set into the dark stone, pulsed with an ethereal glow. It was as tall as an average man, maybe four feet wide. Stains streaked across its dull surface—a grimy window to something that looked like radioactive sludge, glowing and dangerous.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Teresa step away from Aris, their lovefest evidently over. He looked at her, wondering if his eyes showed just how much she had crushed him.

“Tom,” she said. “If it helps, I’m really sorry I hurt you. I did what I had to do back in the Maze, and being all buddy-buddy seemed like my best shot at getting the memories we needed to figure out that code and escape. And I didn’t have much choice here in the Scorch. All we had to do was get you here to pass the Trials. And it’s either you or us.” Teresa paused for a second, and there was a strange glint in her eye. “Aris is my best friend, Tom,” she said calmly, evenly.

And that was what finally made Thomas crack. “I … don’t … care!” he screamed, though nothing could’ve been further from the truth.

“I’m just saying. If you care about me, then you should understand why I’d be willing to do whatever it takes to make it through this and keep him safe. Wouldn’t you have done the same for me?” Thomas couldn’t believe how far away he felt from the girl he’d once thought was his best friend. Even in all of his memories—it was always the two of them. “What is this? Are you trying to come up with all the ways possible in the universe to hurt me? Just shut your shuck mouth and do whatever it is you brought me here to do!” His chest heaved with angry breaths, his heart thumping a deadly pace.

“Fine,” she replied. “Aris, let’s open the door. Time for Tom to go.”