I Corrupt. ~ Minho (The Sequel to "For My Help")

The Unexpected Explanation

Impatient didn't even begin to explain how River felt. Every second seemed like an hour and she was painfully aware of the time passing. Not only that, but she was also aware of passing glances from Minho. The internal battle over what was true managed to keep her occupied during this wait for Rat Man to speak. But she couldn't even come close to a resolution within herself.

Trusting Minho was something she wouldn't be able to do, but she could surely trust the other Gladers. According to them, she and Minho were madly in love and only a fool would deny it. Signs did point to this being true. Her brain was tampered with. The only question is why would they tamper with her feelings towards someone else? What could they possibly have to gain? It seemed very unlikely that they would do this. So for the time being, River decided to keep her current feelings towards Minho, which were that she would rather that he wasn't in his life.

As she sat cross legged on the floor in front of the wall of glass, she watched Rat Man closely. The way he flipped the pages of his book with confidence and a smug expression on his face annoyed her and she had to hold back from rolling her eyes. He now refused to even acknowledge anyone on the other side of the glass, barely breaking eye contact with his book. 

Thomas sat with her in silence, playing with a small object River had never seen before. He flipped it back and forth in his hands and River took this time to really look at the boy. He was tired. The dark circles under his eyes looked like they had been filled in with marker. It seemed as though he hadn't slept in days, which may have been the truth.

"Did everyone make it?" River asked quietly, fearing the answer. Thomas glanced at her out of the corner of his eye before looking away once more. He shook his head no and swallowed.

"A lot of use did though, and that's all that matters right now."

"What's in your hands?" River decided to change the subject, as Thomas didn't seem ready to talk about it yet.

"Chuck made it." Thomas sighed. "He gave it to me before he..." He cleared his throat. "I promised I'd give it to his parents."

"Who's Chuck?" River asked, not able to put a face to the name.

"What do you mean?" Thomas looked up, clearly confused. It was as if she should know him.

"Who's Chuck?" She repeated.

"You don't remember Chuck?" Thomas seemed almost personally offended by River's words, and she immediately wished she could take them back.

"Should I?" She stared into his eyes, watching as different emotions flickered in them. 

"River, he was your friend. He was our friend." Thomas looked sad.

"Then why can't I remember him?" Her voice trailed off as her attention was grabbed by something else. Rat Man.

With one  swift motion, he had stood up from behind his desk and thrown open a drawer. Everyone sitting in the room with her gave their  full attention to him, and others rushed inside after noticing the silence coming from the area. Rummaging through the drawer, he pulled out a folder containing a large stack of paper. Glancing over it once, he stepped around the desk and directed his attention towards the Gladers. 

"Why do you need that wall!?" Minho shouted, sitting down next to Newt, who was now sitting beside River.

Newt reached over to his left and punched Minho in the arm. "Shut it!" Minho made a face back at Newt, but then turned his attention back to Rat Man.

Rat Man didn't seem to care about the outburst as he didn't even acknowledge it. "You're all still here because of an uncanny will to survive against all odds." He began.  "About sixty people were sent to live in the Glade. Well, your  Glade, anyway. Another sixty in Group B, but for now we'll forget them."

"Group B?" River whispered to Newt. "There was another maze?"

"I don't know." Newt replied.

"I'm assuming you've figured this out by now, but we're judging and analyzing your responses to different scenarios for the biggest breakthrough in the history of science and medicine." His nasally voice echoed across the room, while pausing for a split second. "These trials you are going through are for a very important cause. Continue to respond well to the Variables - the situations inflicted upon you - and you will be rewarded with the knowledge that you have had an important part in saving the human race."

"How could our responses ever save the human race? That makes no sense." Thomas burst.

"This dude's shucked in the head." Minho whispered to himself, but that didn't stop everyone from hearing it.

"I represent a group called WICKED," Rat Man continued, "which stands for World In Catastrophe, Killzone Experiment Department. We exist for one, sole purpose. To save the human race from its threatening and very near extinction.

"We have unlimited money and human resources. Not to mention our incredibly advanced technology. There is almost no limit to what we can do. Which is why we gave you the hanging bodies demonstration. To show you that sometimes what you see isn't real, and sometimes what you don't see is real. It is easy for us to manipulate your brains and nerve receptacles. I know this all sounds very confusing and terrifying."

Thomas shifted beside her, probably out of nerves. River couldn't help but feel the same. WICKED's acronym didn't exactly make her feel safe. She was scared that they had an ulterior motive. Not only that, but she couldn't help but think that Rat Man directed that last part towards her. Did he play a part in tampering with her brain?

"Everything you have endured so far has been a part of the trials, do you understand?" Rat Man slowly passed his eyes over every face in the room, watching them take in this information. "The Maze, the Grievers, the escape, the supposed rescue, the bus. All of it was Phase One, and we're still very short of the information that we need. We have now decided to up the ante. Now it's time for Phase Two. Not it's time for things to get more difficult." 

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Author's Note

Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I've had a very busy past couple of days including a concert, a party, and a trip to the ER (oops). Also this part may have been boring for you if you had read the books because it was mostly a condensed version of Rat Man's speech, so I'm sorry. But it had to be done. The next few chapters will start the action though and I can't wait to write them!

Thanks for reading!

Marin <3