❝You are all still here because of an uncanny will to survive.❞
Solving the Maze was meant to be the end. No more tests. No more puzzles. They thought that by escaping the Maze that they'd been stuck in for two years, they could go back to their old...
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25 → "MORE LIKE ENEMIES"
AS THEY CAME to a stop, Adeline couldn't believe what she was seeing. Matt was alive, standing before her. His clothes were torn and charred, hanging off of his thin frame. His hair was greasy, his face smeared with dirt. Burns scattered along his arms and legs, welts covering his hands. He was holding a machete. To his left stood a man and to his right, a woman. The man she noticed was the Crank who shot Thomas days earlier, and the women was from the group of Cranks they'd encountered. The women with the metal pole — in which she still had.
"Matt?" Adeline said in a hushed whisper, rising to her feet.
"Hello, Adeline." He said, his voice monotone. Adeline glanced back at the women and man beside him.
"I thought you were dead." She carefully replied, glancing back at Matt. Matt didn't react to what she said, instead he just stared back at her.
"We're gonna need you to come with us." the women said. Adeline shared a glance with Newt, before she arched an eyebrow at the women.
"No way." she blurted out without thinking, glaring at the woman. The woman stepped forward, glaring at Adeline before she stepped back and swung the pole back, swinging it at Adeline. The metal pole hit her square in the jaw. Adeline dropped to the ground, clutching her jaw in pain. The woman dropped to the ground, kneeling before her.
"No!" She hissed at her. "What about now, you silly girl? Dare to say no now?"
Adeline glared back at the women, before spitting blood in the Cranks face. The man stepped forward this time, only to be stopped by Matt, who looked completely emotionless.
"Matt, what the hell are you doing with this pair of psychos?" This came from Minho. "They're Cranks, surely you're still sane enough to —"
"Shut up, Minho." Matt's eyes focused on Minho. His voice was still monotone, his face still holding no expression. "Now, where were we? Ah yes." Matt stepped forward and pulled Adeline up by the burnt arm, causing her to flinch and cry out pain. "You're coming with us," Matt said, giving Adeline no choice. Then Matt glanced back at the Glader's. "Be careful getting to the Safe Haven."
Before Matt could do anything, Newt raced forward, knocking Matt over. Newt started to punch Matt in the face multiple times, trying to beat him to a bloody pulp.
"Newt, stop!" Adeline cried, just about to pry him off of Matt herself, when the man stopped her. Chaos unfolded around her; Gladers sprung into action, trying to pry Newt off of Matt. The woman stepped forward, about to swing her metal pole directly at Newt, only for Minho to knock her over, hands locked around her throat. Gladers pried Minho off of the woman, others still trying to pry Newt off of Matt. Newt released Matt, who got back to his feet. Matt's nose was bleeding; possibly broken, blood trickling down his face. Stepping forward, he wiped the blood from his nose and without a single care he wiped it onto his torn shirt. Then the most absurd thing happened. A Flat Trans appeared behind them. Matt grabbed Adeline by the wrist, tying her wrist together like a prisoner. Then a blindfold slipped over her face, covering her eyes. Without knowing what was going on, she felt someone tug her forward, pulling her towards the Flat Trans. When she refused, the woman swung her metal pole at her. This time it hit her on the side of the head, just missing her temple. Adeline felt woozy, stars forming in her vision.
Adeline fell unconscious right before she entered the Flat Trans.
—
When Adeline woke up, her eyes were no longer covered with the blindfold. She had a pounding headache, just near her temple, from where the woman had hit her hours earlier. As her eyes fluttered open, a wave of nausea overcame her. Adeline went to gasp awake, only to be stopped with a sudden jerk, pulling her backwards. Rays of sunshine streamed through a window close by, shining in her eyes. The air was stale, dust dancing in the stream of sunlight pouring through the window. Then there was movement, and a body knelt before her, blocking the sunlight from her eyes. The man's face appeared before her, followed by the woman, who whacked her metal pole against the palm of her hand threateningly.
"Good morning." the man said with a sly smile. "Thought you'd never wake up. Thought brunette here whacked you so hard that she killed ya."
Adeline glared at the both of them, eyes darting from the man to the woman. The woman growled at the man, showing she was either already Gone or close to it. Then Adeline noticed she was shackled by one wrist, chains clanging together whenever she moved. Adeline stared at the woman, who's eyes were glazed with lunacy. She was almost officially Gone.
"Can't take any chances with Cranks, can we?" A voice said from behind, followed by footsteps and the sound of a door banging shut. Adeline watched as a figure appeared in the corner of her eye, before they stopped directly in front of her. "Hello again." Adeline glared at him. "Now, is that the way to greet a friend?"
"Friend? After everything you've done to me?" Adeline snorted at the idea of them being friends. "Man, you're shucked in the head!" A look of hurt and anger flashed across Matt's face, but Adeline didn't care.
"Look." Matt's voice softened, crouching down before her. "You may not think of me as a friend anymore, but I certainly do. Before the Maze we were best friends, don't you remember?"
Adeline did remember them being best friends, but now she didn't think of him as a friend. He'd betrayed her so many times. No, Matt was more of an enemy now than a friend.
"Were friends." Adeline hissed. "Key word, were. Now? I see you as an enemy."
"Very well," Matt scowled at her rising to his feet. He attempted to control his anger. "I guess everything I did for you back before the Maze means nothing to you. I guess saving you from WICKED's plans to kill you after hacking into their database means nothing."
Adeline remembered that day. She'd hacked into WICKED's database to try find their plans for the Trials, but she'd been caught by a security camera and WICKED guards arrested her. When Ava had ordered for the guard to shoot her, Matt managed to have persuaded Ava Paige that she should live, saving her life entirely. The only problem was that the next day, Ava called her into her office and told her she was being sent into the Maze within the next month, and that she was going to be important to the Trials.
"That was before the Maze." Adeline threw back at him. "Besides, Ava would have done anything for you. You were her favourite out of all of us. Of course, saving you was a priority once WICKED came for us all, I mean anything for her son, right?"
—
A/N: And here's what I said would be revealed about a certain character. And also the fact that Adeline remembered what happened back before the Maze.
