Burning; TST ➵ Thomas

T H R E E

"Can you two stop looking at each other as if it's love at first sight?" Alec snapped.

Thomas leaned back, keeping his eyes on Aris and looking at the others through his peripheral vision. The final sentence by Aris had terrified him; if they'd killed his telepathy partner...

"He can do it too," Thomas said aloud. Frypan questioned him, obviously as confused as the rest of the group. Thomas realised that they probably weren't told about his and Teresa's so-called powers.

"He's a freak like Thomas. They can talk in each other's minds," Minho answered. Newt shifted his gaze from Aris to his friend, asking both if they were serious.

Thomas nodded in response. He almost spoke to Aris in his mind but talked out loud at the last second.

"Who killed her? What happened?" He noticed Alec tense and look at his friend.

"Who killed who?" Minho asked. "No more of your voodoo klunk while we're around!"

Thomas sighed, then explained.

"He had someone he could do this with, just like I did. I mean... do. But he said they killed her. I want to know who they are."

Aris' head dropped. From where Thomas' sat, his eyes seemed to be closed. Alec's face dropped, drained of colour. Thomas noticed his baby blue eyes constantly shifting between him and Aris.

"I..." Aris began but paused and covered his face with both his hands. Alec placed a hand on his shoulder in a way of comforting him, but Aris shrugged it off.

Aris raised his head.

"I don't really know who they are. It's too confusing. I couldn't tell the bad guys from the good guys. But I think somehow they made this girl... Beth... stab... my friend, Rachel."

Thomas furrowed his brows. Everything in their maze was another version of Aris' and Alec's, except the ratio of girls to boys being switched. 'Beth' sounded like the female version of Gally who had killed Chuck.

Did that mean that Gally was supposed to kill him instead?

As Newt proceeded to interrogate the two new boys more, Thomas thought deeply.

Questions flooded his mind once again. Where were Teresa and Amelia? Why are Aris and Alec here? Are the girls okay?

Just as he thought everything would click, his thoughts fell apart again.

"Hey," one of the Gladers Thomas didn't really know brought him back to reality. "What's that on the side of your neck?"

Aris had confusion written on his face. Alec offered to look.

"It's a tattoo," he pointed out, squinting his eyes.

"What's it say?" Minho asked.

Property of WICKED. Group B, Subject B1. The Partner.

Thomas watched as Aris panicked after Alec read the tattoo out loud - claiming that it wasn't there the previous night. Newt tensed after hearing the first sentence. He limped over to where Aris sat and looked at the tattoo for himself.

Minho doubted his claims and questioned him. Aris insisted that what he said was true - that he didn't know about it until then - and ran to the bathroom, probably to see the words for himself.

"I don't believe that shank," Minho whispered. Thomas turned to face him, immediately spotting a thick line on his neck.

"Why're looking at me like that?" he looked at Thomas as if he'd just sprouted a third ear on his forehead.

Thomas stuttered in revealing the news.

"Shuck, no!" the ex-Runner exclaimed.

The frenzy began. Everyone started talking over each other. Thomas watched as the Gladers discover the tattoos on each other. Most didn't have the additional designations like Aris and Minho, just the property line.

Newt walked around, observing boy to boy, seeing everyone's tattoo for himself. His face set in stone as if he were concentrating on memorising the names and numbers.

Thomas thought it was bizarre that they never noticed until now.

Minho's was 'The Leader'. Newt's 'The Glue'. He read Alec's, 'The Accident'. He was curious for his, therefore asking Newt to read it.

He noticed that an odd expression had come over Newt's face.

"Subject A-two," he answered then lowered his eyes. Thomas prompted him to read the rest.

"It doesn't call you anything. It just says... 'To be killed by Group B'."