Trials Together (Book Three): The Death Cure

Chapter 11

It took some time for everyone to figure out what had happened and no one seemed to quite believe it. Thomas could understand why Miyoko had done what she did, suicide rates for those just diagnosed with the Flare were astronomical, but he didn't understand how Minho and especially Newt had reacted.

It had been as if Minho had known it was going to happen, but was still horrified. Thomas remembered Newt's suicide attempt in the Maze which probably explained why Sonya had made him leave, the image of her finding his crumpled body on the Maze floor would always be in the back of Thomas's mind.

But despite everything the Gladers were all used to death. By 6:00 AM almost everyone had got up and showered, searching for clean clothes and breakfast. There wasn't much food but Jorge said they would be in Denver by the next day and could sort something out.

Brenda said that fake documents, they only needed ID cards because generally no one cared that much, were being made in order of priority.

With that in mind she passed Thomas four for himself, Teresa, Rachel and Aris with made up last names.

"Do these work?" Aris questioned when Thomas gave him one, they had been made on very short notice but looked legitimate enough. However, Thomas had lived at the WICKED compound for close to twelve years, the outside world was an enigma he knew next to nothing about. A lot of his knowledge came from Teresa, who had lived in the city for two years and left when she was six, but a lot could change in a decade.

Rachel and Aris could hardly remember their lives before WICKED, when they were children Thomas had overheard several conversations about the 'B Elites' and 'suppression of memories due to trauma'. Sometimes he wished he could have done that, it would have been better than the odd dreams of his father raging, his mother staring at a wall mumbling nonsense, of people burning. Thomas's first clear memory was of being eighteen months old and having a bad bout of flu, he remembered the sun flares, the aftermath, the discovery of the virus. It was vague but enough for him to understand the mess the world was.

"I found food." Rachel announced, placing a plate of buttered bread on the table. "Let's eat before Frypan finds out I stole from the kitchen."

Thomas had to laugh, even though it made everyone look at him strangely, they were so desensitized to death now. A sixteen year old girl had slit her wrists after being infected by the worst disease to ever plague humanity because of an experiment that had achieved nothing, and they were focussed on ID cards and breakfast.

It made perfect sense and none at all.

"What's so funny?" Teresa looked both surprised and slightly concerned.

"The mess our lives are."

"Now that is funny." Harriet reached over and stole some food. "What's that?" She looked at Teresa who was playing with a strange bracelet, Thomas had seen it before but she had never explained it, but that could have been because he'd never asked.

The thing was a circular metal cylinder as wide as a finger, and it looked as though there was something in it.

"I was given it, for if I ever came home." She kept picking at a seam in the metal but couldn't seem to get it open. "That has to mean something."

"Positive family." Harriet glanced over at Minho, he had put his head in his hands and was ignoring everyone. "He's gonna lash out at someone if we're not careful." Without his Counterweight Minho would certainly be unpredictable, any Glader was affected by the loss of their partner, but if the one who kept the other grounded was lost the effects on the survivor were much more apparent.

Thomas knew Harriet had been able to survive without Alby, but he wouldn't have been able to continue without her, at least not with any semblance of mental stability.