Trials Together (Book Three): The Death Cure

Chapter 13

Thomas took one of the money cards Jorge had stolen, then left to catch another bus with Rachel, Newt and Beth. Even after only the one trip he had decided that he did not like public transport. Teresa and Aris were walking because their destination wasn't far.

During the journey Thomas stared out of the window again, now his amazement at the existence of a city had disappeared he could see the place for what it really was.

Some type of security force patrolled every street in great numbers—there were hundreds of them, all wearing red shirts and gas masks, a weapon in one hand and in the other a smaller version of the viral testing device Thomas and his friends had looked into before entering the city. The farther they got from the outside barrier wall, the dirtier the streets became. Trash was everywhere, windows were broken and graffiti decorated almost every wall. And despite the sun glinting off windows high above, a darkness had settled over the place.

The bus stop closest to what was apparently Gally's flat was made of glass, or had been before it was all smashed.

"Cosy place the shank chose." Newt remarked, staring at a large chunk of red stained rock abandoned on the pavement.

Thomas agreed. The place was far from inviting, and the drab gray bricks covered in graffiti made him nervous. He didn't want to walk up those steps and find out who was waiting inside.

"Come on. Sooner we do this the sooner we can leave." Rachel started up the steps, forcing the others to follow, she reached the door to Number 2792 and knocked.

Warring parts of Thomas's mind were glad she had just done it and wishing she hadn't.

Thomas could tell immediately that the black-haired kid who answered was Gally from the Glade. No doubt about it. But his face was badly scarred, covered in raised lines like thin white slugs. His right eye looked permanently swollen, and his nose, which had been big and slightly deformed before the Chuck incident, was markedly crooked.

"Glad you came," Gally said in his raspy voice. "Because the end of the world is upon us."
He stepped back and opened the door wider. "Come in."

They did so quickly, Thomas went last and shut the door behind him, hoping he hadn't made an awful decision.

The apartment was empty but tidy, the whole place was very brightly lit, despite the sheet hung over the window as a makeshift curtain.

Gally was staring at Beth as if he had seen a ghost, although the reverse would have been more fitting. Thomas realised that he must have prepared himself for her to be dead, almost expected it. The tension lasted a few moments before Gally moved forward in a flash and embraced his partner.

Newt, Rachel and Thomas all just watched the pair, they held onto each other for at least a minute before Beth pulled away.

"Good to see you to." She was smiling brighter than Thomas had ever seen.

"I remember, all of it." Gally sounded entirely numb, WICKED had done something to him, the effects of killing Chuck. How had he even got here?

"Let's sit down." Beth pulled him down to the floor beside him and everyone else copied her. "Now can you explain what this is, how you're here?"

"I spent a few weeks recovering." Gally tapped the scarring on his cheek. "But mentally I couldn't take it, and especially not with my memories back. I still can't. I acted crazy, like I had the Flare, so they sent me here. The Right Arm ambushed me, and now I'm with them." It was only a vague overview but it was obvious they wouldn't get any more information.

"I'm sorry about what I did, Gally." Thomas held the other boy's gaze with his own as he said it. He wanted Gally to believe him, to know that he understood that WICKED was their shared enemy.

"You're sorry? I killed Chuck. He's dead. Because of me."
Hearing him say that brought Thomas no relief, only sadness.

"It wasn't your fault," Beth shook her head sadly, "I couldn't stop myself either."

"That's a bunch of klunk," Gally said stiffly. "If I had any kind of guts I could've stopped them from Controlling me. But I let them do it to me 'cause I thought I'd be killing Thomas, not Chuck. Not in a million years would I have let myself murder that poor kid."

"Generous." Newt snickered but went ignored.