The Death Cure (The Maze Runner Book 3) (13)
CHAPTER
13
Brenda’s
expression was a strange mixture of anger and excitement. Thomas readied
himself next to her, gripping the Launcher tightly in his hands. He knew it was
a gamble to trust Brenda. He’d been tricked by nearly everyone in this organization;
he couldn’t underestimate WICKED. But she was the only reason they’d gotten
this far. And if he was going to bring her along, he couldn’t doubt her
anymore.
The
first guard arrived, a man dressed in the same black gear as all the others,
but with a different type of weapon—smaller and sleeker—held tightly in front
of him. Thomas fired, watched the grenade connect with the man’s chest; it sent
him reeling backward, twitching and convulsing in a web of lightning.
Two
more people—a man and a woman—were right behind him with Launchers raised.
Minho
acted before Thomas could. He grabbed the woman by the shirt and yanked her
toward him, then swung her across his body and slammed her into the wall. She
got off a shot, but the silvery grenade shattered harmlessly on the ground and
sent a short burst of crackling energy along the tiled floor.
Brenda
fired at the man, hitting him in the legs; tiny jagged bolts of electricity
shot up his body and he screamed, falling back into the hallway. His weapon fell
to the floor.
Minho
had disarmed the woman and forced her to kneel. He now held a Launcher aimed at
her head.
A
fourth man came through the door, but Newt knocked his weapon away and punched
him in the face. He collapsed to his knees, holding a hand up to his bloodied
mouth. The guard looked up as if to say something, but Newt stepped back and
shot him in the chest. At such close range the ball made a terrible popping
sound as it exploded against the man. A wretched squeal escaped his throat as
he fell to the floor, writhing in a web of pure electricity.
“That
beetle blade’s watchin’ every bloody thing we do,” Newt said. He nodded toward
something at the back of the room. “We’ve got to get out of here—they’re just
going to keep coming.”
Thomas
turned to see the little robotic lizard crouched in place, red light beaming.
Then he looked back at the doorway, which was empty. He faced the woman. The
muzzle end of Minho’s weapon hovered just inches from her head.
“How
many of you are there?” Thomas asked her. “Are there more coming?”
She
didn’t respond at first, but Minho leaned forward until his gun was actually
touching her cheek.
“There’re
at least fifty on duty,” she said quickly.
“Then
where are they?” Minho asked.
“I
don’t know.”
“Don’t
lie to me!” Minho shouted.
“We
… Something else is going on. I don’t know what. I swear.”
Thomas
looked at her closely and saw more than just fear in her expression. Was it
frustration? She seemed to be telling the truth. “Something else? Like what?”
She
shook her head. “I just know that a group of us were called to a different
section, that’s all.”
“And
you have no idea why?” Thomas threw as much doubt into his voice as possible.
“I have a hard time believing that.”
“I
swear it.”
Minho
grabbed her by the back of the shirt and pulled her to her feet. “We’ll just
take the nice lady here as a hostage, then. Let’s go.”
Thomas
stepped in front of him. “Brenda needs to lead—she knows the way around this
place. Then me, then you and your new friend, then Newt in the rear.”
Brenda
hurried to stand beside Thomas. “I still don’t hear anybody, but we can’t have
long. Come on.” She peeked into the hallway, then slipped out of the room.
Thomas
took a second to wipe his sweaty hands on his pants, then gripped the Launcher
and followed her. She turned right. He heard the others fall in behind him; a
quick glance showed that Minho’s captor was running along, too, looking none
too happy with the threat of an electric bath just inches away.
They
reached the end of the initial hallway and made a right without stopping. Their
new path looked exactly the same as the last, a beige alley stretching before
them for at least fifty feet before it ended in a set of double doors. Somehow
the scene made him think of that last stretch of the Maze right before the Cliff,
when he, Teresa, and Chuck had run for the exit while everyone else battled the
Grievers to keep them safe.
As
they neared the doors, Thomas pulled the Rat Man’s key card out of his pocket.
Their
hostage yelled to him. “I wouldn’t do that! I bet there’re twenty guns waiting
to burn you alive on the other side.” But something about her tone sounded
desperate. Could it be that WICKED had become overconfident and lax in their
security? With only twenty or thirty teenagers left, surely they didn’t have more
than one security person for each of their subjects—if even that many.
Thomas
and his friends had to find Jorge and the Berg, but they also had to find
everyone else. He thought of Frypan and Teresa. He wasn’t going to leave them
behind just because they’d chosen to get their memories back.
He
skidded to a stop in front of the doors and turned to face Minho and Newt.
“We’ve only got four Launchers, and we better believe that there are more
guards on the other side of those doors waiting for us. Are we up for this?”
Minho
stepped up to the key card panel, dragging the guard with him by the shirt.
“You’re going to open this for us so we can focus on your buddies. Stand right
there and don’t do anything until we say. Don’t mess with me.” He swiveled
toward Thomas. “Start shooting as soon as the doors crack.”
Thomas
nodded. “I’ll crouch. Minho, you lean over my shoulder. Brenda to the left and
Newt to the right.”
Thomas
got down and stuck the point of his weapon right where the doors met in the
center. Minho hovered above him, doing the same. Newt and Brenda got in
position.
“Open
on three,” Minho said. “And guard lady, you try anything or run away, I
guarantee one of us will get you. Thomas, you count off.”
The
woman pulled out her key card but said nothing.
“One,”
Thomas began. “Two.”
He
paused, allowed himself a moment to suck in a breath, but before he could yell
the last number an alarm started blaring and the lights went out.
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