Chapter 21

'Ugh, how much longer?!" Jamie cried, dragging his feet behind him as he did so. Brenda ignored him, her eyes fixated on the WICKED compound that was getting closer by the minute. The bottom of the hill was far back in the distance now. "Are you feeling okay? We can take a break if you want?" he added after she failed to respond. Brenda paused for a moment, and pointed back to where they had came from. "Look how far we have come! We can't stop now, not when we're this close"

Jamie seemed reluctant to continue.

"Oh for fucks sake, just because I'm pregnant doesn't suddenly mean I can't walk a few more miles without dying – does it now?"

"I guess not, I was only looking out for you…"

"Yeah well don't, there's no time for that"

Before he could say anything else, Brenda started walking again.

Finally, they reached the outer ring of the compound. It seemed slightly smaller than the one they had seen before, however it was still massive nonetheless. A large (20 meters at least) barbed wire fence covered the perimeter. It loomed above them as they approached it, the dull grey building shielded inside. The grass here seemed much more greener compared to where they expected. Brenda couldn't help but wonder what WICKED's budget was on gardening.

"So er, how do you propose we get inside?" Jamie asked, staring upwards at the barbed wire in awe.

"Not sure really, maybe we could try the front door"

"Hahaha…ha…you aren't kidding are you?"

"Nope"

Brenda and Jamie made their way around the perimeter of the fence, looking for some kind of entrance. At one point they passed an array of aircraft and vehicles, all of which had the face of Chancellor Paige pasted on the sides.

Brenda couldn't help but laugh.

Eventually, they reached what appeared to be the entrance. Brenda guessed it was the entrance due to the swarm of security manning a gate. They were already looking at Brenda and Jamie as they came around the corner, in fact, their guns were already pointing at them as well. Brenda suspected they had known they were coming as soon as they left the 'paradise'

"Don't you move any further" one of them shouted, as they came within a few meters. Jamie was already walking in front of Brenda, his body shielding hers from any kind of danger.

"Both of your hands, up in the air where I can see them" He added, shifting the barrel of his gun in the direction he wanted them.

"Happy now?" they chorused, equally sarcastic. The guards didn't seem interested in Jamie, and began to talk to Brenda.

"Why are you here?"
"I think you know fully well why I am here"

"You're not wanted"

"Who said anything about being wanted?"
"Who's your friend?"
"His name is Jamie. Are you interested? I know he's cute and all but I'm not sure you're his type"

The guard paused for a moment, before beckoning one of his colleagues over. "Get Chancellor Paige out here, now" he muttered, his eyes not leaving either of the two for a second. His colleague ran off.

"Must have been a long trip for you two"
"Yeah, we're really tired, thirsty and hungry. If you could fix us up with a nice room and some room service it would be really appreciated"

"You'll be lucky if you leave here without a bullet in your skull you sarcastic bitch"

Brenda decided it was best to stop talking, and stood there patiently until the other man returned. After what seemed like an eternity, he came back out of the building and began to open the gate.

"What the fuck are you doing?" one of the guards shouted. The one pointing the gun at them seemed undeterred He probably knew what was coming next.

"She's invited them in"

The guard in front of them beckoned towards the gate. As the two walked past him he grabbed Brenda by the arm and whispered, "If you so much as cough out of turn I swear to God I will make you watch your boyfriend burn on a stick. Do you understand young lady?"

She nodded.

They were led down several hallways, remaining silent. Brenda tried to think about how long it had taken her to get here. It took at least 6 hours from the clearing to the large hill, but from there it must have only been about 3 hours to get to the gate of the compound. Brenda had walked a good pace of 1 mile every 20 minutes. That means that even though everyone felt like they had escaped WICKED, they were all only 25 miles away. It only took one day of walking to reach them again. After a maze of corridors, they came to a large red door. They were only with 2 guards now – the rest had remained on the gate, but both of them were heavily armed. One of the guards knocked on the door, before opening it and bringing them in. The room was very large but there was only one table with three chairs around it in the middle.

Chancellor Paige was sitting there, waiting for them.

The guards forced them towards the chairs and tied them down as they sat on them. Jamie tried to wriggle away but his efforts were quickly ended by a punch to the face.

Once again, Brenda seemed to be the only one of interest.

"Hello dear"
"Fuck off"
"Oh, and there was me thinking you had missed me"

"I want Thomas back"
"What about Teresa? She has feelings too you know"

"I don't care about her, I have come here for Thomas"

"Why are you treating me like a bad guy? I'm not a bad guy. I'm not even a guy…"

"I know what you and Minho are up to. I know he wouldn't have done anything like that without you and your brainwashing abilities. You sicken me. For once I thought we were all going to be safe and that we had something but once again you stuck your cock in and ruined everything."

Paige simply sighed, and then turned around to speak to Jamie.

"What about you? How are you dear?"

"I'm great thanks, you?"

"I'm good yeah, she's being a little mean isn't she?"

"She's walked a long way and is probably hormonal or something"

Brenda went to speak but Paige silenced her.

"Thank you for making sure she got here, Jamie"

"You're welcome, Paige"

One of the guards leaned down and untied Jamie, before helping him up.

"Sorry about the punch kid"

"It's alright, you gotta make it convincing right?"
They laughed, and walked out of the room together.

"I can't believe you took him as well," Brenda whispered

"Oh Brenda, you are quite foolish. Did you honestly think he came with you all this way because he cared? He may not be the murderous type like Minho but he's been helping me nonetheless"

"I…I…"
"Oh c'mon dear, don't tell me you thought he was actually interested in you? I took him in on the same day I took Minho, he has been providing me with intel on the groups…shenanigans should I say. Yours especially"

"Does that make you feel good? Brainwashing people?"

"I don't like the term brainwashed. I am merely pulling all my puzzle pieces together to make a nice big picture. Besides, they don't know they're being controlled."

"Tell me where Thomas is"

"Oh yes! I almost forgot about your little Tommy."

Paige turned round and walked to the far end of the room where a large TV covered the wall. Brenda hadn't noticed it earlier.

"You may want to be sitting down for this…oh wait, ha-ha," she shouted

The TV flickered on and she turned it to 'HDMI1'

She walked back towards Brenda and sat down again.

Brenda watched the screen. It was a live image of a CCTV, overlooking some sort of large bedroom. It was nicely decorated with lavish paintings, chandeliers and carpets.

She saw Thomas.

He was walking around topless, acting as if he was at home. Brenda saw him talking to someone but the screen didn't show whom he was talking to.

Paige noticed Brenda's confusion and pressed a button the remote. The picture changed to a slightly wider image that allowed Brenda to see who he was talking to.

It was Teresa.

Brenda watched in horror as Thomas walked towards her…and began to kiss her, as if that's what he was meant to do.

"Turn it off" Brenda muttered.

Paige did so.

"What did you do to him?"

"What do you mean? Him and Teresa have always been like that behind your back"

"Don't bullshit me"

"Ugh fine, you're so needy jeez. Brenda, do you remember the concept of the trials that we put you through?"

"Yes, about how you wanted to record our brain activity to see what it was that made us immune"

"Exactly. Now as far as I knew all our work was complete and there was nothing more we could do. As far as we were all concerned actually, we had failed to find a cure"

"So?"
"So we had a long, arduous meeting and came to the conclusion that we had missed something big. Love. Love is a big part of our lives and most of the time we do not even realise it. We were unable to record any of that because none of you actually started having those feelings until you reached your paradise, and by then all your chips were removed. The only way in which we could get this information would be to get some of you back"

"Okay, I get that, but why did you have to bring some of us back. Aren't there any more immune people in which you could put these chips?"

"Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. All our work was based on your performances. To use somebody else to record love would mean we would have to put him or her through the maze trials and the scorch trials first. That's why we brought in Thomas and Teresa"

"Why not me and Thomas?"
"Thomas and Teresa were our highest performers in the maze trials and in the scorch trials, allowing us to get a good understanding of how each of their brains function. As well as that, before any of the trials began they both helped in creating the maze and were once a couple too. They have a much wider and deeper history than you do"

"What difference does that make? Me and Thomas still love each other"

"Yes, but the love you two have now still does not match the love that they used to have. The stronger connection we can get – the better. So in this instance, Thomas and Teresa was the best option"

Several minutes passed before Brenda spoke again. Her voice was much more broken this time.

"When are you doing it?"

"Well, they are getting all passionate at the moment so I assume it will be any minute now. Hopefully"
"This really isn't fair"

"I know, trust me I do, and like I said I am not a bad guy"
"Maybe your intentions with this aren't so bad, but that still doesn't explain why you brainwashed Minho and Jamie. If all you wished to do was record the love emotion then there was no reason for you to do that"
"That bit is slightly more complicated, and will take time to explain"

"Haven't we got time?"

"No, if this test is happening now then I need to be in the control room with my team. For now, you can stay here with Phil"

Brenda had completely forgotten about the security guard that had been standing behind her. As Paige left he made his way around the table and took her place, his gun remained focused on her as he did so.

"So I'm trapped here?"
He simply nodded.

Time seemed to drag as Brenda tried to find ways to keep her mind active. She tried counting the number of tiles on the ceiling but got bored after 1. The fact was, she couldn't help but think that Thomas was about to seriously cheat on her and he didn't even know it. A knock on the door immediately broke down her train of thought. The guard leaned over the table and said, "Remember what you were told" before getting up and walking towards it. Brenda looked over her shoulder and watched 'Phil' walk towards the door. He opened the door and was met by a

whizz, before stumbling backwards and falling. Jamie rushed in after him, tucking in the pistol he just used to kill him back into his waistband. A small hole in the center of Phil's forehead was creating a puddle of blood around him. Jamie closed the door behind him and rushed over to Brenda.

"Oh my go…"

"Yeah yeah no time for that, let's go"

"I'm not going anywhere with you"

"Brenda listen. I found a way to reverse the chip that they put inside you. I don't know how I came to it but I found a method that inhibits the signals that it sends to your body so that you can be yourself. I pretended that I hadn't so that I could get us both here safely and get you to Thomas. Hopefully, I'll be able to stop his and Teresa's as well but you need to come with me, now"

"You could have come sooner and killed Paige"

"There's no need for that now. At the moment my silencer has stopped any more guards rushing down the hall to stop me, but that doesn't mean that people won't walk down and see the ones I've killed to get to you so we need to move fast."

"Do you know the way to their room?"

"Yes, are you ready?"
"I guess"
'Good enough"