Chapter Text
Your eyes fluttered open as you felt Minho shift. He raised his head, groaning, as he rolled his neck out. His eyes were still closed as you rubbed yours, adjusting to your surroundings.
It was pitch black.
You heard something slam shut, which made you jump slightly. Minho heard it too, since he immediately tensed, reaching out for you. His hand found its way to your knee and squeezed it. "What was that?"
"I don't know," you muttered, trying to narrow your eyes somewhere and catch a semblance of light. "Why is it pitch black?"
"I don't know," Minho huffed. His hand moved from your knee to quickly find yours. "Hold onto me though, alright?"
"Yeah," you whispered, squeezing his hand.
"Hey." The two of you whipped your heads in the direction of that voice. "You two awake?"
"Do you know why it's pitch black?" Minho asked.
Newt shook his head – he was close enough now, to make out his body outline. He reached his hand out as well, and found your shoulder. "What do you thinks' happening?"
"I don't know," Minho repeated. "But we landed, that's for sure."
"Do you remember where Thomas sat before?"
You frowned. Newt was right to worry. If Thomas was still on the berg, he probably would've woken up and joined your little huddle already. "I think they took him." you whispered. "I heard the door slam shut when–"
The sudden lights that filled up the berg made you stop and hiss, pulling your hand away from Minho to cover your eyes. Newt and Minho did the same, and the others around you, had finally woken from their slumber, groggy and disoriented.
Newt was the first to begin to look around. "'Course," he hissed. "They snatched him."
"Should've cuddled him before we fell asleep," Minho grunted, getting up. He looked down at you and Newt, and then over at the rest of the group - everyone was still exhausted. A few hours of sleep sitting up wasn't good enough after such a brutal time in the scorch. It was something, but it wasn't enough. "Everyone else is here, though. Aris and Teresa, too."
"So, why would they have taken Thomas?" Newt asked, running a hand through his hair.
"'Cause they're horny for him," Minho said, crossing his arms, looking around for any sort of authority. "Would be nice if they let us have him more often though... Wakey, wakey Fry!"
You looked over at Frypan, who had his head buried in his lap, too tired to deal with the light.
Suddenly, the large cargo door began to open, the squeak of its hinges grating your ears like it had when they had closed it. As it opened, you saw the feet of people slowly being revealed, in full hazmat suits it looked like. Minho was quick to give his hands out to help you and Newt up, and everyone followed his lead, scrambling up in case WICKED was about to attack you for the hundredth time in your lives.
"What do they think we are, infected?" Minho asked, raising a brow and crossing his arms, veins pulsing.
"Did you forget?" Newt quipped, pushing up his sleeves.
You glanced wearily between them – you didn't know how they had the energy left for a fight, because you absolutely did not. The scorch had zapped out the last bits of fight you had left in you.
Once the hatch had completely opened, two people in the hazmat suits stepped forwards – a man and a woman.
"Welcome, Group A and B. We know you have worked hard to get to this point, and we thank you for your efforts," the man started. He was very monotone.
The woman smiled, though it was hard to see. "We want to make sure that you are all of utmost health before you step into the facilities. We need to check for any diseases you may have caught out in the scorch, and make sure you all are safe – for your sake and others. If the girls will be so kind to follow me, in order of your subject numbers!"
"Boys, follow me," said the man, looking down at a clipboard in his hand. "In order."
You saw Aris and Teresa share a look. The chipper woman seemed to note that too. "Oh! Aris, Teresa and uh, Ameli– no, Y/N, now, please wait here."
Immediately Minho tensed. "No way!" Minho yelled, his brows furrowing. "What're you planning on doing?!"
"Like we said, we're checking you for any diseases," the man explained, narrowing his eyes on Minho. "Teresa, Aris and Y/N are being separated due to them being variables in your mazes – they do not truly belong to your groups, and are being grouped differently for that reason. There is no reason to overreact."
"I think we've earned the right to overreact," Newt answered, his jaw tense. "You think we trust you people?"
You noted the impatience in the mans' body language – he was tapping his pen against his clipboard, and the speed increased when Newt talked back. "Hey!" You exclaimed, patting the backs of both Minho and Newt. "It's fine! We're just wasting time here, let's get this over with."
Newt and Minho whipped their heads to send you incredulous looks. "Are you stupid?" Newt asked, lowering his head.
You rolled your eyes – his new attitude was quite rude. "If they are doing something, we'll find our way back to each other," you said, keeping your voice low, and eyeing the WICKED members. The boys were still apprehensive, so your eyes flitted between both of them with the most reassuring smile you could muster. "We always do."
Minho bit the inside of his cheek, but Newt decided to agree, despite being very reluctant. He bent down to give you a hug before he went to find his place in the line, though. Minho stood by, as you patted Newt's back before letting him go. Minho still shook his head once Newt had gone.
"I can't do this – shuck, these shucks!"
"Minho," you giggled, placing your hand on the side of his cheek and running your thumb along his cheekbone. "Trust me. I'll be fine."
He huffed, but nodded. You stood taller to give him a quick kiss, and he was quick to bring you into a hug for many seconds before he finally had to yield to Newt who yelled at him to come into the line.
You watched, silent, as the man and woman in the hazmat suits led group A and group B down a corridor, the lines of the groups silent and careful as they followed. It felt weird being separated from Group A but you weren't really a proper member of their group, in the grand scheme of the experiment... still felt odd, though. Those guys were your family.
You looked over at Teresa and Aris, who stayed closer together. Teresa sent you a wary glance but then looked away.
To think the two of you were friends before.