Текст книги "The Scorch Trials"

Автор книги: James Dashner

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From where he stood he could see that the conversation had started to get passionate, and Teresa looked as riled up as anyone. He watched her expression intensify as she tried to make some point. It seemed like it was her against the rest of them, which made Thomas very nervous.

Finally, just as nightfall was almost complete, Teresa turned, stomped from the group of girls, and started walking away from the camp, heading north. She had her spear slung over one shoulder, a backpack over the other. Thomas watched her go until she disappeared between the narrow walls of the Pass.

He glanced back at the group, many of whom looked relieved, and Harriet came walking over. Without saying a word, she knelt down and untied the rope securing him to the tree.

“Well?” Thomas finally asked. “Did you guys decide anything?”

Harriet didn’t answer until she’d completely freed him; then she sat back on her heels and looked at him, her dark eyes reflecting the faint light of the stars and moon. “It’s your lucky day. We decided not to kill your puny butt after all. It can’t be a coincidence that we’ve all been thinking the same things deep down.”

Thomas didn’t feel the expected rush of relief. In that moment he realized that he’d known that was what they would decide all along.

“But I tell you what,” Harriet said as she stood up, holding a hand out to help him do the same. “Teresa does not like you. I’d watch my back around her if I were you.”

Thomas let Harriet pull him up, confusion and hurt warring for dominance inside him.

Teresa really did want him dead.

CHAPTER 49

Thomas was quiet as he ate with Group B and prepared to leave. Soon they started making their way through the dark pass of the mountains, heading for the safe haven that was supposed to wait on the other side. It felt odd to suddenly be friendly with these people after what they’d done to him, but they acted like nothing unusual had ever happened. They treated him like, well, like one of the girls.

But he did keep his distance a little, hanging toward the back, wondering if he could fully trust their change of heart about him. What was he supposed to do? Even if Harriet and the others let him leave, should he try to find his own group, Minho and Newt and everyone else? He desperately wanted to be with his friends and Brenda again. But he knew time was running out, and he had no food or water to make it on his own. He had to hope they’d find their own way to the safe haven.

So he kept walking, staying close to Group B but not too close.

A couple of hours went by, nothing but tall cliffs of stone and the crunching of dirt and rock under his feet to keep him company. It felt good to move again, to stretch his legs and muscles. The deadline was fast approaching, though. And who knew what obstacle might spring up next? Or had the girls planned something else for him? He thought a lot about the dreams he’d been having, but still couldn’t put enough together to truly understand what was going on.

Harriet drifted back until the two of them were walking side by side.

“Sorry we dragged you through the desert in a bag,” she said. He couldn’t see her face in the dimming light very well, but he imagined a smirk there.

“Oh, no problem, it felt good to take a load off for a while.” Thomas knew he had to play the part, show some humor. He couldn’t trust the girls completely yet, but he had no other options.

She laughed, a sound that put him at ease a bit. “Yeah, well, the man from WICKED gave us very specific instructions about you. But it was Teresa who got all obsessed about it. Almost like killing you was her idea.”

This dug at Thomas, but he finally had a chance to learn some things and he wasn’t going to let that go. “Did the guy have a white suit and kind of look like a rat turned human?”

“Yeah,” she said without hesitating. “Same guy who talked to your group?”

Thomas nodded. “What were the… specific instructions he gave you?”

“Well, most of our trip has been through underground tunnels. That’s why you didn’t see us in the desert. The first thing we were supposed to do was that weird thing where you and Teresa spoke in that building on the south side of the city. Remember?”

Thomas’s stomach fell. She’d been with her group at that point? “Uh, yeah, I remember.”

“Well, you’ve probably figured it out, but all of that was an act. Kind of a prepper to give you some false security. She even told us they somehow… controlled her long enough to make her kiss you. Is that true?”

Thomas stopped walking, bent down and put his hands on his knees. Something had sucked the breath right out of him. That was it. He’d officially and completely lost any trace of doubt. Teresa had turned against him. Or maybe she had never really been on his side.

“I know this sucks,” Harriet said softly. “It seems like you used to feel really close to her.”

Thomas stood up again, slowly sucked in a long breath. “I… just… I had hoped it was the other way around. That they were forcing her to try to hurt us, that she broke away long enough to… to kiss me.”

Harriet put a hand on his arm. “Ever since she joined us, she’s made you out to be a monster who did something really awful to her, only she’d never tell us what it was. But I gotta tell ya-you’re not anything like how she described you. That’s probably the real reason we changed our minds.”

Thomas closed his eyes and tried to calm his heart. Then he shook it off and started walking again. “Okay, tell me the rest. I need to hear it. All of it.”

Harriet got in stride with him. “Everything else about the instructions to kill you had to do with catching you in the desert like we did and bringing you back here. We were even told to keep you in the bag until we got out of Group A’s sight. Then… well, then the big day was supposed to be the day after tomorrow. There’s supposed to be a place built into the mountain on the north side. A special place to… kill you.”

Thomas wanted to stop again but kept his feet moving. “A place? What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. He just told us we’d know what to do when we got there.” She paused, then snapped her fingers as if she’d just thought of something. “I bet that’s where she went earlier.”

“Why? How close are we to the other side?”

“No idea, actually.”

They fell into silence and kept walking.

***

It took longer than Thomas would’ve thought. They were in the middle of the second night of marching when shouts up ahead announced that they’d reached the end of the Pass. Thomas, who’d stayed at the back of the group, broke into a run to catch up; he desperately wanted to see what lay on the north side of the range. One way or another, his fate waited there.

The group of girls had clustered in a wide swath of broken rock that fanned out from the narrow canyon of the Pass before dropping in a steep slope to the bottom of the mountain far below. The three-quarter moon shone down on the valley in front of them, making it look dark purple and eerie. And very flat. With nothing for miles and miles but sparse, dead land.

Absolutely nothing.

No sign of anything that could be a safe haven. And they were supposed to be within a few miles of it.

“Maybe we just can’t see it.” Thomas didn’t know who said it, but he knew every person there understood exactly why she did. Trying to hold on to hope.

“Yeah,” Harriet added, sounding upbeat. “It might just be another entrance to one of their underground tunnels. I’m sure it’s there.”

“How many more miles do you think we have left?” Sonya asked.

“Can’t be more than ten, based on where we started and how far the man said we had to go,” Harriet answered. “Probably more like seven or eight. I thought we’d come out over here and we’d see a nice big building with a smiley face on it.”

Thomas had been searching the darkness the whole time, but he couldn’t see anything, either. Just a sea of black stretching to the horizon, where it seemed like a curtain of stars had been pulled down. And no sign of Teresa anywhere.

“Well,” Sonya announced. “Not much choice but to keep heading north. We should’ve known better than to expect something easy. Maybe we can make it to the bottom of the mountain by sunrise. Sleep on flat ground.”

The others agreed with her and were just about to set off down a barely visible footpath leading from the fan of rock when Thomas spoke up. “Where’s Teresa?”

Harriet looked back at him, the moonlight bathing her face in a pale luminescence. “At this point, I don’t really care. If she’s a big enough girl to go runnin’ around when she doesn’t get her way, she’s big enough to catch up and find us when she gets over it. Come on.”

They started off, heading down the switchback-laden path, the loose soil and rock crunching underfoot. Thomas couldn’t help but take a look behind him, searching the mountain face and the narrow entrance to the Pass for signs of Teresa. He was so confused about everything, but still had a strange urge to see her. He gazed across the dark slopes, but saw only dim shadows and reflections of the moonlight’s glow.

He turned and started walking, almost relieved he hadn’t spotted her.

The group made their way down the mountain, crisscrossing back and forth on the trail in silence. Thomas lingered in the back again, surprised at how blank his mind felt. How numb. He had absolutely no idea where his friends were, no idea what dangers might be waiting for him.

After an hour or so of traveling, his legs starting to burn from the awkward downhill walk, the group came across a pocket of dead trees that arrowed up the mountain in a big swath. It almost looked as if at one time a waterfall might have irrigated to the odd formation of trees. Though if it had, the last drop had long since surrendered to the Scorch.

Thomas, still last in line, was just passing the far side of the trees when a voice spoke his name, startling him so much he almost tripped. He turned sharply to see Teresa step out from behind a thick knot of white wood, spear gripped in her right hand, her face hidden in shadow. The others must not have heard, because they kept walking.

“Teresa,” he whispered. “What…” He didn’t even know what to say.

“Tom, we need to talk,” she responded, almost sounding like the girl he thought he knew. “Don’t worry about them, just come with me.” She gestured to the trees behind her with a quick jerk of her head.

He looked back to the girls of Group B, still heading away from him, then turned to face Teresa again. “Maybe we should-”

“Just come on. The act is over.” She turned away without waiting for a response and stepped into the lifeless forest.

Thomas thought hard for two whole seconds, his mind spinning in confusion, instinct screaming at him not to do it. But he followed her.

CHAPTER 50

The trees might have been dead, but their branches still pulled on Thomas’s clothes and scratched at his skin. The wood shone white in the moonlight, and the streaks and pools of shadow across the ground gave the whole place a haunted feel. Teresa kept walking in silence, floating up the mountainside like an apparition.

Finally, he found the courage to speak. “Where’re we going? And you really expect me to believe all that was an act? Why didn’t you stop when everybody else agreed not to kill me?”

But her reply was strange. Barely turning her head, she asked, “You’ve met Aris, right?” She didn’t break stride, just kept moving.

Thomas stopped for a second, completely taken aback. “Aris? How do you even know about him? What’s he got to do with this?” He hurried to catch up with her again, curious but dreading the answer for some reason.

She didn’t respond right away, picking her way through a particularly tight pack of branches; one flew back and smacked him in the face after she let it fly. Once through, she finally stopped and turned to him, right where a shaft of moonlight illuminated her face. She looked unhappy.

“I happen to know Aris very well,” she said in a tight voice. “Much better than you’re going to like. Not only was he a big part of my life before the Maze, he and I can speak in our minds, just like you and I used to do. Even when I was in the Glade, we communicated all the time. And we knew they’d eventually put us back together.”

Thomas searched for a response. What she’d said was so unexpected he thought it must be a joke. Another trick by WICKED.

She waited, arms folded, as if she enjoyed seeing him struggle to speak.

“You’re lying,” he finally said. “That’s all you do is lie. I don’t understand why, or what’s going on, but-”

“Oh, come on, Tom,” she said. “How could you possibly be so stupid? After all that’s happened to you, how could anything surprise you anymore? Everything about us was part of some ridiculous test. And it’s over. Aris and I are going to do what we were told to do, and life goes on. WICKED’s all that matters now. That’s it.”

“What are you talking about?” He couldn’t have felt any emptier.

Teresa looked past him, over his shoulder. He heard the snap of breaking twigs on the ground, and somehow he held on to his dignity enough to not turn around to see who had snuck up on him.

“Tom,” Teresa said. “Aris is right behind you, and he has a very big knife. Try anything and he’ll slice your neck. You’re coming with us and you’re gonna do exactly what we tell you. Understand?”

Thomas stared at her, hoping the rage he felt inside showed clearly on his face. He’d never felt so angry in his life-what he could remember of it.

“Say hi, Aris,” she said. And then, the worst thing yet-she smiled.

“Hi, Tommy,” the boy said from behind. It was definitely him, just not as friendly as before. “Such a thrill to be with you again.” The point of his knife just touched Thomas’s back.

Thomas remained silent.

“Well,” Teresa said. “At least you’re acting like a grown-up about this. Just keep following me-we’re almost there.”

“Where are we going?” Thomas asked in a steely voice.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” She turned and started walking through the trees again, using her spear like a staff.

Thomas hurried to follow before Aris got the satisfaction of pushing him. The trees got thicker and closer together, and the moonlight flitted away. Darkness pressed in, sucking light and life right out of him.

They reached a cave, the thick copse of trees serving as a tight wall at its entrance. Thomas didn’t have any warning-one minute they were picking their way through prickly branches, the next they were in a tall, narrow hole in the side of the mountain. A dull light source shone from deep inside, a sickly green rectangle that made Teresa look like a zombie when she moved to the side for the other two to enter.

Aris stepped around him, his blade aimed like a gun at Thomas’s chest as he backed to the wall opposite Teresa and leaned against it. Thomas could do nothing but look back and forth between them. Two people who every instinct had told him were his friends. Until now.

“Well, we’re here,” Teresa said, looking at Aris.

He didn’t take his eyes off Thomas. “Yep, we’re here, all right. You’re serious about him talking the others into sparing him? What is he, some kind of superpsychologist?”

“It kind of helped, actually. Made it easier to get him here.” Teresa threw a condescending glance toward Thomas, then crossed the cave to Aris. As Thomas watched, she stood on her toes to kiss Aris on the cheek and grinned. “I’m so glad we’re finally back together.”

Aris smiled. He shot Thomas a look of warning, then risked looking away long enough to tilt his head toward Teresa. And kiss her on the lips.

Thomas tore his eyes away and closed them. Her pleas for him to trust her, her quick whisper to hang in there-it had all been to get him here. To bring him more easily to this point.

So that she could fulfill some evil purpose concocted by WICKED.

“Get it over with,” he finally said, not daring to open his eyes again. He didn’t want to know what they were doing, why they were quiet. But he wanted them to think he’d given up. “Just get it over with.”

When they didn’t answer, he couldn’t help but take a peek. They were whispering to each other, stealing kisses between words. Something like burning oil filled his stomach.

He looked away again, focusing on the odd source of light in the back of the cave. A large rectangle of pale green, set into the dark stone, pulsed with an ethereal glow. It was as tall as an average man, maybe four feet wide. Stains streaked across its dull surface-a grimy window to something that looked like radioactive sludge, glowing and dangerous.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Teresa step away from Aris, their lovefest evidently over. He looked at her, wondering if his eyes showed just how much she had crushed him.

“Tom,” she said. “If it helps, I’m really sorry I hurt you. I did what I had to do back in the Maze, and being all buddy-buddy seemed like my best shot at getting the memories we needed to figure out that code and escape. And I didn’t have much choice here in the Scorch. All we had to do was get you here to pass the Trials. And it’s either you or us.”

Teresa paused for a second, and there was a strange glint in her eye. “Aris is my best friend, Tom,” she said calmly, evenly.

And that was what finally made Thomas crack. “I… don’t… care!” he screamed, though nothing could’ve been further from the truth.

“I’m just saying. If you care about me, then you should understand why I’d be willing to do whatever it takes to make it through this and keep him safe. Wouldn’t you have done the same for me?”

Thomas couldn’t believe how far away he felt from the girl he’d once thought was his best friend. Even in all of his memories-it was always the two of them. “What is this? Are you trying to come up with all the ways possible in the universe to hurt me? Just shut your shuck mouth and do whatever it is you brought me here to do!” His chest heaved with angry breaths, his heart thumping a deadly pace.

“Fine,” she replied. “Aris, let’s open the door. Time for Tom to go.”

CHAPTER 51

Thomas was done talking, to either of them. But he certainly wasn’t going down without a fight. He resolved to wait and watch for the best opportunity.

Aris kept his knife pointed at him as Teresa made her way toward the big rectangle of illuminated green glass. Thomas couldn’t deny his curiosity about the door.

She reached a point where the glow silhouetted her whole body. It made her edges fuzzy, as if she were dissolving. She walked across the cave until she’d left the light completely, then reached for the stone wall, started punching a finger on what had to be some sort of keypad that Thomas couldn’t see.

She finished up and stepped back toward him.

“We’ll see if that actually works,” Aris said.

“It will,” Teresa replied.

A loud pop sounded, followed by a sharp hiss. Thomas watched as the right edge of the glass began to swing outward like a door. As it opened, wispy streams of white mist swirled through the widening crack, almost immediately evaporating into nothing. It was like a long-abandoned freezer releasing its cold air into the heat of the night. Darkness lurked inside even as the rectangle of glass continued to emit its strange green radiance.

So the door wasn’t a window at all, Thomas thought. Just a green door. Maybe toxic waste wasn’t in his near future. He hoped.

The door finally stopped, thumping with an icy screech against the wall of jagged rock. A pit of black now lay where the door had once been-there wasn’t enough light to reveal what lay inside. The mist had completely stopped as well. Thomas felt an abyss of anxiety open up beneath him.

“Do you have a flashlight?” Aris asked.

Teresa put her spear on the ground, then pulled her backpack off and dug through its contents. A moment later she pulled out a flashlight and flicked it on.

Aris nodded back toward the opening. “Take a look while I watch him. Don’t try anything, Thomas. I’m pretty sure what they have planned for you is easier than getting stabbed to death.”

Thomas didn’t answer, keeping his pathetic oath to stay silent from here on out. He thought about the knife and whether he could take it from Aris.

Teresa had stepped up right to the side of the gaping rectangular hole; she shone her flashlight inside. Swept it up and down, left to right. It cut through a fine cloud of mist as she did so, but the dwindling moisture was thin enough to reveal the interior.

It was a small room, only several feet deep. Its walls appeared to be made of some silvery metal, their surfaces broken up by small protrusions maybe an inch high, each ending in a black hole. The little knobs or spouts were set about five inches apart, making a square grid across the walls.

Teresa turned to Aris, flicking off the flashlight as she did so. “Looks about right,” she said.

Aris snapped his head back to look at Thomas, who had been so focused on the strange room he’d missed another chance to do something. “Exactly like they said it would be.”

“So… I guess this is it?” Teresa asked.

Aris nodded, then switched his knife to the other hand, holding it more tightly. “This is it. Thomas, be a good boy and go on inside. Who knows, maybe this is all a big test and once you’re in they’ll let ya go and we can all have a happy reunion.”

“Shut up, Aris,” Teresa said. It was actually the first thing she’d said in quite some time that didn’t make Thomas want to punch her. She then turned back to Thomas, avoiding his eyes. “Let’s get this over with.”

Aris waved his blade, indicating that Thomas should walk forward. “Come on. Don’t make me drag you in.”

Thomas looked at him, struggling to keep a blank expression as his mind spun in a million directions. A surge of panic boiled inside him. It was now or never. Fight or die.

He turned his gaze to the open doorway and started slowly walking toward it. Three steps and he’d halved the distance. Teresa had straightened, her arms tensed in case he caused trouble. Aris kept his weapon trained on Thomas’s neck.

Another step. Another. Now Aris stood directly to his left, just two or three feet away. Teresa was behind him, out of sight, the open doorway and the odd silver room with walls covered in holes right in front of him.

He stopped, looked sideways at Aris. “What did Rachel look like as she bled to death?” It was a gamble, a pitch to throw him off.

Shocked and hurt, Aris froze, giving Thomas the split second he needed.

He jumped toward the other boy and swung his left arm in an arc to smack the knife out of his hand. It clattered across the rocks. Thomas slammed his right fist into Aris’s stomach, sending him to the ground, desperately trying to suck in a breath.

The click of metal against rock stopped Thomas from kicking the boy at his feet. He looked up to see that Teresa had picked up her spear. They locked eyes for an instant; then she charged him. Thomas threw his hands up to protect himself but it was too late-the butt of the weapon swung through the air and smacked him on the side of the head. Stars floated before his eyes as he fell, fighting to stay conscious. As soon as he hit the ground, he scrambled to his hands and knees to get away.

But he heard Teresa scream, and a second later the wood came crashing down on the top of his skull. With a thump Thomas collapsed again; something wet oozed through his hair and trickled onto both temples. Pain tore through his head, as if an axe had been driven straight into his brain. It spread to the rest of his body, making him nauseated. He somehow pushed off the ground and flopped onto his back to see Teresa with the weapon raised above her once more.

“Get in the room, Thomas,” she said through heavy breaths. “Get in the room or I’ll hit you again. I swear I’ll keep doing it till you pass out or bleed to death.”

Aris had recovered and gotten back to his feet; he stood right next to her.

Thomas reared both legs back and kicked out, connecting with a knee on both of them. They screamed and crumpled, falling on top of each other. The physical effort sent a horrible rush of pain raging through Thomas. White flashes blinded him; the world was spinning. He groaned as he struggled to move, got back on his stomach, tried to get his hands under himself. He’d barely pushed a few inches off the ground when Aris landed on his back, slamming him down. Soon the boy’s arm wrapped around Thomas’s neck, squeezing.

“You’re going in that room,” Aris spit in his ear. “Help me, Teresa!”

Thomas couldn’t find any strength to fight them off. The double blow to his head had somehow sapped him of everything, as if all his muscles had gone dormant because his brain didn’t have enough energy to tell them what to do. Soon Teresa had grabbed both of his arms; she started dragging him toward the open doorway, Aris pushing him. Thomas kicked feebly. Rocks dug into his skin.

“Don’t do this,” he whispered, giving in to desperation. Every word sent a surge of pain across his nerves. “Please…” All he saw now were flashes of white on black. A concussion, he realized. He had a terrible, terrible concussion.

He was barely aware of his body crossing the threshold, of Teresa resting his arms against the cool metal of the back wall, stepping over him, helping Aris flip his legs up and over so that he now lay in a heap, facing the side. Thomas couldn’t even find the strength to look at them.

“No,” he said, but it was merely a whisper. The image of the sick boy, Ben, being Banished back in the Glade swam into his brain. An odd time to think it, but now he knew how that kid had felt in those last seconds before the walls slammed shut, trapping him in the Maze forever.

“No,” he repeated; it was so quiet he couldn’t imagine they heard him. He ached from head to toe.

“You’re so stubborn,” he heard Teresa say. “You had to make it harder on yourself! Harder on all of us!”

“Teresa,” Thomas whispered. He dug through the pain and tried to call out to her telepathically, even though it hadn’t worked in a long time. Teresa.

I’m sorry, Tom, she answered back, in his mind once again. But thanks for being our sacrifice.

He hadn’t realized the door was swinging closed, but it slammed shut just as that last horrible word floated across his darkening thoughts.

CHAPTER 52

The back of the door they’d shut on him glowed green, turning the small room into a creepy, sickening prison. He might’ve cried, might’ve gushed tears and snot and wailed like a baby if his head didn’t hurt so much. The pain drilled through his skull, and his eyes felt as if they were boiling in lava.

But even then, through all that, the deeper ache of truly losing Teresa gnawed away at his heart. He just couldn’t let himself cry.

He lost all concept of time as he lay there. It was as if whoever was behind it all wanted to give him a chance to reflect on what had happened while he waited for the end. On how Teresa’s message to trust her no matter what had ended up being a cruel trick that only magnified her two-faced treachery.

An hour passed. Maybe two or three. Maybe only thirty minutes. He had no idea.

And then the hissing started.

The faint light of the glowing door revealed sprays of mist shooting from the holes that dotted the metal walls in front of him. He turned his head, sending a fresh wave of pain across his skull, and saw that all the openings were expelling similar jets of fog.

And it all hissed like a squirming nest of poisonous vipers.

So this is it? he thought. After everything he’d been through, after all the mysteries and fighting and fleeting moments of hope, they were just going to kill him with some kind of poison gas? Stupid, that was what this was. Stupid. He’d battled Grievers and Cranks, survived a gunshot and infection. WICKED. They were the ones who’d saved him! And now they were just going to gas him to death?

He sat up, actually crying out from the jolt of pain it caused. He looked around, looked for anything he might be able to…

Tired. So tired.

Something in his chest felt wrong. Sick.

The gas.

Tired. Hurt. Body exhausted.

Breathing in gas.

Couldn’t help himself.

So… tired…

Inside him. Wrong.

Teresa. Why did it have to end that way?

Tired…

Somewhere on the edge of his consciousness, he was aware of his head thumping against the floor.

Betrayal.

So…

Tired…

CHAPTER 53

Thomas didn’t know if he was dead or alive, but it felt like he was asleep. Aware of himself, but as if through a haze. He slipped into yet another memory-dream.

Thomas is sixteen. He’s standing in front of Teresa and some girl he doesn’t recognize.

And Aris.

Aris?

All three of them are looking at him with grim faces. Teresa is crying.

“It’s time to go,” Thomas says.

Aris nods. “Into the Swipe, then into the Maze.”

Teresa does nothing but wipe away some tears.

Thomas reaches out a hand and Aris shakes it. Then Thomas does the same with the girl he doesn’t know.

Then Teresa rushes forward and pulls him into an embrace. She’s sobbing, and Thomas realizes that he’s also crying. His tears wet her hair as he hugs her tightly.

“You have to go now,” Aris says.

Thomas looks at him. Waits. Tries to enjoy this moment with Teresa. His last moment of full memory. They won’t be like this again for a very long time.

Teresa looks up at him. “It’s going to work. It’s all going to work.”

“I know,” Thomas says. He feels a sadness that makes every last bit of him ache.

Aris opens a door and beckons for Thomas to follow him. Thomas does, but manages to look back at Teresa one last time. Tries to look hopeful.

“See ya tomorrow,” he says.

Which is true, and it hurts.

The dream faded, and Thomas fell into the blackest sleep of his life.

CHAPTER 54

Whispers in the dark.

That was what Thomas heard when he began returning to consciousness. Low but harsh, like sandpaper rubbing across his eardrums. He didn’t understand any of it. It was so dark it took him a second to realize that his eyes were open.

Something cool and hard pressed against his face. The ground. He hadn’t moved since the gas had knocked him out. Shockingly, his head didn’t hurt anymore. In fact, nothing did. Instead, a feeling of refreshed euphoria swam through him, almost made him dizzy. Maybe he was just happy to be alive.