Chapter 21 Chapter 21 Running Into the Darkness

Thomas stared at Brenda, wondering what she had to say. "You know what's going through your head," she said, "so what should we be most worried about?" Thomas thought for a moment. "The tracking or control of us by WICKED." "Exactly," Brenda said. "And then?" He was impatient again. She sat down opposite him again, bent her knees, leaned over, and rubbed her hands excitedly. "I know a guy named Hans who moved to Denver and he's immune like us. He's a doctor and he was at WICKED until he got into a feud with the top brass over the brain transplant deal .He felt the risk of what they were doing was too great, saying they crossed the line and inhumane. WICKED wouldn't let him go, but he managed to escape anyway."

"Those guys need to be safe," Thomas muttered. "Great thing for us," Brenda grinned. "Anyway, Hans is a genius, and he knows everything about the contraptions in your brains. I know he went to Denver, because right before I Before being put in the scorched earth, he hacked the Internet and sent me a message. If we can find him, he can take out those things in your brain, or at least disable them. I don't know how, But if anyone would do it, it's him. And he'd be happy to do it, and the guy hates WICKED as much as we do." Thomas thought for a while and said, "If they control us, then we're in big trouble. I've seen this happen at least three times." While at the big house, Alby was fighting an invisible force, Gary was restrained by the knife that hit Chuck, and Teresa was desperately trying to talk to Thomas outside the scorched earth shack.What bothered him the most was the memory of these three things.

"Yeah, they can manipulate you and make you do things. They can't see through your eyes and hear through your ears, but we've got to get you right. If they're close enough to spy on you, If they think it's worth the risk, they can do it, and that's the last thing we want to happen." Too many things to sort out. "Uh, it looks like we have a bunch of reasons to go to Denver. When Newt and Minho wake up, let's see what they think." Brenda nodded, "Sounds good." She stood up, walked over to him, leaned against him, and kissed Thomas on the cheek, making his skin crawl with excitement. "You know, most of what happens in the tunnel isn't an operation." She stood still, watching him for a moment. "I'm going to wake Jorge—he's sleeping soundly in the captain's cabin."

She turned and walked away, and Thomas sat there, wishing he hadn't blushed terribly when he remembered how close she had been to him in the tunnel.He folded his hands behind his head and lay back on the crib, trying to sort out everything he had just heard.They finally had direction.He found himself grinning involuntarily, but not just because he was kissed. Minho called their meeting a reunion, purely because of old times. Finally, Thomas felt a severe headache, coming and going, so painful that he thought his eyeballs were going to pop out.Minho was against every suggestion, and for some reason always gave Brenda a bad look.Thomas knew that they really had to consider all angles, but he still hoped that Minho would give Brenda a break.

After an hour of arguing and a dozen back-and-forth discussions, they finally decided—unanimously agreed to go to Denver.They plan to land the Borg at a private airport, falsely claiming to be Immunists looking for a government transportation job.Luckily, the Borg ships don't have any logos: apparently, WICKED wasn't advertised when it appeared in the real world.They would be tested and marked as Flare immune so they could enter the urban area.Everyone goes except Newt because he's infected.He'd have to stay in the Berg until they figured something out. They ate quickly, and Jorge went out to pilot the ship.He said he was well rested, so he hoped everyone would take a nap, because it was still a few hours before we were in town.Once there, no one knew how long it would take to find a place to spend the night.

Thomas just wanted to be alone, so his headache was his excuse.He found a reclining chair in a secluded corner, and curled up in it, his back to the outside.He took a blanket, pulled it up and wrapped it around his body, feeling a trace of warmth and comfort that he hadn't had in a long time.Even though he was terrified of what was to come, he felt some peace that maybe they were finally on the verge of cutting WICKED for good. He pondered their escape, and what had happened along the way.The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't believe that this was all planned by WICKED.Too many things were done on impulse, and those guards were also fighting desperately, trying to stop them.

Finally, drowsiness drove all these thoughts away, and he began to dream. He was only twelve years old and sat in a chair facing another man who seemed unhappy to be there in a house they were in that had a surveillance window. "Thomas," began the sad man, "you've been a little... distant lately, and I want you to get back to the important things. Your telepathy with Teresa is doing well, and things are going exactly as expected Well, it's time to refocus." Thomas felt ashamed, and then ashamed of the shame.It confused him, and it made him want to escape, to go back to his dormitory, and the man felt it.

"We won't leave this room until I'm satisfied with your input." That sounded like a death sentence from a hard-hearted judge. Show your sincerity, understand?" Thomas nodded. "Why are we here?" the man asked. "Because of the Flare." "That's not enough, elaborate." Thomas paused. He had been feeling rebellious lately, but he knew that once he said everything the man wanted to hear, that rebellion would disappear without a trace.He will return to the previous state, that is to say, he will do what they tell him to do, and he will learn what they tell him to learn.

"Go on." The man urged him. Thomas poured it all out with a swish, as if he had recited it long ago, word for word. "Solar flares hit Earth, many government buildings were breached, and a man-made virus designed for biochemical warfare leaked from a military center for disease control. The virus hit all major population centers and spread rapidly. Come on, it came to be called the Flare. The governments that survived the catastrophe poured all their resources into WICKED, who found some of the best and brightest people who were immune. They started firing and mapping brains A project on all known human emotional thought patterns to study how our bodies function when the Flare virus invades the brain. This research will lead to..."

He went on and on and on and on, throwing out one word after another that he hated. In the dream Thomas turned and fled, running into the darkness.