Chapter 36 Chapter Thirty-Six: The Banquet You Cannot Refuse

If Brenda hadn't stepped out of the van, Thomas might have stared at the panels all day. "I'm waiting for the right time to tell you about it," she finally said, pulling Thomas out of his stupor. He turned his head sharply to look at her and said, "What? What are you talking about?" She didn't return his gaze, still just staring at the sign. "Similar to Jorge since I found out what your name is. Maybe that's why he decided to take the risk and walk with you across the city to your safe haven." "Brenda, what are you talking about?" Thomas repeated.

She finally turned her head and looked at him directly: "These slogans are all over the city. All the slogans have the same content, exactly the same." Thomas felt his legs go limp, and he turned and sat on the floor with his back against the wall. "How...how is this possible? I mean, it looks like these signs have been around for ages." He really didn't know what else to say. "No idea," Brenda replied, sitting on the ground like Thomas, "none of us knew what that meant. But when you guys showed up and you told us your name...well, we got it That's no coincidence."

Thomas gave her a hard look, angry. "Why didn't you tell me all this? You held my hand and told me your dad was killed and didn't tell me that?" "I didn't tell you because I was worried about how you would react, and I thought you might run off to find the signs and forget about me." Thomas sighed, disgusted by it all.He calmed down his anger and sighed deeply. "I guess it's just another part of a nightmare that doesn't make sense." Brenda twisted and looked up at the sign. "How come you don't know what this means? It couldn't be simpler. You are supposed to be the leader. I will help you to find a way for yourself and a place in the safe haven."

Thomas laughed. "I'm in a city full of crazy people with broken heads and a bunch of girls trying to kill me. Should I worry about who's the real leader of my group? It's ridiculous." Brenda said, confused, "Girls trying to kill you? What are you talking about?" Thomas didn't respond, wondering if he should tell her the whole story, and whether he could bear it in himself to tell her the whole story again. "What's wrong?" she urged. Deciding that it should be a good thing to say that, and feeling that she had earned his trust, he let her go and told her everything.He had told her some bits and pieces long ago, and now he was just going through the details slowly.About the maze, about being rescued, about waking up to find everything went back to bad, about Ares and Team B.He didn't say much about Teresa, but he felt that when he mentioned Teresa, Brenda noticed something, maybe in his eyes.

"So what happened between you and this girl named Teresa?" she asked when he had finished. Thomas didn't know how to answer, is there something between them?They were close, they were friends, that's all he knew. Although he only partially recovered his memory, he sensed that the two of them might not have been just friends before they met in the maze.They really helped engineer these stupid things during that bad time, and then there was that kiss... "Tom?" Brenda asked. He looked at her sharply and said, "Don't call me that." "Huh?" she asked, obviously startled, even a little hurt, "Why?"

"Just... don't." He felt bad for saying it, but there was no way to get it back, Tereza called him that. "Okay. Should I then call you Mr. Thomas? Or King Thomas? Or something more honorable, Your Majesty?" Thomas sighed: "I'm sorry, you can call me whatever you want." Brenda laughed sarcastically, and they both fell silent. Thomas and Brenda sat with their backs against the wall, and the hours grew long.There was an almost peaceful silence until a strange thumping sound startled Thomas. "Did you hear that?" he asked, now on high alert.

Brenda remained motionless, her head tilted to the side, listening intently. "Yes, it sounded like someone was beating a drum." "I guess the fun and games are over." He stood up, and helped Brenda up, too. "What do you think that is?" "It's most likely not a good thing." "But what if it's our friend?" A low thump, thud, thump, thud came from all directions in an instant, echoing back and forth between the walls on either side of the path.But after a few long seconds, Thomas slowly determined that the sound came from the corner of the dead end.At the risk of it, he ran in that direction to have a look.

"What are you doing!" Brenda yelled, but seeing Thomas ignored her, she followed. At the end of the path, Thomas came to a broken wall of faded brick, with four flights of steps leading to a battered wooden door.Just above the door, there is a tiny rectangular window with no glass.A fragment still hangs from the top, like a jagged tooth. Thomas could hear the music playing, louder now.The music is dense and fast, with powerful bass, thumping drums, and harsh guitars.There was a mix of human laughter, shouting, and singing, and none of them sounded... normal.There's something creepy and unsettling about it.

It didn't look like the lunatics were looking for people's noses to bite off, which made Thomas feel bad... indicating that the noise had nothing to do with his friends. "We'd better get out of here," Thomas said. "What do you think?" Brenda responded, standing beside him. "Come on." Thomas followed Brenda and turned to leave, but they both stopped.When the two of them were not paying attention, three people appeared in the alley.Two men and a woman stood a few steps away from them. Thomas' heart skipped a beat as he took a quick look at the men, all in tattered clothes, disheveled hair, and dirty faces.But when he looked more closely, he found that they had no visible injuries, and there was a glint of normal intelligence in their eyes.A lunatic, but not quite a lunatic.

"Hello," said the woman, her long red hair tied into a ponytail.Her shirt was cut so short that Thomas had to force himself to look into her eyes. "Come join us for a party full of dance, love and booze." There was a superiority in her voice that made Thomas nervous.He didn't know what that meant, but the lady wasn't being courteous, she was laughing at them. "No, thanks," Thomas replied, "We, uh, we just..." Brenda chimed in: "Just trying to find our friends, we're new to this place, just here." "Welcome to 'Crazy Land' in WICKED," said one of the men, a tall, ugly man with greasy hair. "Don't worry, most of them are there," he said. Nodding toward the stairs, "The worst is half-crazy. You might get an arm in the face, you might get kicked in a sensitive place, but no one will eat you."

"Sensitive parts?" Brenda repeated the word. "Sorry, I don't understand." The man pointed at Thomas. "I was talking to this boy. You have to stick with us or things will get worse for you, you're just a little bit girly." This whole conversation made Thomas uncomfortable. "Sounds like fun, but we'll have to go and find our friends, maybe we'll be back soon." Another man walked forward.The man was short, but handsome, with blond hair cut short. "You're nothing but two kids. It's time for you to learn some life lessons, it's time for you to have some fun, and we're now officially inviting you to the party." He carefully said every word of the last sentence , but without any kindness. "Thanks, but still not," Brenda said. The blond man took a gun from the pocket of his long jacket.It was a pistol, silver, dusty and lifeless, but still looking as menacing as anything Thomas had seen before. "I don't think you get it," said the man. "You're invited to our party, and it's not something you can refuse." The tall, ugly one took out a knife, and the woman with the ponytail took out a screwdriver with a black tip that should have been blood. "What did you say?" the blond man asked, "Do you want to come to our party?" Thomas looked at Brenda, but she didn't look back at him.Her eyes were fixed on the blond man, and her expression suggested that she was about to do something very stupid. "Okay," Thomas replied quickly, "let's go, we'll go." Brenda turned her head quickly and said, "What?" "He's got a gun, he's got a knife, she's got a screwdriver. I'm not in the mood to have eyeballs on my head." "Looks like your boyfriend isn't stupid," said the blond man, "let's have some fun now." He pointed his gun at the stairs and said with a smile, "Go that way please." Brenda was really angry, but she could tell by the look in her eyes that she knew they had no choice. "Ok." The blond man smiled again, an expression that would be normal on a snake's face. "That's the spirit, it's good, there's nothing to worry about." "Nobody's going to hurt you," the ugly tall man added, "unless you're looking for trouble, unless you're like rude kids. By the time the party's over, you're going to want to join our organization. Trust me." Thomas had to do his best not to let the fear overwhelm him. "Let's go," he said to the blond. "We're all waiting for you." The man pointed the pistol at the stairs again. Thomas reached out, grabbed Brenda's hand, and pulled her closer to him. "Let's go to this party, honey," he said sarcastically. "It's going to be fun!" "That's great," said the woman with the ponytail, "I always get teary-eyed when I see two people in love." She pretended to wipe tears from her cheeks. Thomas turned and walked toward the stairs, Brenda walking beside him.He knew the gun had been pointed at his back.They went down the steps leading to an old plank door.The steps were narrow enough for the two of them to walk side by side. At the bottom of the stairs, Thomas didn't see the handle.He raised his head and looked back at the blond man, who was two steps behind them. "There's a special way to knock," the man said. "Three slow knocks with your fist, three quick knocks, and two knocks with your knuckles." Thomas hated these people, hated how calmly they spoke, hated the politeness with which they spoke in a tone full of sarcasm.In a way, these lunatics were worse than the noseless men he had stabbed to death the day before—at least when dealing with them he knew what he was dealing with. "Knock," Brenda whispered. Thomas clenched his hand into a fist and tapped three times slowly, then three times quickly, then twice with his knuckles.The door opened immediately, and bouncing music came from the room like a gust of wind. They were met by a tall guy who had his ears and face pierced several times and had tattoos all over his body.His hair was long and white and fell just below his shoulders.But Thomas didn't have time to pay attention until the man spoke. "Hi Thomas, we've all been waiting for you."