Chapter 42 Chapter 42: Terrible Tomorrow

What those mysterious people said is true. When Thomas woke up again, he was suspended in mid-air, tightly strapped to a canvas stretcher with handles, rocking back and forth in the wind.A thick rope was attached to a blue metal ring, and he was lowered from something huge. It was exactly the same voice he had heard when walking him.He gripped the sides of the stretcher tightly, feeling terrified. Finally, he felt a slight bump, and what seemed like a million faces appeared around him: Minho, Newt, Jorge, Brenda, Frypan, Ares, and others the glade.The rope that was holding him loosened suddenly and bounced back into the air.Then, almost at the same time, the ship that had set him down also left, slowly disappearing in the light of the sun overhead.The sound of its engine is also gradually diminishing, and soon becomes silent.

Then people chatted about it. "What's the matter with all this?" "How are you?" "What did they do to you?" "Who are those people?" "Is it fun in the Berg?" "How's your shoulder?" Thomas ignored it and tried to get up, but realizing that the ropes that had held him to the stretcher were still fastening him tightly, he found Minho with his eyes. "Could you come over and do me a favor?" While Minho and a few others were untying Thomas, a disturbing thought suddenly occurred to him.The guys from WICKED showed up very quickly and saved his life.From what they've said, it's something they didn't plan for, but they did it anyway.That means they're always watching, and can swoop in to rescue them whenever they want.

But they hadn't done that until today, how many people had died in the past few days while WICKED stood by and watched?But why change for Thomas, if only because he was shot by a rusty bullet? Must be thinking too much. As soon as the restraints were released, he stood up, stretched all his muscles, and refused to respond to the second question that flew towards him.It was hot, unbearably hot, and as he stretched, he realized that he felt almost no pain except a tiny pain in his shoulder.He looked down and saw that he was wearing clean clothes, and under the left sleeve of his shirt was a bulging bandage.But his thoughts immediately turned to somewhere else.

"What are you guys doing out in the open? Your skin is almost roasted!" Minho didn't answer, just pointed to something behind him.Thomas then looked over and saw a very simple hut.The house was built of dry logs and looked as though it might collapse into dust at any moment, but it was large enough to provide a shade for all. "We'd better go back inside that house," Minho said, and Thomas realized they must have just run out, seeing him being sent off that giant flying...Borg ship Jorge called Borg spaceship. The group made their way to the shade cabin; Thomas told them dozens of times, and once they settled down, he explained everything to them from beginning to end.Brenda was walking beside him.But she didn't hold out her hand, and Thomas felt an uncomfortable sense of comfort.She said nothing, and neither did he.

The sad city of the Lunatics lay miles away, huddled towards the south with all its corruption and madness, and no trace of the infected could be seen anywhere.To the north, the mountains loomed now, about a day or so away, winding and lifeless, their slopes rising higher and higher to jagged brown peaks.The rocks had such wide clefts that it looked as if a giant had hewed them day after day with a huge axe, pouring out his great frustration. They reached the makeshift shelter. The wood was dry, like rotting bones.The house looked as if it had stood there for a hundred years—perhaps built by a farmer when the world was unspoiled.How it could have withstood what had happened is a complete mystery, but one strike of a match could have set the house ablaze in three seconds.

"Okay," Minho said, pointing to the farthest spot in the shade, "Sit there, settle down comfortably, and then talk about it." Thomas couldn't believe how good he felt - just a dull, dull pain in his shoulder.And he thought he no longer had a trace of the drug in his body.No matter what the doctors at WICKED had done to him, they were pretty good at it.He sat down and waited for everyone to take their seats in front of him, cross-legged on the hot, dusty ground.He was like a schoolteacher getting ready to teach a lesson—scenes from the past flashed vaguely in his mind.

Minho was the last to sit down, right next to Brenda. "Okay, tell us about your adventures with the aliens on their frighteningly large Berg ship." "Are you sure you want to do this?" Thomas asked. "How many days do we have left to get over those mountains and get to that safe haven?" "Five days, bro, but you know we can't walk in the sun with no protective equipment. You talk first, we sleep, and then we all walk as hard as we can all night. Let's do it .” "Okay then," Thomas said, wondering what they'd been doing while he was away, but realized that it didn't matter, "Save all your questions for last, kids." When no one was laughing anymore , without even smiling, he coughed and said quickly, "WICKED took me. I was in a coma the whole time, but they took me to some doctors, they took me Totally healed. I heard them talking that this should never have happened and that the gun was a factor they didn't anticipate. The bullet caused a serious infection in my body and I Guess they feel strongly that it's not time for me to die."

Expressionless faces stared at him. He went on to explain more, every detail he could recall, and that weird bedside conversation he'd overheard, about the Killzone mod and test takers, more about variables.He hadn't figured out what the words meant the first time he heard them, and even more so now as he tried to recall them word for word.The Gladiators—plus Jorge and Brenda—looked as frustrated as he was. "Uh, that really helps to clarify some things," Minho finally said, "It must have something to do with those marks about you in this city." Thomas shrugged and said, "It's good to know you'd be so happy to see me alive."

"Hey, if you want to be a leader, I don't care. I'm really happy to see you alive." "No, thank you, it's better for you to continue in front." Minho didn't answer.Thomas couldn't deny the weight of those marks on his mind—what exactly did WICKED mean by wanting him to be a leader?And what should he do about it? Newt stood up, frowning tightly in thought. "So we're all potential candidates for some sort of experiment, and maybe all the ordeal we're going through is to weed out the ones who don't. But for some reason, that gun and the rusty bullets are way beyond normal Part of the test. Or variable, whatever. If Thomas is going to die, it shouldn't be from a viral infection."

Thomas pursed his lips and nodded, sounding like a good summary of what he said. "What this means is that they are watching us," Minho said, "just like they did in the maze, has anyone seen blade beetles flying around?" Several openers shook their heads. "What the hell is a blade beetle?" Jorge asked. Thomas replied, "Something like a small mechanical lizard with a camera to spy on us in the maze." Jorge rolled his eyes and said, "Of course, sorry for asking too much." "The labyrinth must be some kind of indoor installation," Ares said, "but there's no way we're still inside something now, though they could use satellite or telephoto cameras, I guess."

Jorge cleared his throat. "What makes Thomas so special? There are signs in this city that he is a real leader, and they came here to save him when he was dying of illness. life." He looked at Thomas, "I don't mean to be mean, boy—I'm just curious. What's something about you that makes you better than the other mates?" "I'm not special," Thomas said, even though he knew he was hiding something, he just didn't know what. "You heard what they said. We have many ways to die here, but shooting shouldn't be one of them." Way to die. I think any of us who got shot they would have come to save it, not because of me—it was the bullet that messed things up." "But," Jorge replied with a half-smile, "I still think I'm going to stick with you from now on." Discussions erupted from the crowd, but Minho didn't let those discussions last long. He insisted that they all needed sleep if they planned to travel through the night.Thomas had no objection—sat on the scalding ground in the hot air, getting more tired with each passing second.Maybe it's his body recovering, maybe it's just the heat.Whatever the reason, sleep was calling to him. They had no blankets or pillows, so Thomas curled up where he sat on the ground, resting his head on his crossed arms.Somehow, Brenda ended up beside him, without saying a word, and certainly without touching him, and Thomas didn't know if he could see through her. He took a long, slow breath, closed his eyes, and greeted sleep, the heaviness of deep sleep that was pulling him deep into sleep.All the surrounding sounds seemed to fade away, and the air became thick.A calmness spread over his body, and then he fell asleep. The sun was still shining brightly in the sky when a voice in his head woke him up. A girl's voice. It's Teresa. After days of complete silence, Teresa began to speak to him telepathically, and suddenly, a few words came. Tom, don't try to talk back, just listen.Something terrible is going to happen to you tomorrow.A terrible, terrible thing.You're going to get hurt, you're going to be scared, but you have to trust me.No matter what happens, no matter what you see, no matter what you hear, no matter what you think, you have to believe me, I can't talk to you anymore. She paused, but Thomas was so stunned, and trying so hard to understand what she said - making sure he took it down - that he didn't say a word before she spoke again. I must go, and you will not hear from me for a while. Another pause. Until we are together again. He tried to think of something to say, but her voice and presence quickly faded away, leaving him in the void once again.