Chapter 55 Chapter 55 Consequences of Betrayal

It took all of his willpower to keep himself from stopping, and turned to her.What?Then why didn't you tell me about him in the maze?As if he needed another reason to hate them both. "Why don't you two talk anymore?" Ares asked suddenly, "Are you secretly talking about me in your little head?" Unbelievably, he didn't look as sinister as before.Almost everything that happened in that dead wood seemed to have been created by Thomas's imagination. Thomas exhaled heavily the stale air that had been accumulating in his lungs. "I can't believe this, you two ever—" He paused, realizing maybe he wasn't that surprised after all.He had seen Ares recently in most of his dreams, in bits and pieces of memory.He is part of the thing, whatever it is.And in that short flashback, judging from their words and deeds with each other, they were on the same side.Anyway, it used to be on the same side.

"Fuck it," Thomas said finally, "go on." "Okay," Teresa said, "there's a lot to explain, so keep quiet and listen to me from now on. Got it?" Thomas' legs were starting to ache from the continued walking on the steep incline. "Okay, but...how do you know when you're talking to me and when you're talking to him? How does that work?" "It just happened naturally, it was like me asking how you know when to tell your right leg to move and when to tell your left leg to move. I just... know, somehow it's my brain a structure."

"We did that too, man," Ares said, "don't you remember?" "Of course I do," Thomas muttered, annoyed and frustrated by so much.If he could remember everything—every piece of past memory—he knew the pieces would fall into place and he could move on.He couldn't figure out why WICKED felt it was so important to clear their minds of memories, and why they occasionally leaked some afterward?Was that intentional or was it an accident?Is it the legacy of the pain change period? Too many questions, too many puzzling questions, all without answers. "Okay," he said at last, "I'll shut up my mouth and my mind, and get on with it."

"What happened between Ares and me we can talk about later, I don't even remember what we said - when I woke up I almost lost all memory. Our comas must have been part of those variables too , maybe so that we can communicate like this without going crazy. I mean, we've all been involved in these experimental setups, haven't we?" "The setup for these experiments?" Thomas asked. "I don't—" Teresa reached forward and patted him hard on the back, "Do you think you'll keep quiet?" "Okay," Thomas murmured. "Anyway, these people came into my room, wearing those horrible gear, and my telepathic connection with you was cut off. I was terrified, and only half-awake. Part of my mind thought it was just A nightmare, and then the next thing I know, they put something over my mouth and the smell was horrible, and that's when I passed out. When I woke up, I'm lying on a bed in another room, and there's a group of people sitting in chairs across from that weird glass wall. I can't see that wall until I touch it—almost like a gravitational field or stuff like that."

"Yes," Thomas said, "we've seen things like that too." "Then they started talking to me, and that's when they told me the whole plan about Ares and what I did to you—they wanted me to tell him. Pass, you know, Talking in his head, even though he is now with your group, our group, A group. They took me out of my room and sent me to be with B group; and then they told us that to go to safety The Vault Mission, and the Flare thing. We were scared, wondering, but we had no choice. We went through those subterranean tunnels until we got to the mountains—we avoided the city altogether. When When you and I met in that little building, and everything that's happened since we came down the valley armed to the teeth—it was all planned."

Thomas thought about the incomplete memories he'd seen in his dreams, and something told him that he knew a scene like this was likely to happen long before he got to the Glade and the Labyrinth.He had a hundred questions to ask Teresa, but decided to bear with it a little longer. They took another sharp turn; then Teresa went on: "I can only be sure of two things. First, they said that if I did anything against their plans, they would kill me." You. Say they 'there are other options', whatever that means. The second thing I know is that the reason this is all set up is that you have to really, really feel betrayed .The whole purpose of what we did to you was to make sure this happened."

Thomas recalled those memories again, he and Teresa had both used the word "pattern", just before he left her, what did that mean? "So?" Teresa asked after they had walked in silence for a while. "So...how?" Thomas replied. "Then what do you think?" "Is that all? Is that all your explanation? Should I be very happy now?" "Tom, I can't take any chances. I'm pretty sure they're going to kill you unless I do. Either way, you've got to feel like I've totally betrayed you in the end. That's why I'm so invested in it." The reason for the show, but why is it so important? I don't know."

Thomas's sudden realization of all this information triggered another wave of headaches in him. "Oh, you're really good at that. What was going on in that building? When you kissed me? And...why does Ares have to be involved in all this?" Teresa grabbed his arm, made him stop, and turned to face her. "They've calculated everything, all for those variables, and I don't know how it all fits together." Thomas shook his head slowly. "Oh, none of this crap makes any sense to me, and forgive me for feeling a little pissed off." "Did that work?"

"Ok?" "For some reason, they wanted you to feel betrayed, and that worked. Right?" Thomas stopped and looked into her blue eyes for a long time. "Yeah, it worked." "I'm sorry for what I did, but you're alive, and so am I, and Ares is alive." "Yeah," he repeated.He felt like he really didn't want to talk to her anymore. "WICKED got what they wanted and I got what I wanted." Teresa looked at Ares, who had been walking for a while and was now standing down the path, "Ares , turned around and faced the valley."

"What?" Ares replied, looking confused. "Why?" "Just do it." There was no trace of meanness in her voice anymore, not since the gas chambers, but if anything, it made Thomas even more suspicious, what was she trying to do now? Ares sighed and rolled his eyes, but did as she was told, turning his back on them. Teresa didn't hesitate. She put her arms around Thomas' neck and pulled him towards him. He didn't have enough willpower to refuse. They kissed, but Thomas didn't feel the slightest stir, he didn't feel anything.