“Hey!” he called out, ignoring the sudden burst of panic in his own voice. “You guys-”
Before he could finish, he stumbled on something and fell over, crashing on top of a squirming body.
“Ow!” the person yelled, pushing Thomas off. It was all he could do to hold tight to the water bag.
“Everyone be still and shut up!” This was Minho, and the relief that washed through Thomas almost made him shout for joy. “Thomas, was that you? Are you in here?”
“Yes!” Thomas regained his feet, blindly feeling around him to make sure he didn’t bump into someone else. He felt nothing but air, saw nothing but black. “I was the last one to come through. Did everyone make it?”
“We were lining up and counting off nice and easy till you came stumbling through like a doped-up bull,” Minho responded. “Let’s do it again. One!”
When no one said anything, Thomas yelled, “Two!”
From there, the Gladers counted off until Aris went last and called out, “Twenty.”
“Good that,” Minho said. “We’re all here, wherever here is. Can’t see a shuck thing.”
Thomas stood still, sensing the other boys, hearing their breaths, but scared to move. “Too bad we don’t have a flashlight.”
“Thanks for stating the obvious, Mr. Thomas,” Minho replied. “All right, listen up. We’re in some kind of hallway-I can feel the walls on both sides, and as far as I can tell, most of you are to my right. Thomas, where you’re standing is where we came in. We better not take any chances of accidentally going back through the Flat Trans thingamajiggy, so everyone follow my voice and come toward me. Not much choice but to head down this way and see what we find.”
He’d started moving away from Thomas as he said those last few words. The whispers of shuffling feet and rustling packs against clothes told him that the others were following. When he sensed that he was the last one remaining, and that he wouldn’t step on anybody again, he moved slowly to his left, reaching his hand out until he felt a hard, cool wall. Then he walked after the rest of the group, letting his hand slide along the wall to keep his bearings.
No one spoke as they moved forward. Thomas hated that his eyes never adjusted to the darkness-there wasn’t even the slightest hint of light. The air was cool, but smelled like old leather and dust. A couple of times he bumped into the person directly in front of him; he didn’t even know who it was because the boy didn’t say anything when they collided.
On and on they went, the tunnel stretching ahead without ever turning to the left or right. Thomas’s hand against the wall and the ground below his feet were the only things that kept him tied to reality or gave him a sense of movement. Otherwise, he would’ve felt as if he were floating through empty space, making no progress whatsoever.
The only sounds were the scrapes of shoes on the hard concrete floor and occasional snatches of whispers between Gladers. Thomas felt every thump of his heart as they marched down the endless tunnel of darkness. He couldn’t help but remember the Box, that lightless cube of stale air that had delivered him to the Glade; it had felt much like this. At least now he had a portion of solid memory, had friends and knew who they were. At least now he understood the stakes-that they needed a cure and would probably go through awful things to get it.
A sudden burst of intense whispering filled the tunnel, seemed to come from above. Thomas stopped dead in his tracks. It hadn’t been from any of the Gladers, he was sure of it.
From up ahead, Minho shouted for the others to halt. Then, “Did you guys hear that?”
As several Gladers murmured yeses and started asking questions, Thomas tilted his ear toward the ceiling, straining to hear something beyond those voices. The flash of whispering had been quick, just a few short words that had sounded as if they came from a very old and very sick man. But the message had been completely indecipherable.
Minho shushed everyone again, telling them to listen.
Even though it was perfectly dark and therefore pointless, Thomas closed his eyes, concentrating on his sense of hearing. If the voice came again, he wanted to catch what it said.
Less than a minute passed before the same ancient voice whispered harshly once more, echoing through the air as if huge speakers were installed on the ceiling. Thomas heard several people gasp, like they’d gotten it this time and were shocked by what they’d heard. But he still hadn’t been able to isolate even one or two of the words. He opened his eyes again, though nothing changed in front of him. Utter darkness. Black.
“Did anybody get what it said?” Newt called out.
“Couple of words,” Winston replied. “Sounded like ‘go back’ right in the middle.”
“Yeah, it did,” someone agreed.
Thomas thought about what he’d heard, and in retrospect, it did seem like those two words had been in there somewhere. Go back.
“Everybody slim it and listen real hard this time,” Minho announced. The dark hallway lapsed into silence.
The next time the voice came, Thomas understood every single syllable.
“One-chance deal. Go back now, you won’t be sliced.”
Judging by the reactions in front of him, everyone else got it this time, too.
“Won’t be sliced?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He said we can go back!”
“We can’t trust some random shank whispering in the dark.”
Thomas tried not to think about how ominous the last four words had been. You won’t be sliced. That didn’t sound good at all. And not being able to see anything made it worse. Driving him crazy.
“Just keep going!” he shouted up to Minho. “I can’t take this much longer. Just go!”
“Wait a minute.” Frypan’s voice. “The voice said this was a one-chance deal. We have to at least think about it.”
“Yeah,” someone added. “Maybe we should go back.”
Thomas shook his head even though he knew no one could see it. “No way. Remember what that guy at the desk told us. That we’d all die horrible deaths if we go back.”
Frypan pushed. “Well, what makes him any more in charge than this whispering dude? How’re we supposed to know who to listen to and who to ignore?”
Thomas knew it was a good question, but going back just didn’t feel right. “The voice is just a test, I bet. We need to keep going.”
“He’s right.” This was Minho from up in front. “Come on, let’s go.”
He’d barely said the last word when the whispering voice whooshed through the air again, this time laced with an almost childish hatred. “You’re all dead. You’re all going to be sliced. Dead and sliced.”
Every hair on Thomas’s neck stood up straight and a chill tickled his back. He expected to hear even more calls to go back, but once again the Gladers surprised him. No one said a thing, and soon they were all walking forward again. Minho had been right when he’d said all the sissies had been weeded out.
They made their way deeper into the darkness. The air warmed a bit, seemed to thicken with dust. Thomas coughed several times and was dying to take a drink, but he didn’t want to risk untying his water bag without being able to see it. That was all he needed, to spill it all over the floor.
Forward.
Warmer.
Thirsty.
Darkness.
Walking. Time passed ever so slowly.
Thomas had no idea how this hallway could even be possible. They had to have journeyed at least two or three miles since last hearing the creepy whisper of warning. Where were they? Underground? Inside some massive building? The Rat Man had said they needed to find open air. How A boy screamed a few dozen feet in front of him.
It started out as an abrupt shriek, like simple surprise, but then escalated into pure terror. He didn’t know who it was, but the kid was now screaming his throat raw, screeching and squealing like an animal at the old Blood House in the Glade. Thomas heard the sounds of a body thrashing on the ground.