???? ???? ???? ???

LOGAN'S GRANDPA had suggested that you guys play along to gain their trust, which was suspiciously wise coming from him, but you'd shrugged it off. So like he said, you all had put on the act of being cooperative on whatever Maverick (Mr Thomas??) was planning.

From then on, he'd treated everyone like guinea pigs. One of the experiments was cutting Logan's arm while the rest of you were blindfolded. You had sensed something was off, of course, but the others didn't. Then Maverick assorted for an infected to claw at Logan's arm slightly, and immediately everyone knew someone got hurt.

So then you came to the conclusion that the whole connection thing isn't in the physical world but in the phantom dimension.

Anyway back to the biggest question. How the fuck did shy little Mr. Thomas turn out to be Maverick?

"We know hes against the facility, maybe he was trying to work discreetly? Separate from the facility and needed a disguise."

"Yeah but he used the government guys to kidnap us. If they helped him they must've known he was in disguise."

"Well maybe they didn't? The facility could've sent the men first, and then asked 'Mr. Thomas' to cooperate without knowing it was him."

"Why would he do all that when we were gonna end up here anyway? There has to be some motive..."

"Oh." Ashlyn said in concern, staring at the paper "Oh."

Tyler snatched the paper impatiently, muttering the words, his frown faded into something more of disgust "The cult guy wants to start the apocalypse?..."

Your eyes fling open, the white washed ceiling like a slap in the face. Your limbs feel like weights and breathing feels like trying to swim in tar.

So Maverick wants to use the infected as soldiers, and he's pretending to work for the facility but really wants to destroy it... he's a weirdo.

A thought pops up: You can technically kill him, of course. That stare thing...does it even still work? Or maybe it's just been a coincidence all along. Wouldn't be too crazy to believe, considering you'd hallucinated having a cat for years.

The door clicked open, Alex entered with a tray of bland breakfast.

You sit up, hair flopping over your face. You really needed a haircut. They wouldn't allow you scissors though because of how you tried to use them before.

Alex placed the tray on the empty nightstand, acknowledging that you were awake but not saying anything. He probably thought you hated him, and he was probably right for thinking that. I mean, how do you think you got the scissors taken away?

"Hey Alex?"
"Hm?" He turns to look right at you. Nothing happens for the 5 seconds the eye contact was held.

"Do you... need something?"
"No...nevermind." You mutter, then right after sputtering out a cough. Black goo coats your hands, and by now you're used to it so you wipe it on your clean gown.

"Shit, I'll get a tissue." Alex rushes out, footsteps fading urgently.

The seven of you seemed to play a significant role is Maverick's goals, and you all planned to leave before any of that could come to pass. The only problem was that there was no way to leave with any of your parents.

The news wasn't so bad for you, but for everyone else it was an issue.

(ignore the bad writing
i just need to get the
boring chapters done with