"Piper. Piper, can you hear me?"

Piper tossed and turned at the sound of Rachel's voice, panting hard. "Rachel?" she muttered.

"Piper. Forget about me."

"What?"

"Forget about me. I'm gone now. You need to let me go."

"No. No, Rachel, I--"

"Thank you for being my friend, Piper."

Suddenly, she felt someone shake me awake. "Hey!" It was one of the men that rescued them. "We need to go right now! Come on!"

"What the--" Before Piper could finish her sentence, the man pulled her out of the helicopter, causing her to nearly fall into the sand below her feet. She was expecting the sun to blind her again, but she was only brought with bright lights coming from above her as it was now dark outside.

How long was I asleep?

"Cranks!" someone shouted in the distance.

"Keep moving, kids!" someone else shouted as the group ran toward a building, the sound of gunshots filling their ears.

So they continued running through the sand, stumbling and tripping over their feet. After struggling for quite some time, they all made it inside, the doors closing behind them. They looked around, taking it all in, still in shock and confused.

Where are we?

Piper noticed that our group was a lot smaller than it was before they fell asleep. "Where's everyone else?" Aris and Cora looked at each other, then back at Piper. "What is it? What happened to the others?"

"They were taken to another facility while you were asleep," Cora replied. "This is the rest of us."

Piper looked around and felt her heart drop. Harriet, Sonya, Maeve, Lillie, Gwyneth, and Emily were not with them. She shook her head in disbelief. "No. No, they can't be gone." She looked at Aris with desperation all over her face. "Aris, please tell me they're not gone."

"They are, Piper," Aris said. "I'm sorry."

Piper fought the urge to cry, shaking and clenching her fists. This wasn't happening. She just lost Rachel. She couldn't lose any more of her friends.

"So where do we go now?" Jane asked the others. "Do we just wait for someone or...?"

"Okay, kids, let's go!" a soldier shouted at them, trying to get the group to follow him.

Piper stormed up to him and lunged for his throat, anger written all over her face as he tried to hold her back. "Where are the rest of my friends?!" she shouted as Aris and the other girls succeeded at pulling her off of him. "I want my other friends back!"

"Piper, calm down!" Aris shouted.

Piper turned to Aris, breathing heavily. "Some of our friends aren't here with us and you and everyone else are acting so sticking calm!"

"There's nothing we can do!" Jane stepped in. "It's just us now and we're going to have to stick together!"

"She's right!" a new voice called out from behind them. Everyone looked to see a man strolling toward them, wearing a turtleneck sweater and a jacket, looking casual. His face looked almost similar to a rat. "You kids doing okay?" Rat Man asked.

"What does it look like to you?" Piper snapped.

"Piper!" Aris hissed at me.

"I understand your frustration," he replied. "Sorry about all the fuss. We had ourselves a bit of a swarm. Of course, it's common around here, but you're safe now."

"Who are you?" Piper asked.

Rat Man smirked a little. "I'm the reason you're all still alive and it's my intention to keep you that way."

"That doesn't answer my question," she retorted.

"You can call me Mr. Janson," he said. "I run this place. Now, follow me. I'm sure you kids would like to get cleaned up." Everyone obliged and began to follow him, while Piper reluctantly went with them.

"So what exactly is this place?" Cora spoke up.

"For us, it's a sanctuary, safe from the horrors of the outside world," Janson answered. "For you kids, it's more like a home between homes, a way station might be a better term."

"Does that mean we're going home?" Aris questioned, almost hopeful.

"Well, unfortunately, there wouldn't be much left of wherever you came from," he responded. "So we'll be taking you to a home of sorts."

"That doesn't sound very promising," Piper muttered.

"We have a place for you outside the Scorch," he continued. "There, WICKED will never find you again. How does that sound?"

"Again, still not promising," she mumbled. "Why are you helping us?"

"The world is not what it used to be," he said. "Because of that, we're all hanging on by a very thin thread. The fact that you all can survive the Flare makes you the key to saving humanity. However, that also makes you a target, which I'm sure you all have noticed by now." When they approached a door, Janson took out a card and swiped it, a green light popping up, letting the door slide up. He turned around and faced the group. "This is the beginning of your new lives."

*******

The process of feeling all refreshed and new was to get a shower. The Glenners were led by people in lab coats to the showers, where they were given toiletries, towels, and new clothes for them to change into once they were done. Aris was led away from the others, going to the next bathroom over.

Piper took off all of her dirty and smelly clothes and stepped into the shower, turning on the hot water, jumping back a bit from it hitting her skin. A month in the Glen with no decent showers or hot water made her forget what either one felt like. In the showers next to her, she could hear the girls talking and laughing from their showers.

"This feels sticking good!" Cora cheered.

"I sure missed this!" Jane exclaimed.

More chattering went on as Piper stood under the water, letting the dirt and blood run down her body and into the drain. She closed her eyes and thought more about the ones that weren't here with them, the ones that were dead or were taken somewhere else. She wished that all of them were together right now. She hoped everyone else was okay.

Piper quickly washed her hair with shampoo and conditioner, then did the rest of her body. Once she was done, she turned off the water and grabbed her towel, wrapping it around her. She stepped out and walked to the nearest mirror, looking at her reflection. At this moment, Piper realized that she wasn't the same person that she was a month ago. She didn't think it was possible that her short time in the Glen changed her, but given the events that occurred while she was there, it was clear that she was a new person, a person that had more anger than ever before.

Piper put on her new clothes, along with her fellow Glenners, and they were led to a lab, where they had people take them to check their vitals. She sat down as a man with a syringe filled it with some red liquid, causing her to raise eyebrows.

"You have nothing to worry about," he assured her. "This is just a cocktail of everything you've been deprived of out there. Just relax, okay?" He took her arm and wrapped a band around her elbow, making it tight for him to inject the needle into her vein. Piper fought the urge to cry out in pain, waiting until he was done to sigh in relief.

Once he was done, Piper laid back in the chair and looked at everyone else around her. Aris was sitting on a bed, swinging his legs back and forth. A dark-skinned woman came into the lab and walked toward Aris, staring at him. "You must be Aris," she said, then pulling the curtains so that neither of them were in her view.

"Piper?" a soldier said once he stood in front of her.

She looked at him, furrowing her eyebrows. "That's me."

"Come with me, please," he said.

Piper stood up and followed the soldier, leaving her friends behind in the lab. They went to what looked like a room for interrogation as he told her to sit down and wait for Janson to come see her. As the soldier closed the door, leaving her alone, she huffed a sigh and waited, counting the seconds to pass the time. After waiting for what felt like several minutes, the door opened.

"Thank you for seeing me, Piper," Janson said as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He pulled up a chair and looked at her. "I won't take up too much of your time."

"Why did you want to speak to me alone?" Piper asked.

"I'll speak to all of your friends, in case you were wondering, but you caught my interest, so I thought speaking to your first was best," he replied.

"Why is that?"

"Because you're not like your friends," he said. "You seem a bit hesitant to be here."

"Can you blame me? It's hard to trust any of you, given the circumstances." She leaned back into her chair. "What do you want to talk about?"

He slightly smirked, which creeped her out. "I just want to know something: What do you remember about WICKED?"

"What?"

"What do you remember about WICKED?" he repeated.

Piper shook her head. "Well, nothing, really, since all of my memories before the Maze are gone. I only know what Rach-- my friend told me." She felt her breath getting shaky as she caught herself from saying her name.

Janson nodded his head. "What did she tell you?"

"She told me that WICKED gave us these tests and challenges to do, then they started taking us and sending us up in the Maze while her and Aris watched us." Piper paused, then sighed. "That's all I know."

He sighed as well, nodding his head again. "I want you to know that what WICKED did to you and your friends was not okay. They took you from your families and swiped away your memories."

"You seem to know a lot about WICKED," she pointed out.

"It's my job to know everything," he told her. "I know that when they took you and other kids, your old names were erased and that you were given new names to go by."

Piper raised her eyebrows in shock. "You mean, Piper isn't my real name?"

He shook his head. "No, it's not. You see, WICKED sees you as test subjects, not humans. All they want is to find a cure for the Flare virus, and they're not afraid to put your lives at risk for the greater good of the world. You're better off here."

She folded her arms over her chest and stared at Janson. "How do you know that?"

He didn't say anything for a moment, then came up with a response. "Because I've seen the outside world, Piper. Trust me when I say you'd rather be in here than out there." He stood up, sighing. "If you need anything, please let me know. I'll have someone take you to get some food." With that, he headed for the door. As he left, a soldier came in to get her.

Piper stood up from her chair and followed the soldier out. As they walked toward the cafeteria for some food, she thought about what Janson told her about being here.

You're better off here.

Once Piper got to the cafeteria, she spotted her friends, who were chatting and laughing while stuffing food in their mouths. She went to join them, sitting beside Cora and placing food on the empty plate in front of her.

"Isn't this place great, Piper?" Cora asked her, a grin on her face.

She shook her head, snapping out of her thoughts. "What?"

"This place, isn't it great?" she repeated, stuffing food in her mouth.

"Oh." She shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, it's okay, but there's something off about it, though."

The others stopped talking and furrowed their eyebrows at her.

"What do you mean?" Jane questioned.

"I mean, what if Janson isn't who he says he is?"

"What if you're just being paranoid?" Jane retorted.

"Jane, how do we know that we can trust these people?" Piper inquired.

"Because they rescued us from WICKED, that's why," she snapped. "These people gave us warm water for showers, clean clothes, and even actual food to eat, food that is pretty good compared to the stuff we ate in the Glen. For two sticking years, no one here had any of this stuff. Of course, I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Piper raised her eyebrows. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you have no idea what it was like being in the Glen for so long," a Glenner next to Jane spoke up, one she didn't know very well. "You were only there for a month, so you don't get how much having all of this means to us."

Reluctantly, Piper sighed, not feeling up to arguing, letting the others get back to eating. She looked around and noticed that someone was missing from their group. "Where's Aris?"

"Your boyfriend is still with those doctors or scientists or whatever they are," Jane replied, not looking up at her.

Piper rolled her eyes. "He's not my boyfriend."

"Whatever," Jane said.

Still confused, Piper resisted the urge to go find him. She knew that walking around this place was not an option for her. So she remained in her seat and ate as much as she could in silence. Then, a couple of soldiers led them out of the cafeteria and to their room. Inside, there were bunk beds, where the girls fought over the top and bottom bunks. Piper took the last bottom bunk, sitting down on the bed as the soldiers left and closed the doors behind them.

"Well, we better get to bed, then," Cora stated.

"I've missed this for sure," Jane added.

And so as the lights went out, the girls got under the covers and did their best to go to sleep. However, Piper found herself staring up at the bed above meher wondering if they really were better off here.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Hey, first chapter of the second book!

So since I am done with school, I will be focusing on writing! I'm so excited that I can start posting this! I can't wait for you all to read what I have planned for this story!

So today is Caitlin Stasey's birthday, who portrays Piper. She's 28 today! She was always my first choice for Piper!

Song above is You There by Aquilo.

Comment, vote, more to come soon!

-A