James Dashner - The Blade of Shattered Hope

The Fifths appeared to be gathering their wits a lot quicker than he was. Sato watched as they stood in rows, composed and standing at attention, waiting for him to give a command. They really were warriors. They really did consider him their leader.

Buck up, he told himself. When this is all over, then you can sit down and have a good cry about it.

“Okay, listen up!” he yelled. Rutger, Mothball, and her parents were standing right in front of him in the very first row. He exchanged glances with his two fellow Realitants, relieved to see there’d be no teasing. Time for business.

When the Fifths had quieted and all the attention turned to Sato, he continued. “We don’t know what to expect, what kind of defenses they have, who’s watching us-anything. Jane could send a whole pack of fangen or who-knows-what at us any second now, so we need to get moving. I want us to split into three groups: left, right, middle.” He pointed as he spoke. “Middle group stays here, close to the fence. Rutger, you and I will stay with them.”

The short man nodded, his face scrunched up as if considering whether he’d gotten a good assignment or a bad one.

Sato pointed to the left. “Left group, you guys go around the perimeter that way. Right group, go that way.” He pointed in the opposite direction. “I want you to run as quickly as possible while still being able to keep a good lookout. With any luck, you’ll make your way around that wall and meet up on the other side. Then come back here. We’ll decide what to do based on what you learn.”

As the Fifths separated into smaller groups, Sato started doubting his first major decision. What if they were attacked? What if, by splitting up, they’d weakened themselves too much? What if the groups never hooked back up again? What if… what if… what if?

He shook it off. He couldn’t do anything until he knew what they were dealing with, and it seemed too dangerous to send individual spies out to scout the area. He was sticking with his decision, and that was that. He had nothing but his instinct.

“Okay, then! Go, already!” He shooed them like dogs, and immediately made a mental note that he probably shouldn’t do that ever again.

But they didn’t seem to mind. Mothball, her parents, and the rest of their group sprinted toward the right, heading for the fence. Once they were right next to it, they took off running alongside it. The left group did the same thing but in the opposite direction. Those ordered to stay put gathered tighter around Sato.

Rutger stood right next to him and reached up to poke him on the upper arm. “I’m proud of you, Sato. Have to admit, I didn’t wake up this morning thinking I’d see General Sato by the end of the day, but here we are. Don’t worry-worst thing that can happen is we all die.”

Sato grumbled, not in the mood.

Rutger kept talking as if they were sitting down for a nice picnic. “I’m really happy about how it worked out. You need someone cranky to lead like this, and…”

Sato tuned him out, searching for signs of guards or visitors. He couldn’t see very well over the tall Fifths, so he stepped out of the crowd, scanning the area with his eyes. The day was fully bright now, not a cloud in the sky.

A quick movement in the woods caught the corner of his eye, like someone had poked their head out to look around, then pulled back again, hiding. But when Sato focused his attention on the spot, he saw nothing but trees.

Sato pointed at three Fifths, one by one. “You, you, and you,” he said, making another note to learn these peoples’ names. “Come with me.”

Rutger finally realized he wasn’t being listened to. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“Just be quiet,” Sato replied. “Let’s go.”

He moved away from the rest of them with the three Fifths he’d chosen right on his heels. Keeping his eyes glued to the spot where he’d seen the movement, Sato ran for the forest. He’d made it about halfway to the tree when a figure darted out from behind it-an oddly shaped, wispy thing. It seemed to fly through the air like a ghost, quickly disappearing deeper into the dark woods.

Then other creatures did the same, darting out from behind at least a dozen other trees that lined the boundary between the field and the forest. They were all like living, flying shadows, gone before Sato got a better look.

He stopped and held up a hand. “Those had to be some kind of spies or guards. Now Jane or whoever’s in charge of this place definitely knows we’re here. I hope I didn’t-”

A commotion from behind cut him off. He turned to see Rutger excitedly pointing toward the far bend of the wooden fence to the right, where the group of Fifths that had gone in that direction was already coming back, marching along through the slippery mud.

“Something’s wrong,” Sato half-whispered. “They shouldn’t be back yet.”

He headed in that direction, running as fast as he could, determined to meet up with them and see what was happening. He’d only gone about a hundred feet when he noticed several of the Fifths working together to carry large wooden boxes. Also, two newcomers were with them, looking very out of place. Sato almost fell down, already knowing what this meant and feeling like they’d won their first victory.

It was Master George-his Barrier Wand in tow-and Sally from headquarters.

More importantly, Sato was sure the boxes they carried had weapons inside them.

Tick, man,” Paul whispered to him as they followed Jane down the seemingly endless tunnels. “What’s going on? Is she for real about that staff of hers? Is it some kind of Barrier Wand on steroids?”

Tick shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. But I can’t risk anything right now. We just need to stick with her and wait for the Haunce to come, I guess. Don’t do anything to tick her off!”

“Tick her off,” Sofia repeated through a halfhearted laugh. “That has meaning on so many levels, it’s ridiculous.”

Paul snickered. “I gare-on-tee you could take her, Superman. I’m not worried.”

Tick rolled his eyes even though the others probably couldn’t tell. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, much less hear the junk about his powers. Despite what had happened so far, he felt no more like a superhero than he would a bird if someone glued wings on his back.

Jane reached a large shiny, metal door, big silver bolts lining the edges. It seemed almost too modern for the cavernous feel of the tunnels through which they’d been walking forever.

As they approached the door, Tick felt an increase in magnitude of the womps-the rhythmic pulses vibrating his teeth and skull.

Jane turned around to face them. The firekelt stood slightly ahead of her and to the left, and the light from its flames illuminated her perfectly. She spoke in her desert-sand voice.

“I don’t know what you’ve heard about the Factory, but you’re about to witness it firsthand. I’ll admit that my pride has gotten the better part of me today. I desperately want to show this to the three of you-especially you, Atticus. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother with the extra protection of my Barrier Staff and would’ve killed you already. Your lingering presence in the Realities is beginning to disturb me. Greatly.”

“So you’re gonna show us your evil factory and then kill us?” Paul asked, his tone full of the usual sarcasm. “What is this, a bad James Bond movie?” Jane’s mask didn’t show any anger. Tick thought she probably didn’t want to give Paul the satisfaction. “Please, boy. What you’re about to see will be so above your mental capacity and intellect that even if you escaped, you’d barely be able describe it, much less share any of my secrets. Just consider this a whim of mine. Nothing more.”