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Thomas felt tears swell under his eyelids; one escaped and trickled down his right temple, into his hair A full minute passed without any words between them Then he said, Teresa?

Yeah?

Thohts, but did I wanna remember you Remember us Ya know, before

Me too

Seems like we… He didn’t kno to say it after all

I know

Wonder what tomorrow’ll be like

We’ll find out in a few hours

Yeah Well, good night He wanted to say ht, she said, just as the lights went out

Tholad it was dark so no one could see the look that had settled across his face

It wasn’t a smile, exactly Not quite a happy expression But alh

EPILOGUE

WICKED Memorandum, Date 232127, Tie, Chancelor

RE: THOUGHTS ON MAZE TRIALS, Group A

By any reckoning, I think we’d all agree that the Trials were a success Twenty survivors, all well qualified for our planned endeavor The responses to the Variables were satisfactory and encouraging The boy’s murder and the "rescue" proved to be a valuable finale We needed to shock their systems, see their responses Honestly, I’, ere able to collect such a large population of kids that just never gave up

Oddly enough, seeing the for ood of our people, ill s as to who should be chosen as the leader, but I’ll refrain fro at this time so as not to influence any decisions But to me, it’s an obvious choice

We are all well aware of what’s at stake I, for one, airl wrote on her ar she chose to clasp on to? WICKED is good

The subjects will eventually recall and understand the purpose of the hard things we have done and plan to do to them The mission of WICKED is to serve and preserve huood"

Please respond with your own reactions The subjects will be allowed one full night’s sleep before Stage 2 implementation At this time, let’s allow ourselves to feel hopeful

Group B’s trial results were also most extraordinary I need ti

Until tomorrow, then