Free The Fever Code by James Dashner

skeletal frame almost reaching the ceiling.
    Thomas suddenly sucked in a breath on reflex, not realizing he’d been holding it. He just didn’t understand what lay before him. It was a massive abscess under the ground, so huge it seemed to defy natural law. How could that roof
not
just cave in?
    He looked over at Teresa, whose eyes were wide and glistening in awe.
    “I’m sure you have many, many questions,” McVoy said. “And we can answer them, one at a time. Things are going to be different for both of you from now on. You’re going to know a lot more, and you’re going to be very, very busy.”
    “Busy doing what?” Teresa asked.
    Chancellor Anderson chose to answer that one.
    “You’re going to help us build this place.”

224.10.14 | 2:34 p.m.
    A few minutes later, they were sitting in a small conference room around a table with Ms. McVoy, Dr. Paige, and Mr. Ramirez, who had yet to say a single word. The chancellor had excused himself, but not before reiterating how excited he was to bring Thomas and Teresa to the next level. He assured them that Ms. McVoy would take as long as they needed to answer their questions.
    The thing was, Thomas wasn’t sure he could sort out his questions. After the massive scale of the cavern he’d just stood over, the small room felt almost claustrophobic. And now, gathering his thoughts—it seemed like an incredible feat.
    “Okay,” McVoy said, her hands folded gracefully on the table in front of her, “as you can imagine, what you just saw is the culmination of several years’ worth of developments. I couldn’t possibly go over everything in one sitting. But let’s do this: ask me your questions, and let’s see where that takes us. How does that sound?”
    Thomas and Teresa both nodded.
    “Great. Teresa, why don’t you go first?”
    “What
is
that place?” she asked, the first and most obvious question.
    McVoy nodded as if expecting those exact words. “What you saw is one of two natural caverns we found in this area that we then expanded significantly to house what we plan to build inside.”
    “And what’s that?” Thomas asked.
    “A maze. Two mazes, actually. Like I said, there are two caverns.”
    “Why?” Teresa asked. “Why in the world are you building two mazes?”
    “As a testing ground. As a controlled environment to stimulate a long list of reactions, both physical and emotional, from our test subjects. We couldn’t risk these locations being in the open air, and not just because of the obvious reasons like the decimated landscape and the potential for Crank invasions. The world is a dangerous, dangerous place at the moment. But just as importantly, we need a closed testing area so we can effectively control the stimuli.”
    Thomas heard all this but found it hard to believe. Or maybe just too much to process at once.
    “Thomas?” McVoy said. “Do you want to ask the next question?”
    “I…” He searched for words. “It’s just so crazy. A maze?
Two
mazes? What are you going to test inside them?
Who
are you going to test?”
    “It’s complicated, like I said. But basically we need a large-scale environment that we can control with no outside influence. Our doctors and Psychs think this is a perfect environment to get what we need.” She leaned back and sighed. “But I’m rambling. The simple answer is this: We’ll be continuing to do what we’ve already begun. We’ll be testing immunes, studying their brain function and biology, figuring out how they can live with the Flare virus without succumbing to its effects. In short, we’re trying to find a cure, Thomas. We’re trying to prevent all this unnecessary death that now surrounds us.”
    “What did you mean about us helping you to build the place?” Teresa asked.
    “Exactly that,” McVoy replied with a genuine smile. “We’ve decided to use you and Thomas, as well as two other children your age, to assist us. Perhaps others. But the four of you are just so…beyond