"Y/n, you have a separate room with Teresa." A man said as we reached the boys room.

"Why?" I asked. "If it's because they're boys, then don't worry. I've had to live with them for several years. I'll be fine." I walked past him into the room, with my friends following.

Everyone chose a bunk, some of us argued in the process. I picked the one above Thomas.

"I could get used to this." Winston rolled his shoulders back in comfort.

"Yeah, it's not bad." Newt smiled and I stood between him and Thomas.

"What'd you think those guys want with Teresa?" Thomas asked as the door was locked.

"Now, if there's one thing I know about that girl, she can take care of herself. Don't worry about it." Newt climbed up to his bed.

"Goldie's right. She'll be fine." I patted Thomas' back.

-

The image of Gally's dead body replayed in my head as I attempted to go to sleep. Every time my eyes closed I would just see him. I finally gave up trying and just laid on my back staring up at the ceiling. Then there was a quiet thumping from below the bunk bed. I slowly climbed down the ladder just to see Thomas looking around as well.

"Psst! Hey." A voice said. "Down here."

Thomas hung his head over the edge of his bed while I bent down. There was an open vent with a boy leaning through. Once he saw our faces a finger pressed to his lips, telling us to be quiet.

"What the shuck?" I mumbled under my breath.

"Shh. Come on. Follow me."

"What?" Thomas cocked his head.

"Just follow him, T." I shoved him into the vent and we began to crawl through behind the boy.

We reached a bigger vent room. It was just the right size for us to stretch out slightly. The boy was at the edge of a vent hole. Thomas and I joined him and looked down. All that could be seen was the tiled floor.

"Watch."

"I don't see anyt-" I was cut off when a woman walked into view.

Behind her was bed with a person on. Dead or alive, I couldn't tell. There was a sheet covering them. She opened a door with her keycard and the bed was pushed in. Then another bed followed.

"What the hell are they doing with them?" I asked.

"I don't know. They bring in some every night. This is as far as I've gotten. The vents don't even go into that section. But once they go through that door, they don't come back out. I don't think anybody ever really leaves this place." The boy explained. "Come on. We've gotta go before somebody notices we're gone."

"Why're you showing us this?" Thomas questioned.

"Because maybe the others will listen to you. There's something weird going on here and I know you think so too." He began to crawl away.

"Hey, wait. What's your name?" Thomas said.

"Aris." And with that he was gone.

"Nice name." I nodded my head even though he couldn't hear or see me. "We should get back.. Thomas, if you're worrying about Teresa., don't. She'll be fine."

-

Janson called out more names the next day while Thomas and I held our heads low, hoping not to be called out. We, thankfully, weren't.

"I wanna know what's through that door." Thomas snarled.

"We've been over this. Y/n and you said they were covered up, so you don't know what you saw. It could have been anything under there." Newt said.

"Yeah. There were bodies under there, Newt. It couldn't have been anything else." I murmured.

"They were definitely bodies. Aris said they bring in a new batch every night." Thomas told them.

"Who the hell is Aris?" Minho asked.

"That kid." I pointed over at the boy we met last night. He was holding a muffin up and searching for things inside it.

"Well, I'm sold." Minho grumbled sarcastically.

The line of people began to exit the canteen and the man opened the door for them all.

"Thomas, go now." I whispered into his ear and he nodded.

"If there's anything I know for certain, it's that we should keep our heads down and not try draw any attention to ourselves. Alright?" Newt said like a mother but Thomas was already storming over.

"Well, about that-" I laughed.

"What the hell is he doing, y/n?" Newt stared intensely at me.

"I think he's trying to draw attention to himself." Frypan said before I could answer.

We watched as Thomas turned to come back to us but then he whipped round and shoved himself into the guard. Everyone around me quickly stood up to go and help while I just jogged slowly, interested in what was about to happen. Minho and Newt held Thomas back when Janson pushed through to us.

"What's happening here!" He shouted. "Thomas? I thought we could trust each other. You know we're all on the same team here."

"Are we?" Thomas spat.

Janson hesitated for a moment, "Get them to their bunks."

We were all shoved roughly into our room and the door was immediately locked behind us. A smirk immediately appeared on my face.

"Why are you smirking?" Minho said, "What the hell was that about?"

"This." Thomas pulled the keycard out of his pocket.

"You got it! Good job." I stood next to Thomas.

"We're gonna find out what's on the other side of that door." Thomas noticed Newt's annoyed look, "Newt, they're hiding something. Okay? These people are not who they say they are." We began to walk to the vent.

"No! Thomas, y/n, you don't know that." Newt shouted.

"What and you do? How do you know they aren't trying to kill or harm us?" I tilted my head.

"The only thing that we do know is that they helped rescue us from Wicked." He answered, "They gave us new clothes. They gave us food. They gave us proper beds. Some of us haven't had that in a long time."

"Yeah, but-" Thomas began.

"Some of us a lot longer than others."

"Newt. I completely understand. Don't you think I know? I am one of those few who haven't had this in a long long time. But, there's something going on here-" I was cut off when the vent door flew across the room.

"Aris!" I exclaimed childishly.

"Hey, y/n, Thomas." He smiled from the floor. "You got it. Didn't you?"

"Yeah."

We bent down to follow Aris but before we left Thomas said one last thing.

"Alright, look, maybe you guys are right. Maybe we're just being paranoid. But we gotta find out for sure. Just.. cover for us."

"Y/n." Newt leant down nearest to me, "I promised Gally that I'd keep you safe. I plan on keeping that promise."

"I know. I'll be fine and safe. You can count on it. Like Thomas said, cover for us. We'll be back real soon." I flashed one last smile at them all before crawling away.

-

We made it inside the room that we watched the doctor and the bodies go into last night. People were strung up with wires and tubes flowing in and out of their bodies. I still didn't know whether they were alive or dead.

"What the mother shucking-" I swore under my breath as I inspected everything. I noticed something, the bodies were being injected with the same blue liquid we were with the other day.

"Teresa-" Thomas said. He was moving a girls hair out of her face when I stood next to him.

"That's not her, T. She's not here. She's okay." I patted his back and he smiled weakly.

Then the doors slid open and by instinct we all hid behind the columns that were planted all over the room. Janson walked in with someone beside him. A large screen appeared.

"Good evening, Dr Paige."

My breath hitched. I don't know why. She was dead. I watched her die. We watched her die.

"I'll be arriving a little sooner than expected, Janson. First thing tomorrow."

"You'll be pleased with the progress we've made. Early results have been promising. Whatever it is you've been doing to them in there, it's working."

"Not well enough. I just received a board approval. I want all the remaining subjects sedated and prepped for harvest by the time I arrive. Have you found the right arm?"

"Not yet. We tracked them as far as the mountains."

"So they're still out there! They have all ready hit two of our installations!"

I saw Thomas and Aris exchanged looks but I kept focused on the conversation in front of me.

"They want these kids as badly as we do. And I cannot- I cannot afford another loss. Not now, when I am so close to a cure." She snarled.

"May I suggest we start with the newest, most recent, arrivals?"

"I suppose my daughter is included in that?"

"Of course."

"Just get it done." She sat down at her desk. "Janson, I don't want them to feel any pain. Especially not y/n."

"They won't feel a thing." He smirked before walking away and the screen turned off.

"THOMAS!" I yelled as soon as they were gone. "We gotta- we gotta go back!"

"I know. Come on. You too, Aris."

We climbed into the vent and rushed back to our room where the others were waiting for us. I pushed off the vent door and scrambled through with both boys behind me.

"We gotta go. We gotta go right now." Thomas said quickly and ran to the door.

"What do you mean we gotta go?"

"They're coming. Come on. We gotta go." I rushed while grabbing a bed sheet and throwing it to Thomas who tied it to the door handle.

"Paige. She's alive." I panted while walking back and forth.

"Guys, can you just calm down and talk to us." Newt said.

"Ava's alive." I repeated.

"Ava?"

"Ava! You know the one who supposedly shot herself back in the maze! My mother, god damn it!" I screeched.

"Y/n's right, she's alive. It's Wicked!" Thomas finally finished tying the sheet. "It's always- it's always been Wicked."

I grabbed the mattress and pushed it up against the door.

"Thomas, what did you see?" Newt questioned.

"We'll tell you later! We gotta go!" I shouted. "Through the vents."

The hastily bent down and began to crawl through. Every single one of them was still unsure.

"Go!" I was the last to crawl through.

————————————

So, this sucked

Why is drama such a horrible lesson? (For me it is) We were put in random groups and I got put with all the people who bully me 😐 . I hate school so so so so SO much.