𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙒𝘾𝙆𝘿

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨 push the boys back into their bunk room as the door slams shut.

"What the hell was that about?" Minho asks

"You really did not think they would let you through, did you?" Newt questions

"Of course not," Thomas says as he pulls a key card out of his pocket. "I'm gonna find out what's on the other side of that door. They're hiding something—okay? These people are not who they say they are."

"No, Thomas. You don't know that! The only thing that we do know is that they helped rescue us from WICKED. They gave us new clothes. They gave us food. They gave us a proper bed. Some of us haven't had that in a long time. Some of us a lot longer than others." Newt says

Suddenly—a loud metal vent casing drops onto the ground below Thomas' bed, causing the boys to stop arguing.

"Hey, Thomas." Aris says as he pokes his head up from underneath.

"What the—" Fry says, looking under the bed

"You got it, didn't you?" Aris asks

"Who is this kid?" Minho questions as his eyes flicker from Aris to Thomas.

"Here." Thomas digs in his pocket. Pulling out a key card, he holds it up for Aris to see. "Let's go."

Newt and Minho share a confused glance, questioning their friend's actions, while Fry and Winston both stand beside the two with their eyebrows quirked.

"Cover for me. I'll be back soon." Thomas says as he slips under the bed.

Thomas slowly lowers himself down from the vent, dangling his feet down into the hallway—As he scans the corridor to make sure no one is coming, he jumps down.

Thomas nods to Aris, who stares down from the vent above him, silently letting him know it's clear.

Aris jumps down from the vent, landing with a soft thud. The boys close the vent shut before heading towards the room where the bodies were being wheeled into.

Thomas pulls the key card out of his pocket and slides it into the slot, causing the scanner to beep and turn green.

As the doors hiss open, the two boys share a glance before walking into an area cut off from another room.

Thomas turns his head to scan the room, noticing creatures in large cylinder tanks. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭?

The other set of doors hiss open as the boys slowly continue their path.

Both teenager's eyes widen as they see dozens of bodies hanging. Tubes connect everywhere along their bodies as monitors beep through the silence.

"What the.." Thomas whispers

Thomas analyzes the bodies as he walks to a boy—who has some kind of blue liquid coming out of a tube. Thomas' head cocks to the side as he watches the blue liquid drop into another section.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵? Thomas wonders as his head turns to a mop of dark brunette hair.

"Teresa?" Thomas asks as he quickly rushes over to the girl. His hand reaches out to push the hair out of her face, revealing—not Teresa.

A sigh of relief escapes Thomas as Aris comes to stand beside him.

"It's Rachel. They took her the first night. I told her it was going to be okay." Aris says softly. Thomas glances over to Aris, noting his saddened gaze on the ground.

Hissing of doors opening breaks the two boys out of their silence. Thomas and Aris' heads both perk up at the sound. The two boys quickly hide behind one of the desks as footsteps echo throughout the room.

"You sure this can't wait?" Janson asks as he and another man walk toward the front of the room. A guard walks behind the two, carrying the body of a girl as the other man speaks.

"She was very specific, sir. She wanted to speak with you personally."

"As if I don't have enough to deal with. Set her over there." Janson orders.

The guard lowers the body down onto a metal table as the arms of the person fall limply off to the side.
When the guard moves off to the side, unblocking the view, a girl lies unconscious with brown hair covering her face.

From afar, Thomas curiously squints his eyes—trying to identify the girl.

Thomas' eyes widen at one of her hands.

His body tenses immediately as his heart drops to the bottom of his stomach—Thomas' breath trembles as his heart pounds against his rib cage.

There is only one person in this facility that has a black cast on her right wrist.

𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚.

Thomas' gaze turned into a glare as his eyes flickered over to Janson. It took everything in him not to kill him right then and there. But upon returning his eyes over to Blake, his gaze softened.

The guards lied to him.

They told the boys she would be fine. But here she is, lying unconscious on a table in the middle of a room filled with teenagers—who are being drained for god knows what.

Thomas bounces on the balls of his feet before he slowly tiptoes toward the girl. Aris shouts from behind Thomas in a whisper, attempting to stop him before they get caught.

But the determined boy only brings a finger to his lips—shushing Aris in response. Halfway to Blake, Janson's footsteps come to a stop—halting Thomas in his tracks.

Thomas motions back to Aris to follow him as they stand behind a beam.

"Just—bare with me. I'm getting interference from the storm."

"Come on, it's good enough. Make the connection." Janson snaps back in agitation.

The screen flickers between static and a silhouette of someone before it finally clears—revealing the woman Thomas never thought he'd see again.

"Good evening, Doctor Paige. Lovely to see you again."

Upon seeing who it is and Janson's confirmation, Thomas' eyes widen in shock.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭?

"I'll admit I—I wasn't expecting to hear from you quite so soon."

"Change of plans, Janson. I'll be arriving a little sooner than expected, first thing tomorrow."

"Oh, well, I mean..we'll be delighted to have you. I think you'll be pleased with the progress we've made." Janson says as he taps on the tablet in his hands.

Brain scans fly onto the screen beside Ava as he continues, "As you can see—the results have been extremely promising. Whatever you've been doing to them—in there, it's working."

"Not well enough. I just received board approval. I want all of the remaining subjects sedated and prepped for harvest by the time I arrive."

"Doctor Paige, we are going as fast as we can—but listen...I do have a surprise for you." Janson says as he turns the camera over to Blake.

Thomas and Aris hide behind the beam, ducking from the webcam's view.

"Is that subject A3?" Ava asks as she leans closer to the screen.

"Yes, ma'am, it is. She's already sedated. We had a little trouble with her, so I figured we could start her with the next group. She's a smart little cookie—I'll give her that. Figured everything out." Janson trails off before turning the camera back to himself.

Thomas' heart hammers against his chest as he glances back over to the unconscious girl.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘨𝘰𝘥. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦.

"I knew something was special about her..." Ava says as she trails off, "Is he there also?"

"He's here, but I haven't gotten to him yet." Janson informs."But Blake's brain scans—look, we are still running tests."

"Try something faster," Ava interrupts, "Until I guarantee their security. This is the best plan."

"Ma'am, security is my job. We're on 24-hour lockdown here. I am assuring you the assets are secure."

"Have you found the Right Arm?"

"Not yet." Janson answers

"Hmm."

"We tracked them as far as the mountains.."

"So they're still out there? And they've already hit two of our installations. 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. If you are not up for the task, I will find someone who is."

"That won't be necessary—but might I suggest we start with the most recent arrivals?" Janson suggests

"Just get it done." Ava orders. "And Janson...I don't want them to feel any pain."

Janson pauses for a split second before responding with a small smirk."They won't feel a thing."

The other man to Janson's right cuts the screen off as Janson starts to walk toward the exit.

"Want me to leave her here?" The guard asks

Janson spins on his feet—casting a glance to the girl.
He hums before he continues to walk toward the exit. "Leave her here; she shouldn't wake up. We gotta go grab her boys." Janson says as the two follow behind him.

All three men disappear from Thomas' line of sight before the sound of the doors hiss shut.

Thomas pants heavily as he hides behind a beam, waiting for the second row of doors to hiss before he rushes to Blake's side.

He hesitates before he moves the hair out of her face. As his favorite person's features are revealed, his worried expression sours.

A dark bruise that wasn't there before—sits on her cheekbone, along with a scab on her bottom lip. Thomas' eyes close shut as he draws in a deep breath.

Sighing, he whispers, "The hell did they do to you?"

"Thomas! We have to go!" Aris shouts over a whisper, hurrying to the boy's side.

"We have to take her. I can't leave her." Thomas exclaims in a panic.

Aris' eyes flicker around them, scanning for anything to help. His eyes finally stop at a glass cabinet, noticing the same blue viles from his maze.

Running over to it, he reaches for a metal tool on the counter beside him. Without hesitating, he suddenly smashes the glass.

"What are you doing?!" Thomas asks in a panic. Not knowing what to do, he picks Blake up from the table and carries her closer to Aris.

Aris reaches for the pen-like container inside the cabinet; grasping his fingers around it, he spins back around to Thomas. "Set her down! Set her down! Hurry."

Thomas sets the girl down as Aris throws the cap off the container, revealing a short needle.

"Hey, wha—" Thomas begins to ask, but before he can—Aris strikes the needle down on Blake's chest, surprising the worried brunette beside him.

"The hell are you doing?" Thomas asks.

Thomas flinches as a gasp escapes from the girl's lips. Sitting up to look around her in a panic, she notices Thomas and some kid hovering over her.

"What—where are we?!" Blake asks confused

"No time to explain, we gotta go!" The kid says as he sprints away.

Blake quirks an eyebrow at the new kid's urgency.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯?

Thomas hurriedly reaches a hand out, grasping her upper arm to pull her up. Blake sees the panic in his eyes as he drags her to the exit.

"Come on, we gotta go now! You good to run?" He asks

Blake nods her head as Thomas' hand glides to her hand. "Yeah?"

"Okay, good...Now, hurry." Thomas says as he pulls the girl into a run.

"Crawl, crawl! Go faster!" Thomas shouts behind him as they crawl through the vents. Thomas pushes the vent open—making it smack to the ground with a loud clang. The boys all flinch at the sound and rush over to the vent.

"Thomas!" Newt breathes out as Thomas rises to his feet.

The brunette boy then spins on his heels to see Blake popping her out of the vent. Thomas sticks his hand out to help her rise to her feet as the boys exchange confused glances.

"Blake?" Newt asks

"What are you—" Minho starts

"We gotta go! We gotta go right now!" Thomas cuts into their questions in panic. Blake stands off to the side as she looks between the boys.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Minho yells as Thomas runs to one of the beds. He throws one of the mattresses off and pushes it up against the entrance.

"They're coming, come on. We gotta go." Thomas says again, "Paige is alive!"

Blake furrows her eyebrows at the name. "Who the hell is that?" She asks as she watches the boys continue their questioning glances.

"Thomas, can you just calm down and talk to us?!" Newt asks from beside a confused Blake.

"She's still alive!" Thomas says

"Who's she?—Teresa?" Fry questions

"Ava."

"Ava Paige? Will you just turn around and talk to us?" Newt yells

𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘷𝘢?  Blake wonders

"It's Wicked!" Thomas yells as he finishes tying a sheet around the door handles. "It's still wicked. It's always been."

Thomas rushes towards another bunk, pulling another mattress off as he shoves it up against the door, leaning on it.

"Thomas!" Newt says, "What did you see?"

Blake blinks in confusion before her eyes widen. They never escaped. The little interrogation she had with Janson finally came back.

"We never escaped." She spoke out, causing the confused boys to turn their heads in her direction.