Deadly Atmosphere | Aris Jones [3]

12 || Taking a Detour

We continued on, passing by soldiers and other WICKED officials without any suspicion falling on us. Still, I couldn't help but worry about the detour we were forced to take, knowing this was even riskier than the original plan.

"Piper..." Aris began to say.

"I told you to stop it, Aris."

Piper, can you slow down?"

"No, I can't."

"Piper--"

"Aris, we don't have a lot of time and people can hear us," I finally snapped as we kept walking towards the elevators, splitting up from Thomas, Newt, and Teresa.

Aris, Maeve, and I piled into the elevator and watched Aris press the button that led to the medical wing.

After a brief moment of silence, Maeve cleared her throat. "Either of you want to tell me what's going on between you two?"

"No," Aris and I replied at the same time.

"Okay, then," she muttered.

There was another time of silence over us, then Aris spoke up this time. "Brenda isn't infected anymore."

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Brenda was bitten by a Crank six months ago," he reminded us. "That's also the last time she had a dosage of the serum, according to Teresa."

"Well, we know she looks better than before, but how or why Teresa knows--"

"Teresa and I agreed that she should've turned into a Crank by now, Mae. That serum isn't a cure."

I looked at him in curiosity and a hint of annoyance. "What are you saying?"

All of a sudden, the elevator dinged, signaling we were at our destination. We stepped out and followed behind Thomas, Newt, and Teresa, their feet rushing among the floor.

"Thomas, listen to me," Teresa said to him. "Getting that serum won't save Newt or Gwyneth. It'll buy them some time, but--"

"Just ignore her, Tommy," Newt stated. "She's trying to get inside your head."

"Thomas, listen. You know what's going on out there. People are dying. The world is dying. That's why Aris and I are here, to help." Teresa sounded desperate at this point. "There's something about your blood I don't understand."

"Open the door," he ordered, ignoring her completely.

She obliged and followed him in. "Let me run some tests. I promise Aris and I can protect you!"

Thomas spun around and took off his mask. "Yeah? Like you protected Minho and Lillie? Tell me, Teresa, how many people is it gonna take? How many more people does WICKED have to round up, torture, kill? When the hell does it stop?!"

"It stops when we find a cure!"

"There is no cure!"

The words from Thomas' lips hovered over us like dark clouds. Newt, Maeve, and I the harsh realization was finally hitting us. No cure. No cure for our friends. No cure for the other people in the world. That was why we were here, because all we could do now was run and hide, find a safe haven and live out the rest of our days there.

"Thomas, you can't seriously believe that," Teresa said, breaking the quiet.

"Well, I do," he retorted in a firm tone.

"But Newt and Gwyn..." I croaked.

"We've talked about what'll happen to us," Newt assured me.

"And we also talked about figuring it out," Maeve commented. "So that's what we're going to do."