The Maze Runner -Flare In Flames- |Newt X Reader|

Chapter 24~The Warehouse~

Y/N's POV
       Aris and I wait inside the dark abandoned building. Slight light comes through the windows on the ceiling from the streetlamps around the city. I check my watch on my wrist. 10:54. "Are you sure they can even come?" Aris questions me as I stand waiting for the three boys to walk through the door. "Why wouldn't they?" I reply biting at my fingernails from the stress of it all. What if they can't come? Or they got lost? Or they're being questioned for being out so late. Or worse... what if their identities were exposed. What if any second this place will be stormed by Wicked guards, and the whole plan is ruined. "We'll they might not have all the luxuries that we get as 'doctors'." Aris uses air quotes around the word doctor. "I mean... they're guard recruits. They might have stricter standards than we do. We were free to roam the city today, but what if they were put straight to work?" Aris explains as I shake my head. "They wouldn't have answered the walkie if they were working. They'll be here." I confidently assure him, while also trying to convince myself the same. It's been hours since we last talked to them. Anything can happen in that amount of time. "Y/N, if they don't get here, we have to go back. If there is anything we want to avoid here... it's breaking the rules. Especially mandated curfew." Aris warns and of course he's right. "They'll be here." I repeat, this time with more confidence. Suddenly the door of the warehouse creeks opens slowly. I turn to look at Aris as he is ready to duck behind piles of debris and broken furniture. "Thomas... are you sure this is the right place?" I hear a familiar voice whisper in the shadows. "Do you see any other abandoned warehouses?" I hear Thomas argue back. I look over at Aris putting my finger over my mouth. This should be fun. I hide behind one of the pillars that leads up to the ceiling. I watch as Thomas' face slowly comes into the light as he's scanning around. He's wearing his disguise as he should be. "See. This is obviously not the right place. They would be here by now." Minho answers as he walks into the light with his disguise also on. Soon after, Gally pops up in my vision from the darkness too. I take a couple breaths before jumping out into the light yelling, "Put your hands up!" "Oh my god!" Thomas yells jumping around to face me. His eyes are wide open, and his mouth is fully open. Minho let's out a slight girly scream, and Gally freezes. Aris comes out behind the rubble laughing his head off. Laughter begins to overwhelm me as I point at the three of them. "You should have seen your faces." I cry laughing as they straighten up. "Hey, that wasn't funny." Minho defends with slight embarrassment in his tone. "Oh come on! You gotta admit I got you good." I wipe the tears away from my eyes. "I definitely thought we were about to die." Gally mentions relaxing from his tense freeze up. "That was pretty good... I'll admit." Thomas adds putting his hands on his head taking deep breaths. "Glad you're confident enough to make jokes like that. I won't be surprised now if we get caught from Minho's loud scream." Gally shakes his head laughing as the three of them walk closer in. "Hey! That's not funny!" Minho defends. Aris joins us as we form a small circle. "It kind of is." Gally continues to chuckle while Minho glares at the freckled boy. "So what is this place?" Thomas questions changing the subject. The three of them look around the room taking in the sights of broken furniture, white cloth, and dirt covering the ground. "Yea. We saw tons of abandoned buildings around this part of town... why pick this one?" Gally adds onto Thomas' investigation. Aris and I glance at one another. "We think we found how we'll get the equipment out of the city." Aris informs continuing, "And this place just happens to be right next to the exit." Thomas and I make eye contact, but I can't tell what he is thinking. "So Y/N and I were thinking this could be our base of operations. Where we take all the equipment. Where we meet up." I start to join in on Aris' point. "We want to try and meet up here every night at 11pm. Aris and I will bring whatever equipment we found, and it's just a way to know we're all okay. Even though we have the walkies... Thomas you said we can't use the walkie talkies Amanda gave us to talk?" I mention remembering our conversation over the communication device. "We don't exactly have much privacy where we're staying." Minho starts off. "All the guard recruits from every city are kept in the same building. Its a one room building that has rows of bunk beds for everyone to sleep on. They said it's temporary for the mean time. Once we've been fully trained, they will relocate us." Thomas explains the entire situation. "Hopefully we can get this shit done before that happens... I don't want to be here longer than needed." Gally tags onto the conversation. "So where is this exit?" Minho questions. Aris and I glace at each other once again. "Follow me." I state walking towards the door to the outside.
       Everyone follows me to the outside of the door. I scan to my left, then my right making sure no one is around. The last thing we need is to look suspicious. It's bad enough the potential exit is on this part of town. Thankfully no one is around. It is close to curfew, so I imagine most people stay inside their homes at this hour. Although curfew isn't until midnight, we need to make sure we have enough time to make it back. I don't exactly know what happens to people who are caught after 12 and quite frankly... I don't want to find out.
       About fifteen steps away from the entrance to the warehouse is what Aris and I believe to be our ticket out of here. Not only is it good we found the exit for our mission, we now have an escape if something goes wrong. That is not something I want to think about. "Here." I say stopping in the middle of the road. Someone bumps into me from my sudden halt. The wall of the city is about 30 feet from us. My eyes move up starring at the large city wall keeping us from the outside world. Keeping us from the cranks and the scorched society. "Where is here?" Thomas mentions confusion in his voice. I turn around to them barely able to see their faces. That's when I point down to the ground at a dark metal circle. A more black color than the road. "Again?" Thomas' tone changes. "Through the sewer again? It was so gross last time." He adds. "Get over it shank." Gally adds as I feel him roll his eyes. "Last time?" Minho questions. "It could be the only way." I state. "How do you know it leads out of the city?" Thomas argues. "Hello? When was last time?" Minho tries again. "Aris and I opened it when we found it. The tunnel leads in that direction." I explain pointing towards the wall enclosing the city, almost as if we're prisoners. "We can't just find another way?" Thomas asks in disgust. "Thomas stop being a baby. Do you know of any other ways out of this shuck city? I didn't think so." Gally argues defending me. Why is he so hesitant to go down there? It can't just be because it's a sewer. "Hey!" Minho shouts while also being quiet and aware of the place we are in. We all look over to him barely able to make out his face. "When was last time?" Minho interrogates more calm this time. We all look at each other. Why is it so awkward? It was when we went into Ava Paige's city to rescue Minho. For some reason... its harder to talk about. "Last year in Ava Paige's city... its how we got in." Gally states. Silence fills the air. The occasional sound of a car from other more busy streets breaks the quiet, but none of us say anything else. "You're sure it leads out?" Thomas speaks interrupting the other noises around us. "No... but it's a start." I say without further explanation. "Well... who's going to make sure it's actually our escape." Minho questions. "I can." Aris volunteers. A bit of surprise is sent through me. "Aris... are you sure? I was just joking earlier. One of us can." Thomas also offers. "Yea I got this." Aris states starting to lift up the circular hatch leading into the tunnel. I look down at my wrist to check time. 11:20. "Well... hurry. It's 11:20, and we should be heading back by 11:30. If you don't see anything in about 5 minutes... come back and we'll try again when we have more time." I suggest as I start to worry a little. "Anyone got a flashlight?" Aris questions as he sets the sewage seal aside. "Here." Thomas answers handing him a small black flash light he probably got from Amanda's penthouse. Aris takes the light and shines it down the tunnel. "Be careful." I say starting to bite at my nails. Aris nods before taking his steps down into the sewage. The four of us remaining sit down around the circle without saying a word.
       I stare down into the hole waiting to see the light from Aris' flashlight. It's been a couple minutes now, and none of us have said anything since he went down. I don't really know why I'm worried. I guess it's letting him go without me or letting him out of my sight. Which I know is silly seeing as he can 100% take care of himself. I just worry about him. I worry about all of us. Knowing what happened last time, and we're in another tight situation like last time... I guess I'm just afraid. "He'll be okay." Gally slightly nudges me with his shoulder. He probable can see the worry in my expression, or even feel it in the air around us. "He's not going very far. Besides, he is capable of taking care of himself." The freckled boy adds to try and cheer me up. "I know." I state without much else to say. They don't need to know I'm afraid... I don't want them to know. I look back at my watch. 11:27. "He should be back by now." I mention feeling cold and jittery. "He'll be back." Thomas reassures, but it doesn't seem to help much. "What if he's hurt. Or what if he ran into cranks." I stress standing up from my criss-cross position. "Y/N... I'm sure he's heading back right now." Minho comforts me by placing his hand on my back. "You don't know that." I say checking my watch again. 11:28. Finally, I see light shining from the tunnel. I take a deep breath relaxing from tensing up. I watch as Aris climbs up from the ladder. "So?" Thomas asks waiting for Aris to confirm our escape route. "She was right." Aris starts. "It leads straight outside the walls. I didn't get a chance to go up the ladder and see what exactly is on the other side, but the tunnel goes about a quarter of a mile past those walls. We might need to take a closer look tomorrow." We all look at each other in a confident, pleased manner. "He's right. If we have to make a fast escape outside the city, I wanna know what's on the other side of that wall." Minho's agreement gives me shivers. Not who's on the other side of the wall... but what. 
       We say our goodbyes to the others as we part ways from the warehouse. It's currently 11:54 as we're standing outside the apartment complex we're staying at. "Aris... you really scared me back there." I admit as he stops to turn in my direction. "Y/N... I'm right here. I'm okay." He assures putting his hand on my shoulder. "I know I know. But I don't know what I would do if I lost you-." I try until he bluntly interrupts me. "Y/N stop. I'm not going anywhere. You don't need to worry. As long as we keep our identities hidden, and we stay on the downlow, everything will be okay." I feel myself begin to tear up at the thought of losing Aris. The one who was there for me from the beginning. The one who always understands. "Aris..." I start. He stares into my eyes with his greenish-blue eyes. "I'm scared." Suddenly, he pulls me into a hug. "Hey... I understand. But just remember that it'll all be okay. You're doing a good thing for the world. It will all pay off in the end." He puts his hand on the back of my head. "Promise?" I question as tears continue to build up in my eyes. "I promise." Relief fills me as he lets go. "Now... let's get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow." Aris reminds me. That's right. Tomorrow, we start working for the city... tomorrow we officially start working for Wicked. I never thought I would say that again. But this time 'round... I know. Wicked will never be good.