Run With Me ➵ Newt [2]

THREE | attracting attention

"Whoaa, hang on," the guard in front said, pushing him back with one hand, the other gripping his gun. "You weren't called."

"Man, I'm just going to be a second..."

The guard pushed him back again. "This is a restricted area, kid."

Thomas stared at him, looking desperate now. "I just wanna see my friend, can you let me through?"

The guard tapped his chest firmly with a finger. "Get your ass back on your chair," he said, his voice dangerously low.

Thomas regarded him for another moment. Then without warning he threw himself at the guard, trying to get past him, but the man was too strong for him. He threw Thomas off and yelled, "Back off!"

My friends and I sprinted towards them as Thomas and the guard shoved each other, their yells echoeing through the now quiet room as the other kids watched us. We held Thomas back, trying to calm everyone down as the guard continued shouting at Thomas.

"Control your friend!" He barked at us, just as Janson arrived.

"What's happening here?" Janson demanded. He glanced at the guard and back to us. "Thomas," he said with a strained voice. "I thought we could trust each other."

He placed a hand on his shoulder, clearly trying to calm the boy down. "You know we're all on the same team here."

"Are we?" Thomas said, his eyes flaring up with arrogant anger.

Janson regarded him for a little longer than necessary, a pleasant but dangerous smile lingering on his face. 

"Get them to their bunks," he ordered the guards, his eyes never leaving Thomas.

We were dragged and pushed down the corridor that led to our rooms despite our string of protests. The guards opened the doors and shoved us inside, not caring if we stumbled or tripped over ourselves, then they shut the doors and left. I opened the door that linked my room to the boys' and marched up to Thomas.

"What the hell was that about?" I demanded him. "We just got sent to bed early by freaking Rat Man."

"You didn't really think they would let you through?" Newt said, looking quite annoyed.

"No, of course I didn't." As we stared at him, confused, Thomas reached around in his pocket and pulled out a card. As he held it up to show us, I realised it was the security card that Janson and the guards used to open doors around the building.

"I'm gonna find out what's on the other side of that door," Thomas said firmly.

Newt gave him an 'are you kidding me' expression.

"Newt, they're hiding something," Thomas insisted. "Okay? These people are not who they say they are."

"No, Thomas, you don't know that!" Newt said, stepping towards him angrily. "The only thing that we do know is that they help rescue us from WICKED. They gave us new clothes, they gave us food, they gave us a proper bed."

Newt paused, sadness flashing through his eyes. "Some of us haven't had that in a long time."

"Yeah, but-"

"Some of us a lot longer than others."

"For once, I think I'm with Thomas," I said quietly. 

Newt's blinked at me, almost as if he was trying to process my words.

"Look," I said uncomfortably, "something is up with these people. When the doctors healed my shoulder, they acted really suspicious when I asked them anything. And the doctor that injected those nutrients in me, I recognize him. He was the very same doctor that sent me into the Maze back in WICKED headquarters. What on earth is a WICKED doctor doing here? You can't tell me this whole thing isn't weird."

Before anyone could respond, there was the screeching sound of metal scratching against metal and a grate slid along the floor from underneath one of the beds. The hoodie boy - Aris, if I remembered right - crawled out and dusted his clothes. Another boy crawled out form underneath the bed and we all stared as the tall boy with wavy hair went over to Aris' side.

"Hey, Thomas," Aris greeted, breathing heavily.

"What the..." Frypan muttered beside me.

"You got the card?" Aris asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Thomas pocketed the card and bent down to Aris' level, ignoring our stunned and confused expressions.

"Alright, look," he said to us, already crawling under the bed. "Maybe you guys are right - maybe I'm just being paranoid. But I gotta find out for sure. Just cover for me. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Felix, stay here with them just in case they try to follow us," Aris told the tall boy, gesturing towards us.

Felix nodded, and Thomas crawled out of sight into the ventilation tunnel in the wall under the bed. Just like that, he was gone.

[ END OF CHAPTER THREE ]

istg this chapter is so boring skfjj

i promise you the next chapter has a lot more action going on

and im rlly sorry i havent been active lately theres still 3 weeks till my exams are finally over and i cant wait 😭😭 its at this point where i feel like yeeting myself out a window

once my exams are over i will do my best to catch up on updates that i missed :)