Run With Me ➵ Newt [2]

FOUR | escaping wicked

"Ava," Thomas said. "Ava!"

"Ava?" Newt repeated incredulously. "Will you just turn around and talk to us!"

Thomas whirled around suddenly and burst out, "It's WICKED!"

There was a moment of tense silence as we stared at him, confused and angry, not quite understanding his words.

"It's still WICKED," Thomas muttered, looking around for something. "It's always been WICKED! Rosalind was right - the people here are from WICKED!"

He went over to the nearest bed and dragged the mattress out, slamming it against the door with a heave.

"Thomas." Newt went up to the panting boy and stared at him firmly. Slowly, Thomas' head swiveled around until he was staring directly into Newt's eyes. He looked scared out of his mind, his chest heaving with heavy breaths.

"What did you see?" Newt asked in a low voice.

Thomas gave him a pained look. "You have to trust me," he pleaded, looking desperate now. "Please. Trust me."

Newt regarded him for a long moment. I heard faint footsteps from outside the door. And they sounded like they were heading in our direction.

"Okay," Newt said finally. He turned around to the rest of us. "Come on, everybody get in the vent!"

Aris went first, his small frame disappearing into the wall; then Felix, Minho, then Jack, Winston, Frypan. I went after them, Newt and Thomas right behind me. I heard the latter slam the metal grate shut behind us, sealing us in the vent. I crawled and crawled, sharing the boys' anxiety and panic; if the people here were truly from WICKED, then they have lied to us, manipulated us. We had fallen into their trap again. And the bodies Thomas saw being carted off into the forbidden room - we could be next if we didn't leave right now.

We burst out into an empty corridor, throwing the metal grate aside. We filed out, glancing around us, wondering what to do next.

"Come on, come on, let's go!" Thomas ushered us.

"You guys go ahead, there's something Felix and I gotta do," Aris said.

"What're you talkin' about?" Thomas asked, noticably panicking.

"Trust me, it's important," Aris said. "You guys wanna get outta here, right? Just go!"

Thomas looked like he wanted to argue, but Winston quickly said, "I-I'll go with them."

"I'll go with them too," I volunteered.

"Great, we'll need all the help we can get," Aris said.

"Wha-wait-" Newt perked up, his eyes wide with alarm as his eyes ping-ponged between Aris and me. "Where are you even goin'?"

"She'll be helping us distract the guards and deactivating the alarm," Felix answered.

"I-" Newt sighed, as if knowing that any protests he made would be completely ignored by everyone. "Fine. Just be careful, alright?"