Deadly Atmosphere | Aris Jones [3]

11 || Inside the Lion's Den

Gearing up for our new rescue mission made me more nervous than ever before. I could feel my adrenaline pumping and my heart beating fast. I knew with our second round of saving Minho and Lillie that there was no room for any more mistakes. This time, we only had one shot, and it was most likely our last one. But this time, we'd get them back.

Still, what if we didn't? Then what?

"Piper, you ready?" Sonya asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah." I sighed, adjusting my belt.

"Hey," Beth called out my way, handing me a gun. "I'm pretty sure you'll need this."

I looked at the gun, then back at Beth. "Thanks."

Thomas came in and scanned his eyes on all of us. "Are we all ready to go?" When we nodded our heads, he did the same. "Good. Let's get in our positions."

Sonya and Beth headed out while Thomas and I went to get Aris and Teresa. "You sure about this plan, Thomas?" I questioned.

He didn't look my way, but his expression was uneasy. "We can only be sure this time if we want to get this right."

"Are you scared?"

Thomas' face remained the same. "Sort of."

I exhaled. "Me, too."

We approached Aris and Teresa, who handed us our masks for our WICKED soldier uniform. "We don't have much time," Teresa told us.

"Well, let's get going, then." Thomas motioned for her and Aris to take the lead while we followed behind on either side of them.

Once we got outside, the walk remained quiet. Tensions were still high among all of us, which made the walk a bit awkward. Nevertheless, we had to keep going, pushing all of our feelings aside. I was certain all of us realized that by now.

When the main WICKED building was within eyesight, I held my breath for a brief moment, trying to remain calm. The shaky feeling from my hand wouldn't escape me. Coming back to WICKED, where we could easily get caught, gave me an uneasy feeling. But once we entered inside with no problem, I felt more at ease and confident that this plan would actually work. Then again, this was the easy part. Everything else after this was about to get more difficult and more tricky. I was hoping that it would all go according to plan.

Wishful thinking, I supposed.

"Don't stop. Keep moving," Thomas ordered Aris and Teresa.

They couldn't help but look worried, yet still annoyed at who they were taking order from. Still, they had no choice. Thomas was in charge now, so he was determined to get our friends back. None of us blamed him, because we were right there to stand by his side and fight, even if that meant losing Aris and Teresa.

I hoped that didn't happen.

When we approached a soldier in red, feeling relieved that it was only Newt, given by his motion to follow him. With Aris and Teresa in between us, we headed down to the bottom floor, with two more soldiers, supposed to be Gally and Maeve, joining us.

Our next stop was in the stairwell. Before we could get far, Gally stopped us. "Hold on." He looked at the box and wires connected to the wall for a second, then stated, "I can get in here."

"Stay there. Throw me a walkie," Thomas told him, which Gally obliged.

We all took off our masks as Thomas headed farther down the stairs without us. But our main concern was Newt, who looked worse than before as he coughed and wiped the sweat off his forehead while Gally went on with a drill in hand.