The Next Morning
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"WHERE THE HELL is Thomas?" The next morning after realizing his absence-Janson roamed the halls of WCKD searching for the missing boy. After almost an hour had passed, he pulled up the collar of his shirt towards his mouth, where he then spoke direct orders to anybody on the intercom.
"Unit one copy? Subject A2 has gone missing, check the halls. Unit two, you check the security cameras. And unit three-get ready to sound the alarm." He ordered, not waiting for a response back.
The most important person for their plan was missing, presumably somewhere in the building but there was no being sure. Janson didn't want to believe that the kid was stupid enough to try to make it out on his own in a world full of cranks and a deadly disease. The more likely option was that he was hiding somewhere on the floor. Since the building went into lock up at night, there was no way he should have been able to access the elevator to get to another level.
Just as Janson was turning the corner, he bumped into somebody else who seemed to also be looking for the boy.
"Teresa, what are you doing out of your room?"
The raven haired girl remained calm, not showing that she was actually panicking about the predicament her lab partner was in. She knew that Thomas had snuck out last night to go see Evony. He had rambled non stop to her about how he got her the most amazing Christmas gift, and that he was so thrilled to celebrate the holiday for the first time since being taken away.
Even though she didn't approve of the relationship, that wasn't going to stop her from attempting to cover their backs. She'd had a few conversations over the years with the girl, and she hadn't given her any reason to hate her. Plus hearing all of the sappy words, and love confessions from Thomas made her seem like a truly wonderful person to be around.
She had witnessed what the doctors do to the test subjects when they act up. It was anything but delicate. She might even call it torture. Once, a boy ran into a guard after they had started back talking at him. Immediately she recognized the boy as Minho, one of the test subjects that were on the rooftop.
There was nothing she could do as the doctors forced him into an enclosed room with one of the newly coded beasts she and Thomas had created. A griever.
Nobody deserved to have to go through that. And she knew that if Evony did happen to get caught with the other brunette boy, that that would be her fate. Or worse, Dr. Paige would come up with another punishment, that surpasses any other level of torture, and give it to Thomas. That, she most definitely didn't want.
"Janson." She nodded curtly, acknowledging him for a split second before trying to move past. However she was soon stopped, as he held out his arm to keep her from walking away.
"Teresa." He repeated, his eyebrows raised. "You wouldn't happen to know where your fellow partner is, would you?" He extended his words. The knowing tone to his voice made Teresa tense.
"No sir, I was just on my way to the lab." She calmly responded, keeping her voice flat and direct.
Janson glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to her slowly. His intercom interrupted his next words. "Unit two copy-there is no record of subject A2 in the hallways."
His lips pressed into a thin line as he clicked the round button to respond. "Thank you unit two," It sounded like he was forcing a cheerful voice. "Unit three, sound the alarm at five."
He turned back towards Teresa, his eyes narrow. "Remember you can tell me anything." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "After all, you are my favorite."
She nodded nonchalantly.
"Good, then if my suspicions are correct, you have some information to share with us Ms Agnes."
There were two ways she could answer. Either she continued to cover for her friend and his crush, or she took the professional route. The route she was being trusted to follow.
"...I actually do."
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A blaring alarm jolted both teens awake.
Thomas shot up from where he was laying on the ground, pulling Evony up with him. Since the two had spent the night in the closet, she was still clinging to him as they sat up.
Out of instinct her hands went immediately to her ears, Thomas' also following in the same manner only seconds later. She had only heard this alarm one other time over the years, and that was for a reason she didn't know.
"What's going on?" She mouthed to him, and proceeded to unravel herself from his grasp. She didn't didn't get far though because his grip soon tightened on her and forced her back into his chest.
He held her close, one of his hands tangled in her hair while the other one rested on the small of her back. "I'm going to go, you stay here." The words tingling against her ear, his warm breath making her heart skip a beat.
She recoiled away almost instantly, pulling out of his grasp before he could get another hold on her.
"No." Denied Evony, "You can't go out there."
Her eyes scanned his face, looking for any type of reconsideration, but she found none. In its place a solemn expression took over his features. His pupils, filled with love and guilt-studied her own which were pleading for him to change his mind.
"The alarm is for me, if I go out it will stop. "
"Are you forgetting about the part where you'll get caught?" She pointed out.
"Rather me than you." Then he stood up, swinging the closet door open and shut in less than a second. Evony followed right after him, not minding the fact that she could get exposed herself. Like he had said 'rather me than you'-for her that went both ways. She would most definitely rather herself get a punishment over him.
"Thomas!" She raced after him, gripping his shoulder. The boy spun around, fear prominent in his whiskey eyes. For a split second she was worried he would yell at her to turn around. To head back to the closet and hide. But he didn't.
Lacing their fingers pulled her along as he ran down the hallways of WCKD. Several white washed walls and faded glass rooms blurred past her as she sprinted in every direction. She was putting her trust in Thomas to lead them somewhere safe-wherever that may be.
"Left!" He shouted and quickly swerved his body, Evony following in suit. The two came to an intersection. With a quick glance she caught the sight of a figure charging down the middle hallway.
Thomas' grip tightened. "Right Right Right!"
Evony obliged, but still peered back to see if the mystery person was on their tail. He was. And he as in Janson. She panicked.
"He's behind us!"
"He?" The brunette shouted back.
"Ratman!"
"Oh shit!"
The two were running faster than ever before. There had never been a reason that she needed to run this fast. Never something that was chasing her and putting her in a life or death situation. Hopefully she would never have to do something like this ever again.
Thomas pulled them into an intersection, him deciding on which route would be the best. Looking back, Evony knew that Janson was getting closer, and if they didn't make a decision soon he was going to catch up.
However it didn't matter, because they didn't have a choice. Two guards appeared at the end of one of the hallways, and at the other one stood a woman. Dr. Paige. Clipboard in hand she strutted over to them, another set of guards and their guns following behind her.
They were cornered.
"Well, well, well." Janson clapped along with his words. He shifted his gaze between the two of them, a smug smile appearing on his face. "This is surely a pairing I wouldn't have expected."
Thomas stepped in front of her, shielding her body with his. "This isn't what it looks like." He maintained, slowly backing the two of them up. His fingers reached behind wiggling themselves as an invitation for her to grab them. She did so, letting their hands intertwine.
Still not moving from his position in front of her, he tried to reason with the adults. "Janson." He greeted and motioned to behind him. "Evony this is Janson, Janson this is-"
"Im aware of who she is Thomas." The rat man interrupted. His eyes narrowed past her human shield to her own. The glare was harsh, cold, like a sheet of ice that couldn't be broken. She returned it with the same amount of intensity.
Even though it was stupid, Evony released his hands and pushed Thomas behind her. His hands attempted to grip her waist in hopes of shoving her back behind, but she had already stepped several feet out of his range. So instead he met her at the side, the two of them latching onto each other's hands once more.
She scanned the room. One person in front of her. Three to her left. And two to her right. There would be no way they would be able to get past no matter what hallway they tried.
"You want to explain why you're accompanied by a test subject Thomas?" Janson interrogated.
Doctor Paige coughed, "Janson, she's right there."
Obviously they hadn't wanted her to know. Obviously it was meant to be kept a secret. Test subject? Why was she a test subject? She didn't want to be a test subject. From the comic books she'd read, test subjects usually ended up either dead or with some weird malfunction to them. What were they planning to do to her?
Then came the next question.
Did Thomas know?
She looked over at him to meet his grieving gaze. Guilt and pain prominently laced through his features. His eyes dropped to the ground as he began to twirl his thumbs. He was nervous.
So he did know.
She couldn't worry about that right now.
"I was lost, he was helping me find my way back to the common room." She lied.
Janson laughed knowingly. "That's why you were running like your life depended on it?"
"Well you were chasing us." Evony replied, but it came out more as a question. Not breaking eye contact, she watched as his gaze dropped down to where her and Thomas's hands were tightly linked. At this, she felt her own palm begin to clam up, and readjusted her grip in hopes the boy next to her wouldn't notice.
"You two are very touchy for just meeting."
She gulped. Next to her she felt Thomas tense. "Well you see," He started, "Evs here happens to be a very physical person, and who am I to say no to a pretty girl when she asks to hold my hand?"
If Evony had a book to wack on his head, she would be using it to beat the living crap out of him. Was he aware of how much was wrong with the sentence he just spoke? For one-physical. Thank you Thomas for that very detailed description that totally doesn't sound sexual at all. Second-Evs. Yes, she loved that nickname. It was special to her because it was only him who said it. But, that's speaking. You don't give people nicknames when you meet them that day. At least she didn't. Therefore his explanation made zero sense.
She could tell that Janson was having somewhat of the same thought process as herself. Although, it was Dr Paige who spoke up.
"Thomas, Evony," She nodded, taking her place next to her coworker. Ratman stifferend at the sudden presence next to him. He was obviously not a people person.
The woman exhaled a breath she must've been holding. "I know you kids probably didn't mean harm," She turned her head toward the younger boy. "But, even you Thomas know that you're not supposed to see anybody outside of your level."
"Evony is on the level, she stays across the floor in another room." Thomas declared assertively. She didn't think that they were still pretending to not know each other at this point. He would've given it away just then by saying he knows where she lives. Her theory was then further proven when he dropped her hand, and replaced the gesture by tightly gripping her waist. With a firm grip on her, he was able to pull her into his side. He hugged her close, sending a message to everybody in the room that nobody was allowed to hurt her.
Janson ran a hand through his hair, clearly stressed about the current situation. Evony was also reciprocating the feeling. Her hands shook from the anxiety beginning to bubble up in her chest, and a faint line of sweat glistened along her forehead from all of the running.
"Well isn't this just romantic?" Janson rolled his eyes. With a flick of the hand he motioned for the guards to grab them. "Take them to the interrogation room."
And with that-he was gone.
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