"I got top!" Minho exclaimed as he rushed to claim his top bed.
After I was brought back to the canteen where I found the boys again, we got picked up by a guard who escorted us to the room where we were going to spend the night.
Winston plopped down on a bottom bed. "I can get used to this," he sighed contently, folding his hands behind his head.
"Yeah, this is not bad," Newt stated. Behind us, the door was locked from the outside, no possibility for us to open it. I shrugged and claimed a bottom bed, giving my back some rest. I had only been pregnant for barely a few weeks but my back was already aching.
"What do you think those guys want with Teresa?" I heard Thomas mutter to Newt.
"I don't know, but I'm sure she can take care of herself." He patted Thomas's back. "The thing you should be worrying about is your pregnant girlfriend over there." I quickly pretended that I hadn't been eavesdropping on their conversation. Newt climbed up the stairs attached to my bed and took the one above me, eyeing Thomas with a smirk.
Thomas sat on the bed beside me. "How are you feeling?" he asked, resting his elbows on his knees.
"Okay, I guess. Apart from the fact that my boyfriend seems to be more interested in some other girl's well being instead of mine," I said in a joking tone. Thomas chuckled. "I'm worried about Teresa, though."
"Yeah, me too," he sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. I sat up and took his hand in mine.
"We'll be fine, okay? We made it out of the Maze and we're still together," I told him assuringly. He smiled softly.
"Yeah, you're right." He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.
That night, Thomas stayed with me and I fell asleep on his chest.
***
I woke up in the middle of the night due to Thomas shifting uncomfortably before getting out of bed, trying not to wake me. He covered my body with a thin blanket and I watched him as he splashed cold water on his face at the sink. He came back minutes later and laid behind me again, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me close.
I soon drifted off to sleep again, it had been the best night of sleep I had had in a while.
I was alone in a dimly lit room.
"I already told you, she's immune. She'll be perfect for the job," I heard a man's voice outside the room. A few seconds of silence. "I don't care that she just got here. She passed every test, even the ones that the others couldn't." I couldn't hear what the other person was saying, but they obviously didn't want me to do this.
A woman entered the room, her face blurry and unrecognizable. She sat opposite of me. "I understand you want to do this?" she asked. I nodded.
"Yes, I was told I could help you find a cure by doing this. I'm willing to do anything," I stated, daring the woman to deny my wishes.
"You do understand that it is very risky, don't you?" she asked.
"Yes, I was informed about the risks and I'm still one hundred percent up for it."
"Very well, then. Let's begin."
My eyelids pulled apart at the realization someone had woken me up. It was Thomas, crouched on the floor beside my head. "Good, you're awake. I need to talk to you."
"Thomas, it's the middle of the night," I spoke in a raspy voice as I propped myself up on my elbows, a knotted strand of crimson hair fell in my face and I brushed it away.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I really need to tell you something." He used the tone he only used when he was absolutely serious.
"Okay, okay." I sat on the edge of the bed.
"Remember that kid from earlier, the one that's been here for almost a week?" he asked and waited for me to nod. "He came here and showed me something. The people getting called every day aren't leaving this place, they're brought to some secluded room," he told me rushedly.
"Whoah, whoah, whoah. What do you mean he came here? I thought the door was locked?" I stopped him from talking. He grabbed my arm and showed me the air vent under the bed.
"You're telling me a random guy we've never met showed you a secluded room through the air vents?" I asked slowly, trying to understand it.
"Not just a secluded room, someone was taken into that room in some sort of incubator or something."
"Who was it?"
"I don't know, I couldn't see their face," he mumbled. I looked at him, not sure whether to believe this story. He could've been dreaming for all I knew. "I know what you're thinking but you have to trust me on this one. Something's wrong with this place," he said as he saw my expression.
"Okay, I believe you," I said. He sighed.
"No, you don't. C'mon." Without waiting for an answer, he crawled under the bed and disappeared into the air vent.
"Thomas!" I hissed, careful not to wake the others. He turned around and placed his index finger on his lips, telling me to shut up and follow him. I rolled my eyes before following him. I crawled through the dusty shaft until we reached another air vent.
I sat beside the vent and pulled my knees to my chest. After a few long minutes of waiting, doctor Crawford walked by and I unconsciously held my breath. She slid her keycard through a scanner and the door opened, granting passage to a stretcher of some kind. A sheet was covering the body lying on it.
The stretcher was pushed inside the room and didn't come out again. We waited until doctor Crawford had left until I spoke up. "Where are they taking them?" I whispered. Thomas shrugged.
"I don't know, Aris didn't either."
"Aris?"
"The kid who showed me." Thomas said and I nodded slowly. "We gotta head back before the others notice we're gone."
I agreed and followed him back to the others. I didn't sleep for the rest of the night as I tried to process what I had seen. I waited until everyone else had woken up before we freshened up one by one. As I was standing by the sink, I felt a wave of nausea coming up and I was just in time to race to the toilet to throw up. I sank down on the floor and caught my breath. A knock on the door woke me from my thoughts.
"Leah, you alright?" I heard Thomas ask.
"I'm fine, I'll be out in a minute," I replied, my voice hoarse from the throwup.
"Take your time. We'll wait," he said.
After I had cleaned up again, I exited the bathroom and walked up to Thomas, who gently stroked my back. A guard was waiting outside, ready to take us to breakfast. To be honest, after throwing up, I wasn't really in the mood to eat.
I sat beside Thomas and absentmindedly ate a few bites off of an apple.
Janson entered the room again and I glanced at Thomas in fear, who just responded by grabbing ahold of my hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
While Janson started calling out different names, Thomas was busy catching everyone up to his discovery.
"You don't know what you saw, it could've been anything," Newt stated.
"I saw bodies, Newt," Thomas protested.
"You just said they were covered up," Minho butted in.
"Yes, but you could clearly see their feet. Listen, I know what I saw."
"How did you find out anyway?" Newt asked, setting down his cup.
"Aris showed me."
"Who is Aris?"
I glanced over my shoulder to show the skinny boy who was inspecting a piece of bread. Newt raised his eyebrow and I sighed. "Look, Thomas showed me too. If someone's name gets called, they get taken to this secluded room and they don't come out again," I stated.
"And last but not least, David." Luckily, none of us got called today.
"Okay, until we know anything for certain, we just have to keep our heads down and try not to draw any attention to us," Newt said and I agreed.
Thomas didn't.