A day had passed since the group had came to the building, and Thomas was determined to find out the secrets they were keeping from them, especially after what Aris had shown him the night before while everyone else was currently asleep. The cafeteria was crowded like it had been the day before, teenagers listening carefully as Janson was, once again, calling out names to the people inside of the room. Like usual, guards stood around to keep an eye on the many teenagers all around, making sure they weren't gonna do anything that they didn't like and would get punished for it.

At their table, Thomas had his elbows resting on the table as he glared right at the doors. The others sat around him while they listened to Janson's voice, slight cheers being heard from the people that were being called up as they high-fived their group of friends before moving to the front of the cafeteria. Just earlier, Thomas had told his group of friends what he had witnessed in the vents with Aris and he could see that all of them weren't sure about it, thinking he must've just been on edge since Y/n wasn't by his side and it was a new place all together.

"I wanna know what's through that door." Thomas grumbles, making them all look at him.

Newt sighs. "Now, we've been over this. You said they were covered up, so you don't know what you saw. It could've been anything under there."

"I know exactly what I saw. They were bodies." Thomas fires back. "Aris said they bring in a new batch every night."

Minho furrows his brows. "Who the hell is Aris?"

Thomas doesn't reply with words, only looking in the direction of where Aris was sitting. The others follow his gaze, eyes locking on Aris' figure as they watched the boy look at his food weirdly, not eating it like everyone else was.

"Well..." Minho begins, looking back at him. "...I'm sold."

"And last but not least, David." Janson announces as he begins to walk out. "Thank you for your attention. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

"Okay, until we know anything for certain, we should just keep our heads down and try not to draw attention to ourselves, alright?" Newt tells the brunette.

However, Thomas found himself ignoring everything he had just said as he slams his hands on the table while rising to his feet, speed walking towards the doors. From his spot by himself, Aris had been watching with wide eyes like Thomas' friends were also doing. Thomas kept his gaze down, hoping to blend in with the group that were picked but when he was so close to the doors, the guard from the day before pushed him back.

"Hang on. You weren't called." The guard points out.

"I know, I'm just gonna be a second." Thomas informs while stepping forward again.

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

"I just wanna see my girlfriend." Thomas admits with a sigh. "Can you let me through?"

The guard places a finger on his chest harshly. "Get your ass back in that chair."

This had the boy sighing, slowly turning around to show that he'd do what they said. All of a sudden, however, Thomas was spinning back around and lunging towards the doors in hopes of getting by but the guards had grabbed ahold of him and shoved him back. This only angered Thomas as he shoved the guard, shouting loudly while his friends rushed over, holding the brunette back.

"Why won't you let me see her?" Thomas shouts.

Janson pushes through the guards. "What's happening here?"

All of them quieted down as people from the tables stared at the group of teenagers with curious eyes, wondering why they were all shouting. As he stood in between the teenagers and the guards, Janson looked between them all before looking to the one who had started this, placing a hand on Thomas' shoulder.

"Thomas? I told Y/n this, and now I'm telling you. We can trust each other. You know we're all on the same team here." Janson assures, looking into the boy's eyes.

Thomas raises a brow, jaw clenching when he said his girlfriend's name. "Are we?"

Janson smirks, dropping his arm. "Get them to their bunks."

Next thing the group of boys knew, they were being led out of the cafeteria and in the direction of their dorm. When the door to the room opened up, all of them were being shoved inside until the door closed with a click, locking them in. Moving their gazes away from the door, the groups eyes all moved to Thomas, annoyance and confusion in them.

"What the hell was that about?" Minho questions.

"You didn't really think they were just gonna let you through?" Newt adds in question.

"No, of course I didn't." Thomas replies as he digs into his pocket before holding up a keycard, making them all sigh. "I'm gonna find out what's on the other side of that door. They're hiding something. Okay? These people are not who they say they are."

Newt shakes his head. "No, Thomas, you don't know that! The only thing that we do know if that they helped rescue us from WICKED. They gave us new clothes. They gave us food. They gave us a proper bed. Some of us haven't had that in a long time."

"Yeah, but--" Thomas starts.

"Some of us a lot longer than others." Newt interrupts in a firm tone.

Before any of them could say anything else, the sound of rustling underneath Thomas' bed had them all looking down to see the vent door being pushed out from beneath the bed, followed by Aris' head as he looked towards Thomas. The older boy held up the card when Aris asked him about it, moving down to crawl underneath when Aris had moved back into the vent. The group followed behind Thomas after murmuring questions about Aris to each other.

"Alright, look, maybe you guys are right. Maybe I'm just being paranoid." Thomas tells them, moving onto the floor. "But I gotta find out for sure. Just cover for me. I'll be back as soon as I can."

And with that, he was moving towards the vent before his friends could say anything, leaving them to crouch around his bed. The two boys were crawling through the vents quickly until they stopped at the spot they were in last night. Seeing no one was around in the hallway, Thomas opened up the vent, quietly hopping down until his feet touched the floor with Aris right behind him while Thomas checked either sides to make sure no one was about to walk out and see the two teenagers out of their dorms or the cafeteria.

Aris closed the vent so no one would be suspicious if they saw it open while Thomas moved to the door, opening it up with the keycard. The boys were slowly walking inside, glancing around to see hazmat suits and white lab coats hanging off the walls. Thomas' gaze stops on the window beside him, eyes widening at the large familiar creatures in tubes full of water, all crunched up together and looking a lot smaller than they were the last time he had seen them in the maze.

They were grievers.

Slowly, he tears his shocked gaze away from them and ventures towards the other pairs of doors with Aris beside him. However, his shocked eyes didn't fade when they saw what was on the other side of the doors. Bodies were dangling above the floor, wires connected to them. These were the people that would be called out back in the cafeteria. As they looked around, Thomas' eyes land on a girl dangling with h/c hair, making him fear the worse as he rushed over as quietly, yet quickly as he could.

When he stopped in front of the girl, he brought a shaky hand up and moved a bit of hair out of the way, feeling relief fill him when he didn't see that it was Y/n. Noticing a girl dangling beside the one he was standing in front of with darker hair, he moved over and moved her long hair out of the way to see if it was Teresa or not. Once again, he felt relief fill him when he saw that it wasn't one of his friends. He didn't notice Aris coming up beside him, his eyes on the darker haired girl with regret in his eyes.

"It's Rachel." Aris blurts out. "They took her the first night. I told her it was gonna be okay."

Just then, noises coming from the doors had them looking over just in time for the doors to open. Becoming frantic, the boys were rushing behind the pillars to hide behind as the people walked down the aisle. Thomas clenched his jaw when he heard Janson's voice, moving to the other side of the pillar when they went to walk right by him, peaking over as both him and Aris watched the two men walk down the aisle, showing that they didn't notice the two hiding inside the room.

They watched as Janson and the man beside him stopped at the end of room, a large screen appearing, followed by an all too familiar face appearing as a hologram that was no doubt live as the woman seemed to wanna call the man in front of her. Ava Paige, the woman Thomas thought had died after she had shot herself, had been sitting at a desk in the place where she currently was, making Thomas wonder how far she was from where they were. The woman in all white could be seen looking at some papers, even if she was aware she was taking a call with Janson right now.

"Good evening, Doctor Paige." Janson greets. "Lovely to see you again. Although I admit, I wasn't expecting to hear from you quite so soon."

"Change of plans, Janson. I'll be arriving a little sooner than expected. First thing tomorrow." Ava announces, rising up to her feet and walking around her desk.

"We'll be delighted to have you. I think you'll be pleased with the progress we've made." Janson tells her, a hologram of a brain appearing on the screen. "As you can see, early results have been extremely promising. Whatever it is you've been doing to them in there, it's working."

Ava shakes her head. "Not well enough. I just received board approval. I want all the remaining subjects sedated and prepped for harvest by the time I arrive."

"Doctor Paige, we are going as fast as we can." Janson states. "We are still running tests--"

"Try something faster." Ava demands, interrupting him. "Until I can guarantee their security, this is the best plan."

"Ma'am, security is my job. We're on twenty-four lockdown here. I am assuring you, the assets are secure." Janson assures.

Ava raises a brow. "Have you found the Right Arm?"

"Not yet." Janson admits, making her hum. "We tracked them as far as the mountains."

"So they're still out there. And they've already hit two of our installations." Ava reminds, causing Thomas and Aris to exchange a glance. "They want these kids as badly as we do. And I cannot... I cannot afford another loss. Not now, when I am so close to a cure. If you are not up to the task, I will find someone who is."

"That won't be necessary." Janson replies, holding back a sigh. "Might I suggest we start with the most recent arrivals."

"Just get it done." Ava commands, to which Janson turns around to walk off. "Janson. I don't want them to feel any pain."

Janson calmly smiles. "They won't feel a thing."

And with that, he turns around and walks off as the man with him ends the call. Hiding behind the pillar, Thomas felt himself panic as he repeats the suggestion Janson had made in his head. He had to get to his friends. That was how he found himself frantically crawling through the vents and in the direction to his dorm with Aris right behind him. Meanwhile, back inside the room, the group of boys found themselves waiting for Thomas to come back to see what he had found.

Suddenly, the door part of the vent was pushed out from under the bed and Thomas was crawling out, causing them all to crowd him as he rushed to his feet. Thomas ignored their questions, only telling them they had to go as he grabbed one of the mattresses of the bed, taking the sheet off of it as he tied it around the handle of the door. All their panicked voices could be heard as the boys looked between Thomas and Aris, wondering what they had exactly seen in the room.

"Thomas, can you just calm down and talk to us." Newt demands.

"She's still alive." Thomas ushers out, focusing on tying the sheet.

Frypan furrows his brows. "Who's she? Teresa? Y/n?"

"Ava." Thomas replies.

"Ava?" Newt repeats in question. "Will you just turn around and talk to us?"

"It's WICKED!" Thomas blurts out, making them freeze. "It's still WICKED. It's always been WICKED."

The group of teenage boys felt their bodies freeze and tense as they stared at their friend with wide eyes. They thought they had escaped... but they never had. Thomas rushed back to the bed, grabbing ahold of the mattress and moving it as he slams it against the door while they continued to stand there in shock. It was then that Newt thought of the question he had been wondering eve since Thomas had came back.

"Thomas." Newt calls as he places his hand on the boy's shoulder, causing Thomas to look at him. "What did you see?"