𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦, thomas (tmr)

Chapter Thirty Two

Racing through the vents back to Thomas' room felt like a fever dream. The boy was going so quickly that Clara was forced to forget everything and just move in order to keep up.

She followed him back into his room, climbing out of the vents quickly to meet the concerned faces of her other friends. Instead of explaining a single thing to any of them, Thomas was already frantically pacing about the room and Clara felt tasked to try and say something to calm his worry.

But they had been captured by WCKD again, he should be worried.

"What the bloody hell is going on?"

Frypan's hand came to a rest on Clara's shoulder, gently asking her if she was okay. She felt bad brushing off his concern, but she was so distracted by Thomas' franticness that she had to.

"Thomas, can you just stop?"

It was after a few pleads from the group watching Thomas that the boy actually stopped. He was breathing heavily, frustrated tears visible for only a second before he blinked them away.

"Tell us what happened." Newt demanded firmly, and looking at him now, Clara could tell he was getting angry.

"Ava's still alive."

"Ava?"

"Ava Paige." Clara confirmed, her voice thick with annoyance. She wanted to laugh at how stupid it all was, how naïve they had been in trusting Janson. "It's WCKD. This place, it's WCKD. Always has been."

Thomas took the opportunity of ripping the sheets from one of the bunk beds, racing over to the door to loop it across the handle and make it more difficult for anyone to get to them. After all, they were the first targets.

As the others tried to process what they had been told - the fact Ava wasn't really dead and they were still in WCKD's clutches - Clara helped lug the mattress from the bunk bed and set it up against the door. It would act as a small buffer; slowing down WCKD from capturing them.

"We need to go now. The moment they get here, we're screwed. And if they go to my room first, see I'm gone," Clara shrugged, her hands falling from the mattress once sure that it was steady. "They'll know something's up."

"Where are we gonna go?" Minho asked, eyes flickering between her and Thomas.

It was clear that the two of them were navigating the group more strongly, with Clara happily letting Thomas guide everyone before giving her own - if any - input. She trusted Thomas' judgement and his ability to lead them in the right direction. It had worked well so far.

"It doesn't matter where we go right now, as long as we're away from here. We can worry about specifics once we're out."

Thomas answered tiredly, clearly conflicted in being the one people turned to for advice like this. But when he looked at Clara who was smiling at him so softly, encouraging his confidence, he felt so much more sure about it all.

"Okay." Newt relented, his hand tangled in his blonde hair. "We should go out the vents now. We don't have time to waste."

Only a few words were shared between the group as they crawled through the vents, following Aris, who seemed to be far more knowledgeable on the facility and the location of everything. Somehow, Clara didn't find much difficulty in putting her trust in the boy. When she considered the similarity of what they had both been through, and what they had just discovered, it seemed like a no-brainer.

Once they were at the end of the vents, Aris beckoned them all out before looking towards the series of small metal corridors again. The look on his face was hard to read; it was unclear whether he was trying to decide on going back inside, or if he was figuring out a way to escape.