Subject B3 (newt x reader)

Chapter 3

"It must be them. Who else would it be?" Aris says after I tell him about the teens who have their names read out by the Rat Man in the cafeteria, who are supposedly taken away to "their new lives".

"What do we do about it?" I ask him in a hushed voice.

"I'm not sure." He admits. "I need to figure something out first, keep coming back here every night just to see what happens. What we need to do now is get the hell out of here before anyone sees us." With that, the boy turns around and starts crawling back along the vent where we came from.

"Wait, how come you weren't at supper?" I ask as I crawl behind him. "How come we haven't seen you since we've arrived?"

"They've been keeping me to 'run tests on', so I haven't been allowed to any meals- I have everything brought to me. I've tried to persuade them, but they won't budge." He explains as we turn a corner. I feel my arms and knees start to burn from all the crawling.

"I'll tell the girls that you're alright- they've been worried sick." I sigh. Aris stops abruptly at my words, causing me to crash into him.

"Y/N, don't tell them anything." He says, turning his head to look at me. "You can't tell them about this- about what we just saw or seeing me."

"What? Why not?" I protest.

"Just please don't." He says sternly, "it's a lot easier if this is our secret. Alright?"

I open my mouth to argue, but stop myself when he raises his eyebrow at me.

"Fine."

*****
My heart flutters as I scan my eyes across the cafeteria in search of Rat Man, but he's nowhere in sight.

"Hey, you alright?" Gzi asks, nudging me in the ribs. I shift my eyes to her and offer her a false smile.

"Yeah, I'm all good. Just a bit tired." I lie, directing my eyes to the sausages on my plate. In my peripheral vision I see her raise an eyebrow, clearly not believing me, but she doesn't push it.

"Attention, please." A familiar voice suddenly rings out across the room. My head immediately snaps up at the voice, and I see Rat Man standing at the the front of the cafeteria, the same clipboard in hand that he had yesterday.

When did he come in?

"You all know how this works." He sighs, clearly sick of repeating the same instructions every night, so he begins rattling off the list of names.

I lower my head and zone out, not focusing on the names read out as so far I know none of them. But as I take a bite of my potato, the last name on the list makes my head snap up.

"And last but not least, Maria."

My heart feels as if stops beating as I shift my eyes over to the brunette girl sitting across from me.

"Congratulations, Maz!" Sonya cries cheerfully, reaching out and grabbing the bewildered girl's hand. The girls at our table all do the same, offering their congratulations to Maria as a smile breaks out across her face. I'm too stunned to even move as she rises to her feet and walks over to join the group of teens standing by Rat Man, but suddenly realisation kicks into my body.

They're going to take her away to that room I saw last night. In a few hours, she's going to be one of those bodies under the sheets.

Suddenly, I rise to my feet just as the teenagers are lead out of the room, Maria shuffling along at the back of the group as I watch her walk along the corridor through the cafeteria window.

"Y/N, what are you doing? Renee hisses, tugging at my sleeve. "Sit down."

But I ignore her. Shrugging off her grasp, I storm across the cafeteria towards the two guards standing by the doors where Maria just left from. I can feel all eyes of the cafeteria on me as I come face to face with one of the men.

"Can I help you?" He asks sternly, taking a couple of steps forward.

"Where have you taken those kids?" I hiss at him, completely overtaken by adrenaline and anger to be thinking rationally.

"To their new lives." He smirks.

"Don't give me that shit." I retort. "Take me where they're going, now."

The man simply laughs and looks back to his friend, before turning back to me. "As I recall, your name wasn't called. So I suggest you go back to your seat, kid."

But I stand my ground, despite the eerie silence filling the cafeteria as everyone focuses on the two of us.

"Take me there. Now." I repeat, spitting my words.

The man's smile drops from his face as he takes another step forward, his nose only inches from mine.

"Get your ass back in your seat. Now."

I hesitate for a moment, thinking about my next move.

I can't give up on Maria. God knows what will happen to her in that room.

But I take a couple of steps back, holding my hands up in defeat.

"Alright. Fine. I'm going." I say to the guard, turning on my heel to walk back to my table.

I walk a couple of steps forward in the direction of my table, and before I can stop myself, I suddenly spin back around and swing my fist into the face of the now-distracted guard.

My knuckles explode with pain as they make contact with his nose, and I hear a crack as he yells out in agony, stumbling back slightly. I seize the moment of distraction and lean forward, quickly swiping his ID card hanging off his trouser keychain before shoving it into my pocket.

Gasps of shock erupt from the kids as I stumble back myself, grabbing my knuckles. Only a few seconds later, I feel multiple hands grab my shirt from behind and pull me back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Gzi exclaims from beside me, pulling me back.

"What the fuck was that about?" Ava says at the same time, her hand resting on my shoulder in an attempt to hold me back.

I ignore their questions and watch as Janson storms through the door, shoving past the guard clutching his nose. I can see blood seeping through his fingers.

"What the hell is going on here?" Janson demands, face red with fury. He locks eyes with me, and tilts his head slightly. "Y/N, what are you doing? We're all on the same side here, aren't we?"

"Are we?" I snarl back at the man, anger flooding through my veins. He doesn't reply for a moment- just simply breaks out into a smirk.

"Gentlemen, please escort these ladies back to their room."