A Lovers Journey (Newt x Reader ~ Sequel to Him)

Chapter 4: "It's Always Been WICKED"

Aris lead me through the vents, reminding me to be quiet every once in awhile. But eventually, we crawled through our last vent and into a large room. Bunkbeds lined two of the walls, there was a section with a sink and towels, and some benches lined down the middle of it all.

"It's not much, but it works." Aris says while sitting down on one of the benches, and I scan the room once more to see if there were any signs of other people staying here. But there's none.

"How come you have this room all to yourself?" I ask while moving to sit across from him, placing myself on the bottom of a bunkbed.

"Well, when my friends and I first arrived here they were unsure about this place, it's like they had this sixth sense and could tell that something was wrong. They wanted to leave at the first chance they got, and even though they begged me to go with them, I couldn't. At the time, I didn't understand what got them so worried about this place and I chose to stay. They promised that they would come back for me and that they would save me and all of the others from this horrible place. But so far, it's been a week, and nothing has happened."

I felt bad for Aris, but who wouldn't? He's been alone for a week now with no one to talk to or hangout with. He's just been alone, trying to figure out the mysteries of this place by himself. He's been doing all of this for his friends just so he could escape and see them again.

"I'm so sorry, Aris. I can't even imagine what you've been going through." Aris looks down to his shoes for a moment, and then he looks back up with a reassuring smile.

"It's nothing to worry about, Y/n. I'll see my friends again sometime, but now we just have to focus on escaping." I nod my head and watch as Aris stands up, he moves across the room and climbs to the top of a bunkbed.

"Get some sleep, I can tell that you need it!" Aris whisper-yells from the top of his bunk, and I roll my eyes in return. He could clearly use some sleep as well.

~ ~ ~

I've been stuck in this room for who knows how long, just watching the door for any signs of someone trying to enter. Aris had left earlier that morning, and told me to hide in the vents under one of the beds.

It's like WICKED would want us to escape just so they could hunt us down and capture us again. All of it was just bullshit, WICKED is definitely bullshit. But honestly, I cannot stand one more minute of being alone in this room, having nothing-

The vent suddenly flies out from under the bed, and Aris soon follows it. "You ready?" He asks, and I look at him confused. "Ready? For what?" He rolls his eyes in return, "we're going to get Thomas and find out where WICKED is taking these people."

"People? What people? Aris, I-" He cuts me off, "I keep forgetting you haven't been in the cafeteria, but just come on. I'll show you what I'm talking about!" Aris crawls back through the vent and I have no choice but to follow him. Honestly, what did I get myself into?

The crawl to the Gladers room was shorter than I expected, but Aris stops me right before we turn the corner to their vent. "Wait here, okay? This needs to be quick." I didn't even attempt to argue with Aris, it was clear that he was in a rush and I didn't want to bother him anymore.

As Aris comes crawling back through the vent, he motions for me to go ahead and move to the larger part of the ventilation system, where we didn't have to crawl and there would be room. "Aris? Who's that ahead of us?" Thomas asks from the back of the group, and I have to hold in my laugh while Aris answers, "A friend, now hurry up!"

I go ahead and stop in a crouch, facing the passageway that Aris and Thomas are coming out of, Aris would need to lead us anyway. I watch as Thomas moves from a crawl to a crouch, his eyes immediately widening as he realizes it's me in the dark vents.