SOMEDAY ❖ Thomas (TMR)

Before The Maze [ 7 ]

The Next Morning

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"WHERE THE HELL is Thomas?" The next morning after realizing his absence-Janson roamed the halls of WCKD searching for the missing boy. After almost an hour had passed, he pulled up the collar of his shirt towards his mouth, where he then spoke direct orders to anybody on the intercom.

"Unit one copy? Subject A2 has gone missing, check the halls. Unit two, you check the security cameras. And unit three-get ready to sound the alarm." He ordered, not waiting for a response back.

The most important person for their plan was missing, presumably somewhere in the building but there was no being sure. Janson didn't want to believe that the kid was stupid enough to try to make it out on his own in a world full of cranks and a deadly disease. The more likely option was that he was hiding somewhere on the floor. Since the building went into lock up at night, there was no way he should have been able to access the elevator to get to another level.

Just as Janson was turning the corner, he bumped into somebody else who seemed to also be looking for the boy.

"Teresa, what are you doing out of your room?"

The raven haired girl remained calm, not showing that she was actually panicking about the predicament her lab partner was in. She knew that Thomas had snuck out last night to go see Evony. He had rambled non stop to her about how he got her the most amazing Christmas gift, and that he was so thrilled to celebrate the holiday for the first time since being taken away.

Even though she didn't approve of the relationship, that wasn't going to stop her from attempting to cover their backs. She'd had a few conversations over the years with the girl, and she hadn't given her any reason to hate her. Plus hearing all of the sappy words, and love confessions from Thomas made her seem like a truly wonderful person to be around.

She had witnessed what the doctors do to the test subjects when they act up. It was anything but delicate. She might even call it torture. Once, a boy ran into a guard after they had started back talking at him. Immediately she recognized the boy as Minho, one of the test subjects that were on the rooftop.

There was nothing she could do as the doctors forced him into an enclosed room with one of the newly coded beasts she and Thomas had created. A griever.

Nobody deserved to have to go through that. And she knew that if Evony did happen to get caught with the other brunette boy, that that would be her fate. Or worse, Dr. Paige would come up with another punishment, that surpasses any other level of torture, and give it to Thomas. That, she most definitely didn't want.

"Janson." She nodded curtly, acknowledging him for a split second before trying to move past. However she was soon stopped, as he held out his arm to keep her from walking away.

"Teresa." He repeated, his eyebrows raised. "You wouldn't happen to know where your fellow partner is, would you?" He extended his words. The knowing tone to his voice made Teresa tense.

"No sir, I was just on my way to the lab." She calmly responded, keeping her voice flat and direct.

Janson glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to her slowly. His intercom interrupted his next words. "Unit two copy-there is no record of subject A2 in the hallways."

His lips pressed into a thin line as he clicked the round button to respond. "Thank you unit two," It sounded like he was forcing a cheerful voice. "Unit three, sound the alarm at five."

He turned back towards Teresa, his eyes narrow. "Remember you can tell me anything." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "After all, you are my favorite."