The Defective Soldier || Newt

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟑

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕄𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟

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With five minutes left until six o'clock, part of the group paced around the room, while the others observed.

William sat at the table with Rowan, Henry, and Leen. None of them had the energy, nor the desire, to try to stop the others. They had opted to sit down and stay quiet. Everything was ready beside them: the weapons, the backpacks, even poor handmade bottles of water.

"Do they freak out often?" William asked those around him.

"Sometimes," replied Rowan.

"More Bea and George than Mae and Flor," Henry added.

"Moving around like this . . . it's never happened before. What could have changed WICKED's mind?" Leen wondered out loud.

"Maybe they got bored with their little puppet show." Rowan scoffed sarcastically, clenching her hands together on the table.

"Yeah, maybe."

William got up from the table to go to the bathroom. He found the light switch in the darkness, turned it on, and gave himself the greatest scare of his life. Or, well, as far as he knew, which wasn't much.

Seeing a pair of blue eyes staring directly at him after his dream wasn't at all comforting. But, of course, that was how reflections worked. Although, the near heart attack he almost had while thinking the shadow was right in front of his eyes would surely not make his anxiousness leave him alone any time soon.

He stepped closer to the sink and buried his head under the running water. His short, brown hair fell in front of his eyes, letting him see for himself that the reflection wasn't showing him any tricks. He stopped the flow of water, pulled his hair back, and whipped his face and neck with his sleeve.

"Birdie, it's time!"

Without a second of doubt, William left the bathroom, hauled his backpack over his shoulder, checked that his knife and mask were still in place, and joined the others in front of the door.

"So, what are we supposed to be looking at?" George asked, peeking over Mae's head to the wall the note had said.

"Not sure—" Mae cut herself short as the wall began glowing. "OK, so I'm guessing that's the Flat Trans."

Before anyone could volunteer or step first, Mae raised her hand in the air. She got closer to the wall, reaching out her hand to it slowly until it disappeared.

"Alright," Mae breathed out, turning her head to look at the rest. "Be quick and try not to fall on top of each other."

With those words, she disappeared from everyone's sight. Flor walked through immediately after, closely followed by Rowan. Bea gave one last hug to Leen, who didn't take long to go after her, leaving only the three boys behind.

"Well," William glanced from Henry to George, who couldn't look more scared of walking through the glittering wall. "I guess I should go first. See you on the other side."

The wall engulfed him, seemingly getting brighter as he got closer. He lost his footing after walking through, having to put his hands up front to keep his face from colliding against the tiled floor.

"You fell too, huh?" Bea helped him out as he tried to get up.

"Well, at least now I don't feel like an idiot," he mumbled, accepting the help gladly.

Mae glanced from the glittering wall to William, a barely audible sigh escaping her lips. "I should have made them go first."

"You don't think they'll stay behind, right?" Flor said, her tone not hiding her fear at all.