They Don't Own Me

The Gladers waited anxiously for Thomas to return. He hadn't been gone real long, but it felt like ages. Ivy had moved to sit on the floor and lean against one of the beds. Minho was sitting on the bed behind her, his legs on either side of her body as he ran his fingers through her hair to try and calm both Ivy and himself. The others were seated around the room while Newt slowly paced.

Suddenly, the grate shot out from under the bed and Thomas came crawling out, Aris close behind him. Ivy nearly dove to the side to avoid being hit with the metal grate.

"Thomas!" Frypan cried, surprised by his sudden appearance.

"We gotta go," Thomas rushed out. "We gotta go right now." He began rushing around the room in a panicked frenzy.

"What the h*ll are you talking about?" Minho questioned.

"What do you mean, 'We gotta go?'" Newt asked.

"They're coming. Come on. We gotta go. They're coming for us." Thomas ripped a blanket off one of the beds and began tying it through the handle on the door. "Paige. She's still alive."

"What happened in there?" Frypan demanded. "Aris, what happened? What happened?"

"Thomas, can you just calm down and talk to us," Ivy suggested, trying to be calm.

"She's still alive," the boy responded as he kept tying the blanket.

"Who's she? Teresa?" Frypan asked.

"Ava. Ava."

"Ava?" Newt said, confused. "Will you just turn around and talk to us?"

"It's WCKD!" Thomas shouted, spinning around. The room became silent as they all stared at the Greenie. "It's still WCKD. It's always been WCKD."

He hurried across the room and grabbed a mattress, putting it up against the door.

"Thomas," Ivy said, stepping close to him. He looked at her. "What did you see?"

"There's no time to explain. Janson is on his way right now, and if we don't leave, then we're as good as dead."

"Do you know a way out?" Winston questioned.

"Yeah. Follow me."

Thomas hurried away from the door and started crawling back into the air vents. The Gladers exchanged looks before following him. None of them wanted to be there when Janson came for them. They crawled through the vents, keeping a safe distance behind each other but making sure they kept up with Thomas. They eventually came to a section that was large enough for them to walk if they crouched a little. Thomas led them through the vents, soon coming to a large grate. He pushed it open and went out to make sure the hallway was clear.

"Come on, come one!" he said, waving them out. "Okay, let's go."

"You guys go ahead." They looked back to see Aris standing by the air vent. "There's something I gotta do."

"What are you talking about?"

"Trust me, it's important. You guys wanna get outta here, right? Just go."

"I'll go with him," Winston said.

"Okay, Winston, go! Go!" The two disappeared back into the air vents, closing the grate behind them. "Come on," Thomas said, walking fast down the hall.

"You sure we can trust this kid?" Minho questioned as they hurried down the hall.

"You don't want to know where we'd be without him."

The group rounded the corner only to come to a sudden halt. The Gladers tried to calm themselves as they came face to face with Doctor Crawford. The woman took a breath before opening her eyes to look at the group in confusion.