𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 {𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐭 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫}

twenty five: the vents

My head was racing as I just stood and watched the others fight. They weren't actually angry; they were just scared.

The only thing that snapped them out of it was Thomas reappearing from the vent with a boy I didn't recognise following closely behind. "Thomas!" The boy was manic, running around spewing words no one could decipher in his state.

"We have to go! We have to get out. NOW." He was so panicked that it made everyone else even more scared than before. Newt desperately tried to calm the boy down as the others rushed to get answers from me. I wasn't listening to what they were saying as I was too focused on figuring out what to do next.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"They're coming. Come on. We gotta go." Thomas was running around frantically, grabbing whatever he could in his path. Newt looked at me confused as I had an idea.

I ran over to one of the beds and grabbed the thin sheet on top of it. "Y/n? What are you doing?" Minho asked as he looked at me with concern and fright.

"Come on, we haven't got time for this." I bolted my way over to the door and tied the sheet around the handle to secure it. I then ran back over to the bed as I began pushing it closer to the door. "Are you going to help me or not?" I shouted at the others as they all ran to the bunk bed and started to help.

"She's still alive." Thomas was whispering to himself, almost like he was just trying to process the information. "Who's she? Teresa?" Newt put his hand on Thomas to try to calm him down as the boy stared down at the floor.

"Ava."

"Ava?" Shit. Ava Paige. How though? How did she survive?

Newt's frustration took over as he grabbed hold of the boy. "Will you just turn around and talk to us?" Thomas also lost control of his temper as he spun around to face the group.

"It's Wicked! It's always been Wicked."

Everyone's faces dropped as my voice grabbed their attention. "He's right. It's been them this whole time. We have to go."

Everyone turned to face me once more as Newt just nodded, finally accepting the news. "What's the plan then?" He moved slightly closer to me, as his demeanour softened.

"The vents. Go, now, everyone move!" I turned my eyes away from Newt to yell at the others as they all immediately followed orders and bolted towards the vent. Thomas began ushering them in as he turned back to me. "Y/n, your face?" He referenced the still bleeding cut on my cheek as I shot him a look.

"Not the time, we've got to go now." He nodded while giving Newt a concerned smile as he ducked into the vent.

The boy turned to me but before I gave him a chance to speak, I grabbed his wrist and pulled him along. We were running out of time, and as nice as his distress about me was, we really didn't have time for it.

Everyone scurried through the tunnels as finally, we came to a stop as the boy in front walked through into a corridor. "Alright, it's safe. Come on." We all hurried out as we were met with the same walls we saw earlier.

We checked around and saw no one as Thomas ran ahead. "Okay, let's go." As everyone hurried behind him.

"You guys go ahead. There's something I gotta do." The new kid spoke up as he hovered in front of the vent. Our eyebrows furrowed as we all looked at him confused. "What are you talking about?" Thomas steps closer to the boy, still very aware of his surroundings.

"Trust me, it's important. You guys wanna get out of here, right? Just go." I didn't know or trust the boy, but something told me that we didn't have much of a choice.