𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐑, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿

5. the plan pt. ii

Vicky, Nancy, Thèrèse and Bea, as well as Aris, are all sitting around a table in the cafeteria area.

They are eating their meals after having snuck out of the dorms and avoiding the guards. Vicky and Nancy were sitting next to each other, with Thèrèse and Bea on the other side.

"Did we ever find out what that lab was?" Nancy asked, as her spoon clanks against her bowl. She's eating some kind of vegetable soup, her eyes darting towards Vicky every now and then.

Thèrèse shakes her head, "I already tried asking my father," She paused to sigh lowly. "He didn't tell me. Said it was forbidden." Upon hearing her words, they all stayed silent, slumping down and eat their foods in silence.

Vicky sighed at her answer, and her eyes dart around the table. She can see the fear and unease all over the faces at the table. They all want more answers, it's clear as day.

The redhead girl tapped her foot on the ground, as that's how she deals with her nervous energy. She takes a spoonful of her food, and she puts it in her mouth. She chews the food before swallowing and washing it down with water.

"Do we have any plans yet?" Vicky asked, as she looks around the table again.

"I guess I do." Aris spoke, his eyes rubbing against his thighs to shake off the crumbs of bread he just ate. "Do you guys know about the new arrivals? They just got here two days ago. They're all boys, from maze A." Aris said, his finger lowly pointing at the group of boys far away.

Thèrèse' eyebrow raises at Aris's suggestion, as she turned to look towards the boys he's pointing at. "The boys? They could maybe provide some sort of help." She says, feeling a small smile appear across her face. "And if not, they might be able to distract the guards enough for us to escape." Thèrèse added in a soft tone.

"We don't have many options, but that might just work." She looked back at the other girls at the table as well, wondering if they agree with her.

"Thomas." Nancy said softly, her eyes focused on the boy. "What?" Thèrèse hummed, as they all stared at the blonde girl. "Maybe, Thomas can help us." Nancy said after a few moments. But they're not sure if they can trust him yet.

Vicky looked at her with a raised brow, curious what she's looking at. "Thomas?" She asked, turning to look at the boy Nancy is focused on.

"How do you know that he'll help us, Nancy?" She questions, her eyes going between Nancy and the boy.

"All he needs to do is take the card." Bea said, before her fingers pick up the spoon to eat her bowl of soup. "Yeah, maybe he can take the key card from the guards. We'll show him the way to the locked lab."

"And get him and his friends involved in our plans?" Thèrèse said in disbelief, furrowing her eyebrows.

"We could try, yes." Vicky said, as she takes a bite of her food once more. "But we do need to be careful. We can't risk anyone knowing about our plans right now, and we need to make sure that they can't stop us."

Vicky looked down, lowering the spoon away from her mouth. She looks back over at Nancy, who's still staring at Thomas.

"What's so special about him?" Vicky asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Uhm, nothing. He's just someone who Janson introduced me to, remember?" Nancy brushed it off, looking at the others who simply stared and sipped the hot soup.

Vicky' eyes narrowed at Nancy who brushes off her situatioship with Thomas'. She turned over and shrugged. "We could try and talk with Thomas, and hope he'll cooperate with us. I've talked with him once or twice already, and he's not a bad person." She said, looking back at Nancy.