Wicked Atmosphere | Aris Jones [2]

3 || More Kids and Impromptu Ideas

It was now lunchtime and I still had the keycard. I was surprised that I managed to not get caught after having it for so long. I was expecting the soldier to search me once he realized that it was gone, but that didn't happen. Instead, I was able to eat lunch with the others.

Cora and Jane never came back, which was beginning to worry me. I wanted to express my concern to the others, but I knew how that conversation would go. But they had to be worried, didn't they? None of us had seen them since breakfast. Where did Janson take them this morning? Why did he want them specifically?

Like before, I let the others talk all they wanted while I sat there and ate in silence, trying to figure out what to do next now that I had a key card. I was now able to go anywhere in this place, so I needed to figure out where to start. I looked at the entrance and found Aris entering inside the cafeteria. Relieved to see him, I ran his way and pulled him in for a hug, which threw him off guard.

"Nice to see you, too," he said, wrapping one arm around me.

I pulled away, sighing. "Where did they take you?" I asked in a low whisper.

"Let's sit down," he muttered back, leading me to one of the empty tables. We sat down across from each other, leaning in. "Are you okay? Is everyone else okay?" he asked.

"We're fine, but..." I turned back towards the girls that were staring at us, whispering to each other, then I looked back at Aris. "They think they're safe, as if the people here are trustworthy. Janson took Cora and Jane this morning and we haven't seen them since. You didn't see anyone taking them, did you?"

He furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his head. "No, I didn't. Where do you think they're at?"

"I have no idea, but I'm now even more suspicious about this place," I told him. "So where have you been? What did they want with you?"

He huffed a sigh. "They were observing me, examining my brain mostly. They also kept asking me questions about WICKED."

"Janson asked me about them, too," I said. "He said he was going to ask the others as well."

"Was his plan to interrogate Cora and Jane all morning about them?" Aris questioned.

I shrugged my shoulders, looking down at the table. "I don't know, Aris."

"Ladies!" Janson announced himself, making all of us turn towards him. "If Angela and Kelsey would come with me." The two girls stood up from their chairs and walked towards Janson. He led them out of the cafeteria, not looking back at us.

I turned to face Aris again, who did the same with me. "We've got to find out what these people are hiding."

Aris nodded his head in agreement. "I'm with you on that, but how are we going to get around this place without being caught?"

"I've got a key card," I explained, carefully showing it to him, then placing it back in my pocket. "I managed to snatch it at the last minute when a soldier was pulling me off of some Glenner earlier."

"Why were you on her?" he questioned, confused.

"Just to clarify, it wasn't like that, you stick." Aris smiled a little at this. "She said some things that were uncalled for, so I lunged at her."

Aris raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Well...okay, then."

I tried my best to hide a grin. "I mean, she should've kept her mouth shut."

"Boy!" a soldier came up to us, grabbing Aris. "Time to go."

Aris and I looked at each other one last time before he was taken out of the cafeteria and no longer in my view.