Part 3: The Scorch

Chapter 3

I woke up to rattling noises. I opened my eyes and looked around. I saw Thomas sit up in his bed. He heard it too. No one else woke up. I was about to say something but a soft voice interrupted.

"Psst! Hey! Down here!" The voice whispered. It was coming from under Thomas' bed. I didn't sit up I just watched. I think the voice was calling for Thomas. Thomas looked under his bed. I heard Thomas gasp and the voice shushed him. I quietly put my head in a position to where I could see under his bed. There was a huge vent and the hooded boy was laying there.

"Come on. Follow me." The boy whispered. Thomas crawled out of his bed and army crawled under it. After Thomas' feet disappeared I quietly slid out of my bed and followed at a distance.

"Come on were gonna miss it!" The boy whispered. I'm wondering if I should make myself known. But instead I stay quiet and keep following. I hear the boy stop moving. Thomas goes around a corner and I hear him stop too. I quietly crawled to the corner and stopped. I peeked around the corner and saw Thomas and the boy huddled around a vent.

"Watch." The boy whispered. There was another vent beside me so I went to it and got at an angle so I could see what they're seeing. Dr Crawford comes down the hallway and stops at a door. And right behind her an officer and some nurses are pushing a cart. It's not just any cart though. It's like a med bed but there's some sort of top over it. I think there's someone inside it. Crawford opens the door and her and workers go in with the cart. The door shuts. What just happened? Who was that under the cart top? Luckily Thomas asked that question.

"What the hell was that?" Thomas asked.

"They bring in new ones every night like clockwork." The boy said.

"You know what they do with them?"

"I don't know. This is as far as I've ever gotten. The vents don't even go into that section. But once they go through that door they don't come back out. I don't think anybody ever really leaves this place." The boy said. It all started to click now. The people who were called out today to go to this 'safe place', they never really go. They're brought to this room. For what though?

"Come on. We gotta go before somebody notices were gone." The boy said.

"Why did you show me this?" Thomas asked.

"Because maybe the others will listen to you. There's something weird going on here. And I know you think so too." The boy said.

"What's your name?" Thomas asked.

"Aris." The boy said. Then I heard him shuffle off in a different direction. I needed to get back before Thomas saw me. I quickly and quietly started making my way back. Once I got to the room I jumped onto my bed and pretended I was fast asleep. I heard Thomas come in a few minutes after I did.

***

That morning Thomas told everybody what he saw last night. Unfortunately nobody was listening to him. Everyone kept blowing it off saying that he was crazy. I wanted to back up Thomas but I kept my mouth shut.

***

Janson just finished calling out names. And was giving his 'your time will come' speech. I heard Thomas mutter something next to me.

"I wanna know what's through that door." He muttered. I wasn't the only one who heard him though. Newt was sitting on the other side of Thomas.

"Now we've been over this. You said they were covered up so you don't know what you saw. It could've been anything under there." Newt said in a low voice. Anger started to boil up inside me. Even if I didn't follow Thomas that night I still would've believed him. The rest of the Gladers leaned in closer to hear what Thomas was saying.