From The WICKED Start | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

26. Four friends

I almost fell off the bed as someone was hammering against the air shaft flap above me. I had just fallen asleep a bit after I had showered and got ready.
I quickly fetched a hairclip, stood on my bed and peered through the slits.
"It's me."
Minho.
I opened the flap and he jumped out, almost knocking me over because he lost his balance and was holding on to me. But I could hold him and I had to laugh when I saw his horrified face.
It didn't take long and there was a soft knock on the door. Rachel stood in the corridor and kept looking around in fear.
"I don't think it's a good idea to walk through the corridors at night. If someone spots us... We should have used the air shafts."
"The air duct system that connects to ours starts at level 10, I've already explained that to you. We have to go down there on foot."
We walked through the corridors as quietly as possible, using the emergency staircases instead of the lifts. That seemed a lot more inconspicuous to us.
Minho looked at his watch and I looked at it too. It was six minutes to two and we were on time.
When we arrived at the place Thomas had ordered us to go, Rachel was once again completely out of breath, while Minho and I could probably have walked for miles. I had to laugh a little as she leaned on her knees and against the wall and exchanged a look with Minho who looked amused as well.
Carefully I knocked on the door and prayed that it was the right one and that I wouldn't look into the eyes of a member of staff. It opened and Thomas peered out. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Come on, get in before someone sees you."
We slipped past him and I looked around the room with interest. It was small and seemed to have been used exclusively for sparking.
Thomas seemed to guess my thoughts. "From here they used to try to reach survivors. But at some point there was simply nobody left and it is easier to keep in touch with the other WICKED facilities in a different way. This room has been empty ever since. They never took the radio away."
"Good for us," Minho said with a shrug of his shoulder as he looked at the device. "Man, I really wouldn't know what to do with it. Good for you to be here, Thomas." He nodded at him.
Thomas sat down on the only chair in the room and began to turn wheels, flip switches and press buttons.
Suddenly the radio started making funny noises, causing Rachel to flinch next to me.
"That's loud!" she whispered to me.
Yes, she was right.
When the noises didn't stop, I bent over to Thomas and said: "Tommy, that's really quite loud. Someone might hear us and -" but then the noise suddenly stopped.
"Channel 7, I got it now."
I felt my heart skip a beat. Now it was getting serious.
"Okay, I'm gonna try to get someone."
He started spinning a wheel. There was a hissing sound and every now and then you had the feeling you could hear something, but it was just noise.
After Thomas had tried for minutes, I was about to tell him to stop, that it was no use.
But suddenly he held up a hand to draw our attention to himself. As if that was necessary.
"I got something."
And that's when I heard it too, someone seemed to be talking. The signal was weak, but it was there.
"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" Thomas asked.
No answer.
"Can I try?"
Without a word he made room for me.
"Hello? Is anybody there? My name is Anna and I'm looking for the Right Arm..." I felt kind of stupid.
No answer again. I desperately hit the table with my fist. That could not be true.
And then, very quietly and unclearly someone said: "Hello? Who is this?"
I opened my eyes and looked over to the others who were also standing there frozen.
"Come on, say something!" Rachel clapped her hands.
"Yes, hello! My name is Anna and I'm here with three others. We are in the WICKED building in -" I stopped and looked at Thomas, who was forming 'Chicago' with his mouth "- near Chicago. We are being held prisoner here and have to work for them. There are children here with us, too. If we tell you our exact location, can you save these children? I..." Now I felt like a complete idiot. What I said sounded completely confused.
But the person on the other end didn't seem to think so. "Just relax. Now once again from the beginning and very slowly. Who are you, where are you and what are you doing? How can we help you?"
Oh my God, this person really wanted to help us! My heart was just going crazy.
I tried to answer as calmly and accurately as possible to all the questions he asked. When I had finished, there was a brief silence.
"Okay, Anna, I understand. What you are trying to do is exactly what we have been trying to do for years. But we are still far from having the possibilities to attack WICKED. And unfortunately it will probably take a few more years before we can get you all out of there. But if you have the opportunity to carry out your plan, we will be there to take the kids and you with us. I promise you that. Besides, you are a very brave girl with very brave friends. Believe me, we know how things are at WICKED. Please let us know when you have an exact schedule. We will come, with plenty of room to take everyone with us. I can always be reached on this channel and if I'm not there, Mary will be there."
I felt a few tears running down my cheeks. Tears of joy.
"Okay, thank you so much! What... what's your name, sir?"
"Vince."
And that's when the connection broke.
Everyone was silent and no one made a sound. We froze.
Thomas was the first one to come to his senses. "Mary," he muttered, lost in thought.
"What's the matter with it?" Minho asked, confused that he was now thinking about a name.
"That was the name of the doctor who used to examine me. She worked closely with Paige. At some point she had simply disappeared. They told us she died, but nobody really believed it."
"I also remember, you're right..." I looked at him confused.
"Well, sure, she could have worked here and then escaped. I wouldn't be surprised. They're all crazy, all of them volunteering for WICKED, if you ask me."
Minho was right. That was apparently the end of the matter.
"Guys... It worked. We got through to them. We'll get the kids out of here. And we're gonna get out of here, too!" Rachel fell around my neck and I grabbed Minho and Thomas to pull her into my hug.
I looked into Thomas' eyes and could see the same thing I expected to see. We would not leave here. We just couldn't, even if our reasons were so different, they were the same in the end. - We loved someone without whom we could not go anywhere. Because I knew how Thomas felt about Teresa, even though he himself might not have had a clue.
We held each other tight and I felt another tear on my cheek. We had really made it.
"I am so grateful for you. I could never have done it without you!"
After a short while we let go. I was sure that never before in these walls had I felt such a sense of connection to people as I had just felt. We had something in common, something we did together. And we would manage it. We just had to.