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

27. Different as planned

I stretched out on my chair and only now realized that I was completely tense from sitting so much. My neck was aching and I was slowly getting a headache, whether from my neck or because of the screens, I didn't know.
A few days had passed since we had reached the Right Arm. It was Tuesday and I had just watched Newt and Alby looking at some plans that Nick and George had drawn of the parts of the maze they had already explored. With his help, they had found out that it was changing every night, even though they all didn't think it was possible at first. But after they could no longer deny it, Newt had been declared Alby's deputy, without any discussion or vote - who in turn was Nick's deputy. Somehow a funny composition.
Gally hadn't objected either, even though he turned out to be more and more a critic of pretty much everything that was uncomfortable for him. He didn't like the fact that Newt had come up instead of me, and he had told Alby so. Still, he couldn't deny that Newt was all right and quite clever, too.
Slowly, fearing a cramp in my neck, I got up and waited for Teresa and Thomas to join me for dinner. They were just clearing their seats and then followed me out of the room.
We talked about work and what we would have for dinner today and I didn't think a bit about what we were going to do with the kids. We had almost three weeks left before we were going to do it and we had already planned everything so all we had to do was tell Vince the exact day. We would do that in a few days.
When we reached the dining room we went to get something to eat and Thomas wrinkled his nose at the vegetables he had been given. I had to laugh and could see Teresa smiling too.
We sat down with my friends like the last days and I was surprised that Minho was not there yet, although Ben was sitting opposite me.
"Hey Ben, where did you leave Minho?," I asked before I put a piece of potato in my mouth.
"It's funny that you're asking, I thought he was with you."
I looked at him confused and he went on.
"Your friend - what's her name again? Always hanging out with that weird guy, Aris, I think his name is -" "Rachel" "- that's right, Rachel. She came to our room and banged on the door like crazy, I opened it for her and she almost knocked me over when she rushed at Minho. Then she started talking crazy stuff, something about Janson knowing something and stuff like that. Minho looked at her in horror and just said 'We have to find Anna' and then they left without a word. And I stood there." He shook his head over this story.
I looked at him with big eyes. What had happened? What did Janson know?
Without realising it, I had dropped my fork and Thomas, who had picked it up and was now holding it out to me.
"Everything's okay, Anna?" he asked anxiously.
"I have to go back to the lab, I've forgotten something. Would you take my tray away?"
Without waiting for an answer I got up and rushed out of the room, shouting another "Thank you, Tommy" over my shoulder.
Running, I reached the corridor of the laboratories and saw Minho and Rachel coming towards me, she completely out of breath, he visibly upset.
"What happened?" I shouted before I reached them.
"Janson, he somehow overheard something. I have no idea how this could have happened, but Aris heard him talking about moving all the kids because it was too risky to 'keep them open' like this. He said that if someone attacked us, they would take the kids first. Maybe it's just bad timing and he doesn't suspect anything, but that changes the situation. If Aris is right, they want to take them away from here on Thursday morning!"
"Oh, my goodness," I pushed out and looked at her in horror.
"What shall we do, Anna? We can't let this happen." Rachel didn't sound quite as determined as she'd liked because she was still wheezing a little.
But she was right.
I stood there for a moment while it rattled in my head. What should we do? If I couldn't think of anything now, then we could forget about the rescue operation.
"Okay, take it easy. Let's think about this calmly."
"We have to do it tomorrow night. It's the only way." That wasn't a suggestion, Minho was simply making a statement.
That's our only chance.
I nodded slowly and looked from one to the other. "Alright. Minho is right. If we want to get the kids out of here, we have to do it. That means we have to reach the Right Arm. Tonight. And for that we need Thomas."

"And Janson is supposed to know something? Guys, you gotta believe me, he didn't find out about me."
It was almost 2am and we were running through the corridors as quickly and quietly as we could to get to the radio.
"I have no idea. But I believe you." I knew he would never betray us.
Thomas nodded at me gratefully and we reached the corridor where the room with the radio was.
Quickly we all slipped inside and Minho locked the door behind us.
"All right, then. We'll do it just like last time. I'll set everything up and you'll talk." I nodded and he got down to work.
This time it didn't take as long as last week and he had found the right channel. And after a bit of trial and error we could hear someone on the other end again.
"Hello, Vince? Is that you?" I asked cautiously.
"Yes, it's me. Is that you, Anna?"
"Yes, yes, it's me. Vince, listen to me. We got a problem here. They want to move the kids on Thursday. They're moving them to a whole other building. We got to move our plan now. Is there any way we can do that? Like tomorrow night?"
Oh, man, that sounded silly. It sounded like a dinner date.
But even this time Vince didn't seem to think it was silly at all. "All right. Give me your coordinates. Then tell me how you're gonna get off the roof once you're on it. Do you have anything to put the kids down with?"
My head was rattling, but Rachel seemed to have a flash of inspiration. "Blankets! A rope of blankets. That's all we have."
I made this suggestion to Vince and he seemed to find it quite amusing, but when he understood that we were serious and really had no other idea, he got serious again.
"It's pretty risky, the kids could fall. But if you have no other choice... Let's try and keep our fingers crossed that your kids are little climbing monkeys." I could hear him smiling again.
Yes, we really had to keep our fingers crossed. The sand had already covered large parts of the building, so even before the maze was built, everything below the 20th floor was actually a cellar, but there were still a few floors above the sand.
Despite all my misgivings, it was the only way it could work at all, so I gave Vince the coordinates Thomas dictated to me and then arranged with him that we had the children gathered on the roof at 3am tomorrow night.
We said goodbye and when the connection was broken, we were all silent again.
"Do you really think this is going to work?" Rachel broke the silence and said what I thought we were all wondering.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I'd say we have no other option. Either we do it this way - or the kids get taken away and nobody saves them."
There was silence again. Minho took a step towards me and put one hand on my shoulder. He nodded at me silently and I knew that he was telling me that we could do it and that it was the right decision to try.
Thomas, on the other hand, stood a little aside and stared at his feet. For him the whole thing was over at that point. I went over to him and took him in my arms.
"Thanks, Tommy. You really helped us a lot."
"Yeah, man. I'll never forget it." Minho patted him on the shoulder and Rachel nodded in agreement.
"But Thomas, won't you come with us?" she asked confusedly.
He just shook his head.
"Why not? How can you want to stay here voluntarily? You can't be serious."
"There are too many things that keep me here. If I leave, who's gonna look after the boys in the maze? Who's gonna make sure nothing bad happens to them?" - And he couldn't leave Teresa behind either.
"You can't help them anyway. In the end, they'll all die and you'll watch."
I felt Thomas tense up in my embrace. Rachel's words hit him hard.
"That's enough, Rachel. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night. Come on, Tommy, I'll walk you to your room." With that I took his hand and pulled him out of the room, leaving behind a perplexed Rachel and a slightly embarrassed Minho.
Silently we walked along the dark corridors and when we reached Thomas' room I hugged him again and whispered: "You're making the right decision, Tommy. And you take care of the boys in the maze as best as you can. I know that. Sleep tight."
I pulled myself away from the hug and smiled at him. He nodded and then disappeared into his room. I stopped just before the door closed and knew that he was guaranteed not to sleep. Just like me.