Aris strode after everyone. They seemed to be stepping into a cavelike structure if it wasn't another quarantined area. He peered into the room and stepped inside again. "Water," Newt murmured. "We'll need water." Aris felt his throat getting more and more parched at the mention of water.
"There should be some water here," Minho announced. He darted his tongue across the walls. "No, there isn't."
The band of boys continued to stride towards the exit, Aris sweeping his hand across the walls. Not even a single droplet remained. He wondered if WICKED had just withdrawn every droplet of the cave. He knew water was supposed leaking from the walls.
He darted his tongue across his lips. He felt parched, just as he continued to drink the droplets, which had the taste of chemicals and sulfur. Afterwards, the boys were darting sand, rising and then crumpling even more so. He then noticed a pipe attached to the sand.
"Water..."
"Not mirage anymore." Aris grinned. "There's water over there!"
***
A filthy-looking boy flipped on the water. Thomas was leaning down, gulping down thirstily, and Aris eagerly waited for his turn. He gulped it down thirstily, praying that every drip didn't evoprate in his toamch and then replenished his water bottle. The other boys noticed that and began to replicate him, refilling their bottles to the top.
They all drank noisily, then kept their palms under the bottle. Aris sat amongst them, keeping the plastic sheet above his head to prevent the incoming sand from entering into his eye. Minho said something about not having enough sheets and then having to split it with some people.
Thomas was the person who didn't have a sheet, given that he said his was blown away, so he plopped down next to Aris. Neither of them spoken, aloud, or telepathically. He took a bite of the canned beans Brenda had provided them with, there were still a few crumbs of biscuits.
He gulped the rest of his bottle and drifted off. The sun was still well above his head. He reached for a canned chicken and rice and wolfed it down hungrily, just as everyone was rising. Minho was struggling to open a can of beans and potatoes, Thomas was just staring at the ground, and Newt was staring at his hand a bit too obsessively.
"Hey, you all right, man?" Aris inquired, breaking the train of silence. Newt stared up at him, then at Thomas. He was murmuring something, about "black veins" and "Flare." Daringly, he peered over at Newt's arm, decorated with jagged, black lines. Signs of the Flare.
"We will receive the cure," he and Thomas said reassuringly. Newt nodded and sprawled onto the floor. Aris blew out a breath and flopped down beside Thomas, who stared at him and bid him good night in his mind, before falling into a deep slumber, too.
***
Aris waited with two other people--Rachel and Teresa, he recognized instantaneously--watching subjects get shipped into the Maze. He lifted a girl onto a stretcher once Rachel and Teresa emerged from another room. He wheeled the little girl towards the elegant, wood Box, though it'd look pretty rusty and old as it transported the Gladers and and Icers into the Glade and the Spring. But here, with the flickering lights, it looked brand-new.
"Ready?'" Teresa said in a soft voice.
"Ready," he responded. Just then, a woman he'd seen once more, emerged from another room and looked around. She reached out and brushed the strand of hair behind the girl's ear. "Can you ship her into the Group B's Maze now?" he questioned.
The woman stared down at the girl. "Did you bid her farewell?"
"Not exactly," Aris admitted guiltily. Suddenly, the girl opened her eyes, astonishing everyone. "I thought she underwent amnesia," he said slowly. In fact, he hadn't even wheeled the girl into the operation room to insert the Swipe....yet. Dr. Paige looked sharply at him.
"Did you do it yet? You know, you should always wait until they're done, then wheel her to the Box. That's your task," the woman said sharply. "You have to let her undergo the Swipe, then transport her into the Maze." She spoke into a earpiece. "Guards, escort him away."
Suddenly, he felt arms grasping him. He screamed, struggling to free himself, just as a guard cocked his gun at his head. "Quit," he said sharply. With that, he tossed Aris carelessly back into his bedroom and secured the door behind him. "Night, boy. Don't you dare to try that again." With that, he jabbed a needle into his neck, and the dream faded.
***
Aris's eyes fluttered open. The dream faded, and he sank into another state of oblivion. When his eyes fluttered open, he thought about his dream. A dream or a memory? He couldn't know and exchanged a glance with Thomas, who looked groggy, but no less
Aris clambered blindly onto sloped sand. He felt so drained out. Was WICKED enjoying this? Watching this in amusement? He continued to saunter across the sand, seeing all the buildings, houses in ruins, shifting his sheet from time to time if needed.
After a few minutes, they reached a city. Flipped cars, vehicles were all over the place, crumpled buildings. He set off another street, seeing it completely devastated, but surprisingly enough, there were no lifeless bodies like he'd assumed there'd be. He wanted to inform Thomas about the dreams he'd had, but kept his mouth shut.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
