Haru was shown into a large canteen where kids in their teenage years sat clustered at tables. He was surprised to see some girls present and he caught sight of the guys from the Glade ogling at some of them and trying to make moves on them. "Yo, Haru! Over here!" Rin called as he waved him over. The guy was smiling like crazy as he dug into scrambled eggs and bacon, crumbs all over his mouth as he swallowed and drank down a glass of orange juice. "We weren't the only Maze out there! Isn't that awesome? I met some other people who ran in their own Maze as well and exchanged details about it. I can't believe we weren't the only ones in this shit!"
Haru didn't want to break his smile with how he felt about the situation so he just slid into the seat next to him as two different dudes introduced themselves. "Yo, whats up?" one of them said as he stuffed a sausage into his mouth. After not having these kinds of fanciful meals for ages, the boys were scarfing down food like there was no tomorrow, which might be true if Haru's theory was correct. "Damn, can't believe we made it out alive after three years. It was so intense, especially in the final days where the Grievers attacked and we had to run. I thought it would all be over for us until some people dropped in and rescued us from that hell."
"How long have you've been here?" Makoto asked, his food barely touched. "Around three days. Some of our group have come and gone. I dunno what happened to them, but I presumed that they got called for a final check before being brought over to paradise," one of them sighed, the word Paradise hanging in the air like a place of salvation. One of them pointed to a lone redhead sitting at a table, his gaze forlorn as he stared at his plate. Muscles bulged underneath his shirt, his head hidden beneath a hood as he tried to hide from the world. "Some said that dude has been here more than a week. Poor guy… at least we have some buds from ours. Speaking of which, we better go say hi to them. See ya."
The two boys made off as Haru and the others stared around, seeing how the other teenagers were acting. They didn't seem suspicious that they might be in a trap at all. "You think we might actually be safe now?" Makoto muttered as Haru scowled, "If this is like in the movies and my gut instinct, no." "Come on, Haru. Lighten up. I'm sure we don't have to worry about much for now," Rin muttered, although his face betrayed him that he was having second thoughts about this place. Nagisa didn't say anything, pushing around the scrambled eggs in his plate as he muttered, "Where is Ikuya-chan?"
Haru froze as he noticed the other boy was missing, Makoto shaking his head as he told of how he was asked to be brought to another room for further inspection than the rest of them. "Something about him being the newest so they had to run a bunch of tests on him since the Maze hadn't affected him as much as us. I don't buy that crap though," Rin said as Haru's eyes widened. Walking through a corridor on the other side of a long mirror at the end of the hall was Ikuya and a bunch of other kids, all of them dressed in hospital scrubs. The boy shivered in the cold as he turned, his eyes widening as he tried to call out to them. "Ikuya!" Haru shouted, rising from his seat to move to the window before anyone can stop him.
'Woah kid, stand down. You're not allowed to go through," the guard snarled as he pushed him back with his gun. Haru glared at him as he snapped, "At least let me say something to him." "You'll get your chance. Don't worry," the guard said as he pushed him with more force than he would like. Haru threw daggers at him as he went back to his seat, some of the other kids sneering and pointing at him as he plopped at his table, Makoto and Rin looking worriedly at the corridor Ikuya had been taken through as someone smiled, "Roll call time!"
The other kids began to pound their knives and forks on the tables, the plates, and cups rattling as they waited, some of them with hungry looks on their faces as they chanted, "Rollcall! Rollcall!" "What the heck?" Rin mumbled as someone whispered, "Just a small event of the day. Every day, some people get called out and taken away. We assume it because they have been taken to the save haven Paradise on the other side of the compound. After the Maze, everyone is anxious to get out of here." Haru didn't buy it as Nao walked into the room, a small smile on his face as the chanting died down.
"Good evening, everyone. It's time for the roll call of the day. If your name is called, please step forward," he said as he flipped the paper on the clipboard. "Yono-san." A girl smiled as she stood up, her friends clapping her on the back as she walked to the front. "Ichigo-kun." A boy pumped his fist into the air as his tablemates slammed their fists on the table, cheering his name as he moved forward. "Ritsu-san. Mei-san. Ratata-kun. Matsuri-san. Isobe-kun." With that, he flipped the paper shut, earning groans from the rest of the group as he held up his hands. "Don't worry! Your time will come eventually. Until then, rest up and enjoy yourselves. Those of you whose names have been called, if you would follow me please," he said as he slid his id card over the scanner, the door opening for them to enter the corridor beyond.
Sounds of chairs scraping against the floor sounded as everyone got up to go back to their dorms. The Gladers stood up as well and joined the throng of bodies to the doors, not having the enthusiasm of feeling safe as they went to bed. As Haru made his way to the doors, he bumped into someone but before he could say anything, someone leaned into him, whispering so close to his ear it made his skin tingle. "Wait for me at your dorm at 11 pm tonight. I have to show you something." He didn't have time to bite back a reply as the redhead from earlier walked away, leaving him in the dust.
…
Haru couldn't sleep that night, which was a good thing as he had to wait for the guy anyway. He shuddered in the cold, the cold air unnatural and unlike the Glade, where they had fresh air most of the time. Rin was snoring in his bunk, his pillow clutched tightly to his chest while Makoto was letting out soft moans in his sleep. Nagisa was sleeping a bit fitfully, his head buried underneath his pillow as he slept. The other Gladers were knocked out as well so he didn't have to worry about explaining his disappearance to anyone as the grills to the gutter skidded across the floor.
Haru nearly slammed his head into the roof of his bunk as the redhead put up a finger to be quiet, beckoning him to enter. For a big guy, it was surprising he managed to fit in that place. "Come on," he hissed as he scrambled back in, Haru forced to squirm after him. Space was a bit tight fitting and Haru felt cluster phobic after crawling for a while. After zigzagging through a maze of air vents, the redhead put up a hand to tell him to stop before scooting to the side to let Haru see what was below.
Haru peered from the grills, craning his neck as he heard voices coming from below and the sound of wheels scraping against the concrete. "Last batch for the night. Man! Can't wait to go to bed!" someone groaned as they pushed a large box through the doors. A doctor slid her card over it, the doors swishing open as she snapped, "Hey, Ryugazaki-kun! Get your butt in here!" "Hai, sensei!" he called, the young scientist sweating as he went in, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down his throat as the older woman sighed.
"You have been doing this for a while already. There's nothing to be afraid of." "But… is it right to be robbing people of their lives when they've been through so much and there might not even be a cure for the Flare…" he stammered as she cuffed him around the head. "You cannot have second thoughts about it! This is science! We have to test and retest until we get the results, no matter the cost of it all! As a scientist, you better get your priorities straight." Ryugazaki nodded, murmuring an apology under his breath as he pushed the box into the room, the woman following after him. Haru had long enough to figure out what was inside the box as it passed through he double doors.
The surface of it read the vital signs of a human inside. A cloth covered the person's face, hiding them from view as they were wheeled in one after another. Judging from the number that entered, it was the same group that had been called out earlier that day at dinner. "Once they go in, they never come back out. They're not bringing them to Paradise. They're killing them," the boy murmured as he sat back a little, his head banging the space above him as he scowled, "After the Maze, I thought we had a shot of getting out of here. After they took my buds away and left me alone, I began to think I was unlucky but guess I wasn't."
"How did you find out about this?" Haru whispered as the guy chuckled, "Since there's nothing much to do, I've been scouting around the facility in the air vents. Found out some pretty interesting stuff about these guys. Long story short, if we want to get out of here alive, I say we leave as soon as possible." "These people, they're from WICKED as well?" "Yep. Darn those bastards, never leaving us in peace." Haru shivered from the cold and fear of what was unfolding below him. Just what did these people want with a bunch of kids like themselves?
"Let's get in there," he muttered as the redhead laughed dryly. "You think I wouldn't have done that? I wanted to but we need an access keycard from one of the workers here and I don't think you can waltz up to one of them and ask nicely." "Don't worry. I got a plan." "For a guy who looked like he's dreaming half of the time, I hope so." Haru glared at him as the guy laughed. "Anyway, we never got to properly introduce ourselves. I'm Asahi. You?" "Haruka." "Man, that sounds so girly." "Don't blame me. Nearly everyone from my Glade has a girly name." After making their plans to meet the next night, they said their goodbyes and headed back to their respective dorms, Haru hoping he had managed to find a way out of this hellhole.
…
With a little help from his friends and a scuffle during lunch, Haru managed to swipe the keycard of the guard who had ticked him off the previous day and made his way to Asahi, who came to pick him up later that night. As they crawled through the air vents, Haru's heart pounded as they crawled to what was deemed Paradise. Asahi lifted the grill, letting Haru drop down first before landing softly, swinging the grill shut as Haru swiped the card across the panel. The door whooshed open, the smell of medicinal drugs filling the air with a sickly sweet scent when Asahi gasped, "No way." Lined up in neat rows in large tanks were Grievers, all in the stages of being grown. They pulsed as the Grievers squirmed in their tanks, one of them rolling in the liquid to open a beady eye to look at Haru.
"Shit. Those bastards were behind them too?" Asahi hissed as Haru opened the second door that leads to a corridor. Both boys froze, Haru's blood turning to ice as he saw rows and rows of teenagers hung like puppets from the ceiling, tubes snaking around their arms and heads and sucking liquid from them. They were all barely alive, if not close to death or already dead as they hung like pigs for slaughter. "This is madness," Asahi whispered as he scanned the faces for anyone he knew, some of them he recognized from his time in the Maze. Haru didn't recognize any of the Gladers so he let himself breath just for a moment as Asahi hissed, "Hide!"
The front doors had hissed opened and Nao was walking in with Ryugazaki, who was fumbling with his IPad as Nao spoke to him, "You got all the data ready right?" "Yes, senpai!" he squeaked as Nao smiled a cold smile, "If you mess up one more time, I'm going to have to send you to one of the harsher facilities in Japan. Do we have a deal?" "Yes!" the boy squeaked as Nao checked his watch. "Its time," he murmured as the mirror at the back of the room turned into a screen, a man shrouded from view sitting at his desk as both boys bowed. "Director, good evening," Nao said as the man boomed, 'You have the results?"
"We do indeed. From young Ryugazaki-kun's research here, we're close to obtaining a cure from the survivors of the Mazes. It's only a matter of time until we find the cure," Nao smiled as the director hissed, "Whats wrong, boy?" Nao turned to see Ryugazaki sweating, his hands shaking so badly he could drop the IPad at any moment. "Sir, I don't mean to interrupt, but I never meant to use humans as harvest material for the cure. I thought we were just experimenting to see how they react to the Mazes…" "And then harvest the fluids produced in them for the cure," Nao finished before the boy could say anything, forcing him to clamp his mouth shut.
"I have faith in you, Ryugazaki-kun. You've been the brightest mind other than Hiyori and Nao to grace WICKED. I pray that you won't fail us," the man growled as Rugazaki dropped into a low bow. "Of course, sir." "Then, if you'll excuse me, I believe this meeting has been adjourned," he said as the screen died, leaving both of them in silence. "Ryugazaki-kun," Nao started as Ryugazaki squeaked, "Excuse, me, senpai!" as he ran out of the room. Nao clicked his tongue as he started to walk out before he stopped to look at where Haru and Asahi hid. Both boys held their breath as the scientist shrugged before walking out of the room, the doors slamming shut as they came out of their hiding place. "Haru…" Asahi whispered, his face pale as Haru nodded, "We have to get out, tonight."