FOREVER. newt

six. crank attack

I furrow my brows when Teresa tells us to go down where she and Thomas had entered. As I entered the hole, I didn't notice how steep the sand dunes were and ended up sliding on the hill of sand. Falling down on top of Winston, I mutter a soft apology while dusting the dirt out of my pant legs.

Regaining myself, I looked around, trying to see whatever I could make out through the thick layer of dust and darkness that surrounded us all. Eventually, Minho pulled off his backpack, pulling out a flashlight and turning it on, shining it around. He must have gotten it while we were escaping.

Taking deep heavy breaths, I backed up behind Jisung, looking wherever Minho did with the light. All I saw was ruins, and it was clear that the building we were in was clearly abandoned.

Turning back to us all, Minho breathed, "Where the hell are we?"

"We gotta go," Thomas called, ignoring Minho's question and taking a step forward. I furrow by brows; the guards have clearly lost us. We should take a breather instead of running around the whole day.

As I was about to suggest this to him, Teresa shook her head. "No."

"We gotta keep moving!"

"Thomas, stop!" Everyone paused in shock when Teresa raised her voice. She was usually calm and collected, hearing her angry was still kind of peculiar. "Tell me what's going on."

Thomas' eyes flickered over to me.

"It's WICKED." I took the initiative to tell them, probably because I could explain things more. "They lied to us. We never escaped. Janson brought me to talk to Dr. Paige, and when he did, I found bodies." glancing at Thomas and Aris, I clear my Throat. "Thomas and Aris were there too."

"What do you mean?" Minho questioned, blinking rapidly. "Dead bodies?"

"No." I said simply, my voice starting to shake as I remembered the bodies I saw. "They had them strung up. With tubes coming out of them. WICKED wants the enzymes from our brains. That's why we were sent in there, so we'd be harvested."

"That's why we need to get as far away as possible from them." Thomas's eyes darted every which way. Occasionally, he'd glanced at me, but most of the time, he was too afraid.

Newt looks at me for a moment, then he turns his gaze back on Thomas as he places his hands on his hips. "Okay. So what's the plan?"

Thomas looks at me, and I simply shrug in return. If he didn't cause a scene Janson would have probably took them last for harvesting and I could have gotten more information on WICKED. He's the one who should have a plan because we went his way, not me.

Newt narrows his eyes. "You do have a plan, right?"

"Yeah... I don't know."

"Well, we followed you out here, Thomas." Newt reminded, his voice cracking with panic. "And now you're saying that you have no idea where we're going or what we're doing?"

Licking his lips, Thomas just remained silent.

"Wait. Janson said something about people hiding in the mountains. Some kind of Resistance, or Army." Aris chimes in softly.

A light bulb chimes in my head.

"The Right Arm." I clarified, remembering what Ava had told Janson to find. "I think they're against WICKED at how Ava talks about them."

"Maybe they can help us." Thomas finishes. Although the plan was risky and none of us knew where we was or what we were doing, it was the only option left.

"People," Newt breathed, eyebrows drawn in in disbelief. "In the mountains. Mountain people. That's your plan?"

"This is the only chance we have."