Through The WICKED Scorch | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

45. Bertha comes home

"I'm sure Marcus will be very pleased to see us," Jorge said sarcastically, laughing as he started the engine of the old car we had left outside the roadblock the day before.
"I'm sure he'll be glad we're bringing his Bertha back to him," Newt remarked.
"You might even be right about that, Hermano."
"So, just once more for my understanding. We are now going back to where they wanted WICKED to catch us to use a radio? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Fry Pan asked, who was sitting in the boot with his elbows propped on the back of our seats between Thomas and me.
"It's our only chance to make contact with Francesca," I explained calmly once more.
"What if they catch us there?"
"They won't have any men there. After this fight, they'll hide in their shell for now. They got what they wanted, after all - though not all of you," Jorge glanced at us.
"Most of all, they don't have the two they wanted so badly," Brenda remarked, turning around in the passenger seat so she could look at Thomas and me.
"I guarantee they won't expect us to return to Marcus of all people, Pan. Don't worry about it. And by the time anyone can even spot us and give us away, we'll be long gone," I tried to reassure him.
"And so that we don't take any greater risk, only Anna, Thomas and I will go. The rest of you wait for Vince outside the town."
Brenda looked at Jorge in surprise. "We're splitting up? Again?"
"It's not for long, Bren. You wait for us and we'll be back in a few. I promise."
Newt also seemed uncomfortable with Jorge planning to separate us.
"Wait a minute, doesn't that always start the biggest disasters? Splitting up?" he asked, leaning forward to get a better look at Jorge.
I put a hand on his leg reassuringly. "Hey, nothing will happen to us. And after this, we'll never part again, okay?"
He looked at me in anguish. I could see how much he disliked the thought of us being separated.
"Jorge is right, Newt. If three of us go in, we'll attract a lot less attention than six," Thomas said.
With that we fell silent. The drive seemed much longer than on the way there, but I had slept then, I remembered. Now I couldn't think of sleeping at all. I was far too nervous at the thought that in a few hours we would try to contact the girl who had written me the letter, Francesca.
As I read it for the hundredth time, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
"Do you remember her, Tommy?" I asked loud enough for him to hear me over the roar of the engine.
Thomas frowned as if thinking hard.
"When we came out of the maze and went through the surveillance lab.... When you too remembered working there once, I couldn't help thinking of her. I didn't really have a face in my head anymore, but I realised that there had been someone else there besides Teresa and me after they took you away."
"She was watching you the whole time we were being examined at WICKED, as if she expected or hoped you would recognise her. Her mind wasn't on it at all and when I called her on it, she was totally horrified by it and tried to cover it up."
"And Minho didn't notice?" Thomas asked incredulously.
"Did you see the way he looked at her? He didn't notice anything else..."
When I thought of Minho, the image of him in the Berg, unconscious and trapped, immediately came back. We just had to free him.
"Well, he'll have plenty of time to get to know her now," Thomas stated sarcastically.
"Let's hope for his sake that she takes care of him. Everyone can use a friend at WICKED."
Thoughtfully, I looked past him out the window, where the sun had long since passed its zenith in the sky. We had left immediately after making plans to head back to Marcus' place to use his radio. Vince and Harriet had driven us in a truck to the tunnel in the mountain behind which Bertha was waiting for us. Then they had also immediately set off for the town where Marcus lived so that they could collect us there at night. They hadn't been able to drive through the collapsed tunnel after all, so they had had to make a diversion.
I wondered what they were doing to Minho. Were they hurting him? Was he suffering? Would they just hang him from the ceiling like the others and suck him dry until there was not a drop of serum left in him?
What if we didn't manage to free him in time? I couldn't bear to lose him.
When I looked at Thomas again, I saw that he had fallen asleep. I smiled and let my eyes wander around the car, noticing that Brenda, who was still turned towards us, was staring at the sleeping boy, lost in thought. When she noticed my gaze, she quickly looked away and pretended nothing was wrong, but I grinned at her and winked.
Then I leaned against Newt, who was looking out the window and had apparently been dreaming, because he flinched briefly when I put my cold hand on his, but then turned his over and enclosed my fingers to warm them. I rested my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes. Even though I had slept a few hours tonight, I was still pretty exhausted from the events of the last few days. It felt like more had happened than in the entire previous three years.
Again my thoughts drifted to all those we had lost on the way here and I quickly thought of something else. I didn't want to cry again. No, now it was about Minho. For he was still alive and I planned to keep it that way.
Speaking of still being alive - I noticed again the scribbling under Francesca's letter. Something about Gally had been written there and I couldn't shake the feeling that she knew more about him than I did. It made me think of the moment just after Chuck had died in my arms, when I had looked over at Gally and been sure he had been breathing shallowly just before I had been taken out of the lab. If only I had had the chance to check.... What if he hadn't been dead at that point? Could I have helped him? Was that what the girl had wanted to tell me?
But why would she want to tell me so urgently that he had not been quite dead when I was taken away? What difference would that make? In the end, he must have succumbed to his injuries anyway....