𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓-𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙨

XIX-SURPRISE OVER THE MOUNTAIN TOP

We climbed up the side of the mountain, grabbing onto cold rocks that barely had any grip. I was careful to not put too much pressure on my left wrist so it would heal properly. I just realized that my ankle doesn't hurt anymore. It hasn't hurt since we left Marcus. It was probably a small sprain.

When we got to the top of the ridge, Teresa was still standing there, staring out at the other mountains. The sun falling behind them created a small pocket of yellow orange underneath a growing dark blue sky. It was colder up here. I shoved my hands in my pockets.

"Hey, you okay?"

Teresa turned and gave a small smile, then faced the mountains again. "Just thinking.

"Alright, we'll let you be alone."

I was going to protest when she turned back around. "Do you remember your mother?" I frowned at the question.

"I think so."

"I remember mine. Ours." She corrected when she looked at me. "She was a beautiful woman, everybody loved her. Before WICKED, her and Aesara were all I had. When she got sick, I didn't know what to do. I'm the oldest of us two. I didn't want you to worry about anything. So I just kept her locked up, hidden. I thought she's get better. Every night, she'd make these awful sounds. Like screaming. And then one night, she just stopped." As Teresa described it, I heard a woman's screaming in my head. It went on and on and then stopped abruptly. I was scared for the rest of the story. "She was finally quiet. I went down to her room. And there was blood everywhere. But she was just sitting there. Calm. She said she was feeling better. The visions were gone, she'd taken care of them. She took her eyes out Thomas."

She stopped to suck in a breath, tears forming in her eyes. "There are millions of people suffering out there. Millions of stories just like mine. We can't turn our backs on them. I won't."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, I want you to understand."

"Understand what?" I asked, because she wasn't making any sense.

"Why I did it." As she spoke a blurry white dot rose over the farthest mountain and it grew bigger, more showing with it. The sky was getting darker

The realization hit me like a freight train.

"Teresa..."

"Please don't fight them Thomas."

"What have you done?" It was more of a disbelieving tone. "What have you done?" This one more of a rhetorical question. Thomas climbed back down the mountain, but I stayed, staring at Teresa.

"Aesara..?"

"No." My eyes, throat, and chest burned. "You are a traitor. After everything. Everything they did to us, did to me, you still went and chose them."

"It's not that easy. What about what they did for us?"

"For us?" I stepped closer to her. She stepped back, watching out for the edge. "Was erasing our memories for us? Sending us into a place full of monsters for us? Was killing Chuck for us?"

Her eyes went wide and a tear fell down. "They didn't kill Chuck."

"No, but they put Gally in a position where he had to Kill Thomas. Me even."

"You will never understand-"

No, I understand clearly! But what you will never understand," I stepped closer to her but she didn't move back, "You are just a pawn to them. Someone who is disposable. Once they're done with you, they'll get rid of you. Or just add you to the experiment again. And this time you might not be so lucky." She didn't say anything and if she had, she would have just got cut off by two bombs exploding in the camp. I stepped back in horror, didn't even spare Teresa a glance and ran down the mountain.

There was smoke and fire everywhere, people screaming and running. More bombs were being shot down. Helicopters hovered and guards in black came down on ziplines. They carried their big guns from before and they shot with no mercy.

I ran, dodging the electric grenades and found my friends standing with Vince and Harriet by a truck with a huge gun on it. They had smaller but long guns with them.

"Aesara! Where's Thomas?"

"I thought he came down here."

Newt cocked his long barrel and fired at a soldier to my left. "We haven't seen him since you two left. Do you know how the hell WICKED found us?" I didn't answer him, pretending like I didn't hear him.

"I'm going to find Thomas. Cover me."

"Aesara!" But I ran off before he could put some sense into me. I mostly ran behind burning tents, dodging behind cars, and crouching next to barrels. People were still screaming and getting shot. I cursed at myself for believing that we could get through one day without something happening.