𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓-𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙨

XXVI-DIFFERENT PLAN, SAME OBJECTIVE

Later the next day, Thomas and I stood in a room with our friends. Him and Vince were at the table in the middle of the room.

Really no one else had to be here, because they would agree to anything, Vince was the only one we had to convince. Well, Thomas had to convince him. I was sure that he thought Thomas was the only one with credibility.

He threw a map down on the table, laying it flat and pointing at a circle on the yellow page. "There. It's a few hundred miles. Based on the railways and everything Aris told us, that's gotta be where they're headed. That's where they're taking Minho. We take everyone who can fight, follow the roads where we can. We can make it back within a week."

It was a good plan, a great one even, but didn't look like Vince was on board. "It took us six months to get here." He jabbed at the table. "We got over a hundred kids here now. We can't just hang out here forever after what we just pulled. You wanna wander off to some random point on the map. You don't even know what's there."

"I do." Jorge walked into the room, hands in his pockets. "It's been a couple years, but I've been there. The Last City. That's what WICKED called it. It was their whole base of operations. If that city is still standing, that's the last place you wanna be hermano. That's the lion's den."

"It's nothing we haven't done before."

"Yeah, with months of planning and reliable information, the element of surprise...none of which we have now." Vince threw his hands out.

"Vince, I've thought this through. Would you just hear me out?"

"The last time we went off half-cocked, I lost everything! You remember that?" Thomas avoided Vince's eyes, his tongue poking at the inside of his lower lip. Of course he remembers. We all do. "Look, I know it's Minho. All right? But you can't ask me to put those kids on the line for one man. I won't do it."

They stayed quiet, only a soft static sound filling the air. I frowned and looked around. "What the hell.."

"We're searching the grid now." A males voice came out of the radio we have in the back. "A is completed. Scanning the b-sector now."

A deep humming vibrates my eardrums. My blood runs cold.

"Shit, hit the lights."

"Let's go. Go!"

Newt grabbed my arm, pulling me with him and Fry. The lights went out, everything dark except for the pale moonlight. Everyone screamed, yelling at others to do things. Newt pushed me behind a barrel, hiding behind one himself. My elbow hit the corner of something and I hissed. "Shit."

I held my head in my hands, covering my ears. We've only had one of these drills, just in case WICKED happened to stumble across our hide-out. Everyone got themselves situated quickly and I hoped that the newcomers were doing okay.

Even though my ears were covered, I could still hear the bergs flying past us. Not directly overhead, but closer. I looked up at Newt and he was looking over his barrel. In the dim light I saw the fear in his eyes. But there was something else. Determination.

Thomas found me later in my hammock, I hadn't fallen asleep yet, waiting for him to come back. Carefully he joined me on the swinging ropes. I unwrapped myself from the blanket and covered him with it. He was quiet and wouldn't quite look at me. I reached up and held his face. He flinched, glancing down at me. "Hey."

"Hey. Are you okay?"

He hummed and leaned into my hand. "Do you ever miss the glade sometimes?"

I was shocked by the question. "Everything was just starting to go to shit when I got there. There isn't much to miss." That wasn't true. I missed the small moments I got to myself, or when I would hang out with Chuck. I missed him the most. Our time together may have been short, but he was a good kid and didn't deserve anything that happened to him. Tears pricked at my eyes but I willed them to disappear.

"It was simpler then." He murmured. Leaning his forehead on mine and I just saw the weight of everyone's lives rest on Thomas's shoulders. "The only thing we had to fight were grievers and Gally."

I let a small laugh out, though it wasn't really funny. "Now we got cranks and all of WICKED. It was a lot simpler."

He held my face and gave me a small kiss. "We're gonna get Minho back. If it's the last thing we do."

I felt the hammock shift a couple hours later. I was in and out of sleep, trying to take in Thomas's presence, but I was anxious for some reason. I figured that Thomas was just repositioning himself but then it got lighter.

I sat up quickly, stabilizing myself so I didn't eat shit. Thomas' form was walking away, a bag in his hand. My eyebrows furrowed and I followed him, struggling to put my boots on.

"Thomas." I whispered when we weren't really by people, I didn't want to wake them up.

He turned back to me, his eyes wide. "Aesara, I'm sorry did I wake you?"

"Yes you did. Where are you going?"

He looked at his bag and then sighed. "I'm gonna get Minho back."

"By yourself? You said we earlier, remember?"

"I can't risk losing you guys. Vince was right. If it's one man that's in danger, then it's one man we're risking. And if it has to be me, then so be it." He started to walk away.

"You're not doing it by yourself. I can help you."

"Aesara-"

"I'm not taking no for an answer."

He let out a laugh and smiled. "I was going to say okay. Take only one bag and don't make it heavy."

I smiled and nodded. I quietly ran back to my hammock and dug through my stuff. I pulled out a single change of clothes and underwear. I stuffed my med-kit in between my clothes so it wouldn't get ruined. As I was searching for anything else to bring my hand slid against rough leather. I pulled out the small knife that I threw in when we first got here. I pulled up the sheath, the metal still looked new. I hadn't touched it since renewing it and tossing it in my trunk.

I clipped it to my buckles and closed my trunk.

I met Thomas at the car "garage". It was really just a tent with a couple of the cars that the Right Arm salvaged after the fight with WICKED. Newt and Frypan were with Thomas now, Frypan in the driver's seat.

We were all taught how to drive when we arrived, seeing as we needed to take turns for supply runs. Though I kind of felt bad that we would be taking the car. We came back with less and less gas each time.

Newt sat in the front with Fry, Thomas and I in the back. Fry pulled out the garage, turning the light on when we were out. As he drove, my eyes grew heavy. I leaned against Thomas, making myself comfortable in the backseat. Before I knew it, I was out.