Evermore ღ Newt TMR³

4. They Left Us Here

They all quietly move into position, Clara and Minho on one side of the door, Lori and Newt on the other, as Thomas and Brenda aims directly at the door.
"Open it," Thomas breaths out.

Brenda pushes against the door, allowing it to swing open, and for Thomas to storm in searching the room. The rest of them follow him in, scanning the room as they go. The Hangar contains two Bergs, even though it looks as if it could hold three. The two which remain look a little damaged, the bodies made of scorched metal.

"Hey!" Lori hears Minho shout to them all. "Over here. Someone's on the . . . " But he stops abruptly, as he comes up beside a large crate, where he aims his weapon on something behind it.

The teenagers all rush to Minho's side, to see a man lying on the ground, groaning and rubbing his head. There doesn't seem to be any blood on the ground around him, so Lori had to make the assumption that he had been whacked upside the head fairly hard.

"Careful there, buddy," Minho warns the man. "Nice and easy, no sudden movements or you'll smell like burnt bacon before you know it."

The man turns onto his elbow, allowing his hand to drop away from his face, revealing his identity. Brenda gasps, pushing to the front to fall down and wrap the man in a hug.
It's Jorge. Lori smiles, knowing that they can finally escape this place, now that they have a pilot.

Brenda leans back, searching Jorge for injuries, firing questions one after the other. "What happened? How'd you get hurt? Who took the Berg? Where is everyone?"

Jorge groans, pushing Brenda away from him slightly. "Calm your parts, hermana. My head feels likes it's been stomped by dancin' Cranks. Just give me a sec while I get my wits back together."
He slowly manages to spin round and sit against the crate, his eyes squeezing open and shut as he does so. Once he's steady, he begins to talk. "I don't know how they did it, but they took over the compound for rid of the guards, stole a Berg, flew out of here with another pilot. I was an idiot and tried to get them to wait until I could find out more about what's going on. Now my head's paying for it."

Lori takes a step forward to stand beside Thomas and Minho. "Who are you talking about, Jorge? Who left the compound?"

Jorge turns to look up at Thomas. "That Teresa chick. Her and the rest of the subjects. Well, all of the except you muchachos."

Thomas seems to be shocked by this revelation, leaning on a crate to his left to support himself. Lori was a little surprised to find that it hadn't been Cranks or the WICKED workers who had caused this, but she would be lying if she said that the thought of the other Gladers doing this hadn't crossed her mind.

Everyone starts to fire Jorge with questions, attempting to iron out the details of what had happened.
"Shut your traps!" Jorge yells over all the voices. They all step back, a little shocked by the sudden outburst. "You're driving nails through my head - just . . . quit talking for a minute. Somebody help get me up."

Newt leans down and pulls Jorge up by the his hand, until the man is standing on his feet. "You better start explaining what bloody happened. From the beginning."

Minho nods, "And be quick about it."

Jorge crosses his arms as he leans back against his crate. "Look, hermano, I already told you I don't know much. What I said happened. My head feels like - "

"Yeah, we get it," Minho cuts him off, sounding irritated. "You have a headache. Just tell us what you know and we'll find you some shuck aspirin."

Jorge lets out a weak laugh, "Brave words, boy. If I remember right, you're the one who had to apologize and beg for your life back in the Scorch."

Minho's face burns red in both embarrassment and anger. "Well, it's easy to be tough when you have a bunch of lunatics with knives protecting you. Things are a little different now."