Echoes ~ (Book Two of The Elite Series)

Chapter 14

"Aris?"
Lowering her gun and pulling off her scarf, the girl stared at him in disbelief which slowly turned into joy.

"Oh, my God. Harriet?" Aris gasped.

Darting forward, the two teens embraced.
"My God. What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Sonya!" Aris grinned, hugging the blonde girl next.

"Aris, you're lucky we didn't shoot your dumb ass!" She scolded, more happy to see him than upset, with an accent that reminded Emma of Newt's.

"You all right, man? How...?"

"Uh....what's happening?" Minho said, totally confused, his hands still up.

"We were in the maze together," Aris explained, still wearing a wide grin on his face.

Putting two fingers in her mouth, 'Harriet' gave a sharp, high whistle. "We're clear, guys! Come on out!"

"Copy that!"

"We're clear!"

"Stand down!"

Kyra had been right. Six others stood high above and behind them on the rocky ridge of the cliff. A perfect camouflage.

"My God, you're alive," Sonya held Aris's face in her hands, just looking at him as if she could hardly believe it was really him, Jorge giving the pair an approving look.

Walking down the tunnel, Harriet made a circle in the air with her hand.
"Back it up, Joe! Back it up!"

"We're taking them to base," she explained to someone else as they went by.

"Wait, so, how did you guys get here?" Aris inquired.

"The Right Arm got us out."

Thomas immediately became interested.
"Wait. The Right Arm? Do you know where they are?"

Harriet pulled open the door of a jeep.
"Hop in."

Bundling themselves into two jeeps, the group was taken by Harriet and Sonya for a couple miles further into the hills, until they came to a fairly medium sized camp nestled in between the rocky cliffsides.

"They've been planning this for over a year now," Harriet explained as she led the group on through.  "This is all for us."

"You guys are lucky you found us when you did. We're moving out at first light," Sonya noted, then looked to a man walking past nearby. "Where's Vince?"

"Somewhere over there, I think."

"Who's Vince?" Thomas asked them.

"He's the one who decides if you get to stay."

Well that didn't sound entirely hopeful.

"I thought the Right Arm was supposed to be an army," Thomas commented as he looked around at the camp.

"Yeah, we were," a man answered as he came forwards. "This is all that's left of us. Lot of good people died getting us this far." He glanced at Harriet, and Emma had a pretty good guess that this was Vince.
"Who are they?"

"They're Immunes. Caught 'em coming up the mountain."

"Did you check 'em?" He asked, and a sense of dread filled Emma.
Vince meant checking if any of them were sick.
And Brenda was sick.

"I know this guy, Aris," Harriet said, gesturing at the boy with her thumb
"I trust him."

"Well, I don't. Check 'em."