I took the picture from the frame and put it in my back pocket. While I waited for my father to finish threatening the group, I wrote him and Brenda a short goodbye and apology letter. I knew leaving was wrong but I had to do it and I knew they wouldn't support it, especially if it's with this group I barely knew.
I left the letter on Brenda's pillow and then walked out of the room. My dad looked like he had just left the pit, followed by a few others. I walked past my dad and he turned to face me, letting the men trailing him go forward.
At first we didn't say anything, just looked at each other. I felt extremely guilty but my mind was made up at this point.
"Are you calling WICKED?" I asked and he sighed, giving me a soft smile.
"I'm going to do what I have to do." He told me and this time I sighed. I knew he was going to say that, I was just hoping he wouldn't. I leant forward so that only he could hear me.
"I love you Dad, and I respect you and all the sacrifices that you've made for me and Brenda." I told him and he looked at me funnily.
"Where's this coming from?" He asked me and I shrugged.
"Just thought I'd tell you." I told him and he looked around before he pulled me into a gentle hug. I couldn't remember the last time that I had hugged him like this. I missed it. After time however, he released and left me standing there on my own.
Once My father's footsteps echoed away, I waited a few minutes before I entered the room to the pit. Quickly, I slipped inside and waited a little longer just in case someone was watching me.
Right as I walked in, I watched as Minho gave an attempt at pushing Teresa over to the wooden lever. It would have been smart if they weren't hanging from ropes. They had no idea I was there so I watched as the attempt didn't work again before I stepped in.
"That won't work you know." I said and they all froze like deer in headlights. "There isn't enough momentum to push yourself, much less someone else."
"So, what, you just came to rub it in while your dad calls WICKED?" Thomas asked angrily. "I don't get why you rescued us if you were just gonna get rid of us anyway."
"Hey, Thomas, shut up." Minho said flatly and I wanted to thank him for sticking up for me.
"Look, I'm sorry about all of that, but trust me when I say that it wasn't my idea." I told them and then paused. "I came to help you escape." I told them and they all looked shocked, all except Minho.
"Wait, are you being serious?" Aris asked and I nodded.
"Remember what I told you earlier about always meaning what I say? Now listen, the cost of me helping you is high so that means there is a price for this."
"Whatever it is, we'll pay it." Thomas assured, but I didn't doubt that.
"My only condition is that you take me with you." I told them and they all looked at each other as if I were joking. "Think of it this way. You guys don't know the Scorch like I do, you can benefit from me."
"Oh yeah, and what do you get?" Newt asked me.
"Freedom. That's what I get. Now do we have a deal?" I didn't think this was even a discussion, they needed me just as much as I needed them.
"How do we know we can trust you?" Frypan asked and I scoffed.
"Because, you only get so many people you can trust, you take what you can get. I would think that you guys would know that by now."
It was then when a loud voice boomed across the entire compound, making me jump. Then, spotlights shined down on us and I knew it wasn't good.
"This is the World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department. We have your compound completely surrounded...."
Of course it was WICKED, because none of this was supposed to be easy. I wasn't sure how they had gotten here so quickly, my dad only just left. He didn't have time to call WICKED before I helped them out. But that didn't matter. There wasn't anymore time for discussion, they had to choose now.
I quickly turn to Thomas and his gang. "You guys don't really have much time, do you?"
They were all silent for a minute and I seriously thought that they were going to pass down my offer. Then, someone spoke up.
"We can make that work." Thomas said and I couldn't help but smile. I ran over to the lever and pulled it, making them all shoot down a couple more inches. They didn't scream this time and I ran over to Teresa who was the closest to the edge. I grabbed her arms as she reached out to me and I brought her over the edge. She began undoing the ropes while I ran over to the next person.
I had now grabbed Minho after untying Newt and Minho looked at me deeply.
"What about your dad and that girl?" He asked me and I sighed, having tried to ignore that thought.
"If he was going to give you up then they won't hurt him. Besides, I always planned to leave, it's just a coincidence that you showed up first." I told him and then I finished with the ropes. We all stood up tall and I looked at all of them.
"I have supplies not far from the Compound, we'll go get them and get out of here-" I was cut off by the sound of a loading gun. I turned to face Barkley, of course. I looked down to see the walkie talkie in his hand and that got me thinking. Did he call WICKED? Did my father ever really plan on giving them up or was he just covering up his true intentions?
It was then when I heard Janson's voice boom across the entire compound once again that I realized that I couldn't leave without my father or Brenda. Even if this weren't the circumstances I liked and I had always planned to leave without them, I still wouldn't go. I needed my father and Brenda, they were the things I valued most in life, I couldn't leave them.
But I didn't have time to think about that now, if I knew my father, he would already have escaped with Brenda after learning of my disappearance.
"Why am I not surprised your here?" Barkley bellowed and I sent him a glare that could probably shoot daggers.
"Put the gun down." I instructed but he laughed in my face which got me mad.
"I don't listen to little girls, now get out of my way or I'll make ya."
"Threaten me again and you'll see how little I really am." I said flatly but the big man didn't listen to me.
"We don't want to cause trouble, just let us go." Thomas asked but of course Barkley wasn't going to listen. The man brought the radio up to his mouth and clicked the button.
"Hey Janson, I got em for ya and I'm bringing em down. Don't shoot."
I didn't even think about it, I just charged at the man twice my size and nailed him in the jaw. He quickly got back up and used one hand to grab me by the hair so that he could pull up my head and get a better shot at punching me.
"Let her go!" I heard Minho and all the others scream and I watched as Barkley held the gun up, specifically at Minho. Terrified that the man was going to shoot the boy or the group, I did the one thing I could think of and that was smack the gun. I took my forearm and smashed it against the barrel of the gun and it went down. A shot fired and I saw out of the corner of my eye, Thomas jump in front of Newt. I didn't have time to question it as a stinging sensation filled my leg. I knew I was shot, but it only skimmed so it wasn't going to kill me.
I quickly used my knee and brought it up to his gut swiftly, making him yelp in pain. I brought the man down with me as I fell to the floor, rolling over the edge of the pit. Both me and Barkley were grabbing on to the ledge as we knew falling meant death. Barkley tried getting up again but I was quicker, grabbing my knife and stabbing his hand so that he'd let go. And he did. Now it was only me dangling over the edge of the Crank pit.
I put my knife back in its pocket and then grabbed the edge with my other hand. I didn't have to do much work after that as someone hoisted me back onto the platform. When I looked up, I wasn't exactly expecting to see Brenda there, yet there she was.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" She asked me and I shrugged.
"A lot of things. You might want to specify." I told her but she shook her head.
"We don't have time, someone help her, we gotta go now!" Brenda instructed and before Thomas had the chance to, Minho came and wrapped my arm over his shoulder.
"You took a bullet for our group." Minho said and I scoffed.
"If you don't trust me now then I think you have trust issues."
We all ran up the set of stairs that lead to Jorge's office. Well, I tried to run but the pain in my upper leg was not on my side. We were about midway up when a song started playing over the speakers. I knew the song all too well.
"I'll be walking, after midnight..."
"Are you serious!" I said and Brenda turned to me and nodded. I remembered when my dad first put the mechanisms in place. Incase something were to happen, he had bombs placed in very specific places of the Compound. When he played his song and it ended, the whole place would go up in flames. It always bothered me that I was living in a bomb but that was something I got over after time.
We reached the top of the staircase and my father was there with a bag ready. He took one look at my leg and his face became dire.
"It just skimmed, I'm fine." I assured him, but that didn't make him feel much better. I was just shocked that my dad was helping.
"We don't have much time, let's go!" Jorge said, leading us down to the back wall of the office. He opened up the windows so that it showed the giant wire that lead over the huge drop down to another building.
"You gotta be kidding me." Fry said under his breath and I laughed.
"Don't worry, it isn't as bad as it looks." I assured, having done it multiple times in the past. My father didn't know that I frequently rode the zip line so that I could drop off my supplies without him finding them. That's where we were headed now though.
"You kids looking for the Right Arm?" Jorge asked as he pulled against the straps to the zip line. "I'll take you to them. But your gonna owe me. Now, follow me!" He shouted as he grabbed the straps and leapt over the edge, soaring across the sky.
"Let's go!" Brenda called as she prepared the other straps.
"Minho, go." I instructed but he shook his head. "Go, now! I've done this enough times to know what I'm doing."
"I'm sure you've never done it shot!" Minho exclaimed.
"Hey, you two, move!" Brenda said and I watched as Teresa went down.
"Trust me, I'll be fine." I told him and after a few seconds, Minho caved and grabbed the straps. He then jumped off and it was now Thomas's turn. However, he took it upon himself to run the other direction. Before I could ask where he was going, I saw Brenda in front of him.
"BRENDA!" I yelled but the girl didn't turn. It was stupid, but I knew what she was going after. She was going for the only picture she had left of her brother. I knew I would do the same if I left my family picture behind.
Brenda was smart, she always had a plan. She knew the risks so that meant she also had a way out. I had to go, I couldn't catch up to them even if I tried, not with my leg in the condition it was in. I turned, about to use the zip line when suddenly, a huge force threw me into the wall.
When I looked up, I saw a singular WICKED guard there with his launcher. Punching him wouldn't work, not with that helmet, so I swiftly grabbed my knife. I ducked under his gun that he fired and stabbed in in the side where his vest didn't protect. I ripped out the knife and let him fall in pain. Then, the lights of the other guards coming came into my view.
I was about to grab on to the straps, but when I turned I saw the straps already going down the zip line. I didn't think, just ran and leapt for the straps. I grabbed on tightly and felt my body swing against the wire. The cool wind brushed against my cheeks and my hair was all over my face. I looked down to the big drop but then looked up, I always looked down and I never knew why.
"(Y/N)!" I heard the others call out when I was halfway down, and at first I thought they were worried about the fact that I had jumped, but that wasn't it.
I turned to look behind me and my eyes widened with fear and my heartbeat pick up speed as I watched the guards close to the wire. I then felt the wire jerk and my whole body bounced.
They were cutting the wire.
(Hope you guys enjoyed the first few chapters! I would love to see your comments and support! The story is already completely finished so if you guys want some suspense I can come out with a chapter twice a week or if you hate suspense I can do a chapter every day! Hope you enjoyed and I hope it was good enough for you guys to stick around and continue to read! The new chapters will come out every Tuesday and Thursday at 5pm CST! Hope to see you guys then! Love ya ❤️❤️)