"In the beginning, we were lost. All we knew for sure was that the younger you were, the stronger your chances." Mary said, walking around the tent, grabbing all sorts of different liquids and equipment.
"You worked for Wicked?" Thomas asked,
"She used to. A long time ago." Clara answered for her. When Mary had worked at Wicked Clara found herself spending a lot of time with the woman, since she taught her chemistry, and she grew to love her. Her kindness and warmth were a stark contrast to the cruel, cold walls of Wicked that Clara had grown up in. Mary became like a second mother to her, and Clara felt like she loved her more than she did her real mother.
"You know at first we had the best intentions. Find a cure, save the world. It was clear you kids were the key, cause you were immune. But why? Eventually, we found an answer."
"An enzyme." Thomas finished for her, nodding over at Clara as he remembered what she'd told the group in the scorch after they'd escaped from Wicked.
"That's right. Once that enzyme is separated from the bloodstream, it can serve as a powerful agent to slow the spread of the virus."
"So you found a cure?" Thomas asked her,
"Not exactly. The enzyme can't be manufactured, only harvested from the immune, the young."
"Of course, that didn't stop the fuckers." Clara scoffed, gently brushing her hand over Brenda's forehead.
"No, it didn't. If Wicked had their way they'd sacrifice an entire generation. All for this." Mary lifted up a small syringe containing some blue liquid. "A gift of biology and evolution. But one not meant for all of us."
She walked over to Brenda, grabbing her arm and gently injecting the syringe into her vein. Immediately her breathing began to slow, she stopped panting and her body stopped shaking.
"How long will that give her?" Clara asked,
"It's different for everyone. A few months, maybe. But that's the catch, isn't it? She'll always need more."
Mary stood up again, heading back towards her equipment,
"Jorge, come on. Let's go, let her rest." Clara whispered, holding his arm and standing up, leading him out of the tent, Mary following behind them.
"Thank you, Mary, really," Clara said once they were outside, pulling the older woman into a hug.
"Of course. I'm glad you're okay Clarissa, I didn't think I'd ever see you again after your mother decided to put you into the maze."
Clara pulled away from her, smiling before the doctor took off, leaving her and Jorge behind. She turned to face him and noticed a tear rolling down his cheek,
"Hey, it's okay Jorge. She's gonna be okay now." She whispered,
"I thought I lost her, Raz. I can't lose her." He responded, wrapping his arms around her. She returned the hug, swaying slightly on her feet as they stood like that for a few seconds.
"You won't." She reassured him, gently patting his back before pulling away from him.
"I- I'm gonna stay here. I need to speak with Thomas." He said, taking a seat on a crate nearby. Clara nodded to him before turning away and walking back into the camp, she looked around for her friends and spotted Sonya, Harriet, and Aris sitting on some logs around a fire.
"Aris!" She called, jogging closer to them, "Hey, where are the others?"
"Up there." He said, pointing at a hill to their left.
"Alright, thanks."
Clara turned and saw Minho, Newt, and Frypan sitting on some rocks on the hill Aris pointed out and she made her way towards them, climbing up the side of it. Once she reached the top she moved to sit on a rock next to Newt,
"What are you guys up to?" She asked them as she sat down,
"Truth or dare," Minho answered her,
"Seriously?"
"We've just spent four days in a desert surrounded by brain-eating zombies. I think we deserve to have some fun."
"Children. All of you. You're children."
"Come on, Clar, have some fun, play with us. Please?" Frypan said, pouting at her,
"Absolutely not."
"Boring." Newt scoffed, rolling his eyes at her. She turned to him, glaring at him before finally giving in,
"Jesus, fine."
"Ha! Good! It's my turn." Minho laughed, looking at his three friends, searching for his next victim. "Newt. Truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"See, Clara, that right there is not a boring person." Clara narrowed her eyes at Minho and scowled,
"Newt, I dare you to kiss the prettiest person on this rock. Right now. On the lips. A big old smooch." As he finished, he smirked and closed his eyes, puckering his lips and scooching toward Newt. Clara rolled her eyes and she opened her mouth to make fun of him, but before the words could come out, Newt's lips were pressed firmly on hers. Her eyes widened in shock before she closed them and bought a hand up to Newt's head, tangling it in his hair as she kissed him back.
"Ew, no wait. I take it back. I don't want to see this anymore. Go back to arguing please, this is disgusting." Clara heard Minho say and she smiled against Newt's lips. She pulled back from him to watch Minho as he pretended to gag dramatically, causing everyone else to laugh at him and Frypan reached over, smacking the boy's head.
Their laughter died down after a few seconds and Clara looked back at Newt, smiling before she grabbed his hand, holding it in hers. The four of them looked out over the camp, watching the members of the Right Arm doing their various tasks. Clara turned when she heard footsteps behind her and saw Thomas walking towards them, sitting down next to her.
"I wish Alby could've seen all this," Newt said, squeezing Clara's hand and looking down at her.
"And Winston," Frypan added
"And Chuck," Thomas said, looking down at the small figurine the boy had carved.
"He'd be proud of you, you know, Tommy?"
"Yeah."
"Hey, Aris!" Frypan shouted down at the camp, Aris looked back up at the group and gave them a wave, "You know, I kinda like that kid."
"Yeah, still don't trust him though," Minho added, causing the others to laugh.
"Hey, where's Teresa?" Thomas suddenly asked,
"And my brother," Clara added, scanning the faces down in the camp and not finding him.
"I think they went up there," Newt said, jabbing his thumb at a large ledge a few feet away from them, where two figures were standing. Clara moved to go speak to them but Thomas stopped her,
"I got it." He said, nodding at her before heading towards the ledge. She looked back over the camp and her eyes suddenly came to a stop, focusing on Sonya sitting with Harriet and Aris. She quickly stood up, pulling Newt up with her,
"Hey, I have to speak to you about something." She said, before leading him a few feet away from the others,
"Horny shanks!" She heard Minho shout as they walked away and she lifted her middle finger at him, not bothering to turn around. Once the others were out of sight she let go of Newt's hand, trying to push down the anxiety that was rising inside her.
"What's going on?" He asked,
"There's something I didn't tell you, last night. When Wicked saved me they- they..." She trailed off as a lump formed in her throat,
"They what?"
"They gave me my memories back. All of them."
"What? Why didn't you tell us earlier, Clara?"
"That's not important. Look-"
"No, I think it is pretty important." Newt cut her off, Clara could hear his anger growing and she grit her teeth. An argument was the last thing she wanted to get into.
"Newt, just stop. I remembered something, about you."
"What?"
The blonde girl with Aris – Sonya – does she look familiar to you?"
"Not particularly. Should she?"
"Well, um, she- she's your sister, Newt. Her real name is Lizzie, you two were separated by Wicked before the maze."
Newt took a deep breath in as he listened to what Clara had just told him, struggling to take it all in. She watched his expression change, switching between anger and sadness, finally settling on something in between the two.
"I have a sister?" He whispered, and she nodded at him. "And they- they took away my memories of her."
"I'm so sorry Newt." She said, reaching up to his face and wiping away a tear that rolled down his cheek. She let a few seconds of silence pass before she spoke again,
"But that's... that's not everything. There's something else you need to know, about me. About why I said you can't trust me." She breathed, looking down at her feet, her hands still placed on Newt's cheeks
"What is it?"
"Newt, I came up with the maze. The whole thing was my idea. I helped Thomas and them design it. All of it- it was my fault."
"Yeah, I know. Tommy already told us this, remember?"
"I'm not finished, it's my mother. She- I..." She hesitated for a second, "My mother-"
Suddenly a deafening explosion rocked the campsite, sending a wave of flames flying into the air, followed by the screams of the Right Arm
"What the fuck?" Clara muttered, looking at Newt before they ran to join Minho and Frypan.
"What's going on?" Frypan yelled, ducking behind a large rock.
"It's gotta be Wicked."
"How did they find us?"
"I- I don't know."
Another explosion sounded from behind them, followed by more screams. Clara quickly ducked next to Frypan before looking around them, realizing Thomas wasn't there,
"Where's Thomas?"
"We don't know! He didn't come back!"
"Shit." She whispered before scrambling to her feet,
"Clara, what are you doing?" Newt hissed,
"I have to get Brenda."
"No, wait!" He called but she ignored him, running in the direction of the medical tent, hoping beyond all hope that Brenda was okay. She skidded to a stop as an explosion landed straight on the tent, completely engulfing it in flames,
"No, no, no..." She mumbled, slowly stepping forwards as she felt her heart drop,
"Brenda!" She heard someone call and turned to see Thomas running towards her. She turned to face him, her fear growing but suddenly she saw Brenda appear behind him, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around.
"You guys are idiots." She shouted before leading them towards a bunch of containers where Jorge was hiding. They crouched down behind a large crate, watching as Wicked guards dropped to the ground, shooting launchers at the members of the Right Arm,
"What the hell happened? How did they find us?" Clara asked, wincing as she saw a launcher grenade shoot into the back of someone, sending them flying to the floor.
"It was Teresa and your brother."
"What?"
"Teresa got her memories back, she thinks that there's a cure and she wants to help them find it. And your brother lied to us, he told us that they took his memories but they didn't, he was sent to bring us back to Wicked, to find you. The two of them did this, together"
Clara felt anger rising inside of her, of course her brother had lied to her, she couldn't believe that she'd even considered trusting him again, that she actually thought he'd changed. But he hadn't, he was still the golden child, still their mother's favourite.
"We have to go, now! While we still have the chance!" Jorge shouted, pulling her out of her thoughts,
"I have to find the others," Thomas muttered, moving away but Jorge grabbed his jacket, pulling him back
"No! Look! Look at your friends! You can't help them!" He shouted pointing at where the others were. Minho, Newt, Frypan, Sonya, and Harriet were standing surrounding a truck where Vince stood, readying a giant machine gun. Suddenly something flew through the air and landed in front of Vince and Clara heard him yell before a loud pop sounded and everyone surrounding the truck collapsed to the floor, convulsing violently.
"No." She whispered, turning back around and leaning against the crates, placing a hand over her mouth.
"I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do for them. But if we don't move now, we won't be much better off." Jorge said, placing a hand on Clara's shoulder. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes,
"You guys have gotta go right now." She said,
"What?" Brenda asked,
"They're not looking for you, you'll be safe."
"She's right. You have to run, now." Thomas added, giving Clara a reassuring nod.
"No, I'm not leaving you again, Raz," Jorge said, focusing on her.
"Remember what you told me? Don't lose someone you care about over something stupid? Those people out there? I care about them, and I happen to think that Wicked is really fucking stupid. I can't leave them behind, Jorge."
"You really shouldn't listen to me, I give terrible advice."
"Just go, please."
Jorge glanced between her and Thomas and she could see him wrestling with himself, unsure of what to say next.
"Okay, okay, we'll go. But Raz, please, be careful. Be smart."
She nodded at him, giving a sad smile to Brenda before the two of them took off, leaving her and Thomas behind.
"What now?" He asked, and she shook her head, realizing she had no answer for him. But she felt something hard inside her jacket and furrowed her eyebrows, slowly looking down and reaching inside of it and pulling out Jorge's bomb. She lifted it up towards Thomas, giving it a gentle shake,
"I think I have an idea."
Clara peeked her head over the container they were hiding behind, watching as the Wicked guards lined up the immunes and the rest of the Right Arm. Janson appeared from one of the helicopters and she felt a wave of hatred rush over her when she saw him,
"How many did we get?" She heard him say,
"All of them, give or take." A Wicked guard responded,
"Give or take what?"
"Well, they lost a few."
"Where's Thomas?"
"That's your cue," Clara whispered, shoving Thomas out of their hiding spot.
"I'm here, don't shoot." He said, raising his hands as a guard aggressively grabbed him, pushing him forwards. He stumbled towards Janson, who now had a creepy grin growing on his face.
"Thomas." He said before punching the boy in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain. "Get him in line."
Another guard grabbed Thomas and shoved him into line next to Minho and Janson looked over at all of them before turning back towards another guard and whispering something to him. A few seconds later Clara heard the familiar rumble of a Berg engine and looked up to see one landing in front of the rows of people, sending a wave of sand into their faces. The cargo door opened and a group of Wicked guards marched out of it, followed by Ava Paige.
Ava walked towards Janson and spoke to him, and a few seconds later he shouted for the guards to start loading the kids into the Berg. Ava walked towards where Thomas and the others were sitting, she opened her mouth to say something but hesitated as she looked over the group, her eyebrows furrowing.
"Janson!" She called,
"Yes Ma'am?"
"Where is she?"
"Where's who?"
"My daughter, where's my daughter?"
Clara stepped out from behind the container, raising her hands before she spoke,
"I'm here."