There was a song playing over the speakers. It echoed down halls and bounced off walls. Emma willingly followed the same girl who helped string them up by their ankles over a hole.
But, right now, it was either Brenda or WICKED. Emma would pick anyone over WICKED. She had to have faith that Brenda was going to help them.
If Gally were here, he would call her foolish for having faith. For believing in Thomas and trusting his decisions.
Maybe he would be right. Maybe Emma was a fool, but she was who she was.
And Gally was gone.
Brenda led the group up a set of stairs into a new part of the building that she hadn't seen yet. "Brenda," Jorge called out. Emma looked up to see him standing a few feet away. "We don't have much time. Let's go. Let's go. Come on." They started following him past shelves full of dusty junk. "This way." Jorge pushed open two windows, revealing a zip line. Her eyebrows raised as she quickly put the pieces together inside her mind. He was helping them escape WICKED via zip line.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Frypan muttered.
"Plan B, Hermano." There were several rag-looking cloths over the wire, which they would use to cross. "You kids want to get to the Right Arm? I will lead you to them, but you owe me." He yanked one of the rags. "Follow me." With that, he jumped out the window and began soaring toward the other building.
"Oh, Shuck no," she whispered to herself. Emma was, all things considered, rather strong, but she doubted her ability to hold herself up and crossover without letting go and falling, possibly to her death.
"All right," Brenda pulled down another rag. "Let's go."
"Okay, go, go. Everyone, go," Thomas instructed the group. "We need to go." Minho stepped forward and grabbed one of the ropes. He grunted before jumping. Like Jorge, he easily glided through the air. It was easy for him. He never even hesitated.
Emma wasn't brave like that.
Frypan grabbed a rope next, and Emma shared an apprehensive look with Newt. "Come on," Thomas encouraged Frypan.
"You go, I'll follow," Newt said to her. "Right behind you."
"You better be." Emma stepped forward next and grabbed a rag. Taking a nervous breath, she wrapped her arms around the fabric. Distantly, she could see the group in the other building, barely illuminated by the lights inside.
After a moment of hesitation, she jumped.
The wind whipped her hair back. She felt a rush of adrenaline as she glided quickly down the zip line. Her eyelids fluttered as she clutched tightly onto the rope to the point it hurt, but it didn't matter as long as she didn't fall.
It felt like she was flying. Soaring through the air like a bird.
Approaching the building, Emma felt herself become fearful. She wasn't moving incredibly fast, but she wasn't sure how to stop. This was her first and hopefully last time on a zip line. At least from what she remembered.
Emma entered the next building, and she used her feet to try and stop. The moment her feet were on solid ground, she let go and stumbled forward. Knowing she was going to do that, Minho was ready. He wrapped his arms around her, preventing her from falling.
Emma grabbed his biceps, glancing up at him. Her nose barely missed his chin. Minho offered her a friendly smile, features relaxing. She felt a sudden rush of deja vu. "Thanks, Minho. That could have been bad."
"Yeah, no worries." She let go of him right as Newt appeared. Like she had, he stumbled to catch himself. This time, Frypan was there to help him.
Emma dusted herself off, letting out a shaky exhale. She had done it. She had zip lined without falling.
Without thinking, she turned toward Minho, half expecting to see Gally. See, she would have said to the blond Builder, I am strong enough to survive.
But the blond Builder wasn't there. It was just Minho, who turned to look back at her when he noticed she was looking at him. His face was pinched, confused, and slightly worried about the expression on her face. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Her lips fell into a frown. "Fine." Aris was the next to go down the zip line. He didn't stumble. It was the most graceful landing yet. All they needed were Teresa, Thomas, and Brenda to go. Once they did, they could leave. WICKED was still after them.
Teresa slid down a few seconds later. She caught her foot on a wood plank, but Emma moved quickly. She caught Teresa's arm and spun around, never letting her fall. Teresa couldn't help but let out a breathless laugh, shocked and impressed by her reflexes. "Thanks, Emy."
"No problem."
"Where are the others?" Nobody was coming down the zip line.
"Brenda went to grab something."
"What?" Jorge was immediately alarmed by her words. "Why? What was it?"
Teresa shrugged, "no idea. She just ran off. Thomas was right behind me." Emma knew Thomas. She knew he wouldn't leave without Brenda. He would be the last one down the zip line, no matter what.
"What would she-" Jorge was cut off by gunshots. Emma ducked without thinking, but the shots weren't being fired at them. It was inside the other building. The WICKED soldiers could be seen surrounding the window and zip line. They were shooting at Thomas and Brenda.
"Shit." Thomas and Brenda wouldn't be able to go down. They were trapped and in danger.
"We need to go get them."
"Can we go back?" The zip line was at an angle. They couldn't go back that way.
"Come on, guys." Jorge waved at them, a gesture to follow. "This way. Hurry!" Emma didn't hesitate to run after him. Leaving Thomas behind was not an option. They needed him. He was a part of their group.
He was their friend.
The group ran through the new building, which clearly hadn't been used in a long time. There were no lights other than the ones by the zip line. There was a thick layer of dust on everything. The group left behind footprints as they ran.
They were nearly at the bottom floor when an explosion occurred. The ground beneath her seemed to shake from the force. Emma froze immediately, eyes falling to the gap in the metal wall. The other building had exploded, flames rising into the air.
Then, it started to cave in. "No, no."
"Thomas!"
The group moved faster after that. They ran down the final set of stairs before bursting through the door. The rusted bolts gave out from the force. Emma barely noticed the door as it fell. All she could look at was the destruction of the building that Thomas and Brenda had been in. Not all of it had caved, but most of it had. People were running out in all directions. The helicopter that Janson was in was flying above it. It had a light pointed at the destruction.
"Thomas!"
"Quiet," Jorge yelled at Minho. "Quite." There were WICKED soldiers everywhere. They couldn't give themselves away. Emma searched the area but didn't see Thomas or Brenda anywhere. "We need to go."
"What?" Emma wasn't going to leave Thomas.
"No, we aren't leaving Thomas," Newt argued.
"There is nothing-"
"We aren't leaving him," Minho said louder.
Jorge glared at him. "There is nothing you can do for them out here. You'll get caught. We need to go."
"He's still in there-"
"And Brenda would have gotten them to the tunnels. The tunnels that lead away from here."
"What if he comes back?" Teresa didn't want to leave Thomas. None of them did.
"He could have gotten out-"
"We can't leave him."
"We can't leave him!"
Everyone was talking at once. It was too much for Emma to process. Her mind couldn't handle the arguing.
"We need to look for him."
"What if he's hurt?"
"What if-"
"What if-"
"What if-"
"Shut it," Jorge snapped, throwing his arms out. "All of you! They're not here. They're not coming back. WICKED," he pointed at the hovercraft that was using the light to search for them. To see where they had gone. "Is still looking for you. You're no good to Thomas if you're taken. We can discuss this when we're hidden."
When they're safe.
They wanted to argue but couldn't. All of them knew he was right.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The arguing started when they entered a den, which was inside an abandoned shaft. Once they were safe, Minho immediately began yelling about going to find Thomas. Newt joined. Then Jorge and Frypan. All of them were arguing.
It was chaos. She wanted it to stop.
Emma stood to the side, arms crossed over her chest as she listened to Minho and Newt argue with Jorge about leaving Thomas behind.
He was inside the building, but there wasn't much of a building anymore. "Brenda knows the plan," Jorge shouted at Minho. "She knows where we are going. She knows to find Marcus. If they survived, which I know they did because I know Brenda, we will find them there. If we go back, WICKED is there. None of you will last five minutes once they have you on their radar."
Emma pursed her lips. She knew Jorge was right. They were no match against WICKED. Minho looked like he was prepared to argue again, so she spoke up. "He's right. It's Thomas. He's smart and knows not to go back. We won't find him there."
Newt glanced at her but nodded his head. "Then what do you suggest we do?"
"We wait here until morning, like Jorge said. WICKED will leave eventually, and it will be safer for us. Then we'll head out and find Marcus. Brenda and Thomas will find us there. Unless they get there first." Emma knew Thomas well by now. She knew he wouldn't rest until he found them again. "If they aren't there, then we will look for them. We won't go anywhere without Thomas."
"Wait here? Thomas is out there-"
"And so is WICKED!"
"Guys," Emma yelled. "Enough! We'll go at dawn. We need to rest anyway. None of us have slept more than a few hours since we were at the compound."
"Or longer," Minho muttered under his breath.
Emma placed a comforting hand on his arm, knowing he hadn't been handling what had happened well. He killed Gally. That wasn't easy for him to deal with. "Or longer. The point is, we are useless if we haven't slept. We can't find the Right Arm if we're weak. If we're too tired to fight if anything happens." The group stared at her. "We're resting. We can watch in shifts. Keep an eye out for WICKED." Or anyone who might stumble upon them, like Thomas and Brenda. "I'll go first."
"I'll join you," Newt offered. "The rest of you get some sleep. Aris, Fry. You're on watch next. Then Minho and Jorge." Nobody said anything about Teresa. "Got it?" They nodded. "Good that."
Emma brushed the hair out of her face. Wordlessly, she walked to the front of the shelter and sat down against the wall. Volunteering for the job had been easy. Emma knew she wasn't going to be sleeping any time soon. Not with her mind worried about Thomas. She hoped Jorge was right. He seemed to have a lot of faith in Brenda. In her ability to survive an explosion like that.
Emma needed Thomas to be alive. To be okay. The group needed him. He was the one who found a way out of the Maze. Who realized they never escaped WICKED. He was the one who had kept them alive all this time. She had no idea where they would be without him.
"You certainly took control back there," Newt said as he sat beside her.
"Sorry."
"No, no. Don't be. It was impressive. I didn't know you had it in you."
She shrugged. "Neither did I."
Newt leaned against the wall, getting comfortable. "You were quick to volunteer."
"Wouldn't be sleeping much right now anyway. Might as well be useful."
As she stared outside, he stared at her. Newt had been trying to be there for her, but Emma wasn't making it easy. She was shutting down. Shutting him out. "The Glade never had stars like this."
Her eyes flickered upward. "I thought that the other night. I wonder why that is."
"I guess we will never know."
Emma hummed in agreement. "I used to sit on the tree hut almost every night, staring up into the same sky I am looking at right now." This sky felt different, but it wasn't. "I used to sit up there with Gally, but now he's dead, and we're not in the Glade." She glanced at the boy beside her. "And I have no idea what to do anymore." How was she supposed to keep going?
"You don't have to," he said. "And you don't have to figure anything out on your own. You have me. Minho. Teresa. Fry. We're not going anywhere."
"I lost Gally," she whispered. "He was never really mine, but I wanted him to be."
"I know," Newt said. "I think he was, though. Yours. I've never seen him care about someone like he cared about you." He knew that Gally, without a doubt, cared about Emma. He wouldn't have been surprised if Gally had loved her.
He would never know now, he supposed. Gally was dead.
"He wasn't a bad person," she said after a minute of silence. Emma needed Newt to know that. Despite what Gally did, he was a good person. "He was good, just scared. He was so scared all the time but didn't want anyone to know that. So instead, he was angry. I guess it was easier being angry." Emma blinked a few times. Gally still killed Chuck, and then Minho killed him.
"Emma-"
"I kissed him," she kept talking because she needed to tell someone, and who better than Newt? The person she trusted most. One of the few people she had left. "I can still picture your face when I told you that the first time." There was a hint of a smile on her face.
Newt chuckled softly beside her, remembering that as well. "Caught me by surprise. I didn't think you had it in you."
"Did it twice."
He laughed at that. "You're braver than you give yourself credit for."
"He said I wouldn't be able to survive if things were worse. If it wasn't better. He said I wouldn't make it." She paused. "I think he might have been right."
It was silent for a minute. "Did I ever tell you how I got my limp?"
It was a change in conversation she hadn't been expecting. "No." She had no idea.
"I came up in the box, like everyone else back in the Maze. It was a lot. Scary." Emma listened closely. "I didn't have my memories, but I could feel that something was missing. I didn't know what. I just knew that something was. It made me feel so empty inside." She stared at him. "I tried to live with it, but I couldn't. I couldn't do it. So, I woke up early one day and went into the Maze. I found the tallest wall I could and climbed to the top." Emma had a feeling she knew where he was going with the story. "And I jumped." There was a pause. "But I got caught in the Ivy and broke my leg before hitting the ground. Then Minho found me. Carried me back to the Glade, and they fixed me up. Never told anyone the truth either." Emma glanced into the cave, eyes finding Minho easily. He was on his back, one arm resting on his chest as he slept. "He saved me."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Our actions don't define us. Minho killed Gally, but he saved me. Gally killed Chuck, but he protected you." Emma pursed her lips, eyes downcast. "And I know how you're feeling right now. Like something is missing. Like a piece of you is gone, and you're not sure you'll ever get it back. Like you feel-"
"Empty," she finished.
"Empty," he repeated. "But you aren't alone. People need you, Emma. I need you. Just now, you pulled everyone together and created a plan. You're smart. Passionate. Caring. Brave. We need that. We need you, and I know Gally's gone. I know that, but he was wrong. You can survive this."
Emma smiled sadly at her friend, tears burning her eyes. What then, she wanted to ask. What then? If she survived, if she kept fighting, what then? What if this was their life now? Always on the run. Trying to escape an organization much more powerful than them.
What if the Right Arm wasn't real? If they were ghosts like Jorge had said? What was out there for them? No homes to return to. No memories to guide them there anyway. Nothing but danger and death.
"Do you think the Right Arms out there?"
Newt sighed, thinking carefully. "I don't know. What I do know is that Thomas hasn't failed us yet. If he thinks it's there, then it's there."
"Thomas isn't here."
"You said it yourself. He'll be there waiting for us tomorrow. He'll probably say, what took you guys so long?" Emma couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. "We'll get him and Brenda, and Jorge will help us find the Right Arm. Then we will finally be safe."
Safe.
Emma wasn't sure they would ever be truly, genuinely, completely safe.