Upset I walked back to the others again, leaving Newt on his own for a while. He looked like he needed it.
Some last tears trickled down my cheeks, but I hoped I did a good job hiding how much everything that happened hurt me. Not just Newt breaking up with me, but also finding out he had the Flare and even worse, that he didn't mind the fact he had chances of turning crazy or dying.
"Everything alright, mi hija?" Jorge looked up from his paper.
"Fine." I lied, like almost every single time someone asked if I were okay in my life.
"What happened?" He put his paper down and motioned for me to sit on the couch in front of him.
I swallowed. "Nothing much. But Jorge.."
"Yeah, mi hija?"
I smiled lightly at the nickname, but soon my face darkened. "I was wondering if I, uh- if it could be possible that Newt and I don't sleep in the same bed."
"What?" The man tensed up completely. "Did he do something inappropriate?"
"No." I shook my head. "It's just.." I stammered a bit, worried about Jorge's reaction because I knew he was ready to hurt Newt if he wanted to. "We kinda.. broke up."
His face switched to blank. "You or him?"
"Him."
Jorge's expression changed to anger and he roughly got up from his seat. "I told him not to-."
"It's fine," I assured before Jorge would do something. "He had his reasons." I lowered my voice. "And he has the Flare."
Jorge's eyebrows relaxed, but his eyes got hurt. "What?"
"Newt," I said. "He has the Flare."
Jorge buried his face in his hands. "Oh, Dios. Mierda. Él no, verdad?"
I felt sad too, but wondered what the hell Jorge said in Spanish while he shook his head and murmured some more stuff.
"Oh, god. Shit. Not him, right?" Brenda translated, walking into the room.
"Estúpida Flare! Nos queda algún suero de Brenda?" He rubbed his forehead and looked at Brenda.
"No. No conocemos a nadie que pueda hacerlo por nosotros. Mary se ha ido." Brenda replied.
Jorge sighed loudly. "At least your Spanish is getting a bit better." He paused. "We'll go into the city. The serum is there too."
"Alright." I agreed. "I'll take the couch."
"No, you're not, mi hija," Jorge replied. "I'll take it. Switch with Thomas if you're okay with sleeping in the same room as Davian."
"Davian?" Brenda furrowed her eyebrows.
"It's Crassus' name. Crassus is his surname." I explained. "But he told me to call him that."
"Everyone who's under his age calls him that," Jorge added. "So keep doing it, 'cause that guy is strong. Won't wanna get into a fight with him, if I were you."
"You're right, but I'll sleep on the couch, really," I confirmed. It would only get harder for me to escape if Jorge slept in the same room as the front door.
"No." Jorge refused sternly. "You need a good night of sleep."
~
I sneaked out of the room at night, hoping Crassus, who was snoring, wouldn't wake up, but he didn't. Relieved I rushed over to a backpack I had laid down a few hours before. Jorge peacefully slept on the couch, a paper in his hands and his mouth a bit open.
I put about ten knives in my backpack, along with a waistband and hair ties, but that was it. Quickly I wrote a note for everyone to not worry about me and that I would take the serum and Minho with me.
Then I opened the door. It shrieked loudly, making me squeeze my eyes shut. When finally, it was fully open, I slid through it and closed it fast, putting the cap of my jacket on.
The realization that I would have to walk alone at Lawrence at night scared me, but I just ran down the long stairs and front door.
It didn't take long for me to feel the cold air hitting my skin. The big walls were already close to me, so soon I arrived in front of them, realizing I didn't exactly know how to get in there, except for the well.
"Yo!" Someone suddenly yelled. I flinched deeply and grabbed my knife, pointing it at the black figure walking over to me. "Woah!" They then yelled.
"Shh!" I whisper-screamed. "Who the hell are you?"
"What the hell are you doing in front of those walls?" They replied, moving closer. I tightened the grip on my knife, ready to use it if needed. I would never let a stranger touch me involuntarily again.
"Calm down, jeez." They muttered. By now I recognized the voice as a male. "I asked you something."
"I asked you first." I snapped.
He sighed and turned on a flashlight, shining it right in my eyes. I squeezed them shut before they blinded me completely.
"Holy shit!" He walked even closer. "You're Jane!"
I took his shirt and held the knife to his throat. "Who are you and how do you know my name?" I threatened.
"Everyone knows your name." He chuckled, though his face said he was a bit taken aback by my sudden attack. "Everyone in those walls, I mean." He motioned at them.
The flyers, I then realized. Everyone in there would try to kill me if I entered!
I pulled him closer to the knife. "Who are you?"
"Nick."
"That doesn't give me enough information," I said through my teeth.
"Well, you only asked who I was, right? I answered politely." Nick said.
"Mhm." I hummed and looked at the walls. "If you don't mind, imma leave it here."
"Wait." He said before I left. "Are you trying to get into the city?"
"No, only looks like it." I joked. "Yes, I'm trying to go into the city."
"How? You can't get through these." He patted on the hard stone.
"Through a well," I replied simply. "Goodbye, Nick."
"I can help you!" He added. I froze in my place before slowly turning around, my mind already spinning from thoughts and the right decision to make.
"I have a much easier and quicker way to go in there. But you will have to tell me why you're going."
"How do I know you won't kidnap me?" I raised my eyebrows. "I don't even know what you look like."
He sighed and handed me his flashlight. "Try not to blind me."
I turned it on and inspected Nick's face. His hair was styled in the front, lips pump, and eyebrows clearly visible. He didn't look like a creep to me, though the cap from his brown jacket made him look a bit suspicious, but I also had a cap, so it didn't make much of a difference.
"How do I know you won't do anything?" I repeated, my knife never leaving any of our sight.
"You don't." He shrugged. "You just have to trust me."
"Pass," I told him. "I don't know who you are, why you're outside these walls, and why you would help me."
"I'm Nick, as I said. I'm outside these walls because the inside is shit and stupid, and I will help you because I'm against WICKED." He explained. "Enough to convince you?"
"How do you know what's on the inside of these walls?"
"My dad works for WICKED." He murmured, not seeming proud of it.
I scoffed. "Hm. Then I won't go with you."
"But I'm not like him!" Nick said quickly. "I almost hate him. I never see him and if I do, he only argues and talks about his job." He paused and took the flashlight out of my hands. "Why are you trying to go in there? Every living thing will try to kill you! Don't you know how much you're worth?"
"Money and a cure that doesn't exist, yes." I rubbed my chin. "A friend of mine is probably getting tortured by your dad right now. What's his name? Don't tell me it's Janson."
"Not Janson." He assured. "Gale Prinz. They call him Doctor Prinz."
"Nick Prinz, then."
"I wished I had a different surname." He rubbed the back of his head. "Or just a different dad. I hate what he does."
I sighed and took a moment before replying. "How can you get me through those walls?"
"Well, my house is in there and I'm not allowed to sneak out, but I still do." He said, motioning for me to follow him, which I ended up doing. I didn't completely trust him, but he hated WICKED enough for me to like him.
"Just gotta.." Nick grunted lightly as he opened a well in the ground. Instead of climbing in, he put his hand in a small hole in the well, pulling some sort of ladder out. "I don't know how nobody found out about this yet, but it works."
He set it down against the wall. "Over there's a button. If you press it, a screen will appear on the wall. It's called a Flat Trans. Climb through it and you'll arrive on a balcony."
"Did you make all this?" I gasped a bit.
"Yeah." He acted like it wasn't that big of a job and started climbing. I followed quickly, putting the knife back in my waistband.
"Alright. Here we go." Nick clapped his hands and pressed a button. I only caught a glimpse of a blue screen appearing, but then Nick already pulled me into it.
I didn't feel much, just a wave of air hitting me, but then I was on my feet again. "Wow." I breathed, my eyes widening at the city in front of me.
The towers of the tall buildings were high, with dozens of blue lights everywhere. On one of the buildings, WICKED's name was written, also in blue. It was beautiful, I had to admit.
"We better hurry," Nick said. "Curfew is in about half an hour."
"Curfew?"
"Yeah. They'll clear the streets up and if anyone's around, they'll check if they're a Crank. If they are, well.. things aren't good."
I shivered. "That's horrible." Only the thought of Newt getting caught in here made me anxious.
"Let's go." Nick walked toward the right, down some long stairs. It took about ten minutes to get complete on the surface instead of the high balcony, but we did it.
People were crowded everywhere. Most of them wore facemasks as they walked around, which made me realize how frightened all these people were for the Flare.
"Okay, so I won't be coming with you in the building, because if my dad sees me... I'm dead. Almost literally." Nick said as we tried to fit in the crowd, though we walked against them.
"How do I get in without getting caught?" I questioned, the nervousness of being so close to seeing Minho forming in me.
"You're tagged with a chip, so no matter what you try, they'll know you're in here." Nick sighed. "Just.. run for it, I guess."
"Okay." I agreed. I wouldn't mind getting caught if that meant I got to see Minho. "Where are you going in the meanwhile?"
"I don't know. Walk around, probably. Playing with the police and curfew." Nick ran a hand through his hair. "Boring."
"You know, you could go to my friends," I suggested. "They're very nice and close to us. That building outside the walls, you know?"
"Maybe."
"If you do it, say hi for me." I chuckled lightly, pushing myself through the crowd.
"I might." Nick looked at the face masks people wore. "How dumb." He muttered.
"I guess they're scared of getting the Flare." I swallowed by pronouncing the word. All of it made me think of Newt.
"Yeah, well, we don't have to worry 'bout that. We're immune, right?"
"Not all of us," I said. Nick gave me a suspicious glance. "I'm immune, I think," I assured fast. "But a friend of mine isn't. He has the Flare right now." I looked down and bit my lip, trying to contain my emotions.
"Wait." Nick searched for something in his pocket. "Here." He took my hand and put a small tube, filled with a blue liquid. "It's a serum." He whispered. "Try using it on him, if you even survive. It'll give him a few months."
I smiled brightly, finding more hope by the second. "Thank you, Nick. So much."
"One benefit about having a dad working for WICKED." He shrugged. "But no problem."
We kept walking for a while, until we arrived in front of two big glass doors, WICKED's tall department towering over us.
"Here we are." Nick put his hands on his hips. "This is the back door, so there will be fewer guards, but you gotta be careful. It was nice to meet you, Jane."
"Same thing for you," I replied. "And thanks for helping me."
"It's the best I can do." Nick rubbed his neck. "Try not to get killed by everyone here. You're lucky no one recognized you by now." He paused. "And good luck with your friends, Jane."
"Thanks." I gave him a nod. "Bye, Nick."
"Goodbye." He walked away with one last wave.
Then I turned to the big doors, taking a deep breath before walking in.