Song - Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons)
The car started accelerating towards us. We watched our friends be taken into some sort of private property through a large door opened by another rebel.
"Reverse El... reverse!" Fry bellowed.
"Hold on!" I screamed while putting the car into reverse and zooming backwards.
I then turned the car around... and floored it.
Fry gripped the handle,
"Do you even know how to drive?" He screamed.
"Yes! Kind of!" I admitted back, "Hang on to something!" I ordered while turning the car suddenly into another street and zooming forward.
"Oh my god, I'm going to die today!" Fry cried.
"Shut up!" I hissed back.
I looked in the rear-view mirror...
The enemy truck behind us turned onto our street and was hot on our tail.
I floored it but the other truck still managed to creep closer and closer until it rammed into our back. We both lurched forward.
"Shit!" I yelled while getting the car back under my control... not without hitting a few metal canisters and other random objects on the side of the road first.
I glanced to my left quickly before doing a complete double-take.
The truck was right next to us, and a soldier was holding a gun out the window.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god, El!" Fry screamed.
"Ahhhhh," I bellowed before veering the car to the left and slamming into the other truck almost throwing Fry out of his seat.
It worked, the other truck stalled giving us a few moments to gain a lead... but it zoomed into action once again, still close behind.
"I can't shake em!" I cried,
An idea popped into my head. I turned to Fry,
"Switch with me," I instructed.
"What?"
"Switch with me!"
"Uh, okay?"
I slowly left the seat as Fry crawled over and took the wheel.
I hopped into the back of the empty van and reached for both my shotguns. I kicked open the boot door with my good foot and knelt on one knee to keep steady against Fry's crazy driving.
I smiled at the look of panic on the driver's face. I aimed...
BANG!
BANG!
And shot the two front wheels.
With the speed the car was going and the sudden loss of control... the car flipped onto its side.
I laughed in triumph.
"Nice shot!" Fry called.
"Turn us around and let's go get the others," I instructed while closing the car doors and hopping back into the passenger seat.
Fry turned down a little alleyway, before turning again and heading back down a road the way we came.
"We have no idea what's gonna be on the other side so stay alert," I breathed.
As we closed into where we saw the others pull in, I noticed one slight problem... it was closed off by a massive steel swinging door... and was guarded by a handful of soldiers... all pointing guns our way.
I felt Fry take his foot off the accelerator,
"Fry..."
He looked at me.
"Don't stop,"
"What?" He exclaimed.
"Trust me... floor it,"
"But-"
"Just do it Fry!"
Fry pressed down on the accelerator making us lurch into a dangerous speed heading straight for the door.
The soldiers weren't deterred,
"El?"
"Keep going," I affirmed.
We were a hundred meters away.
The soldiers started shifting nervously,
"El?"
"Don't stop," I maintained even as we started feeling bullets rain down on us.
We were fifty meters away.
Thirty.
Twenty.
"Ella!"
"Just fucking go Fry!" I roared.
The soldiers dived out of the way as we crashed into the door, sending it flying forward as we continued our journey.
Fry weaved through an undercover area with cement pillars holding the roof up while more bullets hit us from different directions.
"There!" I yelled while pointing to the other vans that I recognized from before. Our friends were standing with a group of soldiers surrounding them. Everyone looked up with alarm as we headed their way.
Fry spun the car in a one-eighty turn and skidded to a halt only a few meters in front of them.
There was an uneasy silence as me and Fry sat frozen catching our breaths and calming our rapid heartbeats.
And then I murmured from the corner of my mouth to Fry,
"You got ya gun?"
"Yep," He muttered back.
There was only a handful of soldiers in front of us. Easy.
"Three... two... one!" I shouted before we both swung our car doors open and jumped out of the car with our guns in the air.
"Everybody stay where you are! Let them go or we will shoot!" I growled.
It was then I noticed we were in fact surrounded by at least fifty rebels all pointing guns at us. Not just the handful in front.
Not easy.
Fry and I looked at each other but held our defensive position.
"El stop,"
I spun around to see Newt holding out his hand as if to settle me. I gave him a confused look. I scanned my eyes over the others. None of them looked concerned for their safety.
Thomas, Newt, Brenda, Jorge and-
No.
I blinked hard several times.
I then closed my eyes completely and shook my head to try and get rid of the image.
I'm just upset about Brenda and Fry. And Newt and Thomas.
It was my mind. It had to be my brain.
But as I stared and stared at what seemed to be... him, the vision did not disappear.
Except this vision showed a different version. I always thought of the boy in the maze, but this was a man. Same face. But a foot taller. Bigger. And hair shaved down to a buzz. And he was looking at me... looking at me exactly how I remembered he did back in that maze.
I think I stopped breathing altogether in that split second.
No.
This is wrong.
Sense returned to my head as I cocked my gun and pointed it straight at this thing.
"Who the fuck are you? What the fuck are you?" I spat.
My knees started to quake with anger and my hands trembled like a window rattling in a storm.
"Ellie-"
"Don't call me that!" I cried, forgetting all about the rebels around us as tears welled in my eyes.
What cruel punishment is Wicked giving me? What trick have they decided to play?
"The only person who can call me that is dead!"
Tears started streaming down my face,
"I'm not dead.... I'm right here... It's me,"
His voice... sounded the same-
"No! No, you're not. Tell me what this is, or I swear I'm going to blow your fucking brains out!" I screeched while waving the gun.
He took a step forward.
"Don't get any closer!"
"El,"
I looked over at Newt. I knew what he was trying to say with the look he gave me.
"Please Ellie..." It spoke again.
I looked back to the face I had fallen in love with all that time ago. And then had to rebuild everything around me after I lost him. I had to kill not only him but the girl who arrived in that box.
"But... you're dead. Gally is dead. He was killed. I killed him!" I croaked, my voice breaking on the last part.
And in a sudden vision, I realized what was happening. It was parallel to the last time I saw him back in that fucking maze. Instead of him... I was pointing the gun.
"No... no you didn't. Ellie... It's me,"
No. No. No. No. No.
It's not.
It can't be.
I won't let myself think that it could possibly be...
But... could it be?
I stared deeper and saw...
His ocean blue eyes with the little green and gold flecks.
His ears that pointed out a little too much... especially now with his hair shorter.
And the same expression on his face that made me fall in love with him the moment I laid my eyes on this boy. But he wasn't a boy anymore. And I wasn't a girl. He was a man. And I was a woman.
A woman whose love she felt for this man... was real.
"Gally?" I whispered.
He took another step closer, throwing the gun on the ground I only just noticed he was carrying.
A sob escaped my mouth as I dropped the gun I was holding, and it clattered to the ground.
Never had I moved so quickly in my life. I don't remember making the distance.
One minute I was standing. And the next I was wrapped up in the strong builder arms I had dreamt about every night before I fell asleep.
He lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his middle, threw my arms around him, and burrowed my face into his neck as I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.
He kept finding ways to hold me tighter. Bring me closer.
Everything that has happened. Everything I had gone through and bottled up from everyone else to protect them... came crashing down in an instant... for him.
The walls I worked so hard to create... gone.
"Shh, it's okay, it's okay.... I'm here.... I'm here,' He whispered into my ear. The sound almost surreal as I had dreamt of this moment too many times before. I pulled my red face away from his neck to look into his eyes. I clutched his face. He smiled softly, searching my eyes.
And my mouth broke out into the widest grin I had felt all my life.
And I kissed him.
Every ounce of my being was poured into that kiss. Every last drop of love, grief, rage, longing, lust, and terror melted into that one unforgettable moment where our lips met for the first time since the maze all that time ago.
And yet for a moment, we were just those teenagers in the maze. Obsessed with the way it felt to have our bodies so impossibly close.
He held me so tight with his arms around my middle that I could barely breathe. But I didn't need air. I needed him.
All this time... all I needed was my Gal.
And here he was.