The small flat suddenly felt too crowded. She had lived here alone for three years, and now a group of strangers had found their places on her apartment's floor. Most of the boys were sitting and discussing how lucky they were to meet her.
"We still need to find Thomas," muttered the dark haired boy.
After introducing himself as Minho, he sat on the only couch in the room.
"He's fine, Brenda's with him," said Jorge.
The pilot was looking at the girl that had saved their lives with a lot of suspicion.
"What are you doing here?" he asked when she gave them water in bottles and some snacks.
"Hiding from people that could use me like they're using you or them," she sat on the chair next to her desk.
"Are you gonna help us to get out of the city?" asked the blonde boy.
"Yes," she didn't look at him.
She tried to relax. It was just a strange feeling he caused, one she didn't want to accept. It wasn't necessary. It meant trouble. Big trouble.
Hours passed and the boys were trying to figure out how to find their missing companion and the girl Brenda, who turned out to be Jorge's friend.
"She's probably leading him through the tunnels. A lot can happen there but if they survive, they'll come out somewhere. Probably when they'll be forced to do it," the girl looked at the group.
"So what do you think we should do?" asked Minho.
"Go to the northern edge of the city and patrol the line crosswise the entrances of the tunnels. If they survive, they have to go out somewhere there," the girl turned to him.
"What's your name, by the way?" he asked.
"Call me Salsa," she smiled a little.
Jorge glanced at her and shuddered. He had probably heard her name before but he concentrated on his feet and remained silent.
"So tell me your story, Mr Minho," Salsa looked at the boy.
His face darkened but he slowly started to talk about the experiments, describing all the horror they'd been through- the Maze, their escape and the new trial. He told her everything to the point where she had rescued them.
"He'll survive, your friend," Salsa got up. "Looks like they think he's the one."
"What one?" Minho asked in confusion.
"The one that has the cure in his head," she got up and left the room.
It was too crowded. She had spent the last few hours avoiding the brown eyes of the blonde boy. He wasn't looking at her either.
Salsa tried to relax and took a little walk around the building.
She shivered when she heard footsteps behind her. Grabbing the knife out of her belt, she turned around but it was just the blonde boy.
"Jorge sent me to tell you that we're setting off at nightfall," the boy blushed a little.
"What's your name?" Salsa looked at him.
"Newt," he smiled, staring at his feet.
"Do you want to see the sunset?" she pointed behind them.
"Sure," he followed her up along the concrete stairs.
They remained silent while they climbed up to the roof of the old skyscraper. The sun was setting somewhere around the beginning of the torn mountain ridges and the city was glittering in the sunlight. The wind was bearing the desert dust, but it was cooling.
"Wow. This is cool," Newt stopped next to Salsa and looked around.
"I like it," she smiled.
They stopped at the edge of the roof, watching the red ball sinking behind the desert.
"Thank you for showing me this," he smiled, turning to her.
She felt her heart race when he looked her in the eyes. Was it real? Was it a hallucination caused by the heat and the hopelessness of their faith? Yes, their faith was hopeless. Every new day was an obvious miracle. But still a miracle. Surviving seemed like a rare treasure that they were fighting for.
"Will you be mad at me?" she asked, suddenly getting serious.
"For what?" he asked, smiling again as he looked at her.
"If I do this..." she leaned towards him and kissed his lips.
He was shocked but didn't move back. He just froze for a second and then relaxed. She kissed him deeper and a moment later, she felt his shaky hands on her waist. He tasted like the desert dust but in the sweetest way imaginable. She parted his lips and felt his tongue, that was the moment when she thought that maybe she was acting careless. The girl quickly ended the kiss, catching her breath. Her cheeks were burning, her heart racing. Newt bit his lip and smiled a little.
"Sorry but, I just... we might not have tomorrow," she looked at him and felt it hard not to kiss him again.
"Here you are!"
The pair jumped away from each other at hearing Minho's voice. They turned around and saw the dark haired boy right next to the entrance of the roof. How much had he seen?
"We just watched the sunset," Salsa looked away from Minho.
"Great, I thought you're tougher than that," Minho glanced at her.
"Do you want to try out how tough I am?" she looked at him.
"I just think we should get ready," Minho eyed his friend significantly.
"Thank you for the sunset." Newt blushed more than ever and left the roof with Minho.
Salsa smiled to herself. Who could imagine that there were feelings and moments like this existed in this lost place on Earth?
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Minho ordered the boys to sleep for two hours before they decided to continue their journey. They found places on the floor and some slept on Salsa's second mattress. Minho took himself as the leader of the group but somehow no one disagreed when Newt placed himself on the only couch in the room. The room became quiet and Salsa felt the heaviness of the silence.
She packed the necessary stuff, knowing it might take some time until she'd be able to come back here, so she scanned all the stuff from her computer and put the system on a self-destruct mode.
Jorge quietly got up from the floor and went to her.
"When will you tell them that you work for 'them'?" Salsa looked at Jorge, lowering her voice.
"Not now, and I'm ready to escape if there's an opportunity," he was whispering too.
"Are you sure they're all immune?" she looked behind her and focused on Newt's face.
He was sleeping peacefully with one small hand under his cheek.
"I hope so," muttered Jorge then pointed at Newt. "Do you like him?"
"Come on," she turned around.
"I know you like him," Jorge smiled to himself. "And you're scared. I'm scared too. I really, really hope they all are but I'm not sure." He got up and returned to the floor.
"I hope so too," she felt a sharp pain right inside her heart.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Two hours later, they were ready. With their bags packed and new weapons they got from Salsa, the whole group moved into the city. The boys seemed more confident now that they had guns. Jorge and Minho were at the top of the group right behind Salsa.
She stopped next to a building wall and took a small object out of her backpack. She moved the little blue screen horizontal around her.
"What's that?" asked Minho.
"My invention. It scans the map within ten miles around us. Aha..." she looked back at the screen. "There are two in a trashcan on the corner, and five behind these two buildings. Then there's a group of around fifteen, seven miles west from here, not a problem. We're going this way." She moved quickly and the whole group followed.
She really hoped that all WICKED's cameras weren't focused on her.
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