"Who are you?" Newt asks, his eyes not even baring the slightest hint of recognition.
My smile falls into a look of sadness and confusion. "W-What? Newt, it's me! Maya?"
Newt shakes his head slowly, then awkwardly glances at the others, seemingly for help, but they don't say anything. The entire situation is strange.
I can't cry, even though I really want to. My tears had been used earlier when I pulled the trigger on Amber. My heart stings with pain, and I'm consumed with confusion. Newt really doesn't remember me.
I notice that Newt looks a little freaked out, and that's when I realize I had been staring at him the entire time.
"Who is this chick?" an Asian boy asks rudely, stepping up to the both of us.
I flash him a look of hurt, and then I step away from Newt. I've made up my mind. Now isn't the time to worry about this. We need to find the cure. As much as it hurts, I turn my back on Newt and walk over to Harriet, who looks at me sadly. All is silent, until Jorge speaks up.
"We need to keep moving," he says boldly.
Newt falls back into his group, but exchanges one final glance with me. His eyes still bear that same unrecognizable glint, until he finally looks away and the pain in my chest lessens considerably.
The two groups walk silently into the night, the Crank City inching closer and closer to us. We eventually merge into one big group. The group then stops abruptly. A brown haired boy speaks up. "Let's get some rest," he offers, his brown eyes weak.
"Thomas is right, I'm feeling all shucked up right now," the Asian boy says, his body slumped over. His vocabulary causes me to raise an eyebrow.
"Okay, fine," the girl, who I found out was named Brenda, says.
Everyone then simultaneously sits down. "We'll reach the Crank City tomorrow," Brenda continues, "so everyone be ready."
We all nod or murmur yes, and then I lay on the cold desert grounds. I flinch in pain as a strangely shaped rock digs into my back. I pull it out from underneath me, and I'm about to toss it aside, when I notice that it doesn't resemble a rock at all. Instead, it looks like the bottom of a lightbulb... the part that screws into the socket.
"What is this doing out here?" I ask no one in particular.
Lucy slowly raises her head--she lay only a few feet away from me. "What did you say?" she asks, her eyes barely open.
I examine the thing in my hand. It isn't that big of a deal to mention. "Nothing," I say, then toss it aside and lay back down.
Lucy sets her head back down, and I stare up at the stars. Out of nowhere, Lucy starts to talk.
"You think there is actually a cure?" she asks.
"I hope so," I whisper, trying to connect the stars in the sky. Then, Newt flashes to my mind. I growl, and I can't believe I didn't put the pieces together sooner. WICKED did that to him. They made him forget. But why? To torture me?
I glance to my left and notice that Lucy is staring at me, perturbed. "Sorry. Just mad at WICKED."
She chuckles sleepily. "Aren't we all?"
I continue staring into the dark blue sky, thinking, until finally, my eyes can barely stay open. My eyes flutter close, and I'm sent into blissful sleep.
*
When I wake up, I'm greeted by the harsh sun. I groan and sit up. Miraculously, I was able to sleep the entire night. I open my crust filled eyes, and look around. It seems like the group of boys and our group have separated ourselves.
Sonya glances over at me. She gets up from her seated position and jogs over to me. "Good morning," she says, then hands me her bottle of water. "It's a big day, make sure to hydrate."
I nod slowly, my energy feeling depleted, and grab the water bottle. I take a long sip, and already feel better. Sonya smiles. "That's it. Come over to the group when you're ready. We have a lot to talk about."
I hand her the water bottle and she jogs back over to the group, which sit together in a circle about 3 feet away. The boys' group, along with Brenda, sit a bit farther away from them. I spot Newt in the circle. He is nodding his head approvingly to something Thomas said.
I slowly get up, my legs feeling like jello. I walk over to our group and sit down beside Sonya.
"...and we have to stick together. That is the most important thing to remember," Jorge finishes.
"Any questions?" he asks, then continues. "If not, we'll begin to tell Brenda's group the plan."
A girl raises her hand, and I take that as an opportunity to ask Sonya what he was talking about before I arrived.
"What was he saying?" I whisper in her ear.
She glances at me, looking like she was unaware I was beside her. "He was just saying how when we enter the Crank City, we're gonna have to break into even smaller groups, because if we're in large ones, it'll attract attention to ourselves. And that we have to be aware of our surroundings and stay together."
"Okay," I whisper back. I look back at Jorge, and he is glaring at us, as is the rest of the group.
"In case someone didn't hear the question that was asked," he begins, his eyes shooting holes into me and his voice rising, "she asked what we should do if we heard a Crank nearby. Does anyone want to repeat my answer?"
He looks around, his face stone cold. When no one answers, he continues, his eyes finding mine again. "I said, to be quiet and listen," he snaps. "Now unless anyone else has a better way of doing things, they should probably do the wise thing and listen."
I open my mouth and am about to defend myself when Sonya elbows me in the side, silencing me. Jorge raises an eyebrow, almost challenging me to argue with him. I lower my head in embarrassment.
"Alright then," Jorge says coolly, standing up. "I'll tell the other group what's going on and we'll be on our way, hermanas."
Jorge walks away, and the others get up and talk. I sit there, frowning.
"Don't pout," someone says. I turn around, and Lucy is smirking at me.
I stand up, now eye level with her. "I just want this all to be over," I sulk.
She sighs. "Me too, but it'll be over soon."
"Lucy! Maya!" Harriet calls over to us, as she stands by the other group. She waves her hand for us to join them.
We jog over, and it seems as if Jorge is done telling the other group the plan. They all nod. "Let's go then," Brenda says confidently, her voice booming so that everyone can hear. "When we reach the outside walls of the city, we'll split into smaller groups. At the base of the mountains, we regroup. Got it?"
Everyone nods, except Minho. He stares ahead, his muscly arms crossed over his chest. Something tells me he can't stand not having authority, knowing how he is.
We all break up and begin heading towards the city without further discussion. I walk beside Lucy while Harriet, Sonya, Jorge, and the others walk in front of us.
Eventually, the boys' group merges with our group and we're all talking with each other. "Hey there," a deep voice says to me. I glance to my left and up slightly, and am face to face with a boy. I instantly recognize him as Thomas.
"Hi," I reply sullenly.
"I'm Thomas. Aren't you Maya?" he asks.
I nod.
"I'm sorry that Newt doesn't remember you," he says sadly. "It seems like you two liked each other a lot once."
"Yeah, it sucks. I've been wanting to reconcile with him, and when we finally do, he doesn't even remember me," I sniff.
Thomas scratches the back of his neck. "Yeah, I know what that feels like."
"So I guess you could say we're in the same boat?" I ask, a slight, awkward smile forming on my face. It feels good to smile for once and for a person to understand what I'm going through.
He nods and smiles. "Yeah."
"Hey, shank! Get over here!" Minho calls over to Thomas.
Thomas glances at me apologetically and then jogs over to him.
I'm left walking alone, as Lucy went to talk with Tess and Sonya. I kick rocks aside, when all of a sudden, a boy falls who had been walking not too far from me. Everyone stops and looks back at him. The boy is holding his leg in pain.
Jorge rushes over to him, and inspects his leg. "What the hell happened?" he asks.
We all shrug frantically, when Thomas yells, "Get down!"
The sky shrieks as tiny darts furiously fly through the air towards us. I duck to the ground, pulling others down with me. Jorge is yelling orders, but I can't hear anything over the screams of pain. I try to locate the source, but our huddled bodies are in the way. I crawl over to the edge of the group, when I see it.
On top of a sand dune sits a girl with black hair and blue eyes, a dart gun held firmly in her hand. Beside her, sit other girls with dart guns of their own. They fire furiously in no particular direction.
Then, the rapid fire stops. "Teresa!" I hear Thomas yell.
"Shut up!" her voice booms, and she begins trudging down the dune. "You'll all stay where you are, or else."
"Or else what?" I hear Minho ask.
Teresa snaps her head to what I assume is where Minho is at, and tilts her head. "I'll slowly stab your shuck eyes out with the barrel of this gun," she snaps.
Minho laughs, and Teresa furiously brings back her dart gun and slams it against his head. He winces in pain, and falls to the ground.
Teresa walks over to Thomas and grabs him by the shoulder. "You're coming with me," she whispers harshly.
"Teresa? What are you doing?" Thomas asks, his eyes flashing with hurt.
"If you talk again I'll hit you so hard you'll see stars," she snaps.
"What are you-"
Teresa brings down the barrel of her gun and slams it on his head, silencing him. He falls forward, his face slamming into the ground.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" I hear Newt yell.
Teresa ignores him and pulls out a rope. She begins tying Thomas up, and then shoves him into a brown sack.
"What do you want?" Brenda asks, her voice urgent.
"Isn't it obvious? I want to make him pay. I'm going to kill him for what he's done to me."
"What are you talking about?!" I hear Thomas's muffled voice yell from inside the bag.
Teresa kicks the bag, and Thomas groans in pain. "You know what you did, don't play stupid."
"Shuck traitor!" Minho yells at her, holding his head in pain.
Teresa kicks the bag once again, and Thomas whimpers in pain. "Keep talking, and I'll keep hurting him. It doesn't bother me, I want him to suffer."
Minho growls but doesn't say anything. We all stay silent. Teresa begins to trudge up the dune along with her accomplices. She then turns around. "Oh, and if you follow us, I will shoot you dead."
I grit my teeth, and I can feel the tension from everyone. We watch helplessly as Teresa disappears behind the dune with Thomas.