The plan was in motion. They had waited until the night had transformed into morning, and then made their move. By the time they were ready, all of the Gladers had returned to their hideout in the building, including Jorge and Aris, which meant there were more of them to fight the Cranks.
Mara was also happy to know that she was involved in the plan; she was actually doing something to help. But the real reason she was involved was because they had planned to leave the city after the ambush, and the Gladers hadn't wanted to leave her behind. Otherwise, she would have been still stuck to the mattress in a dishevelled hideout.
Jorge had gathered weapons for the group- plenty of different types of knifes and even one gun, although it only had a couple of bullets in it. Mara carried the gun- after a lot of persuasion by Newt's hand- and had a knife tucked into her waistband, hidden under her vest.
Having Jorge on their side was a major advantage, mainly because he knew the Cranks and the layout of the building. They had decided what they were going to do, and they weren't going for stealth, they just needed to get Thomas and the girl Jorge had called Brenda back.
Jorge led them down the alley as Frypan instructed, the rest of the Gladers following behind. Mara was in the centre of them all, under Jorge's orders, since she was the most injured Glader and he thought it was best option for her. Minho walked beside her, almost like her bodyguard, a look of determination on his face.
Together, the group walked in silence as they approached a set of dingy stairs and descended them to reach the building that held Thomas and Brenda.
Mara maintained her breathing, making sure not to make a false move so not to cause herself any pain. Her hand intertwined with the gun and hovered over the trigger- just in case she needed to use it. But she couldn't push her last interaction with a gun from her head. She had shot herself. Or she thought she had shot herself. She had never figured out how she had survived, or how WICKED had managed to pull it off.
If it was her choice, she would never hold a gun again. But she knew that she had to appreciate the fact that she had it. And she would use it, if she had to.
Once they reached the wooden door, Jorge leant towards and pressed his ear against the frame, listening for signs of life and movement. Mara and the rest of the Gladers waited for his cue silently, all preparing themselves for a fight.
After a moment of stillness, Jorge moved to the side of the door and allowed Minho to step forward. Mara stepped back slightly, giving him the chance to bust through the door without hitting her in the process.
Mara wiped her sweaty hands along her thighs, catching the rough material of her trousers, which had been torn and burnt during the lightning storm, and then slid the gun into her waistband, next to the knife. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, preparing herself for what was about to happen. It had to go well. It had to.
In a moment of brash braveness, she reopened her eyes to face the wonky door, and that was when she realised it didn't have a handle. How were they supposed to get in? She didn't understand. It must be one way, could even be locked from the inside.
Jorge broke her from her thoughts, counting back from three. Everyone gripped their weapons a little tighter, and then Mara knew she was ready. They were ready, and they were going to get Thomas back.
Without a moment's hesitation, Minho kicked through the door, gripping harshly at the two knives in his hands. The door swung open swiftly, banging against the wall as it hit it, and then the Gladers stomped in.
The room was barely lit; torches hung from the ceiling, dangling silently, still in place. Screams illuminated the room, and a frantic sound of terrified bodies running away crashed through the air. Some people were still passed out on the floor, obviously still drunk and exhausted. The commotion was wild, and they had to contain it. There were at least twenty of them still in the room, maybe more. All looking at them and screaming for their lives.
"Sorry to crash, but you shuckfaces have our friends, and we want them back." Minho stood broadly, showcasing both knives to whoever looked at it.
Mara backed him up, pulling the gun up into view and swiping it across the room. A few of them gasped loudly and huddled into a corner of the room, they were still frantic and crazed with terror and shock, but it wouldn't last. Once their hangovers wore off, they would realise that there were way more of them than there were Gladers.
Each of the Gladers circled the hungover Cranks, keeping them contained in the corner they had clustered into. Mara kept the gun pointed in that general direction as Minho and Frypan approached her, standing either side and looking at the group.
All of a sudden, three men burst into the room from the right side of the room, both looking crazed and confused. Their first choice was to make a run for the door, which was a bad decision considering that meant they would run straight into Jorge, who still hovered near the door.
He hit the tallest first with his knife, knocking him to the ground and out cold. The second, a rather ugly man, took the brunt of Jorge's second hit, and he also went down quickly. They hardly put up a fight.
Then, the third Crank, who had obviously realised that he would need to fight back, decided to tackle Jorge. The man ran at Jorge, his ponytail swaying behind him. This time, the fight lasted longer, but not by much, and pretty soon, he joined his friends.
Mara took the attack as a note to self- do not get on Jorge's bad side.
"I'm gonna scout this shuck place for Thomas and the girl." Minho told them abruptly, not even a second after Jorge had knocked the two Cranks. "I trust you can look after these shanks. I'll be back soon."
With that, he headed off to the side of the room, but Mara didn't watch long enough to find out which direction he was going in. Instead, she turned back to the Cranks, trying to look as intimidating.
"We haven't got long until they realise they can take us." Frypan whispered to Mara carefully, trying to avoid them hearing him.
"Well, let's hope that Minho finds Thomas pretty quickly then." She prayed he would, because she didn't want to stick around when the Cranks lost their hangovers. A lot of them looked buff and very dangerous, and she wasn't about to get stabbed again.
A loud thump came from the direction Minho had headed towards, and then another. Mara assumed at first that it was Minho taking down some of the other Cranks, but what if it wasn't? What if one of those bodies was him?
She shook the thought away. Minho could handle himself well, so she was sure that he was fine.
"You think he needs any help?" Frypan asked, speaking Mara's thoughts.
"I think he'll be okay." She nodded- she had faith in him. He was strong willed and so determined Mara was sure nothing would take him down.
"You don't think someone should've gone with him?" Frypan turned in the direction the thumps had come from, looking for some sign. "Or make sure that he's okay?"
Before Mara could reply, she noticed that the Cranks had begun to cause and uproar again, arguing with Jorge and a few other Gladers about something. They were angry, no, raging, getting annoyed because they were stuffed into a corner. Soon, they were going to get out of hand.
They were unstoppable; the noise ripped through the room like a rocket, buzzing and accelerating. So Mara did what she thought was necessary to quieten the crowd. She took her gun from her waistband, raised it to the ceiling, and shot once.
Everyone went dead silent, and all eyes turned to her.
"If any of you say one more, the next one goes in you. So shut the shuck up." She warned them as she pulled the gun back to her. Mara swapped the gun onto safety mode and then put it back under her waistline.
"The shuck's going on up here?" A voice from behind her spoke out loudly behind her, and Mara didn't even have to look to realise that it was Minho.
"Where's Tommy? And Brenda?" Mara ignored his question, instead approaching him, stepping over bodies of passed-out people in order to get to him. Frypan and a few others joined them, but Jorge, Newt and Aris remained on guard.
"On their way.
Just then, a girl with long brown hair and dark eyes appeared from another part of the building. She looked beat up, but still tough and angry, so Mara knew she must be Brenda. Something seemed to be sparking a rage inside of her, and Mara wasn't surprised. She had practically been kidnapped.
Almost immediately, a boy with choppy brown hair appeared behind her. Thomas.