I feel so groggy. My body hurts. My mind is spinning. All I know is that Tony is unhooking the needles from my arms before he picked me up bridal style. Tony ran us out of the room. He looked down the corridor before he continued to carry me. Every twist and turns, I felt my body slowly coming back. Tony turned to another corner but pulled us back and hid. He tilted his head back against the wall before he slowly looked back. With the angle I'm in, I could see two guards talking to each other not that far. Tony was formulating a plan in his head before he gently set me down.
"Wait here," he whispered.
I furrowed my brows when my vision started coming back. Besides the blood and bruises on Tony's face, I noticed his eyes were a bit different. They were becoming more pitch black as dark veins were crawling up his neck. His skin was sickly pale.
"What did they -" I started.
Tony shushed me before standing up. He ran around the corner and I heard someone yelping before there was a grunting sound. I heard another crashing noise before I heard two bodies fell on the ground. I grabbed the wall and turned my body so I could at least get up. I pulled myself up as Tony ran back and threw the guard uniform at me.
"Put that on," he said as he took his jacket off and began putting his disguise on.
And I did. I noticed the dark veins weren't just on Tony's neck but they were coming up his arms as well. "Tony," I breathed. "What the hell did they do to you?"
Tony spun around as he put the jacket on. "I'm a Crank, remember? This was bound to happen sooner or later. I prefer later so I wouldn't have the craving of eating everyone's eyeballs." My eyes widen in horror, which Tony chuckled to. "Don't worry, it's not yours I want. As for the bruises..." he tossed one of the helmets to me, "it's nothing." He put his helmet on. "Now, we have to go before someone realizes you're missing."
We walked where the knocked out guards where. Tony grabbed their Launchers and handed me one.
"What about my friends?" I asked.
"What about them?"
"Are we just going to leave them?"
"That's the plan."
My mouth flew open. "We can't just leave them."
"Yes, we can," Tony retorted. "Remember, I'm just here to protect you. Now more than ever." We turned a corner. "Most of your buddies already went through the procedure anyway and are recovering."
"But what about Newt? Thomas? Minho?"
Tony shrugged. "Not our problem." I felt my eye twitch. I can't leave them behind. Rat Man lied to us about the choice being ours. I don't want WICKED to torture them until they give in and say it's ok. And we've risked our lives for each other. What kind of friend would I be if I just left them like that? "We're not that far from the exit so if we -"
I ignored Tony and turned the other way before I started running. I heard Tony groaning before he followed after me. I don't know where I'm running but I'm not going to stop before I get to my friends. Tony's hand reached my shoulder but I spun around and pointed the Launcher at him.
"Back off, Tony!" I shouted. "I'm going after them."
"You're going to get yourself killed," he argued.
"I don't care. WICKED could be torturing them right now. You wanna protect me? Help me get to them. They were the ones that decided you could stay instead of knocking you out at the Scorch." My finger hovered over the trigger. "Either way, if you try to stop me, I will pull this trigger on you."
I couldn't see what Tony was thinking. But he soon reached forward and grabbed the Launcher away from me. He turned on a small switch before handing it back.
"You can't really shoot with the safety on," he replied before he walked around me. I couldn't help the huge smile that came on my face. "And wipe that smile off your face."
Shuck, how did he know?
》》》》
I don't know how long we were looking but we finally found Rat Man with Thomas, Newt, and Minho where we were yesterday. Tony held his arm out as we leaned against the wall. I peered over to see Newt getting pissed off whatever Rat Man was saying. Thomas was trying to keep his composure but I could see his lips twitch a bit. Minho, well...he's being Minho.
Tony nodded at me and we made our way inside. I had to pretend to be a stupid guard and not ruin our plan to get the guys out. But there were more guards with them, that much we expected, so we couldn't really get them out. Not to mention they've got more experience with the Launchers than we do.
"Where is everybody else?" Thomas asked. Tony and I stood behind Rat Man. Ugh, I hate wearing this disguise.
"The other subjects have been recovering -" he began to respond.
Newt had another idea and pounced on Rat Man. He grabbed him by the collar of his suit and slammed him against the nearest door. "Call them subjects again and I'll break your bloody neck! Now, where the bloody hell is Danny?!"
I got nervous when I saw two guards about to move. I didn't want them to hurt him that bad and I needed to play the part. I grabbed Newt and pulled him away from Rat Man. I tossed him on the floor and pointed my Launcher near his face. Please, forgive me for this.
"Wait! Wait," Rat Man yelled as he composed himself. He started straightening his jacket. "Don't disable him. Let's just get this over with."
Newt got to his feet with his arms raised. "Don't call us subjects. We're not mice trying to find cheese. And tell your shuck friend to calm down - I wasn't gonna hurt you. Much."
I tried not to shake my hand. I tried not to blow my cover and get all us screwed over. One of the guards walked over to Janson and whispered something in his ear.
"What?" Rat Man whispered furiously. The guy then said something else. Rat Man was trying to remain cool but I could see the anger in his eyes. "What about the other one?" The man responded. Rat Man pursed his lips. "Find them." Well, I guess my disappearance is out now.
"Find who?" Thomas asked.
"Nothing you need to be concerned about," Rat Man replied cooly. But you could tell the guys weren't believing him.
"Ok, fine. Fine, you win." Thomas looked at Newt and Minho. "I think he's right. I think it's time we did what we're supposed to do. We all agreed to it last night."
Newt's hands balled into a fist while Minho gave a nervous smile. Without a second thought, Thomas swung his elbow back into the face of the guard that was behind him before kicking the knee of the one in front. Newt tackled Tony to the ground while Minho punched the girl in front of him.
What are they doing? There's a bunch of guards on them. Maybe if we had the other Gladers with us then this would be a fair fight, but the guards had Launchers on them. These shanks haven't thought this through. I ran forward and grabbed Thomas before using the butt of the Launcher to smash it into the side of his head. Shuck, Tom Tom, please forgive me for this.
Thomas was losing his balance and crumbled to his knees. He landed flat on his stomach. He tried to get up but I grabbed his shoulder and slammed him into the tile floor. I could hear him grunt as I leaned down towards his ear.
"Stop fighting," I whispered harshly.
Thomas looked confused as he tried to look at me. "Dan?"
I hit the back of his head before using my knee to hold him in place. I raised the Launcher and pressed it against his head.
"Give me the word!" I yelled as I tried to disguise my voice. "A.D. Janson, give me the word! I'll fry his brain."
I looked towards Tony to see he had Newt's arm wrapped around his back while using the other arm to hold him around the neck. Two of the guards had to hold Minho down. One on his back while the other held his legs in place.
"What are you people thinking?!" Rat Man roared. "You really think three...children can overpower five armed guards? You kids are supposed to be geniuses, not idiotic...delusional rebels. Maybe the Flare has taken your minds after all!"
"Shut up!" Newt screamed. Don't do it, Newt. Don't make things worse. "Just shut your -"
I pursed my lips as I pressed the gun further into Thomas's head. Newt stopped thrashing immediately.
"Don't," I whispered again. "We'll figure something else out."
"Get them up!" Rat Man ordered. "Get them up!"
I pulled Thomas up by the back of his shirt. I made sure to hold the Launcher against his head while Tony held Newt with the Launcher near his head. The other guard grabbed Minho by the hair and held the Launcher towards his head. The last two guards had their weapons pointed on them.
If possible, I could see the steam coming off Rat Man. "Completely ridiculous! We absolutely will not allow this to happen again."
"I was just a kid," Thomas muttered.
"Excuse me?"
Thomas glared at him. "I was a kid. They brainwashed me into doing those things - into helping."
"I wasn't there in the beginning. But you yourself approved me for this job after the original founders were purged. And you should know, I've never seen someone, child or adult, as driven as you were." Rat Man had that stupid smile I just wanted to rip off.
"I don't care what you -"
"Enough! We'll do him first." He motioned to one of the guards to come forward. "Get a nurse down here. Brenda's inside - she's been insisting that she wants to help. Maybe he'll be easier to deal with if she's the technician working with him. Take the others to the waiting room - I'd like to so them once at a time. I need to go check on another matter, so I'll meet you there."
Tony pushed Newt towards one of the guards before he stood next to Thomas. He grabbed Thomas's arm and whispered something to his ear before the other guard could grab his free arm.
"I won't let you do it!" Thomas screamed. "There's no way you're putting that thing on my face!"
Rat Man ignored him and spoke to Tony. "Make sure she sedates him." Then he started walking away. I looked towards Tony's hand, the one that wasn't holding Thomas's arm. I could see his fingers twitch a bit before he started to drag Thomas away.
Ok, we need to make up a plan fast.