18
OR SO THEY THOUGHT
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One more flight of stairs later, and they finally stopped in what seemed to be an attic. It was nothing but a small loft filled with various items and objects with an even broader variety of uses. Rosa's mind filled with inventions and creations that she could make out of the things in the room.
"Jorge, they are here," the girl grinned, soon getting shushed by the man as he tuned the radio in front of him, yet he still received nothing but static. Rosa had to keep her mouth shut, otherwise, she would go on a rant about Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.
Jorge turned, his hands on his hips, "Do you ever get the feeling that the whole world is against you?" he asked, Rosa scoffed loudly and earning a glare from almost everyone in the room, "Three questions. Where did you come from? Where are you going? How can I profit?"
The Gladers were hesitant to answer, so none of them did. "Don't all answer at once," he sarcastically joked, pouring himself a glass of alcohol.
Thomas stepped forward, just like Rosa had anticipated, "We're headed for the mountains. Looking for the Right Arm-" men around them laughed, Rosa turned to glare at them.
"You're looking for ghosts, you mean," Jorge replied softly, sipping on his glass before pointing at them, "Question number two. Where did you come from?"
"That's our business," Rosa spoke up loudly, stepping out from behind Thomas. Jorge shrugged his shoulders, the men in the room automatically grabbing all of the Gladers. Rosa could feel one roughly grip her wounded arm and she let out a yelp of pain, yet he didn't loosen his grip at all. She kicked him in the shin as she wriggled around, trying to squirm out of his hold. Thomas shouting at them to be careful with her.
Rosa was pushed down so that her hair was moved to the side, the girl that had led them to Jorge had approached her and scanned the back of her neck with a machine that whirred and beeped. Rosa shouted expletives at her, "Oh shut up you big baby," she remarked.
"Oh, I'll show you big baby, you mother shucker-" she shouted, kicking the man that held her one last time before she went to punch the girl across the face, only for the man to grab her wounded arm and make her yell out. Thomas was let go by his capture and ran to Rosa, where he pushed the man away and took her arm carefully to see if she was okay.
"You were right," the girl remarked as she showed Jorge the device, he placed his glasses on his nose and took it from her.
"Right about what? What is she talking about?" Thomas asked, his arm still around Rosa.
Jorge chuffed, "I'm sorry, hermano. Your girl here is tagged. You came from WICKED. Which means you're very valuable."
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"Good plan, Thomas," Minho scoffed before he began to imitate Thomas, "' Just hear what the man has to say.' Really working out for us."
Rosa, like the rest of her friends, currently hung from their ankles above a large drop. She could feel the blood heating up her cheeks and her head felt like it could explode due to all of the pressure. She refrained from making a comment about the recent events and instead worked towards thinking of a way out.
"Oh, shut up Minho," Thomas groaned, "Maybe I can reach the rope."
Jorge came into Rosa's vision, she turned her head to see him properly, "Enjoying the view?"
"Well, I was. But then you came here," she remarked, "What the hell do you want?"
"That is the question," he pointed a stick that he held in his hand, "My men want to sell you back to WICKED. Life has taught them to think small. I'm not like that. Something tells me that you're not either."
"Is the blood rushing to my head or is this shank not making any sense?" Minho asked, a slender smirk on his face.
Jorge didn't find it funny, "Tell me what you know about the Right Arm," he asked, his voice dripping with threats.
Rosa had to hold in her laughter, she knew the most out of the group about the Right Arm. Well, she knew that Vince was their leader, that she had funded the organisation and she knew their old locations. She felt her glare intensify through the hair that fell over her face, she was almost thankful for her red cheeks being covered.
"I thought you said they were ghosts," Newt stated.
"I happen to believe in ghosts," he shrugged, "Especially when I hear them chattering on the airwaves," he walked over to a lever, "You tell me what you know, and maybe we can make a deal."
Thomas shook his head and used his hands to motion, "We don't know much," Jorge pulled the lever which made all of the Gladers fall in the air for a split second and scream before they came to a halt, "Okay! Okay, all right. They're hiding in the mountains. And they attacked WICKED. They got out a bunch of kids. That's it. That's all we know."
Rosa steadied her breathing before looking at Jorge, "You would have known that if you had a signal booster on your radio, I could've built you one in five minutes with what you had in that loft."
He was about to continue talking when more, heavy footprints could be heard coming into the room; "Yo, Jorge," one of his men called, coming into view, "What's going on?"
"Me and my new friends were just getting aquatinted," he looked to Thomas, "We're done now."
Thomas' eyes widened, "Hey! Wait, you aren't going to help us?"
"Don't worry, hermano," he replied, "We'll get you back to where you belong. Hang tight."
Jorge left, leaving his man behind. He scoffed and followed his leader out of the room, leaving the Glader's to hang from their ankles in peace. Until Rosa spoke up, "Is now a bad time to say that I need the toilet?"
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"Minho! Push Teresa!" she shouted at him, watching as Teresa barely missed catching the pole, it was Rosa's plan to swing Teresa so that she could pull the lever and lower herself onto the platform and they could all escape.
She cheered when Teresa successfully pulled the lever and was able to pull off her ropes, now standing upright. "Okay, now we swing Thomas and then me," she replied.
"Good evening!" a voice blared over speakers, Rosa instantly recognised it as Janson and cursed, "This is the World Catastrophe Killzone Department. We have your compound completely surrounded. You find yourselves, through no fault of your own, in possession of WICKED property. Return them to us unharmed and we'll consider this a simple misunderstanding."
Rosa had to block out Janson's words and concentrate as Minho and Newt pushed her forward after Thomas and she gripped the bar with both hands, she smiled and pulled herself up to untie the rope from her legs. She took a metal pole from the ground and held it out for Frypan to take so she could pull him forward, once he was safe, she did the same for Aris whilst Newt was helped by Teresa.
"Okay, let's go-" Thomas was about to say as a gun cocked, the man that had followed Jorge into the room earlier now stood before them and aimed a gun at the group. "We're not trying to cause any trouble, okay? We just have to get out of here."
"Is that so?" he grinned, stepping forward, he raised a radio to his mouth and started to talk to it, "Janson, I got 'em for ya. I'm bringing 'em down. Don't shoot us. Come on, let's go."
No one moved, he stepped closer, "I said-". Thomas lunged at him, pushing the gun up in his hands so that the bullet he fired didn't hit anyone them, they struggled with each other before Thomas headbutted him backwards. But the man regained himself, cocking the gun at them once more. Thomas protected Rosa by staying in front of her. "You little bastard!"
A gunshot echoed in the room, all of them flinching at the sound and Rosa gasped at the thought of Chuck filling her mind. She was alarmed when the man fell to the ground with a grunt and the small lady who took them to Jorge, Brenda, was behind him, her own gun held high.
"Okay. Come on," she spoke, turning around, but they didn't follow her, "Come on! Let's go!"
Brenda directed them through the halls once more and into Jorge's office, a loud song blasting through the speakers confused the Gladers but no one thought about it too much.
"We don't have much time!" Jorge shouted, "Let's go, let's go, let's go. Right, this way." He pushed a large window open, looking out onto the side of a destroyed building with a thick wire connecting the two. "Plan B, hermano. You kids wanna get to the Right Arm? I'll lead you to them. But you're gonna owe me," he gripped a belt and hung it over the wire, jumping off the window ledge and sliding along it, "Follow me!"
Rosa's mouth opened and her eyes almost popped out of their sockets, "I- My- Shit!" she cursed, catching Thomas' attention, "My arm, Thomas. The shuck-head ripped a stitch."
Brenda pulled down more belts for everyone to slide across, Rosa's stomach filled with pure anxiety. "Okay, everyone go!" Thomas instructed, thinking of how he could get Rosa across.
Each of the Gladers had gone across, leaving Thomas, Rosa and Brenda. The short-haired girl ran off, "Brenda!" Rosa called, following behind her as she searched the draws for something, "We need to go!" She nodded, all three turning around to see WICKED soldiers with their guns blocking their path, Brenda raised her gun and started firing. Thomas and Rosa crouched down before Brenda pushed them through a door behind them, yelling for them to keep moving.
"Come on, hurry! We are running out of time!" she shouted behind her, more soldiers flanked them on all sides, giving them no other option than to walk across the metal support beams that held the building up. Rosa was skeptical at first, but she was soon behind Brenda as she balanced on the support.
"Brenda, where are we going?" Thomas shouted over the music, a guard now following behind the trio as they moved.
Brenda climbed over one beam, "Hurry! The song is almost over!"
Just as the song came to a finish, loud explosions could be heard. The force of the blasts pushed Thomas into Rosa as they limbed over a small metal fence and onto a study floor, "Come on!" Rosa pulled on his hand as they followed Brenda.
The metal roof above them started to collapse, panel by panel. "Jump!" Brenda screamed, jumping onto the wire that once held an elevator. Thomas gripped Rosa tightly in his arms as they too grasped onto the wire to slide down the empty elevator shaft where they landed in a heap on the floor.
They looked up to see rubble from the building begin to follow them down the elevator shaft, they yelled and all three jumped out of the way, just in time to watch as it descended into piles of metal and stone. And it all went black.
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I love writing Rosa become more confident and gain her old personality back