"Is everything ready?" Nicole asked, looking at her two male friends.
"We're ready. Most of the guards are on their way back from searching for the escapees," Isaac told them. "We have a Berg lined up and ready."
"We might run into trouble on the way and I won't be able to help fight if it becomes necessary," Chris said.
"You don't have to carry me, you know," Ivy responded.
"You're still hurt. Yes you can move, but too much movement and you'll rip your stitches. Plus you can't move as fast as we will need to move."
"So what do you suggest we do? Isaac can't hold them all off by himself if it comes to it."
"Then he won't," Nicole said. "I'm taking Chris's gun. They taught me everything they know about their weapons and I've seen WCKD's files on their weapons."
"Once we get to the hangar, we'll be out in the open," Chris continued. "We'll have to race to the Berg."
"Once we're in the Berg, I can start it up," Isaac stated. "The Berg will protect us from any fire on the outside."
"But where will we go?" Ivy questioned. "Do we actually know where we're going after we get out?"
"There's a city beyond the Scorch. It's the last standing city known. There's a group of rebels outside the city. I've been in contact with them. They'll meet us and give us shelter when we arrive."
"And we can trust them?" Nicole asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
Isaac gave her a look that told them all that he was uncertain.
"I guess we'll find out then," Chris replied. He looked down at his watch. "We need to get moving. The rest of the guards will be returning soon and we need to be gone before that happens."
The others nodded. Chris handed Nicole his gun, along with the backpack filled with plenty of medical supplies for Ivy. As Isaac went to the door to make sure the hall was clear, Chris gently lifted Ivy into his arms. Ivy wrapped her arms around his neck, wincing slightly when she felt a small flash of pain. Chris gave her a questioning look.
"I'm fine," she told him, receiving a nod in response.
Isaac motioned for them to move into the hallway. Chris took the lead, followed closely by Nicole and Isaac. They moved as fast as they could down the halls, checking around every corner and keeping an eye behind them. Ivy held on tight to Chris, trying to make herself lighter in his arms so she wouldn't slow him down at all. It was almost scary how quiet the halls were. In a way, they almost reminded Ivy of the Maze, except filled with more light. She mentally recited every turn they made as a result of habit.
Just as they rounded a corner, alarms started to go off again. The group froze, staring at the lights.
"We need to move!" Isaac said. "Come on!"
The others followed Chris down the halls, almost running now. Chris held Ivy closer to him to keep her from moving too much.
"How did they find us?" he questioned.
"Cameras!" Nicole suddenly realized, raising her gun and shooting the first one she saw. She ran ahead of them and shot the next several. "Hopefully we can keep them off our trail long enough for us to get to the hangar."
"We need to move faster," Isaac said.
"You guys go on ahead," Chris said. "Ivy and I will catch up."
"You're sure?" Chris nodded, setting Ivy on the ground but still supporting her. "Here, take my gun. We'll meet you at the hangar."
Chris took the gun in his hand, thanking Isaac. The two said goodbye before Isaac and Nicole disappeared down the hall. Chris looked down at Ivy.
"Can you walk?" he asked her.
"I've been shot, not disabled. I can handle a bit of pain."
Chris gave her a small smirk. With one arm wrapped around her waist and the other holding his gun, the two hurried down the halls, following the trail of broken security cameras. Every step cause a small shot of pain to go through Ivy but she did not say a word and kept moving. The two came to the end of the hall and were met with a hallway on either side of them. They paused to look down both, noticing burnt cameras in both directions.
"Which way?" Ivy breathed.
Chris was about to respond when he heard someone behind him. But before he could react, Ivy was ripped from his side. The girl cried out when someone grabbed her and pulled her against their chest. Chris spun around and aimed his gun at Ivy and her captor.
"I wouldn't," a voice said. Ivy's brows furrowed when she recognized the voice of the man behind her.
"What do you want, Victor?" Chris said, not dropping his gun.
"I'm not going to shoot her if that's what you're thinking."
"Then why do you have a gun to her head?"
Ivy's eyes widened slightly when she realized that he was right; she felt a cold metal against her head.
"Because if I didn't, I wouldn't have your attention."
"You're right. You'd be dead."
"Will you just listen to me? I know we've had our differences, but I'm here to help."
"Why?" Ivy questioned before Chris could.
"You want my honest answer? I don't know. I should shoot you both like I was ordered, but I'm not going to. Your friends went down that way, toward the hangar." He motioned to the hall behind Chris. "But before you go, knock me out. WCKD needs to believe you got away and not that I let you escape."
"Thanks for the directions," Ivy told him. "Sorry for this."
Before either man could move, Ivy swung her elbow into Victor's gut. The man grunted in pain, hunching over. Ivy quickly got out of his grip, twisting his arm behind him. With as much strength as she could muster, Ivy swung the guard, slamming his face into the brick wall. She winced slightly when she heard a crunch before Victor slid to the ground.
"What the h*ll?" Ivy looked at Chris. "Where did that come from?"
"I lived with a bunch of hormonal teenage boys for over three years. Kinda had to lean to protect myself."
"Fair enough." Ivy almost laughed when he shrugged, acting as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "Come on. We need to move."
Ivy nodded and followed after Chris. They picked up their pace, continuing down the series of halls. At one turn, Ivy felt a wince in her arm. She put her hand on the bandaged area, wincing again when she felt a small shot of pain go through her.
Must have ripped some stitches, she thought. But the thought was ignored as they came to a large door. Chris pulled out his ID card and swiped it. The scanner beeped, showing a green light and the words 'Access Denied' and the doors didn't open. Chris swiped the ID again only to get the same results.
"Come on," he muttered in annoyance. "They must have revoked my access after they saw us on the security cameras. I can see the Berg from here; Isaac and Nicole are almost there. If I can hack the door, then we can get through."
Suddenly, the sound of voice caught their attention. The two looked back down the hall.
"Down this way!"
"They're heading for the hangar!"
Ivy froze momentarily when she heard Janson's voice. She turned to Chris with determination in her eyes.
"Give me your gun," she said.
Chris didn't argue, handing over his weapon before beginning to hack the door's system. Ivy pointed the gun down the hall, shielding Chris's body with her own even though she was much smaller than him. The moment the guards came into view, Ivy began shooting. She smirked slightly when the first guard went down, twitching from the electric shocks going through his body. Ivy quickly shot two other guards, knocking them down as well.
"Look out!" Janson warned.
"D*mn right," she muttered, smirking a little more when she heard Chris's chuckle. "How's it coming?" she asked as she shot at the guards again.
"Almost got it." Just as Ivy shot again, almost hitting Janson in the head, the door opened. "Let's go!"
Ivy sprinted through the opening, tossing Chris his gun back. The man shot the guards a few more times before running after Ivy. The girl swore under her breath when she realized that she wasn't running as fast as she was used to. Because of the wound in her leg, she was moving much slower than she was used to.
Ivy quickly looked around the hangar, searching for the Berg they would be taking. As her eyes landed on one, it went up in flames. Ivy stopped, Chris doing the same beside her.
"Sh*t," he muttered.
"Over here!" The two looked at another Berg, noticing Nicole standing at the ramp, reloading the bazooka in her hands. "Behind you!" she called again before turning to shoot another Berg.
The two ducked when they heard a gun fire. Ivy looked over her shoulder to see that the guards had gotten through the door. Chris grabbed Ivy's uninjured arm and pushed her toward the Berg Nicole was at. He would occasionally pause to shoot at the guards behind them but always quickly caught up to Ivy. Ivy growled lowly when she felt a shot of pain from where she had been shot in the leg and abdomen. If Doctor Wheeler was with them, she would have yelled at Ivy for her recklessness.
"Ivy!"
Before the girl could comprehend what was happening, Chris shoved her to the ground as a gunshot rang out. Ivy grunted at the impact but ignored it as she looked at Chris. Her eyes widened when she saw him grab his stomach and gasp for breath.
"Chris," she muttered.
Their eyes connected for a brief moment before Chris started to sway. Ivy shot up to her feet and ran to his side. She quickly got under his arm and wrapped her own around his waist.
"Nicole!" she shouted.
The white haired girl looked at them before her eyes widened. She fired the bazooka once more at the remaining Berg before grabbing her other gun, which sat on her hip. She quickly shot the guard who had wounded Chris then fired at the men following them.
"Hurry up! Engine's fired up!"
"Come on, Chris," Ivy said. "Don't quit on me now. We're almost there."
Chris grunted in reply, holding his stomach to try and stop the bleeding. Ivy forced herself to move faster, not caring about her own injuries. As the arrived at the Berg, Nicole threw her gun back inside and ran to help Ivy. The two girls heaved Chris inside and Nicole punched the button to close the doors.
"They're here!" she shouted to Isaac at the front of the Berg. "Let's go!"
They lowered Chris to the ground as the Berg lifted off the ground. Ivy could hear gunfire from outside, but ignored them to focus on the task at hand. Nicole ran off to grab the backpack filled with medical supplies.
"Hang in there, Chris," Ivy told the man. "You're going to be alright."
She pulled off her shirt, glad she was wearing a tank top underneath it, and pressed it against the wound. Chris gasped in pain, earning an apology from Ivy. She tried to keep herself from shaking. Chris was losing blood at an alarming rate. She glanced to where she had last seen Nicole, only to hear her asking Isaac where he had put the backpack.
"I should have seen him coming," Ivy muttered under her breath, referring to the guard who had shot Chris.
"Ivy." She looked at him as he groaned a little. "It's all right."
"No it's not. I wasn't paying attention."
"But we did it. We got out."
"Not without consequences. Now stop talking; you need to save your strength. Nicole will be back with the backpack soon."
"You and I both know I won't last that long."
Ivy shut her eyes. Deep down, she knew the facts. He had lost too much blood. None of them were doctors, none of them could repair a wound like this. But Ivy refused to let that stop her.
"No, you're going to be okay."
"Ivy," Chris said, grabbing Ivy's hands. She looked at him. "It's not your fault. It was my choice. Besides, my job was to get you out of there." He sighed and gave her a small smile. "At least I can go knowing I helped someone escape."
Ivy smiled softly at him.
"You did, Chris. And I can't thank you enough for that." She paused for a moment, her mind drifting to her brothers before remembering that Chris had a brother as well. "What was his name? Your brother, I mean."
"Julian. What about you? Did you-" He paused to groan and stiffen in pain. "Do you remember having any siblings? I know WCKD wiped your memories..."
"I did," Ivy replied, a sad look coming onto her face. "An older brother and a twin apparently. My twin was one of the boys who got out before I did. I don't know what happened to the other."
Chris nodded in understanding. He grabbed Ivy's hand, holding it tight in his own. The two sat in silence for several moments. He took another deep breath; when he exhaled, it left his body in a shaky way.
"I'll get to see them again," he said, his voice softer now.
"Who?"
"My family. Both my parents, my brothers, and my sister."
"I thought you only had a brother."
"He was my last living family. My mom disappeared not even a year after my youngest brother was born and my dad was killed in a shooting. My older sister took care of us for years, but Neil was a baby when he died. My sister, Michelle, left us when she got the Flare; she stayed for as long as she could, leaving only when she felt herself slipping beyond her control. We never heard from her again. Julian and I were on our own for a while before he came down with the Flare too. He almost killed me one night and once he was back in control, he told me to shoot him." He released another shaky breath, tears in his eyes. "After that, I decided that if I couldn't save my family then I could help save other people."
"And you did, Chris," Ivy replied, wiping his tears away. "Believe me, you did. We're going to keep fighting. We will do whatever we can to help people, just like you helped Nicole and I and how you wanted to help my friends. I will never forget you, Chris. Never, for as long as I live."
Chris smiled.
"Thank you, Ivy." She gave him a gentle smile. He took another deep breath before exhaling just as deeply. "You know, Michelle used to sing this song to us when we were little. She would sing it when she was putting Neil to bed; Julian and I would peak our heads into the room just so we could listen."
"Do you remember it?" Ivy questioned.
The man nodded.
"Lavender's blue, dilly dilly
Lavender's green
When I am king, dilly dilly
You shall be queen
Who told you so, dilly dilly
Who told you so?
'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly
That told me so."
Ivy listened to the words with great interest. She seemed to recall hearing a similar song before but she didn't know from where. Yet the words seemed to come naturally to her and she began to sing along with Chris.
"Call up your men, dilly dilly
Set them to work
Some to the plough, dilly dill
Some to the fork
Some to make hay, dilly dilly
Some to cut corn
While you and I, dilly dilly
Keep yourselves warm
Lavender's green, dilly dilly
Lavender's blue
If you love me, dilly dilly
I will love you
Let the birds sing, dilly dilly
And the lambs play
We shall be safe, dilly dilly
Out of harm's way
I love to dance, dilly dilly
I love to sing
When I am queen, dilly dilly
You'll be my king
Who told me so, dilly dilly
Who told you so?
I told myself, dilly dilly
I told me so."
Ivy's voice trailed off at the end when she realized that Chris was no longer singing. She looked at his face, noticing that his eyes were closed. His chest had stopped rising and falling but there was a small smile on his face. He looked like he was sleeping but Ivy knew the truth.
Sensing someone watching her, she looked over her shoulder. Sure enough, Nicole was standing down the hall, backpack in her hand and a look of sadness in her eyes. She silently asked Ivy if what she seeing was true, making the younger girl nod.
"Yeah," she replied, giving his limp hand a soft squeeze. "He's gone."