𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 {𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐭 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫}

twenty six: the not dead but also not alive either

"Come on, come on!" Thomas yelled as we darted down towards the main entrance. The large doors sat firmly in front of us as we came to a stop, trying to catch our breath as we did so. Thomas leaned forward, reaching for the leaver before him, and as he pushed, the doors began to open.

Without a word, we all bolted ahead as we were met with a suffocating amount of wind, it threatening to push us backwards as we put our hands in front of our eyes to shield them from the sand. "We'll lose them in the storm!" The boy called out as we stayed closely behind him.

A large desert hill presented itself to us as we ran over it, shading ourselves from not just the wind, but also the people desperate to find us. "Stay low. Stay low!" We watched as other helicopters landed ahead, as soldiers flew in every direction, shooting at the figures in the distance.

After a few seconds, I turned around to walk away, still keeping close to the ground, as the others spotted something buried in the sand.

Teresa didn't even hesitate as she jumped through the entrance as the others called out to stop her. "Teresa, hang on. Stay together!" Minho called after her, but by that point, she was already immersed in her surroundings. We rushed to the entrance, all peering in to get a look as she yelled up to us.

"Get down here!" Just like her, I didn't give it a second thought before I ducked under the opening and ran down a sandy slope. "Y/n! Hold on!" I could hear Thomas yelling after me also as I turned back to see the others join us.

I looked around at my surroundings, and saw nothing that made any sense. Everything seemed out of place and crammed. Wherever we were, it was large, but luckily for us, it blocked out the wind.

Thomas ran ahead again to face the group. "We gotta go." He still looked just as frantic as desperately looked around.

"No. Thomas, stop!" Teresa's voice made him calm down as he stopped pacing and finally looked directly at us. "Tell me what's going on." Her face looked serious as she refused to break eye contact with the boy. He adverted his gaze to the floor as he began fiddling with his hands.

"It's Wicked." He spoke quietly and softly as I watched Teresa intently. I thought she'd be more shocked, more angry, more confused, but she didn't. The news did not look shocking to her, at all.

"It's Wicked. They lied to us. We never escaped." I could feel Newt tense up next to me as I looked down at the floor. I didn't want to have to explain how I knew that also, as I honestly don't know what I would say.

"Me and Aris, we found bodies. Too many to count." The boy met our gaze again as I could see confidence reappear in his expression. "What do you mean? Dead bodies?" Frypan sounded panicked as he moved closer to the boy.

"No, but they weren't alive either. They had them strung up, with tubes coming out of them." Thomas hesitated for a second before continuing. "They were being drained. There's something inside of us that Wicked wants. Something in our blood. So, we have to get as far away from them as possible."

Everyone began to absorb the news, their faces full of shook and anger. "Okay. So, what's the plan?" Newt asked, but after Thomas didn't respond, he spoke again. "You do have a plan, right?" Anger was present on his face again as he looked at the boy.

"I don't know." He spoke softly, almost apologetically as he looked down at the floor once again. "We followed you out here, Thomas and now you're saying that you have no idea where we're going or what we're doing." He was right really, we needed more of a plan, but after everything, it wasn't as if we had much time to come up with one.

The new kid finally spoke up from the back as we all turned to face him. "Wait, Janson said something about people hiding in the mountains. Some kind of resistance or army."

Thomas cut him off suddenly, "The Right Arm. If they're really against Wicked, maybe they can help us." Newt folded his arms over his chest and scoffed lowly to himself.

"People. In the mountains. Mountain people. That's your plan?" He looked at Thomas annoyed as the boy responded quickly.

"It's the only chance we have." The boy looked down, defeated as he huffed in annoyance.

"Hey, guys. Check this out. Minho give me a light." I turned my head to see Winston knelt down on the floor in front of something. We huddled around the boy as Minho shone a torch in the direction he was talking about. "Someone's been down here."

Footprints laced the ground carefully as we watched them continue on for yards into the building. Next to them was a locked room as Thomas knelt down next to the opening. "Come on, open up." As Newt, Minho and Thomas opened up the room to show a small living space. It was decorated with dust and cob webs as we shone the minimal torches we had in all directions.

"Looks like people lived here." The place was filled with seating and broken light sources as well as what seemed to be personal belongings. "Let's pack some of this stuff up. Anything you think you might need. We'll split up. Meet back here." Simultaneously we all nodded.

"Minho with me, Teresa with Aris and Winston, and Newt with Y/n and Frypan." We all nodded again before we descended down the different paths, searching for anything and everything that could be useful.  

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A/N: Sorry that this chapter is slightly shorter, but i hope you guys still like it. I do plan on posting more often than i have been, as school is really kicking my butt. Anyways, hope you all have a good day <33