Till The WICKED End | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

16. Plans above the clouds

So we set off and flew to the coordinates Francesca had picked out of the system. Since we couldn't see outside, I didn't know if our surroundings were changing, but I couldn't really imagine that there could be anything other than desert and mountains in this world.
Canada was far to the north, that's what I had learned, that's all I knew about this country. I was sure I had never traveled so far before and this assumption was confirmed. We flew and flew and at some point Thomas urged us, all of us leaning against the walls in our sleeping bags, to get together to make a plan.
I had been chasing my dream the whole time, and the questions that were popping up in my head, and needed to find my way back to the present.
"All right, pay attention. We need to be smart about this, even though there probably won't be many guards. We need to check out the area carefully and figure out the best place to get in. Then, once we're inside, the first thing we need to do is find a computer so Franci can figure out the layout of the building," Thomas began once we were seated.
"The first thing we focus on is the High Council. If we take them out, then they've lost their highest and most important authority," Francesca explained.
"We're not going to kill them all, are we? What about the doctors and the staff?" I asked.
"You can be sure they would make just as little difference the other way around," Gally interjected.
"Possibly. But we're not them. We don't act that way. We're better, we're fair."
"Anna's right, not all of them are like Paige or Janson. They shouldn't have to die. Some of them have been my friends and yours, too." Francesca nodded to Thomas and me.
"I also think we should give them the opportunity to surrender and come with us if they want to. At the same time I don't think we should let them pull away, once again I don't feel like hearing a radio call like that," Brenda remarked.
"All right. So they have a choice, either they join us or they die. I like that." Gally nodded in agreement. He and Brenda often saw eye to eye when it came to war issues, we had noticed that from the beginning.
"So Franci finds out where the High Council is, we go in, shoot around a bit, and then get to work cleaning the building," Thomas summarized. "We'll have to take out the soldiers unless they immediately surrender voluntarily and lay down their weapons, we'll let the staff make their decision."
"And how do we get in there and through the building without being detected? That seems pretty impossible to me," Minho remarked.
My head rattled for a moment, then it immediately became clear. This method of travel had helped us infiltrate WICKED before.
"The ventilation shafts. We use them, that's how we move. That's what we did back when we got the kids out of the old headquarters, before the Maze."
Thomas nodded with a furrowed brow. "There will be a map of the shafts in the system, too. That's a good possibility."
"I think we should split up, like we did in the last city when we rescued Minho. Three of us take out the High Council, the others split up to storm the different floors," Brenda suggested.
"First, we should stay together. Once we take out the council, we can split into teams, I think that's a good idea. The air shafts give us a strategic advantage and we can get an overview of the floors before we enter them." Thomas still had his brow furrowed in thought.
"You're right. That leaves team building," I said.
"Anna's going with me," Francesca immediately interjected.
I thought of how she had told me to stay with her at all costs. She really seemed to take that seriously.
"I'll stay with you too, Franci," Minho immediately replied.
"All right, then Thomas should join us. Gally, Brenda, Fry and Jorge will go together," Francesca decided spontaneously.
Gally looked anything but pleased with that decision. "Hey, wait a minute. I'm staying with Anna!" he protested.
"We can't all stay with her," Francesca hissed, which confused me. Funny choice of words, like I needed to be protected.
"It's okay, Gally. I'm sure we won't be apart for long," I reassured him, putting a hand on his arm.
He still didn't look happy, but nodded reluctantly.
"I think everything else we're going to have to improvise. We just don't have the same preparation time as when we robbed the train," Brenda said.
The rest of us nodded in agreement.
"In the last city, we did it the same way. We didn't have much more information then, except for Gally's," I continued.
"Well, there were Lawrence's men who helped us and hacked into WICKED's systems and an attack with loud bombs. Oh, and then there was Teresa, who got us in and through the building," Gally stated casually. It was still clear that he was absolutely not happy with the fact that we were going to be separated while we were in the building.
"And this time we have Franci. And besides, we're not talking about an entire city, we're talking about a new headquarters that's less well guarded and less populated," I countered, patting him on the arm now. "It's going to work, Gally. I believe it."
"And tomorrow we'll be back at the Safe Haven, lying in our hammocks," Francesca added.
"I'll go to Jorge and Pan and tell them about our plan. We'll see how much further it is." I stood up and stretched before heading to the cockpit.
The sun was high in the sky, but unlike what I had expected, it was not beaming down on an endless desert, but on a landscape that was dry, but now and then a bit green and hilly. I found that I liked this picture and I now understood why so many books had said that Canada had a beautiful, idyllic landscape to offer. Before the sun had scorched the earth, it must have been much more beautiful here.