𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓-𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙨

XVII-THE MOUNTAIN

Jorge drove for a long couple of hours, going up at least two mountains. We finally stopped and climbed out of the weird truck-van hybrid. A long line of broken, rusted cars blocked the rest of the way.

"Looks like we're on foot now." Jorge threw the keys into the car and led us through the crowd of retired cars. A lot of them had missing parts, their hoods open, revealing mostly empty engines. A few had skeletons in them, resting forward on the steering wheels. Most of the hoods had small indents in them, almost shaped like...

Something pinged on the car in front of me, a bang echoing in the tall mountain sides. A few more filled the air. I pulled and pushed to the floor, held underneath an arm. "Is everyone alright?" Thomas asked, his voice in my ears.

"Anyone know where those bloody shots came from?" Newt answered with his own question. Of course we don't have an answer, it didn't come from any of us.

"That son of a bitch Marcus. He led us straight into an ambush." Jorge had hid behind the same car as us. Thomas got up on his knees and looked over the car. Another bullet was let out and he hid back behind the car.

"What do we do?"

"Here hold this." He handed Thomas a weird rectangle thing. It had wires at the top. "We gotta create a diversion. You get ready to chuck it." He pulled out a smaller rectangle and threw back the cap. It beeped, ready for activation. Oh. It was a bomb. Duh. "Everybody get ready to sprint back to the truck. And cover your ears." To Thomas, he whispers. "Ready? One." At two a gun was cocked behind us, a bullet casing fell to the floor.

"Drop it." It was a commanding girl's voice. "Now." I turned and saw a girl with dark hair pulled into braids. The bottom half of her face was covered by a scarf. She held a rifle in her dark, fingerless gloves covered hand. "I said drop it!" Thomas had dropped it at the now, but Jorge still held the detonator in his hands. Now it lay carefully on the floor. "On your feet, let's go. Move! Back up!" There were two girls. The darker skinned one and a lighter skinned one with blonde hair and green eyes. The darker skinned one kept looking at the group and then back at something else. "Aris?" She pulled down her scarf.

"Oh my god, Harriet." Aris moved forward and hugged Harriet.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Sonya." He hugged the other girl now.

"Aris, you're lucky we didn't shoot your dumbass."

We all looked at each other. But I think I understood what was going on here.

"What's happening?" Minho asked.

"We were in the Maze together." Aris explained.

Harriet walked closer to the edge of the road railing, stuck two fingers between her lips and let out a high pitched whistle. "We're clear guys, come on out." People appeared at the ridges of the other mountains, all holding long guns.

Sonya and Harriet guided us through the rest of the cars and through a tunnel where a large truck carrying something on the back blocked the way out. "Back it up Joe." Sonya ordered.

"We're taking them to base." Harriet told one of the people getting into an extended jeep.

"Wait," Aris said. "So how did you guys get here?"

"The Right Arm got us out."

"The Right Arm?" Thomas stepped in front of the group. "Do you know where they are?"

Harriet smiled and opened the back door. "Hop in."

For the first time in a while, I started to feel hope. Aris knew these people, and these people knew the Right Arm, who wanted to free kids from WICKED, which probably meant that they were the good guys. They were going to be our salvation.

We rode for an hour through an open desert that wasn't quite like the scorch's desert. No, this one had trees and shrubbery. Finally they made a turn and stopped the cars. We exited the vehicles and looked out at the scenery below us.

There were multiple tents, and a lot of people milling about, doing their own thing. It reminded me of the Glade, when Newt had given me the tour. I smiled at the memory. Harriet led us down to what looked like the entrance to the camp. "They've been planning this for over a year now. This is all for us."

"You guys are lucky you found us when you did. We're moving out at first light." Sonya's voice was kind and soft. I liked it. Harriet's was harder, but she was also kind. I wonder if they were the Alby and Newt of their Glade. If they even called it that. I guess I will have that discussion with them later. "Where's Vince." She asked someone passing by.

"He's somewhere over there." The guy pointed to our right.

"Who's Vince?" He's the guy who decides if you get to stay." Harriet answered.

"I thought the Right Arm was supposed to be an army?" Minho commented.

"Yea, we were." A man with semi longish hair and a shaved mustache and beard came out of a tent, three men behind him held guns. "This is all we have left. Lot of good people died getting us this far. Who are they?" The last bit was directed to the girls.

"They're Immunes. Caught them coming up the mountain."

"Did you check them?"

"I know this guy Aris. I trust him."

"Well I don't check them."

"Hey boss." There was a guy with long hair and a gun standing to the side of our group.

Someone started panting and then gasped. Brenda fell to the floor gasping for air.

Jorge ran to them, crouching at their side. "Brenda! Brenda!" He kept repeating their name, pulling them into his lap.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." They gasped out.

"What's going on with them?" Vince crouched beside them now, looking over Brenda. He eyed her bandage and pulled it back, revealing an infected crank bite. "Oh shit." He stepped back and pulled his gun out, aiming it at Brenda. "Crank, we got a crank!"

"No!" Jorge put his arm out, hoping that would stop the gun.

"Wait. Wait." Thomas ran forward, standing over Brenda.

"Get back."

"Just listen, okay? This just happened. They're not dangerous yet."

"Well you shouldn't have brought them here!"

"I know."

"We let cranks in here now, the safe haven doesn't last a week!"

"Let me go!" Jorge was being held back by two of the men who were with Vince.

"I understand. Just listen to me please?" Thomas begged. "I told her that you could help. There's got to be something you can do?"

Vince still had his gun pointed at Brenda. "Yeah, there is." He cocked his gun. "I can put them out of their misery."

"No!" Jorge struggled against the men.

"Vince, that's enough." A female voice yelled from behind Vince. "Let him go! Let him go." She was small with mousy brown hair. Her nose was red from the cold mountain air. I shivered against it.

"They're infected doc." Vince explained. "There's nothing we can do for them."

"No, but he can." She stared at our group. "Hello Thomas." She smiled.

"What? You know me?"

"Interesting. It makes sense they would put you in the Maze." She went to Brenda and Jorge, kneeling next to them. "Though I must admit, I was worried they'd kill you after what you did."

"What I did?"

"The first time we spoke, you said you couldn't take it anymore. Watching your friends die one by one. The last time we spoke, you gave me the coordinates of every WICKED compound, trial, and lab."

"He was our source." Vince said in realization. "We couldn't have pulled this off without him. Take them to the tent. Get these guys some warm clothes." Jorge and another man picked Brenda up, walking to what I assumed was their med-hut. "Thomas come on."