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The five teens crouched and ran through the lot, ducking behind a slab of concrete and leaning against it to catch their breath. Aife could hear the helicopter propellers booming from above, causing her to close her eyes as her chest heaved, her tongue pushing against the inside of her cheek in frustration. She heard Newt choke out a cough, her eyes snapping toward him as she reached over to rub his back. His head lazily fell into her shoulder.
"Well," Gally breathed, "They're definitely pissed." He stated the obvious.
Yeah, no shit, Aife thought as she rolled her eyes, turning to glare at the boy as she continued to check on Newt.
"How far are the tunnels?" Thomas questioned, positioning himself to crouch on one of his knees and face Gally.
"Uh, maybe twelve blocks from here." Gally offered, blinking slowly.
Newt's coughing was bad, and he felt as though his insides were tying in a knot. Aife winced, her eyebrows pulling together as she glanced up at Minho, who was frowning at her with worried eyes. She simply shook her head, not bothering to speak on it.
Gally froze as he and Thomas watched him, "He'll be okay." He assured. At that, Aife turned to look at Gally, meeting eyes with him before she nodded once. Minho shuffled to crouch in front of Newt, his hands on both of his shoulders.
"Hey, how you feeling?"
Newt groaned lowly, picking his head off of Aife's shoulder and lulling it to the side, "Terrible." He spoke honestly. He used all his strength to lift his arm, putting his hand on Minho's bicep and nodding his head.
"It's good to see you." He mustered a small boyish grin.
Aife smiled at that, bringing her free hand up to the back of Minho's head as she looked at him, "He's right. We missed you." When Minho looked at her, he could tell the smile didn't reach her eyes. He nodded his head, looking back at Newt once more before silently beckoning Aife away for a moment.
She mumbled a quick, 'I'll be back' before turning around.
When the both of them stepped away, making it next to Gally and Thomas, Minho questioned, "How long has he been like this," Gesturing to Newt.
Aife shook her head at the boy they had just rescued, "He'll be alright." Her tone was low as she spoke, her gaze not wavering for a second as she convinced him.
"She's right. We just need to get to Brenda." Thomas said as he unzipped his jacket, shrugging it off his shoulders and leaving him in a blue long sleeve. He stood up, "Come on, let's go." He made his way over to Newt, who was now slumped over, having been unable to keep himself upright.
Thomas grabbed onto his arm, helping him stand straight, "Come on, Newt, lets go." He muttered, mostly to himself. He stood Newt up, stumbling heavily when his body leaned into his un expectedly, "Whoah, come on. I got you." Thomas' voice trailed off.
Gally, Aife, And Minho remained still, watching as Thomas struggled to keep his body upright. It was silent amongst the three, who avoided eye contact with each other. That was until Minho spoke.
"Why're you helping us, Gally?" He questioned, a curious look on his face, "I put a spear through your chest."
At that, Aife directed her gaze toward the ground, not wanting to relive the memories of that tragic day. Gally darted his tongue out, running it over his lips before nodding his head and pursing them, "Yeah. Nobody's perfect, man." He quickly stood up and walked away after patting Minho on the shoulder.
Nobody's perfect.
Aife pondered on that for a moment, thinking mostly of the situation of what happened with Gally. He was right. No one is perfect. She had made so many mistakes that she couldn't even count. She cleared her throat, pushing away her thoughts as she turned to Minho, "Let's get going. We're running out of time." She stood up and followed after Gally, Thomas and Newt.
Minho had caught up to Thomas, and put Newts limp arm over his shoulder to help support his weight. Aife was walking at the same pace as Gally, though, neither of them said anything. Grunts came from Newt, and Thomas continued to reassure him.
"You were right, back there." Aife said, keeping her gaze forward, even though Gally turned to look at her. It took everything in her to speak up.
"Oh yeah?" He spoke, "What about?" Even though he already had an idea, he asked anyway
"Nobody's perfect."
At that, he looked away.
"Yeah. I really am sorry, Aife. About chuck. . . About everything." He shook his head as he glanced at his shoes.
"I know--" A large boom clapped throughout the city, and Aife looked top her right and tensed as she saw a large flame dance through the sky. She could hear the buildings rumble in their place, numerous windows shatter from the impact. Someone had set off a bomb. Lawrence.
Gally, who stood next to her swallowed, looking slightly nervous, "We were supposed to take out WCKED. Not the whole damn city."
Aife couldn't tear her eyes away from the flames.
"Come on," She heard Thomas mutter, before he and Minho left her side and continued to drag Newt around. She and Gally lingered for a moment before following after them. They resumed their slightly crouching position as they jogged through the city, rounding a corner as Gally cursed underneath his breath.
"Stay low, stay low," Gally hissed, as he had spotted security parked outside and on the lookout. Minho and Thomas leaned Newt against a large slab of concrete to hide behind. Aife unknowingly held her breath before peeking around the corner, seeing a van skid to a stop. She jerked back, "Shit."
"Ready?" A masked guard yelled out to his team, glancing back at dozens of meant that looked just like him that had shields and weapons, "Alright, Move up move up!"
The five teens sat in silence as they watched, their breathing heavy.
Minho sat still for a moment before tilting his head to look at Aife, "What are they waiting for?" He whispered lowly.
Before Aife could respond, an explosion sounded from behind her. She flinched, ducking her head and bringing her arms up to cover herself as she turned to look at the commotion, seeing a building was now on fire. If you listened close enough, you could hear the faint shouts of civilians. Only, they sounded angry, as if they were letting out war cries, ready to attack at any moment. Which they were. Aife's jaw fell slack as crowds of people rounded the corner, gun shots were fired toward the crowds, and Aife could see their bodies falling limp.
"Stay down, stay down!" Thomas wrapped his arms around Aife, pulling her into his body and covering her from the flying bullets. The crowd of intruders fired back, someone pointing a grenade at the guards before firing, watching as a body flew through the air and let out a loud scream.
Gally was now laying flat on the floor, "Guys, we gotta go. We gotta go-" Before he could finish, another explosion set off. Aife squeezed her eyes shit and scrunched her nose at the smell of smoke filling her nostrils. She slightly pushed Thomas off of her, "Help Newt!" She shouted over the chaos. Thomas only nodded, he and Minho moving to help support Newt. Gally and Aife stood up as they moved low.
"Come on! Let's move." Thomas shouted.
Aife could feel her heart growing heavy, her breathing growing short as she tried to ignore the way her fingers trembled by gripping tightly onto the cloth of her pants. She brought her hand up to smooth the top of her damp hair. Gally glanced at her, doing a double take as he saw her tugging at the collar of her clothing. She was beginning to panic. He moved closer to her, placing a hand between her shoulder blades and guiding her to move further.
