𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐅 𝐀 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓 - 𝘋𝘌𝘈𝘛𝘏 𝘊𝘜𝘙𝘌

9 ~ game plan

Lottie

The next morning, my limbs seemed to hurt even more than last night. Everyone else seemed to feel the same; we were all groaning as we stood.

The woods seemed a lot less scary during the day. The leaves in the trees rustled pleasantly, and sunlight filtered through the branches. I could see glimpses of metal through the tree trunks, making me scoff. The crash site must be closer than I thought.

For a while, we all sat in a circle, silent. We needed a plan, but nobody seemed to know what to do next. Not even Jorge, who had a hand pressed to his head in pain. Brenda noticed the blood seeping through the bandage and got up to change it. We were all starving. There was food in the Berg, but nobody felt brave enough to go into the crashed aircraft alone. Besides, like Julian said, it could cave in on itself at any moment.

I blinked, coming to my senses, and hit my concussed head against the tree trunk I was leaning against. The pain was enough for me to push away from the tree and start heading towards the Berg. I felt the others' eyes on me as I went.

"Where are you going?" Minho asked in a deadened tone. I turned to look at him.

"Newt isn't going to save himself," I replied. "I have to find him."

Minho sighed, closed his eyes, and seemed to realize that I was right. He stood as well and came over to join me. "What are we going back in there for?" He gestured to the half of the Berg that was in front of us.

"We need more supplies," I responded. "Food, batteries... anything we can fit in some bags, I suppose. We'll be going on foot from here."

"How much father do we have to go, do you think?" Frypan, whose eyes were nearly swollen shut from his broken nose, directed his question at Jorge. Jorge shrugged back.

"Can't be sure hermano, but most likely about fifty more miles."

I huffed. "Okay. That's doable, right? That's only one more day, if we go fast..."

"We have injuries, Lottie," Brenda reminded me, finishing tying Jorge's new bandage on his head. "We were just in a plane crash, and you think we can continue moving right away? Julian's ankle is sprained. Jorge's head is all shucked up. Frypan can barely see, and I'm sure you're not feeling too great either. We need rest."

"While we're resting, Newt is in the Crank Palace going through who-knows-what," I snapped. "I'll leave you guys here, I don't care. I'm going after Newt. That's what we came here to do." I turned my back on them and stalked towards the Berg, ducking inside the remnants.

I scowled as I picked my way through important supplies. Food, batteries, water, and medical supplies come with me. Anything else is a waste of space. They didn't have to come with me. In fact, I tried to convince them that coming with me was a bad idea. And now they're complaining? I did, however, cause the Berg to run out of gas earlier than planned, so there was that. I suppose that was a pretty good reason to be complaining.

A sudden noise from behind me caused me to whirl around, but slumped again when I saw it was only Thomas. "Sorry about that back there," I said. "I'm just frustrated, that's all."

"I get it," Thomas replied. He began to pack his own bag full of useful supplies. "And everyone else does too. They're all just scared..."

"And for good reason." I sighed. "We're going to have to walk so far, Thomas. There are mountains surrounding Denver, too, did you know that?"

Thomas swallowed. "Yeah, I know."

"And did you know that once we get closer to civilization, there will be more Cranks to encounter?"

"I know that too. Lottie, what choice do we have? We have to get to the city, we can't stay here forever."

I nodded. "You don't need to convince me; it's them that need convincing." I jerked my head outside, where the others still sat.

"That won't be much of an issue. They love Newt too, you know. Besides," he came closer so he could whisper in my ear, even though no one would have heard him anyway. "I overheard Laurence tell some dude back at camp that the Right Arm has inside sources in Denver. Maybe they can help!"

"What?" I gasped. "And you decide to tell me this now? That's even more reason to go! We get Newt, find these Right Arm spies, and then make it back to camp before the raid. Easy peasy."

Thomas scoffed. "Well, maybe not that easy, but yeah. At least we have a plan. Or, a portion of it. But Lottie-" his eyes went soft, pitying. "Newt's Infected now, remember? He's just going to keep getting worse. What are we going to do with him? We obviously can't bring him with us on the raid, he'll just lose control and kill everybody."

I winced at the gruesome image he planted in my head. "Newt won't kill anybody," I said firmly. "Once we get to WICKED, we can look for something that might help him. They may not have a cure, but they could have some sort of agent. They must have something after all these years."

Thomas raised his eyebrows. "I suppose," he said, words laced with doubt. "I don't think we'll have much time to search for that kind of thing, right? I mean, a raid is a raid. In and out, no hesitation. Plus, Laurence was planning on blowing the place up."

"That's why we'll have to move fast. I think I know someone who can help us."

"You do?" Thomas looked at me then, surprised.

"I do. Annabelle."

Thomas' surprised face turned into a sad one. "You haven't talked about her in months. I thought you'd forgotten."

I shook my head. How could I forget Annabelle? I could only see her in my dreams, since I had known her only before the Maze, but I still knew every detail about her. The exact shades of her red hair, blue eyes, and pale skin... her smell, her smile... I missed Annabelle, even though I barely remembered her.

"I wouldn't forget her," I said. "She can help us, I know she can. She was basically the smartest out of all of us."

"I haven't seen Annabelle in a long time. WICKED took her away one day, and I haven't got a glimpse of her since... Lottie, she might be-"

"She's not." I cut him off firmly before he could finish. "She's not dead. I think... I would be able to feel it if she was. But she's alive, somewhere in there. And she knows something. We'll just have to find her."

Thomas still looked doubtful, but I could tell that he wanted to agree with me to make me stop sounding so delusional. "Right," he said. "Go to Denver. Find Newt, then the Right Arm. Raid WICKED. Find Annabelle. Save Newt. Escape and live happily ever after." He listed the basis of our plan.

I nodded. It sounded crazy when he said it out loud, but I believed in us. We could do it. I could do it. 

A/N

It's me again, back with another sporadic update. Vote if you liked it!

- golden habit