𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍 & 𝐄𝐂𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘-𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 (𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙯𝙚 𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧)

PROLOGUE

I pushed through the crowd of people, holding onto Frypan's jacket so I didn't get lost or separated from the group. Thomas pushed ahead with Jorge and Brenda, not bothering to be nice to the people who yelled up at the walls ahead of them.

Frypan pulled me in front of him and kept his hand on my arm. At least now he would know if I got lost.

I caught Newt's head peeking a bit over the crowd, and I made sure to follow the tuft of blonde he decided to grow out.

I looked back on the events that had lead us to this exact moment and wished that I could ignite the walls of the Last City myself.

After being "rescued" by the men in black who had killed the scientists in the room outside of the Maze, Thomas quickly befriended a boy from another Maze-yeah, there were other ones.

His name was Aris.

Together they had found out that Ava Paige was alive and the kids they took everyday at lunch weren't going off to a better place, no they were being harvested.

It was always ingrained in the back of my mind the things that Ava Paige had said in the video. Our trials weren't over and we were important. As long as they had us, they could do whatever they wanted.

But not everyone agreed with their methods. Thomas and Aris found out about a group that helped kids escape from WICKED. The Right Arm.

After escaping the WICKED compound the helicopter had brought us to, we found ourselves alone and unprepared for the Scorch.

The Maze was one thing, but it had been familiar. It had its same routines and we knew what to expect. The Scorch was anything but.

I remembered the video of the planet on fire as we trudged along the ruined city that the Compound resided just on the outskirts of.

It was miles and miles of destruction and sand. And it was hot. I wondered how anything could survive out here, much less us.

And we thought Grievers were monsters...the Cranks were way worse. They were driven by the Flare that seemed to have erased everything that made humans...human. Except for the primal urge to kill senselessly.

We had only met Cranks that were "past the gone". They were disfigured and rotting, but that didn't stop them. Nothing did except for a bullet between the eyes.

We had encountered them the first night of our escape when Teresa had found a Mall buried in a mountain of sand. They had chased after us and just before we were able to escape them, they got Winston. They had left nasty scratch marks in his gut. I had tried the best that I could to help the infection go away, but there was only so much I could do for the infection in his brain.

He had gone mad and pulled a gun on himself. Fryaon got it away from him before we all witnessed him kill himself. But in the end, he begged us to leave him. We weren't that far before we heard the gunshot echo, signally Winston's death.

That night we had gathered near the wreckage of a plane. Aris gathered wood for the fire Frypan lit.

A heavy feeling hung over us and it was a while before anyone spoke. It was Newt. "I thought we were supposed to be immune."

"Not all of us." Teresa said quickly and as an afterthought added, "I guess." I was too grief stricken to question why she had answered so quickly. And looking back after everything, it was telling.

"I miss the Glade." A tear fell down Frypan's cheek, glowing in the firelight.

"So do I." I said softly, staring into the fire, imagining that I was back in the Glade. Boys making noise and celebrating the arrival of a Greenie. First me, then Chuck, and then Thomas.

Everytime I thought about the young boy, I thought of Gally. I thought of the chain of events that had led to the death of both of them. I wondered why Gally had followed us through the Maze and if I had stayed behind maybe Gally would still be alive.

It also brought the anger towards Minho after I had found out he was the one who threw the spear that ended Gally. The rational part of my brain knew that Minho was only trying to protect us, but the other side that wanted to scream in pain and anger told me that someone had died anyway.

But Chuck wasn't just someone and I lived my life with the regret that I couldn't protect him.

We walked the Scorch for days before a freak lightning storm forced us inside of a building full of refugees. Minho ended up getting hit by one of the bolts and I felt the anger dissipate as I wished that my friend was alright.

He only had a few burns and holes in his clothes but had walked away otherwise fine.

There we met Jorge and Brenda who after realizing who we were and where we came from-and maybe Thomas telling them about the Right Arms position-decided to help us get there.

They had a rat in their group and WICKED infiltrated the refugees. It ended with the building getting blown to bits and Thomas being separated from us. But he was with Brenda and Jorge assured us that the girl knew what she was doing.

We had walked half a day to get to a big White House-where Thomas and Brenda were-that played music loudly. Inside were swaying teens, oblivious to their surroundings. Jorge had an old "friend" who lived here and beat him for information about the right arm. He confirmed that they were stationed in the mountains. But it wasn't guaranteed they would be there when we arrived.

Jorge decided to jack his car. The air had gotten colder the higher we went up and had to forgo the car as the rest of the way was clogged with broken down cars.

After getting shot at and basically held hostage, the girls who held guns at us recognized Aris and took us to the Right Arm. They had been in the Maze with Aris.

We found out that Brenda got bit by a Crank when we got to the base and Vince, who was the leader of the Right Arm, was about ready to kill her.

Thankfully Mary, their doctor, had stepped in and announced to everyone that Thomas was the reason the Right Arm was able to free so many kids.

For a few hours we were able to be as we were and thought we were finally safe, but because we were who we were, WICKED always found a way to ruin everything.

They found out where we were-because Teresa was a backstabbing traitor-and bombed the camp, raiding the immunes and taking Minho, Aris, and Sonya before leaving when they realized they were finally losing against us.

We planned for six months on how to get Minho back and in that time moved to a different location with whoever was left from the battle. It was some place on a small beach and I had been amazed at the amount of water a place can hold. I also learned that if you drink too much sea water it can do more damage than good.

We studied the railways that WICKED used and after six long months of planning and waiting, we hijacked a train. We also stole a berg.

But as it turns out, the train car we had taken didn't hold Minho. But it had Sonya and Aris. And they gave us enough information for us to do our own infiltration.

Well actually that was a work in progress still. After protest from Vince, Thomas, Newt, Frypan, and I thought it would be better on our own.

We were soon joined by Brenda and Jorge, who had to save us from a horde of Cranks while passing through a checkpoint.

It had been surprising that after all this time, Brenda never got sick again. Mary had given her an injection of Thomas's blood infused with some concoction. But we didn't know how long she would last before she went mad.

It had taken us a couple hours to get to the edge of the Last City. We went the rest of the way on foot, the density of foot traffic too thick for our vehicle to pass through.

We were aware that we were wanted fugitives so we kept our hoods up, not wanting to tip anyone off that we were here. So close to the "Lions Den" as Jorge had called it. And staring up at the massive walls that surrounded the city, I thought the name was fitting.

We could die here. But anything was worth getting Minho back.