"𝐖𝐂𝐊𝐃 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝"
That's what everyone in the Glade has heard, some more than others. 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗜𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲: 𝗞𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘇𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. A.k.a WCKD. An organization that put innocent kids into...
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▪︎ 💀🌎💉 ▪︎
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- CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - 💀 He's Not Here 💀
Thomas quickly ran into the train car once they got the door open, followed by Thalia and the others. "Aris!" Thomas said as he quickly walked over to where Aris and Sonya sat. "Hey, you guys okay?" Thaloa asked as she crouched down next to them, "Yeah, we're fine." Sonys said.
"There you are. Oh, God!" Harriet said as she ran over, pulling Sonya and Aris into a hug. "It's okay. You guys are safe. All right? Just hang on." Thomas said as they walked down the aisle of the train car.
"I need the bolt cutters." Harriet said as Thomas, Thalia and Newt glanced around at everyone before Thomas turned around. "He's not here." Thomas said, making Thalia and Newt glance at each other.
The people who were what's left of the Right Arm directed the kids from the train around as Vince stood on a giant slab of concrete in front of a ship. "All right, listen up." Vince called out making Thomas and Thalia look over from where they stood, Thomas' arm wrapped around Thalia's shoulders.
"I know you've all been through hell. I wish I could say our troubles are over. But we're not through this yet. WICKED's still out there. They're not giving up. 'Cause you got something they want. They took you because you're immune to a plague that's wiping out the human race. And they think you're worth sacrificing to find a cure. Well, I don't." Vince said, making some people in the crowd clap.
"So in two days, when we get this tub of rust seaworthy, we're getting the hell outta here. We're gonna go to a place where WICKED will never find you. A place you can start over. A place you can call home." Vince said, making Thomas and Thalia glance at each other. Thomas took a deep breath before grabbing Thalia's hand and walking away.
💀
Aris groaned slightly when Sonya pressed a wet cloth to one of his cuts on his face. "Here, drink this." Harriet said as she handed them a couple cups of water. "Took you guys long enough to rescue us." Aris said, making Thalia laugh sarcastically from where she sat next to Newt, across from Aris. Thomas was crouched down next to her while Bremda was standing behind them.
"We'll try to be quicker next time then." Thalia said, making Aris chuckle and glance down, "So what happened?" Thomas asked. "I fought back. Tried to, anyway." Aris said and Thalia smiled sadly at him, "I'm sure the other guy looks worse than you do." She said, making Aris smile.
"You're lucky you found us at all. They had us on the move a lot. It felt like something big was happening." Sonya said, making them look at her, "Any idea where they were heading?" Newt asked. "All I know is they kept talking about a city." Aris said making them all glance at each other confused
"I didn't think there were any cities left." Harriet said, "That's because there aren't. Not still standing, anyway." Brenda said, making them glance back at her. "Okay, wait. What about Minho? Why wasn't he on the train?" Thomas asked, making Soyna and Aris glance at each other.
"I'm sorry, Thomas. He was."
💀
Thomas laid out a map onto a table before tapping a circled area. "There, that's it. It's a few hundred miles. Based on the railways, everything that Aris told us, that's gotta be where they're headed. That's where they're taking Minho." Thomas explained as he glanced around at Thalia, Newt, Vince, Brenda and Frypan.
"We take everyone who can fight. Follow the roads where we can. We can make it back within a week." Thomas said, making Vince raise his eyebrows slightly, "A week? It took us six months to get here. We got over 100 kids here now. We can't just hang out here forever after what we just pulled. You wanna wander off to some random point on a map. You don't even know. You don't even know what's there." Vince said.
"I do." Someone said, making everyone look over as Jorge walked in, "It's been a few years, but I've been there. The Last City. That's what WICKED called it. It was their whole base of operations. If that city is still standing, that's the last place you wanna go, hermano. That's the lion's den." Jorge said as he walked over to the table.
"It's nothing we haven't done before." Thomas said, "Yeah, with months of planning, and reliable information, the element of surprise, none of which we have now." Vince said and Thomas shook his head slightly.
"Vince, I've thought this through. Would you just hear me out-" Thomas tried to say but Vince cut him off, "The last time we went off half-cocked... I lost everything. You remember that? Thalia, will you talk some sense into your boyfriend." Vince said. "I'm staying out of this." Thalia said, holding her hands up slightly, making Vince sigh.
"Look, I know it's Minho. All right? But you can't ask me to put those kids on the line for one man. I won't do it." Vince said before the radio cracked on.
"Searching the grid now. A is completed. Scanning B-sector now." They heard someone say before they could hear the distant sound of a helicopter nearing. "Shit. Hit the lights." Thalia said before everyone started running around, "Let's go, let's go!" Jorge called out while Frypan grabbed a rifle.
Jorge pulled a lever to a power box causing all the light at their hideout to turn off as Thomas, Thalia and Vince ran outside. "There." Thalia said, making them follow her line of sight to see two aircrafts with lights shining down flying a ways away from the camp.
"Jeez, they're getting close." Vince said and Thomas nodded slightly, "You're right. We can't stay here." Thomas said, making Thalia look at him for a moment.
💀
When everyone was asleep, Thomas quietly grabbed his stuff before walking over to where they keep the cars. "Where do you think you're going then?" Newt said, making Thomas stop before Newt clicked on a light making him sigh.
"Newt..." Thomas started to say but Newt walked forward, "Don't be a twat about it. I'm already in." He said before grabbing Thomas's bag from him. "Come on." Newt said and Thomas shook his head, "No. No, not this time." He said as he followed Newt.
"Look, even if we find Minho, there's no guarantee we make it back from this." Thomas said and Newt raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips slightly, "Well, you'll need all the help you can get then, won't you?" He said as he opened the car door making a light turn on and revealing Frypan.
"Honestly, Thomas." Someone said, making him turn around to see Thalia walking over with some supplies. "I'm gonna pretend like you didn't just try to leave without me." She said, making him sigh, "Thalia, I don't want to risk you getting hurt." He said as she walked up to him shrugged. "That's not your choice to make for me." She said before putting the bags in the car and standing next to Newt.
"Well, we started this together. May as well end it that way, too." Newt said, making Thomas let out a breathy chuckle before nodding, "Okay. Let's go get him back."
