EPIPHANY ✁ newt

12 , the right arm

We stayed crouched down for what felt like an eternity as more shots rang out, I was holding onto Newt for dear life, scared that one of the stray metal killers would find its way to us somehow. Thomas called out once the shots calmed down a bit - making sure we were all still breathing. "Everyone okay out there?" he asked, getting replies from everyone around us to my relief.

"You okay?" I whispered to Newt, who nodded in return. "Thanks for pulling me away."

"Anytime." He replied, trying to take a look over the side of the car to see where we could go. "Anyone know where those bloody shots came from?" he called out in a much louder voice. It was clear no one did based on the lack of replies. I watched as Thomas slowly stood up from behind the car next to ours - and within seconds of him looking around a new set of bullets were sent our way, the boy frantically throwing himself back to the ground.

"Everybody - get ready to sprint back to the truck." Thomas suddenly yelled, and my heart skipped a beat, scared to even think about what he was planning. "And hold your ears closed!" he added, the words also adding to my fears. I looked over to Newt, trying to search his eyes to see if he had any idea of what was going to happen, but the boy looked just as confused as I felt.

"Drop it." A sudden voice called out, accompanied by the sound of a gun clicking. Someone was standing over Thomas's car - but I couldn't make out what they looked like as I'd have to leave my hiding spot to look over. "Now!" I realised it was a girls voice.

"On your feet, lets go." I watched with a sinking heart as Thomas and Jorge slowly lifted their hands into the air, standing up. "Move! Back up - back up!" The person ordered, as both the boys walked backwards to where Minho, Frypan, Teresa and Brenda were, still crouched in shock. "You four - up. Get here. Slowly."

Only Aris, Newt and I still stayed hidden behind one of the further back cars, the woman not having seen us just yet. But I knew we couldn't stay hiding here for long, the others were already under gunpoint, and there was no way in hell we were letting them get taken away from us even if the woman missed us somehow.

"Move closer." I almost felt my heart stop. That was a new voice. A voice I knew all too well. I'd spent nights talking to that voice - laughing with it... how was she here? Despite Newt's grip on my arm, I moved up slightly, turning around and lifting myself off the ground to look over the cars bonnet.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Newt hissed, trying to pull me back down, but I just shook my head.

"You have to trust me on this, okay? Give me a second. You gotta let me go." The blonde looked at me as if I had lost my mind, and maybe I had - but he let go of my arm. Slowly, I stood up, fully revealing myself to the girls who were still holding guns up to my friends. "Sonya? What- how are you here?" I had lost all sense of fear by that point - foolishly walking up to them as both swerved in my direction.

"Seph?" The blonde girl asked, lowering her gun in shock. She had a cloth tied over her head, but there was no mistaking her voice. I knew her.

Newt and Aris had stood up by this point - everyone's eyes on me as without thinking I ran over to the girl, throwing my arms around her. Sonya had dropped her gun to her side by now as she returned the hug. "Seph - what in the world?! Who are these people? Why are you with them?" She asked all to quick for me to actually answer.

"Aris!?" I heard the other girl call out, who I saw was Harriet, as she pulled down her own face mask. The two embraced just as Sonya and I had - I still had an arm around her as I watched my friends with a sudden wave of joy. They were alive. "You're lucky we didn't shoot your dumbasses." Harriet said, still grinning as she turned to me. "You guys alright?"

"Uh - what's happening?" Minho suddenly called out, his hands still raised, reminding me of all the others standing around us.

"We were in the maze together." I said, smiling. "These idiots had to deal with me for more than a month before you guys even met Aris and I." Harriet whistled, calling out that it was clear to come down, and to my shock another dozen or so people started emerging from above - looking down at what was going on from the cliffsides.

Sonya showed me their trucks as she explained what was going on, arm still slung around mine as we walked. "We're taking them to base. The Right Arm got us out." she said, pointing to the group of teens that they had with them.

"Wait - the Right Arm. You know where they are?" Thomas asked from behind us.

Harriet stopped in front of one of the trucks - smiling as she pulled open a door. "Hop in."

Almost an hour later, the cars came to a stop, and Teresa who had been sitting next to me, gently put her hand on my shoulder to pull me out of my thoughts. We stepped out of the car and I gasped, seeing the array of tents arranged sporadically around the valley before me - people moving about the area as if just living their lives. Normally. Realisation spread over me that they probably were.

"We've been planning this for over a year now..." Sonya started - I guessed she was talking about the Right Arm. "This is all for us. You're lucky you found us when you did... we're moving out at first light." Even thought I was the first to understand why it was needed, I couldn't help feel a pang of sadness run through me at the thought of more running. "Where's Vince?" she asked someone standing by a table - who pointed us in some direction.

"Who's Vince?" Thomas asked as we followed the blonde, weaving between tables to keep up with her and Harriet.

She turned back to look at Thomas with a grim slime. "He's the one who gets to decide if you guys stay or not."

"I thought the Right Arm was meant to be an army..." Minho commented from behind me.

"Yes, we were." A voice came from one of the tents in front of us, causing Sonya and Harriet to stop walking and smile at the man who walked out of it - arms open wide as if in greeting. "This is all thats left of us." he said, walking up to us, staring at Thomas. "A lot of good people died getting us this far... who are they?" He tilted his head towards our group - looking at the two girls in front for an explanation.

"They're immunes, caught them coming up the mountain." Harriet said, as she spoke, I suddenly saw Brenda sway from the corner of my eye and with horror I noticed she didn't look good. At all. The man called Vince asked something else, but I wasn't paying attention - still looking at the glassy eyed girl in worry.

"Brenda?" I asked softly and I saw her eyes meet mine for a second, fear clear in them, before she collapsed - taking one gasp before face planting the sandy ground. "Brenda!" Exclamation's rang out through the group as Jorge and I were the first to bend down next to the girl, rolling her over.

Jorge pulled her into his lap, begging her to talk to him as he tried desperately to see what was wrong with the girl who was still gasping for air. "I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She managed to choke out.

Vince knelt down next to us, staring at Brenda. "What's going on with her?" he asked sharply.

"I don't know! I don't know!" I had never seen Jorge looking this panicked - he seemed ready to pass out himself as he kept asking Brenda to talk to him, to no avail. "Brenda, are you alright? Talk to me!" She was quite clearly and obviously not alright, but I didn't say anything as more people gathered around us to see what was happening.

"What the hell..." I looked up to see Vince glaring at Brenda's leg, he slowly lifted it up only to reveal sickening black teeth marks engraved into her skin. She's been infected. "Oh, shit. Crank! We got a crank!" The man yelled, standing up and backing away, he had pulled out a gun and was pointing at her within a second.