𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘, 𝖺 𝗀𝗅𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝖺𝗅𝖻𝗎𝗆

(flashback) only fools rush in

The wind was hot and full of sand.

The WCKD trucks thundered behind them, tires shredding the cracked road as the Right Arm teens ran for their lives. Again.

Nancy's lungs burned. Her boots pounded the ground. Beside her, Aris and Brenda flanked the group while Gally covered the rear with his usual fury. Minho sprinted just ahead, shouting updates.

But Thomas?

Thomas wasn't there.

"Where the hell is he?!" Nancy barked, panting.

"He said to keep running," Brenda called back, wild-eyed. "Said he had an idea."

Nancy skidded to a halt, spinning around. "What? An idea?!"

That stupid boy.

That reckless, insane, INFURIATING—

BOOM.

An explosion shook the air. Everyone ducked.

And from the cloud of sand and fire, Thomas came flying down the side of a ruined dune on a half-broken metal board, using it like a sled. In his hand? The tracking chip he just ripped from a pursuing drone.

"MOVE!" he yelled, skidding past them, sand flying in every direction.

Nancy stared, mouth slightly open, before she picked up her pace again.

"What the hell," she muttered. "What the actual—"

She caught up, breath still ragged, glaring.

"That was the dumbest thing I've ever seen," she growled. "Worked, didn't it?" Thomas said, grinning like he hadn't almost died. "Barely," she snapped, eyes flicking down to the bruises forming on his arm.

But she didn't look away for a second too long.

Because somewhere in the chaos, the fire, the madness...

He did look kind of cool. In a stupid, reckless, irrational way.

⭐

Later that night, in the safety of a scavenged shelter, Nancy sat patching up a hole in her jacket.

Thomas passed by, arm wrapped in gauze, smirking. "Still mad at me?"

She didn't look up. "You're ridiculous." Pause. Then:

"But I guess you're not useless."

That was all. Just that.

And yet... her hands trembled just a bit when she reached for her needle again.

★