ENTER THE SCORCH

Meeting The Right Arm

Thomas puts his finger to his lips and peers around the front of the car. You are still holding your breath, not wanting to make a sound.

You hear a voice say: "Drop it." And something clatters to the ground. "I wanna see all of you. Right now!"

You and Thomas step out from behind the car, your hands raised in surrender.

Two girls about your age are stood there, masks covering their faces. They have their shotguns pointed at Jorge and Minho.

Gally comes towards them and says: "Harriet. Sonia. It's me Gally. We're here to help the Right Arm."

When they hear those words they stop aiming their weapons. They pull the masks off of their faces and run over to hug Gally.

"You took your sweet time." The blonde one says.

The two girls lead you up the road, in between the abandoned cars. You reach the top of the mountain and a camp comes into view.

Several tents are pitched up in different corners. People are milling about, not paying attention to your group. A man and a woman approach you.

"What do we have here?" The man ask.

"This is Gally. The guy who's helped us with WICKED." The dark skinned girl answers.

"(Y/N). It's good of you to join us." The woman says.

You stand there, shocked. The boys behind you say nothing, but their eyes widen.

"How do you know my name?" You ask.

"Of course, you don't remember do you? The first time we spoke, you said you couldn't take it anymore, watching your friends suffer. And the last time we spoke, you gave me the co-ordinates of every WICKED compound."

You stand there, shocked. So that's what Teresa meant when she said you'd 'betrayed' WICKED.

You stand there, trying to process what the woman has just told you. Suddenly, Brenda collapses to the floor.

Jorge screams her name and kneels down beside her. The man who greeted you retrieves a gun and points it at her.

"She's infected!" He yells.

Minho stands in front of her, blocking the path of the gun. "Wait! Wait! Just let us explain!" His voice is desperate; you've never seen him like this before.

"We can't have her here! We start letting the infected in and this place turns upside down!"

The woman places her hand on the man's arm. "We can trust them. Let's just help them out."

The man lowers his gun and Minho lets out a sigh of relief. You see Jorge give him an aprooving look.

The boys pick up Brenda and carry her to one of the tents, being guided by Harriet. You and the woman follow behind and she says to you: "There's a way we can keep her alive for a little while longer; would you mind helping?"
You nod your head and enter the tent with the woman. The boys have laid Brenda on a makeshift bed; Minho is by her side but the others have left. Jorge stands in a corner, talking to the man with the gun.

The woman motions for you to sit down on the bed next to Brenda's. She injects a wire into your lower arm and places the other end in a conical flask. You see a blue liquid slowly slipping through ths clear tube.

"What is that stuff?" You ask.

She stands by a table, mixing certain chemicals. She continues to work and says: "It's what you immunes grow. It stops the flare virus from infecting your brain. It's what WICKED was prepared to sacrifice an entire generation for."

You think about the dream you had when Thomas was hooked up to that machine. You shudder at the memory.
The woman comes over with a needle in her hand. She injects Brenda's lower arm and says: "That should buy her some time. That's the catch though, isn't it? She'll always need more."

She sighs and throws the needle away. You take the wire out of your arm and she exits the tent, along with the man and Jorge.

Brenda looks as if she's just come back from the dead. Her cheeks are full of colour, and at the sight of Minho a grin spreads across her face.

"Should I be here for this?" You mimick Minho and what he said about you and Thomas. He pulls a face at you. "I'm just gonna go."

You stand and exit the tent.