Dynasty // The Scorch Trials [Book 2]

TWENTY

"Okay, wait, so how did you guys get here?" Aris asked his two friends. 

"The Right Arm got us out," Harriet replied and those words caught Thomas' attention. 

He jogged up to her and asked, "The Right Arm? Do you know who they are?" 

Harriet smirked and pulled open the door of the car we were standing by. "Hop in." 

We climbed in and after a short car trip over a bumpy and uneven road, we reached it. 

The Right Arm's camp.

My eyes were wide as I scanned the outpost. Several tents and huts were set up at the foot of a cliff. I could already hear the chattering of the people. I looked at Thomas with a grin and found him as stunned as I was. 

The Right Arm could be the place where our baby was going to grow up. They would be safe from Wicked and safe from the Flare. They would make friends with everyone and grow up to be happy. 

I wished I could stand there forever, but the bullet in my shoulder needed attention. I walked up to Aris, who was talking to Harriet and Sonya. "How long have you been here?" I asked. 

"Not very long. We're moving out at first light," Sonya said. As we passed a group of men working, she asked one of them, "Where's Vince?" 

"Somewhere over there." He motioned in a vague direction and our group followed it. 

"Who's Vince?" Thomas questioned, asking the question everyone had on their mind. 

"He's the one who decided if you get to stay," Harriet grinned over her shoulder. My gaze fell down to my shoulder and to my luck and relief, I saw the bite mark had healed completely. 

"I thought the Right Arm was supposed to be an army," Minho stated. We stopped walking when a new voice spoke up.

"Yeah, we were. This is all that's left of us." A tall man with dirty blond hair and a beard approached us. This must be Vince. "A lot of people died getting us this far," He continued, placing his fists on his hips. He scanned us and his eyes lingered on my shoulder a few seconds longer. "Who are they?"  

"Immunes. We caught 'em coming up in the mountains," Harriet said. Next to me, a body started swaying from side to side. It was Brenda. I turned to her with a frown, trying to catch her eyes, but hers were fixated on nothing as her breathing pattern turned shallow. 

"Brenda? Are you okay?" I asked her softly. Sweat was dripping down her temples and her lips had turned dark.

"Did you check them?" Vince asked. 

"I know this guy, Aris, I trust him." Harriet pointed her thumb at the boy standing behind her. 

Vince shook his head. "Well, I don't. Check 'em," he ordered. His men moved toward us.

Brenda's breathing started to rasp. "Brenda?" I asked again, louder, and the next moment, she fell to the ground and remained there, lying still in the sand. 

"Brenda!" Jorge exclaimed and dropped himself beside her. "Brenda, talk to me!" he called. I crouched down on her other side and examined her. My eye fell on a bandage around her leg but when I reached down to remove it, Vince caught my movements and did it himself. 

"Crank! We've got a Crank!" he shouted as soon as a dark bite mark came into view. Dark veins circled her skin and I backed away. Vince whipped out a gun and raised it at the girl in Jorge's arms. 

"Whoah, whoah, whoah!" I exclaimed and jumped in front of her before I could think.

"Get back!" Vince tried to push me away so he had a clear shot on Brenda. Two other men harshly pulled Jorge away from her, but I kept my ground between Vince and Brenda. 

"This just happened, she's not dangerous yet!" Thomas exclaimed, joining my side. 

"You shouldn't have brought her here!" Vince shot back, his hand never lowering the gun. 

"We know, we know," I rambled. 

"With her here, Safe Haven won't last a week. Now step back!" Vince ordered. 

"I understand, please, just help. I was told you could help her," I protested, raising my hand at him. "There has to be something you could do." 

"Yeah, there is," Vince said after a few seconds of silence. I let out a relieved breath. Vince lowered the gun, only to load it and raise it at Brenda again. "I can put her out of her misery."

"NO!" Jorge cried out. 

"Vince! That's enough, let him go!" a female voice interfered. A dark-haired woman came walking toward us. "Let him go!" she ordered the two men holding Jorge back. They reluctantly released him. 

"She's infected, doc, there's nothing we can do." Vince didn't back down yet. The woman grinned broadly as her eyes fell on Thomas. 

"No, but he can," she stated and I looked at my boyfriend in question, only to find out he was as confused as I was. "Hello, Thomas." 

"Hold on, you know him?" I asked distraughtly. The woman's eyes averted to me. 

"It's good to see you too, Leah." 

I took a step back. "Wh-How do you-?" 

The woman's smile faded and made room for sadness. "Of course, the Maze," she said softly. She walked away and knelt beside Brenda. "I was worried, though, that they'd kill you after what you did."

"Thomas, what is she talking about?" I asked him. 

He shook his head. "After what I did?" he asked the woman. 

She took Brenda's wrist and felt her pulse. "When we first met, you said you couldn't take it anymore, watching your friends die one by one. The last time we spoke, you gave me the coordinates of every Wicked compound, trial, and lab," she said. 

"He was our source," Vince muttered, realization hitting him like a bus.

"We couldn't have pulled this all off without him." She smiled before turning to the other men. "Take her to the tent," she said, pointing at Brenda. She then turned to me and her eye fell on the blood-stained cloth that I firmly kept against the wound in my shoulder. "Her too," she said. "And get them some warm clothes, it's the least we can do." 

"I'm going with her," Thomas spoke up, moving to come with me as a stranger led me away from the others. 

"Of course. I just need to get some blood from you." She placed a gentle hand on his back and followed me to the tent ahead of us.