Sacrifice

Chapter Forty-Three

Thirteen Years Ago 

Maria had never flown in a berg before. 

It was hard to recall life before the Sun Flares, but she could vaguely remember seeing the aircrafts occasionally fly over her former home town. Tony showed her pictures of them in one of the books he'd salvaged. She had dreamed of riding in one. 

But she couldn't enjoy the ride now. She kept thinking back to Tony, how he desperately fought to get to her and failed. How her parents did nothing. Everything else around her seemed to blur together. She remembered the van taking her outside the run down town to where the berg was parked, where other kids her age were also being brought to. 

The only faces Maria could remember were the two kids sitting next to her in the berg. She wondered if they were siblings. They were both blonde and had similar faces. The older one was a boy that looked Maria's age. The girl looked maybe a year or two younger. The pair didn't talk or pay attention to anyone except each other. The boy kept a protective arm around his sister. 

Seeing the two of them made Maria miss Tony even more. At one point, she caught the brother looking at her, but they quickly looked away. 

After what felt like hours, the berg finally landed. The door opened and the kids were led inside a large building that was bigger than anything Maria had ever seen. Maria was at the back of the group with the brother and sister, who kept hold of each other's hands. 

Once they got inside, Maria noticed that the kids were being split into two separate groups and being led down different hallways. Boys in one group, girls in the other. The brother must have realized what was happening, his eyes widened in fear and he pulled his sister in close. 

Soon they were the only kids left standing in the entrance area. Maria was grabbed and quickly pulled toward the corridor where the girls were heading. Two soldiers had to pull the brother and sister apart as they fought wildly to stay together. 

"Let go!" the little girl screamed as she was pulled away from her brother. 

"Lizzy!" the brother cried as he was pulled down the other hall out of sight. 

Maria could now see that the little girl, Lizzy, was crying. She wanted to reach out and give Lizzy a hug, to tell her that everything was going to be okay. But it was a promise Maria didn't think she could keep. 

************* 

Present Day 

Brenda sensed something was wrong the moment she opened her eyes. It was still dark outside, probably still a few hours until sunrise. As she crept across the room, it didn't take her long to figure out what was wrong: Thomas, Frypan and Newt were missing. Brenda didn't have to think twice about where they might have gone. 

Brenda snuck into the next room where Jorge was asleep in his hammock. 

"Jorge, wake up." 

"What?" the man groaned. 

"Thomas is gone." 

"Figures...I'm assuming the two idiots went with him." 

Brenda nodded. 

"And you want to go after them?" 

Brenda shrugged. "Got nothing better to do." 

It was a sad truth. The day she had been bitten by the Crank was the day she lost her chance to go to the Safe Haven. The serum Mary had made was only a temporary solution. Any day she could turn and then become a danger to everyone around her. The only reason she stuck around the Right Arm this long was to give herself something to do so she wouldn't just sit around and waste what little time she had left. It was also a great chance to get back at WCKD, the people who had taken her brother away from her.