They Don't Own Me

Chapter 35

With Nicole's help, the two moved Chris's body to the side, lying him down as if he were sleeping. Ivy went to wash the blood away from her hands and lower arms. She scrubbed her skin hard, making sure no trace was left. Her clothes were stained, but she could deal with that until they found new clothes. When she was satisfied that she had removed the blood, she went to find Nicole. They sat in two chairs, giving Nicole enough room to rebandage Ivy's wounds. The bleeding had stopped, and only a small number of stitches were torn, but it was not big enough of an issue to worry about yet. They worried about cleaning the areas and making sure they didn't get infected.

"How long will it take us to get to the Last City?" Ivy asked, looking toward Isaac as Nicole finished wrapping her arm.

"About two days," he reported. "I've already radioed to let our allies know our ETA, so they know when to expect us. I'll radio again when we get closer."

"How do we know that WCKD won't follow us?" Nicole questioned. "We did just steal one of their Bergs."

"I disabled the tracking system as soon as I got on. We're invisible to them."

The Berg fell into silence after that. None of them really knew what to say to each other. Nicole told Ivy that she would stay up with Isaac. Ivy reluctantly agreed and fell asleep on the row of chairs. The image of Chris's body was still clear in her mind, so she turned to face the wall, not wanting to look at the man who had saved her life. Sleep took its time finding her, but she eventually drifted into darkness, letting exhaustion take her.

~

Ivy looked around her, confused by what she was seeing. She was standing amongst trees, almost reminding her of the Glade. For a moment, she feared that she was back there, back in that horrifying place again. She almost started to panic when she suddenly heard an unfamiliar noise. Her brows furrowed in complete confusion. She turned around for a minute before following the noise. It was only a small walk through the trees before they disappeared. Ivy gasped lightly at what she saw, amazed.

Water stretched out before her, extending all the way to the horizon. The sun reflected off of it perfectly, giving it a beautiful sparkle as the waves rolled up against the beach. Ivy took a few more steps forward, pausing for a moment when she felt something strange on her feet. Looking down, she found that she was standing in sand and that her shoes were nowhere in sight. The sand covered her toes, which only appeared when she wiggled them. She laughed a little at the feeling of the sand falling from her feet.

She continued to walk forward, grinning when she finally reached the water. A wave washed up onto the beach, rushing over her feet and ankles. Ivy bent down, dipping her hands into the cool waves.

"Ivy!"

The girl's eyes widened at the voice. In an instant, she was on her feet and spun around to find the owner of the voice. She felt her eyes grow bigger when they landed on a familiar figure.

"Oh my god," she muttered.

She started forward, her pace picking up until she saw running. When she was close enough, she launched herself into Minho's arms, wrapping them as tight as she could around his neck and shoulders. She buried her face into his neck, tars were streaming down her cheeks. Minho stumbled back a tiny bit but wrapped his own arms around Ivy to hold her close. One arm was around her waist while the other was stroking her hair.

"I'm here, Ivy," he whispered. "I promise I'm here. It's okay."

"But how? Where are we? How did you get here? What happened?"

"It doesn't matter. We're okay and we're together."

"But I don't understand."

"It's okay, I promise." She felt him pull away slightly before patting her back. She looked up at him, smiling ever so slightly when she wiped her tears away. "There's something else."