Book 2: Scorch of the Heart / Newt x OC

Chapter 3

Later That Night

Thomas laid down a map on the table in front of him. A circle had been drawn around a certain area on the map. Thomas pointed to the circle. "There, that's it." He said as he turned to look up at Vince standing across from him. Brenda, Newt, and Fry were also standing around the room. "It's a few hundred miles. Based on the railways-everything that Aris told us, that's gotta be where they're headed. That's where they're taking Minho." He paused for a moment before continuing. "We take everyone who can fight. Follow the roads where we can. We can make it back within a week." He concluded.

"A week?" Vince repeated. "It took us six months to get here. We got over a hundred kids here now." He explained as he pointed outside. "We can't just hangout here forever. After what we just pulled? You wanna wander off to some random point on the map-you don't even know what's there."

"I do." They turned to see the man with dark curly hair standing in the doorway. He walked towards the group. "It's been a few years, but, I've been there." He pointed the circle on the map. "The Last City." He addressed it. "That's what WCKD called it. It was their whole base of operations." He explained. "If that city is still standing, that's the last place you wanna go, hermano. That's the lion's den."

"It's nothing we haven't done before." Thomas responded, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah, with months of planning." Vince protested. "And reliable information, the element of surprise-none of which we have now."

"Vince, I've thought this through-"

"Hey, last time we went off half-cocked I lost everything!" Vince reminded Thomas. "You remember that?" Thomas looked down at the table. "Look, I know it's Minho. Alright? But you can't ask me to put those kids on the line for one man.........I won't do it." He finished. Static was then heard. It was coming from a device behind Newt. They all turned to look at it. They started hearing voices in the static.

"Hit the lights!" Thomas demanded as they all rushed to turn all the power off. Once all the power was shut off, Vince and Thomas ran to look outside. They saw a berg and a helicopter scanning the area from above a few miles away.

"They're getting close." Vince stated. Thomas stared at the aircrafts in silence. He was deep in thought.

"You're right.......We can't stay here." Vince looked at Thomas. Thomas then turned to look back at him. Vince put a hand on Thomas' shoulder before returning inside.

Newt had gone back to check on Skylar. Her body was still motionless. She had a small tube coming from her arm and connected to a bag of clear liquid beside her. Color was already coming back to her face. "Stay alive won't ya?" Newt asked, trying to joke but worry still filled his eyes. He started to hold his right arm with his left. He looked down at his arm. "Both of us can't leave these guys." He looked back up at her unconscious body. "Don't know how they'd survive without us." Fry arrived into the room. He looked from Skylar to Newt.

"You ready?" He asked Newt. Newt didn't take his eyes off Skylar. Newt nodded his head and followed Fry out of the room. He took one last glance at Skylar before he exited the room.