After the others convinced themselves that Thomas was probably right, they all set off to find the missing women. They'd found the doctor that Thomas had seen with them, and she lead then -involuntarily- to where they were being kept. Why did she cooperate? Because Minho had taken out a security guard, so now they had a gun. They piled inside the room, the others treated the hands of the doctors while both Newt and Thomas went further, looking for Teresa and Ava. He pulled back a curtain revealing the two girls on two separate beds.
"Thomas?" Teresa questioned, sitting up immediately.
"Ava. Ava, can you hear me?" Newt said, crouching beside her, taking her head in his hands. "Why isn't she waking up? And what's wrong with her hair?" He asks, touching her hair as multiply strands had gone red.
"She kept fighting off the doctors, so they have her on a constant supply of sedative to keep her out. Her hair, just kinda went like that. I think it's her way of reacting to the chemicals." Teresa explains, pointing at the needle in Ava's arm.
"Don't pull it out." One of the doctors warned. "If you just yank it out, it could cause more damage than good."
"Then you do it." Minho said. "Now, move yourself." The doctor approached her, gently taking out the needle and sticking a plaster over the point of entry. "Come on, we've gotta move." Newt pick up Ava as she layed limp. Thomas smashed through the window and from there, they went on to escape.
-----
"Ava, come on." Thomas pleaded. "Ava."
"What am we gonna do?" Teresa asked.
"The song." Newt said.
"What song?"
"Ava said she remembered a song you used to sing to her. Something about happiness and an insect." He said, and that's when it clicked in Thomas' head.
"That's it. Happiness is a butterfly. That was her favourite song. Uh, how does it go?" Thomas then leans closer to her. "Happiness is a butterfly. Try to catch it like every night. It escapes from my hands into moonlight. Everyday is a-"
"Lullaby." Ava muttered. Slowly, her eyelids fluttered open and she slowly looked around. "Where am I?"
"In the sand." Teresa replied, helping Ava to sit up. "We broke out of WCKD and now where hiding in this abandoned building because it's like a sand storm out there."
"You guys are crazy." She looks up. "Who the hell is this?"
"This is Aris."
"Right."
-----
Everyone had split up in small groups, looking for things they could salvage and use for their survival. Ava stood guard of Teresa as she changed into warmer clothes, and Teresa then returned the favour. However, as she lifted her shirt over her head, Ava felt something stinging the back of her neck. She ran her fingers over it, and was absolutely certain she could feel something. She had to make a mental note to ask someone to look, because suddenly Thomas and Minho came bolting towards them, screaming for them to run as it looked like they were being chased by cranks. Ava panicked, quickly throwing on a jacket and shoving her clothes in a bag before she and the others set of running. She'd never ran so fast in her life, yet it seemed she wasn't getting anywhere. She felt incredibly weak, and like her legs were about to collapse beneath her. Luckily, Minho noticed she was falling behind and slowed down just enough to grab her hand and pulled her along. They followed the others, dropping down and hiding under a very large piece of scrap metal. Eventually, the sounds of the cranks faded to nothing, and they soon decided it was safe to stay there for the night.
"Are you okay?" Teresa asked her. "You look cold."
"That's because I'm practically naked under here." Ava replied. "I didn't get to finish changing because we were attacked by cranks."
"Then do it now. Nobody's gonna look, are you?" She said, saying the last part louder so everyone looked at her.
"What are we not doing?" Frypan asked.
"Ava's cold, she wants to put some warm clothes on. You're not gonna look, are you?"
"What makes you think I would wanna look?" Thomas question, a hint of discust on his face.
"You can just make sure everyone doesn't perve then, can't you." Ava commented.
-----
As dawn broke the next morning, there was no sign of movement. Everyone was seemingly in a deep sleep. Ava, of course, was cuddled up to Newt- they were practically intertwined. It was so peaceful. That is, until a greedy crow tried to steal something from one of the bags, this waking Thomas.
"Ay. Ay! Get out of here!" He cursed, waving the crow away and managing to disturb everyone else too. He took this as a sign they should probably get moving. "Come on, we should go." He says. Ava sat up, stretching out her arms and yawning. She reached up to rub the back of her neck, however stopped when she once again felt the wierd mark and proceeded to trace it with her finger.
"Everything alright?" Newt asked, looking at her as she fiddled with the back of her neck.
"Could you look at this for me? It feels like theres something on my neck but I don't know what." He nodded, shuffling closer and pulling down he shirt a little.
"What the hell?" He mumbled, tracing his thumb over it.
"What is it?" Ava asked egarly.
"It's some sort of mark. Theres a small square in the middle, then a series of lines and dots at either side." He explained. "Did they do this to you while you were sedated?"
"I'm not sure. Hey, Teresa!" She called. When Teresa looked over at her, she beckoned her over.
"What's up?"
"Turn around." She did. Ava moved her hair out of the way, and saw Teresa had a mark on her neck too. "Does it look something like this?"
"Exactly like that."
"Should I be worried?"
"I'd be worried if you weren't."
