― ➶ ―

Something about being up high gave Tiago security. He felt safer when he could see everything and everyone. Growing up the way he did would make anyone feel the same. The fact that he was skilled in archery only made it easier for him to be up high. Now, sitting on the roof of the compound, watching a group of teenagers sleeping, Tiago twirled an arrow between his fingers. He was waiting for them to wake up; he knew they were coming to the compound. Where else would they go? This was the only building as far as Tiago could see from his lookout post on the roof.

"You got eyes on 'em from up there, T?" Brenda asked through the walkie-talkie. It was sitting on the railing. Tiago grabbed it and held it to his mouth.

"Yeah, I see 'em."

"I'll pay you if you hit one," Brenda said playfully. Tiago scoffed.

"Fine. Give me a target."

There was silence on the other end for all of five seconds before Brenda answered, "The blond one, far left."

Tiago didn't reply. He grabbed his bow from where it was leaning against the railing. He slid the arrow into place, holding it tautly against the bow. He pulled back sharply, keeping his elbow level with his shoulder. He aimed directly at the head of blond hair. It was easy, given the darkness that surrounded the teenagers; blond was all Tiago could see from the roof. He was about to release the arrow, send it flying directly towards the blond, until the figure beside him stirred and moved into his line of fire.

"Dammit," Tiago muttered, relaxing his muscles and lowering his bow. He grabbed the talkie off the railing. "He's in my shot."

"My offer still stands," Brenda replied quickly. "Be ready for anything. And be careful, T. There's a storm coming."

Tiago looked up at the sky and found that Brenda was right; the storm clouds were merging together, beginning to create massive booms of thunder. Tiago cursed under his breath. He replaced the walkie on the railing before lifting his bow once more. The teenagers were running now, sprinting towards the compound. Tiago estimated that he had about forty seconds before they would be inside. He aimed, tilted his bow slightly so he wouldn't fatally injure the blond, and fired. Without looking to see whether his shot landed, Tiago grabbed his quiver and the talkie from the railing. He clipped the talkie to his belt, slung his bow and quiver onto his back, and launched himself down the small gap in the roof.

He was on the bottom floor in a minute. Knowing the compound this well, Tiago could swing himself from floor to floor like a monkey through trees. He met Brenda near the entrance to what he and others called the Crank Pit.

"Showtime," she said to him, followed by a grin. Tiago just shook his head and followed her into the Crank Pit.

He could hear the teenagers crying out in fear, maybe surprise. There were torches flashing around; one of them shined brightly in Tiago's eyes, making him wince.

"I see you've met our guard dogs," Brenda said, gaining their attention. She switched on the lights immediately afterwards, which made Tiago scoff. Dramatic.

She wandered carefully towards the group, avoiding the Cranks as she went. Tiago grunted as he hoisted himself up using a supporting beam. He balanced precariously on the thin beam, watching Brenda from above. Tiago was never good at the confrontation aspect; he preferred watching and protecting if needed. He heard on of the teens telling the rest to stay back.

"You guys look like shit," Brenda told them. Tiago snorted, making their heads raise to where he was sitting above them. Tiago tilted his head when he noticed blood pouring from the blond's shoulder. Brenda seemed to notice at the same time, because she turned to look at Tiago as well. Tiago smirked down at her.

"Pay up, honey."

"You missed his head."

"I wasn't aiming for his head."

"Sorry to interrupt," one of the teenagers, the Asian one, said loudly, "but who the hell are you?"

Brenda turned back to face them. She didn't answer him, just said, "Come on, follow me." She turned, glanced up briefly at Tiago. He was eyeing the blond and his injured shoulder. He knew there was a med-kit up in Jorge's office; he could use that to patch up the wound he inflicted.

Brenda turned back to the teens. "Unless you wanna stay here with them?"

Tiago swung and landed back on the floor as Brenda walked through the door. He fell into step beside her.

"You sure about this?"

Brenda shook her head slightly. "Not really, but Jorge thinks their tagged, and I trust Jorge."

Tiago nodded in agreement, glancing over his shoulder at the teenagers. They were following cautiously. Tiago frowned as he faced forward again. They were probably scared, right? And confused. If they had come from WCKD, who knows how terrible they'd been treated. Tiago felt a little bad for them; none of them could've been over twenty, yet they'd probably been taking care of themselves for a long time.

Brenda heaved a sliding door open, which led to the main room of the compound. Tiago hated being in here. When he had to be here, he usually stuck to the edges of the room, in the shadows, mainly to stay away from Barkley and his posse. Those men were vicious, far too aggressive and confrontational for Tiago's liking.

"Come on, keep up," Brenda called to the teenagers behind them. "Jorge wants to meet you."

"I hate this place," Tiago grumbled under his breath. Brenda chuckled lightly and nudged his side.

"You could've come straight from the roof, you know."

Tiago shrugged. "Wanted to get a look."

They walked up the first flight of stairs. Tiago glanced back occasionally to make sure no one got left behind. The blond was still holding his bleeding shoulder, which made Tiago frown. Before he could tell the kid that he would help him, the dark-haired boy walked closer.

"Who's Jorge?" he asked Brenda. He side-eyed Tiago, making the archer smirk slightly.

"You'll see," Brenda replied after glancing back at the boy briefly. "No one's come out of the Scorch in a long time." She looked up at Tiago. "You've just got him curious." She turned her head more, looking the teenager behind them up and down. Tiago faced forward to hide his grin. "And me too."

When he turned again, Tiago noticed Barkley and some of his men following closely behind the teens. He grimaced, nudged Brenda to tell her he was moving, then circled around the group. He wedged himself in between Barkley and the teenagers, smiling innocently when Barkley looked down his nose at him.

"Boss wants to see 'em first. That means you gotta wait your turn, fratello." Tiago only spoke Italian when he was anxious, angry, or feeling slightly bratty. It didn't take Barkley long to figure out which one it was. He grunted in acknowledgement of Tiago's statement, making Tiago grin and turn to keep his eyes on the teenagers.

"Is anyone else starting to get a bad feeling about this place?" the blond muttered quietly.

"Let's just hear him out, see what he has to say," the dark-haired one called from his place behind Brenda.

They headed up a second flight of stairs, which Tiago knew led to Jorge's office. He heard Brenda say, "Jorge, they're here," as he climbed the last step into the office. The teenagers stopped, standing in a huddle. Tiago maneuvered his way around them, behind the sofa that Brenda had settled herself down on. He touched her shoulder lightly as he walked past, making her glance up at him. He pulled his bow and quiver over his head, leaning them against the cabinet. He could hear Jorge fiddling with his radio as he opened the cabinet, sifting through everything until he spied the med-kit he needed. He pulled it out of the cabinet, straightening up as Jorge sighed.

"Dammit," he said quietly, yanking a cord from the radio and throwing it down on the desk. As he heaved out another sigh, Tiago walked back to the teenagers. He tapped the blond's shoulder. The younger boy was startled, but when Tiago held up the med-kit and started walking to the other desk on the other side of the office, the blond followed.

"Do you ever get the feeling the whole world's against you?" Jorge asked. Tiago tried not to pay him any attention, focusing on wrapping bandages around the blond kid's arm.

"You're gonna have to take off your shirt," he murmured as quietly as he could, so as to not attract attention. He stuck a safety pin between his teeth as he started unfurling a bandage. The blond eyed him for a few seconds before he decided to trust Tiago and pulled his shirt over his head. He shivered slightly; it was always cold in the compound.

"Three questions," Jorge said loudly. "Where did you come from? Where are you going? How can I profit?"

His questions were followed with silence. Tiago glanced briefly at Brenda, who was busy watching the teenagers. He refocused on the boy in front of him, unwrapping a gauze pad. He placed it carefully over the arrow wound in the boy's shoulder. He felt the blond wince and apologized quietly.

"Don't all answer at once," Jorge muttered.

There was another moment of silence, before the dark-haired kid said, "We're here for the mountains. Looking for the Right Arm." A few laughs followed his statement, though Tiago shared a definitive look with Brenda.

The blond turned his head to watch his friends, but Tiago gently used two fingers to turn his chin back the other way. He couldn't patch the kid up properly is he was moving too much. He grabbed the bandage he'd unfurled earlier and placed it over the gauze pad. He started wrapping it tightly around the blond's shoulder, trying his hardest not to cause him pain, though it was inevitable.

"You're looking for ghosts, you mean?" Jorge said quietly in return, taking a sip from his glass of water.

Tiago pulled the safety pin from his mouth and stuck it through the bandage, securing it over the boy's shoulder. He tapped his shoulder once more, glancing up at the blond's face. The blond nodded in thanks, rolling his shoulder slightly. Tiago grabbed his discarded shirt from the desk and handed it to him, before moving back around Jorge to the cabinet near the sofa. He stayed there, leaning against the cabinet after he'd closed it.

"Question number two: where did you come from?" Jorge asked again. The dark-haired boy shared a look with the Asian, making Tiago narrow his eyes.

"That's our business," the Asian kid answered.

Tiago moved to grab his bow and quiver again, and at the same time, Barkley's men all closed in around the teenagers, grabbing them by the arms. Tiago heard the blond cry out in pain from his shoulder, while the dark-haired kid was yelling at the men to get off him. Brenda grabbed the scanner off the corner of the table right next to her and quickly moved towards the dark-haired boy.

"Shut up, you big baby," she muttered as she held his head down to scan the back of his neck. Tiago slung his bow and quiver over his head again, holding the bow tightly to his chest.

"What is that?" the dark-haired boy asked in alarm.

Brenda pulled the scanner away from his neck. Tiago moved to stand next to Jorge as she shared a glance with him.

"You were right," Brenda said, handing Jorge the scanner. Tiago tilted his head to read it better as Jorge put his glasses on and took the scanner. Tiago frowned as he read the information on the screen. Property of WCKD Industries. To be killed.

"Right about what?" the dark-haired kid asked. "What is she talking about?"

Tiago frowned, looking back up from the scanner at Brenda. She was also frowning. He shifted his gaze to the teenagers, tilting his head in confusion. How had they escaped from WCKD by themselves? Tiago had never heard of anyone doing that before. They had been noted as to be killed, which meant they were definitely being searched for. These teenagers being here meant that he, Brenda, Jorge, and everyone else in the compound were in danger.

Jorge breathed a laugh and removed his glasses. "I'm sorry, hermano. Looks like you're tagged." The dark-haired kid glanced back and forth between the scanner and Jorge's face. "You came from WCKD. Which means ... you're very valuable."

Barkley's men closed in again. Tiago saw Barkley smirk in his peripheral vision. He wanted to say something nasty to the man, but he knew attracting attention now would only make things worse for the teenagers. They all looked around in fear. Tiago shared another glance with Brenda, who tilted her head towards the stairs at the entrance of the office. Without another look at the teenagers, Tiago heaved himself onto Jorge's desk and jumped into the shadows of the ceiling.

― ➶ ―

i hope y'all enjoyed the first chapter! i'm very excited to get this story going, because tiago is one of the characters i've been most excited to write since i first created him and his story.

thoughts? don't be afraid to leave a comment and tell me how this chapter was! :D