"Hey! what the hell?"

"What are you doing to us?"

"Get the hell off me!"

Clara heard various voices yelling, slightly drowned out by the loud ringing in her ears. Her body felt like it had been through hell and back 6 times over, pain flaring in almost every part of it as she tried to move. Her eyes were still plastered shut but she noticed she was lying on something, something comfortable. And something, someone was touching her. Her eyes shot open when she realized this and they focused on the face above her. Her stomach flipped when she saw the face, her mind struggling to understand how it was real,

"Brenda?" She croaked, and the girl smiled at her,

"Hey Raz."

"What the- am I dead? What's going on?"

"No, you're not dead." The girl chuckled,

"How- what- I don't understand."

"Well, that makes two of us, kid." A voice said from further away, and Clara instantly recognized it. She quickly sat up, wincing at the pain that shot through her body, before turning and looking at the man who spoke,

"Jorge?"

"Good to see you, Raz."

"I- You- How- What the fuck?" Clara finally managed to spit out and Brenda laughed at her,

"We missed you too." She said, gently pulling Clara into a hug, which she gladly returned. After a few seconds, she pulled away, glancing between the pair, questions flooding her mind,

"I- I thought you two would be dead. After you disappeared I- I didn't..." she trailed off

"Well, a few weeks after we found out what they did to you, we left. I couldn't stomach working for them anymore, and Jorge was sick of flying around and stealing kids out of their homes, so we just left. They searched for us, but we kept moving and eventually, they gave up, we found this place and decided to set up camp."

"Shit." Clara breathed, still taking in the fact that the two people she'd grown closest to in Wicked were actually alive, and right in front of her.

"Now it's my turn. How the hell did you manage to get here? And who is this group you're traveling with?" Jorge asked, sitting down on the sofa on the other side of her.

"They're the ones who were sent up in the maze with me. Didn't you read their files or anything?"

"We weren't allowed to know any details about the mazes, your mother made sure only a few people knew the specifics about it, everything we knew came from you."

"Oh. Well, anyway, they managed to escape from the maze. But I didn't quite get out, I got knocked out by a Griever and Wicked came and took me out. They took us all to some sort of facility and they gave me my memories back, the others managed to escape from it but Janson stopped me. Long story short I found a way out, we all met back up again, dealt with a load of cranks, I think I got struck by lightning, and now here we are."

"Wow." Jorge breathed, taking a sip of something in his glass.

"Hey, um, where- where are the others by the way?" She asked, looking around and realizing her friends were missing.

"About that. Listen, Raz, your friends said you're looking for the Right Arm, is that right?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you know about them?"

"Nothing, really. Thomas didn't tell us anything, he just said he heard Janson speaking about them."

"Brenda and I have been searching for them for months, trying to find them. I was just about to give up, but I think you kids might be our key to getting there. But there's a slight problem."

"And what's that?"

"My hungry friends out there aren't exactly going to be happy when we just up and leave them behind. They've already tried to take over once before, and I don't think I can stop them if they try again. So, I need to interrogate your friends, find out what they really know, put on an act so that my housemates don't get suspicious."

"Okay?" Clara responded, slightly confused about what that had to do with her,

"Raz, I need you to go along with whatever I do, okay? Otherwise, we're gonna be in a very, very compromising situation. Got it?"

"What exactly are you going to do?" She asked hesitantly, and he raised her eyebrows at her before standing up and walking away. Clara watched him as walked away, turning back to Brenda in confusion.

"Come on." She chuckled, standing up and grabbing Clara's hand, pulling her along with them. She lead them to another section of the large building they were in, stopping to hide behind a pillar and nodding at something in the distance. Clara stifled a laugh when she saw what Brenda was looking at. All of the boys, and Teresa, were hanging upside down, dangling over a precarious drop. Newt looked like he was about to throw up, and Minho was sassing out Thomas as usual,

"Good plan, Thomas. Let's just hear what the man has to say, really working out for us."

"Shut up, Minho."

Clara's eyes drifted over from them to Jorge, who was now walking towards them,

"Enjoying the view?" He asked, chuckling softly. He looked over at Clara and gave her a reassuring nod.

"The hell do you want?" She heard Thomas ask,

"That is the question. My men want to sell you back to Wicked. Life has taught them to think small, I'm not like that. Something tells me that you're not either."

"Is the blood rushing to my head or is the shank not making any sense?" Minho asked and Clara chuckled at his usual attitude,

"Tell me what you know about the Right Arm."

"Thought you said they were ghosts?" Newt questioned,

"I happen to believe in ghosts. Especially when I hear them chattering on the airwaves. You tell me what you know, and maybe we can make a deal."

"We- we don't know much." Thomas trailed off and Clara watched as Jorge slammed a lever down, followed by yells from the group as they dropped slightly.

"OKAY! ALRIGHT!" Thomas panted, "They're hiding in the mountains. And they attacked Wicked and got a bunch of kids. That's it, that's all we know."

"Yo, Jorge!" A voice called and Clara turned to see a huge man approaching Jorge. "What's going on?" The man asked,

"Me and my new friends are just getting acquainted. We're done now."

"Hey wait, what, you're not gonna help us?" Clara heard Thomas pleading,

"Don't worry Hermano, we'll get you back to where you belong," Jorge said, walking away from them

"Hang tight!" He shouted back at the group as he strolled past the pillar that Clara and Brenda were hiding behind, winking at them before disappearing. Clara looked at the Brenda, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow before they followed Jorge back to the main room. When they got there he was rummaging around his desk, shoving some stuff into a small bag. He scrambled over to his desk, ripping out his radio before turning around and almost running straight into Brenda, who was standing with her arms crossed.

"Going somewhere?" Brenda asked the man,

"We both. Pack what you need, do it quietly."

"Where exactly are we going?"

"It's real Bren, Raz and her friends out there are our ticket. The Right Arm can't turn us away if we have them. Go now, pack your stuff."

Brenda turned and looked at Clara, who just shrugged her shoulders in response. She sighed before grabbing a pack and beginning to shove some things inside of it while Clara waited,

"Raz, go get your friends. Don't let anyone see you."

She nodded at Jorge before running back towards The Drop. As she came through the entrance she paused for a second, watching as Minho shoved Teresa forwards towards the lever, failing miserably.

"Need a hand?" Clara asked, walking closer to them.

"Clara? What the hell is going on?" Thomas questioned,

"It's a long, long story." She responded, walking over to the lever and pushing it down so that the group dropped closer to the floor she was on, causing all of them to yell at her and she suppressed a laugh when she saw how red all of their faces were.

She grabbed an old metal bar and stuck it out towards Teresa, letting her grab it and pull herself to the floor where she began to untie the ropes around her feet. Clara tossed her another metal bar before moving onto Frypan, sticking the bar towards him and helping him untie the rope. She got to Newt and did the same and then helped him to his feet. When he stood up he looked at Clara, an awkward silence settling between them, both of them wanted to say something to the other, but neither could seem to find the right words. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter roaring outside the building.

"What the hell?" She mumbled, stepping away from Newt and towards the nearest window, peering out of it. She saw a bright spotlight flashing over the building, searching for something, and a loud voice started speaking,

"Good evening. This is the World Catastrophe Killzone Department."

Clara scowled as she recognized Janson's nasally voice,

"We have your compound completely surrounded. You find yourselves, through no fault of your own, in possession of Wicked property. Return them, and the siblings, to us unharmed and we'll consider this a simple misunderstanding. Or you can resist and every last one of you will die."

"Shit. SHIT!" Clara cursed, she thought she was finally free from Wicked, she didn't understand how they found her again.

"Hey, come on!" She shouted at the rest of the group as they finished untying the ropes. She started to lead them out of the room but was stopped when the same tattooed man stepped in front of her, aiming a large gun at her chest.

"Hey look, we don't want any trouble. We just need to get out of here." Thomas said, slowly pulling Clara backward as Frypan placed a protective hand in front of her.

"Is that so?" Barkley hissed, stepping forwards and moving his gun to aim at Thomas before lifting up a walkie-talkie and speaking into it,

"Janson. I got them here, I'm bringing them down to you. Don't shoot us." He finished speaking before turning back to the group, "Come on, let's go!" He yelled, waving the gun around.

When nobody moved he spoke again, "I said, let's go!"

Clara reached down and suddenly realized she still had a knife attached to her belt, she'd completely forgotten about it until then, but she acted quickly, whipping the knife out of its holster and sending it flying towards Barkley where it buried itself in his shoulder, sending him stumbling backward. She grinned but it quickly faltered when he stood back up again, menacingly pointing the gun at her,

"You little bitch!" He spat, stepping towards them. Newt pushed her behind him but before she could do anything else a shot rang out. Clara's heart dropped as she quickly checked herself and everyone around her for a bullet wound, confused when it seemed like nobody was hurt. Lifting her head up she saw Barkley collapse to the ground, revealing Brenda standing behind him, holding a pistol.

"Nice shot," Clara smirked, thankful for the girl's impeccable timing.

"Come on! Let's go." She shouted and Clara and the group took off after her,

Clara quickly pulled her knife out of the man's shoulder and began to follow the others. She turned around to make sure everyone was keeping up but she noticed that her brother was a few feet back, bending over to pick something up off the floor.

"Theodore! Come on!" She called him and he quickly stood up straight, stuffing something into his pocket before catching up to the group. Brenda lead the group, slowing down as a song started blaring through the loudspeakers that were scattered throughout the compound. They ran up the stairs back to the main room, meeting back up with Jorge,

"Brenda, Raz, hurry! We don't have much time." He quickly spun on his heels and started leading them towards some sort of back exit. He shoved open the large glass door, revealing a large zip line that led out of the compound into another abandoned building.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me." She heard Frypan mutter behind her,

"Plan B, Hermano, you kids wanna get to the right arm? I'll lead you to them, but you're gonna owe me." Jorge said before he yanked down one of the harnesses to the zipline, grabbing onto it and pushing himself off the ledge,

"Follow me!" He yelled as he traveled further down the line,

"Alright, let's go!" Clara yelled, grabbing another harness and shoving it towards Minho, who looked like he was about to shit himself. "Come on!"

Minho hesitated before grabbing the harness, kicking off, and flying down the zipline, followed by Aris, Frypan, Teresa, Theodore, and Newt. Clara grabbed another harness, getting ready to jump off but stopping when Brenda suddenly turned and ran off,

"Brenda! Where are you going?" Clara shouted at the girl, about to let go of the harness but Thomas quickly put a hand on her shoulder,

"It's okay, I'll get her. Just go."

"Hurry."

Clara pushed off, gripping the harness so hard that her knuckles were turning white as the wind whipped past her face. She closed her eyes as the spotlight from the helicopter beamed down on her, blinding her. After a few seconds, she slammed into someone else, who grabbed her waist and set her back down. Opening her eyes she saw Newt's messy hair in front of her, his eyes wide as he held on to her.

"Come on, this way!" Jorge yelled, causing Newt to quickly snap out of his state and take his hands off Clara's waist and follow Jorge as he lead the group through the abandoned building. They weaved through the large pillars in what seemed like an old parking complex. Eventually, they came to a sort of trapdoor in the floor, he reached down and lifted it up, sending a wave of dust and sand flying into the group, earning a few coughs.

"Down here." He said, jumping down into the dark pit. Clara hopped in after him and heard the soft thudding of the rest of the group landing behind her. Jorge rummaged through his bag and pulled out a flashlight, shining it around.

"Jorge, not to sound too pessimistic, but where the hell are we?" She hissed,

"Underground tunnels, I know a way back out to the scorch, trust me."

"What if there's cranks in here?"

"Well, then we're screwed."

But luckily for the group, it was an empty tunnel, other than a few rats rummaging around looking for scraps. After what felt like about an hour they came to a dead-end and Jorge pointed a flashlight upwards, chuckling to himself as it shined on some sort of metal bars. Stretching upwards he pushed against the bar and it screeched loudly before it lifted out of place and he tossed it aside, jumping up and climbing out.

Newt climbed up after him, sticking his hand down and helping Clara out. She mumbled a quick thank you and saw Theodore on the opposite side of the opening, helping Teresa out. Once they were all out Clara stood up and looked around, they were in the middle of the flatlands, a few meters ahead of them was some kind of broken-down wooden structure. Clara moved towards it, deciding it would be the best option to set up for the night.

"Jorge." She called him, pointing at the structure and he nodded, joining her as she walked to it. "What exactly is your plan here?" She whispered once they were far away enough from the rest of the group,

"Marcus."

"Who's Marcus?"

"He's an old friend. He used to smuggle kids up into the mountains. He's in that city." He pointed towards a close cluster of buildings in the distance.

"That's a city?"

"It's a settlement, technically. Cranks that aren't quite past the gone live in it."

"What happens to the ones who are past the gone?"

Jorge didn't answer her, instead going towards the back of the structure and breaking off some wood to start a bonfire with.

"Wait, what are you doing? What about Thomas? We have to go get him."

"He's with Brenda, hermano. She knows what she's doing, it's too dangerous for us to move around at night. Especially with Wicked hunting for all of you, we set up camp and move at dawn."