"Hey! Get out of here!" Thomas's voice filled Clara's ears and she cracked her eyes open, watching him shoo away a bird that was picking at his backpack. She groaned as she sat up, the throbbing pain in her jaw hadn't disappeared and she reached up to touch it, wincing when the slightest bit of pressure sent a sharp pain shooting through it. Thomas pushed himself up to his feet and looked around,

"Are they gone?" Newt asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah, I think we're safe." Thomas mumbled in response, "We should get moving."

Clara stood up and reached a hand out to Aris, pulling him up to his feet before picking her bag up and slinging it over her shoulder. To her left she heard Winston groaning and her eyes grew wide when she saw how bloody his bandage was, the nagging voice in her brain began telling her that he wasn't going to make it very far, but she pushed it down as far as she could, desperate not to focus on it. Thomas lead them away from where they were hiding and into a deserted street, with destroyed buildings and sand dunes on either side of it.

"Tommy, are you sure you know where we're going?" Newt asked

"Well, the mountains are that way, so." Thomas trailed off, looking around at the buildings.

"That's reassuring." Newt muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Clara to catch it

"What the hell happened to this place?" Frypan asked, turning to face Clara,

"I don't know. Doesn't look like anyone's been here in a long time."

"I hope the whole world ain't like this." Teddy piped up from behind Thomas. Clara looked up at the buildings, some of them were completely destroyed, with only a few supports and foundations in place. While others were still standing but littered with broken windows and surrounded by sand dunes and she wondered what the world used to look like before the sun flares. All she'd ever known were the walls of Wicked and the footage they'd shown her during her lessons, she'd never actually experienced being outside and seeing the destruction. It was safe to say it was worse than she ever could've imagined.

"Woah, woah. Hang on. Stop." Thomas said, pulling Clara out of her thoughts and everyone turned to look at the boy, wondering why he stopped.

"You hear that?"

She cocked her head to the side, trying to listen out for whatever Thomas was talking about and she suddenly heard the very, very faint sound of an engine in the distance, and it was coming closer.

"Get down! Everybody hide! Hide!" Thomas yelled, scrambling towards a piece of concrete as everyone else followed, ducking underneath it. The engine grew louder and louder until it sounded like it was directly above them, Clara peeked out from under the concrete and saw a Berg flying over them, along with two helicopters.

"Oh shit." She mumbled, glancing over at Minho who was also looking up at them.

"They're never gonna stop looking for us." The runner muttered as the Berg and helicopters moved further and further away from them, the roar of their engines fading.

"No. We've- we've just gotta move faster. If we can find the Right Arm they can help us. Come on." Thomas responded, crawling out from under the concrete and checking to make sure everyone was okay before they started walking again.

They slowly plodded through the city. The sweltering heat bearing down on everyone was almost unbearable and Clara felt sweat pouring down her face and back. She was desperate to take off the thin jacket she was wearing but she could feel the sun beating down on her neck and didn't want to risk getting a sunburn all over the rest of her body. Her jaw ached, and her muscles were burning, begging for her to stop and rest but she couldn't, they couldn't. Wicked was tracking them down, getting closer with each hour, and they couldn't risk slowing down.

As they climbed up the remains of an old building she heard Winston's laboured breaths behind her, she quickly twisted her head around to look at the boy, and he looked terrible. Sweat was dripping down his head and black bags had formed under his eyes, which were now completely bloodshot. She wasn't sure how much further the boy would be able to go, but she turned and kept climbing, hoping he could hang on for a little longer. They finally reached the top of the debris pile and Clara groaned loudly when spotted the giant sand dune ahead of them. Reluctantly, they began to scale the huge hill, everyone struggling to climb the sand which slipped underneath their feet with every step.

"Just a little further guys." Thomas panted, practically running ahead of them up the dune. Clara was tempted to catch up to him and slap him upside the head for showing the amount of optimism that he was, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth the effort. Continuing to push forward, moving her legs one at a time. After what felt like hours they finally reached the top, looking out at the horizon she noticed the mountains far – very far – in the distance and her hope faltered as he realized their journey was nowhere near finished.

"Those mountains, that's gotta be it. That's where we're going." Thomas panted out, adjusting his backpack and Newt glanced at him, raising an eyebrow,

"That's a long way off, Tommy."

"Yeah, we better get moving then."

Clara was about to say something but out of the corner of her eye she noticed someone falling over, she turned her head in time to see Winston collapse down on the sand, sliding slightly down the dune.

"Winston! Hey, Winston!" Thomas shouted as everyone scrambled to the boy's side. His breathing was getting worse, he gasped like he was choking on the air he was getting and his eyes were closed.

"He's hurt real bad." Teddy remarked, pointing at the bandages around Winston's stomach which were now completely soaked in blood.

"Yeah, no shit." Clara muttered to herself,

"What do we do?" Teresa asked, looking up at Thomas expectantly. He stood up and turned away for a few seconds as everyone focused on Winston again,

"Winston? Can you hear me? It's okay." Newt said, trying to hide the panic in his voice. Teddy suddenly stood up, taking off his backpack and pulling out some clothes he had inside of it.

"Everyone grab any sort of clothes or blankets ya'll got in your packs, and take off your jackets. Hand 'em over to me." He said, gathering all of the things out of his bag and grabbing what the others were handing over.

"Thomas! Go grab me some pieces of metal or somethin' similar, like rebar or a crowbar!"

Thomas nodded and wandered off, returning a few minutes later with a few metal bars and dropping them down next to Teddy, who was tying together the blankets and clothes. Clara crouched back over Winston, placing a hand on the boy's forehead and pulling it back quickly when she realized just how hot his head was, whether it was from the heat or fever is something she couldn't figure out.

"Alright, straighten him out." Teddy called, drawing Clara's attention back to him. In front of him now lay a makeshift stretcher. They all grabbed Winston, laying him flat on his back before lifting him on Thomas's count and gently placing him back down on the stretcher. Newt grabbed Frypan and Minho's backpacks as they lifted up the stretcher, tossing Minho's to Clara who strung it over her shoulder and they began to walk again.

And they kept walking, for hours, and hours. Dragging Winston up the sand dunes on the stretcher and carrying him down them, one person on each side of him and another holding his legs. As they got closer to the flatlands the winds grew stronger and the sand pelted them like millions of tiny bullets shooting into their skin, Clara tried to cover her face with a scarf but failed miserably, the sand still violently attacking her.

"We gotta find shelter!" Thomas yelled over the wind, coughing slightly as sand blew into his mouth. Clara squinted and spotted a destroyed structure in the distance, it was small but it would be enough.

"Thomas! There!" She yelled, pointing at the structure and the group picked up their pace, running towards it, desperate to escape the sand storm. As they arrived they lay the stretcher down and sat inside the structure, listening as the wind whistled outside of it. Clara plopped down next to Frypan as Newt took a seat next to Minho, drinking out of a bottle the runner handed him before tossing it over to Clara, who gratefully took a few sips. Next to her, Frypan took off his boot and turned it over, a waterfall of sand pouring out of it and he scoffed slightly. Teresa suddenly stood up and wandered off to go speak to Thomas, who was standing at the top of a dune, staring off into the distance and Newt stood up to watch them for a few seconds,

"How's it looking?" He shouted at Thomas, lifting a hand up to cover his face from the sun.

"Just a little further." Thomas yelled back, giving a half-assed attempt at a thumbs up. Newt turned back to the rest of the group

"Well, that's not very convincing."

Clara looked over at her brother who was sitting away from the rest of the group, cleaning off his shotgun, a look of concentration on his face. She stood up and stumbled over him, trying not to sink in the sand beneath them before sitting down next to him,

"Hey Rissa, what's goin' on?" He smiled at her,

"I need you to answer some questions for me, Theodore."

"Alrighty, fire away."

"Earlier you said Wicked took your memories, how did you know it was them?"

"Well the last thing I recall was being in some sort of operating room, Mom was there. She said something about having no choice but she kept repeatin' the same thing over and over: Wicked is good. Then I passed out. I woke up out here in the scorch and found ya'll."

"So you remember me? And mom?"

"That's right."

"Did she say why they took your memories?"

"She might've, but I don't remember her givin' me a reason."

"And you're now running away from Wicked? Why?"

"Well, I figured they ain't good people if they're out here taking my memories and such."

"Right..." Clara trailed off, deciding to save the rest of her questions for later. Her suspicion was growing. She had a bad feeling in her stomach when she saw her brother again but pushed it away, just telling herself she was being paranoid. But his story didn't make any sense, why would their mother take his memories and throw him out into the scorch? Why would he be running away from Wicked if he knew that she worked there? She had never treated him the way she treated Clara, he was always the golden child, so why was he trying to get away from her? Her mind whirred as she tried to connect the dots but suddenly a gunshot rang out, yanking her out of her thoughts. Her eyes darted over to Winston, who had the pistol in his hands, Frypan trying to wrestle it away from him.

"Guys get down here!" She heard Aris yelling at Thomas and Teresa. Newt jumped up from his seat, stumbling over it before moving closer to Winston,

"What's going on? What are you doing mate?" He asked the boy, who was now crouching over on all fours, breathing heavily.

"What happened?" Teresa panted as she and Thomas scrambled down the hill back into the building,

"I- I don't know he just woke up and grabbed the gun and he tried to –" Frypan trailed off as Winston began to choke, coughing up a slimy black liquid that splattered all over the sand. He rolled over onto his back, gasping for air as he reached and lifted up his shirt,

"It's... growing... inside me" He whimpered. Clara's hand flew up to her mouth as she looked at the boy's stomach, his flesh was turning a dark shade of purple and it had thick black veins all over it. It almost looked as though he was rotting from the inside. He was turning into a crank.

"I'm not gonna make it." Winston whispered, reaching his hand up towards the gun in Frypan's hand. "Please. Please don't let me turn into one of those... things."

Clara felt tears pricking at his eyes as she looked over at Frypan, where Newt gently reached over and took the gun out of the other boy's hands, giving him a reassuring nod. Clara knew that if she was in Winston's position she would ask for the same thing, she wouldn't want her friends to watch her turn into a crazed, senseless creature.

"Wait, Newt." Thomas pleaded but Newt ignored him, crouching down next to Winston and taking his hand, wrapping it around the pistol and laying it down on his chest.

"Thank you." Winston gulped, taking a few shallow breaths before speaking again, "Now, get out of here."

"Goodbye, Winston." Newt mumbled, moving his hand away from the boy as tears dropped from his eyes into the sand beneath him.

Clara stepped forward after him, smiling at Winston and leaning down to kiss his forehead before mumbling goodbye to him and standing up, unable to continue looking at her friend without it ripping her heart out. She looked up at Frypan who shook his head desperately but didn't say anything. Clara knew this was breaking him, Winston was his closest friend after her and losing him was going to destroy him.

Picking up her backpack, she wiped away a few tears and stepped further away from the group, waiting with Newt for everyone else to say their goodbyes. She heard footsteps behind her and Newt started walking forward, with her following behind him. Slowly they made their way up the dune, stopping in their tracks as a gunshot rang out, echoing through the open air. Clara choked back a sob before she continued walking down the dune, forcing her body to put one foot in front of the other. A few hours later the sun began to set and they finally came to rest at an overturned ship, Teddy walked inside of it, making sure it was crank free before they set up a small bonfire outside.

The silence was deafening as everyone tried not to think about Winston, the only sound coming from the fire crackling in front of them. Clara lay next to Minho, watching as Aris tossed some more wood into the fire,

"I thought we were supposed to be immune." Minho said, breaking the group's silence.

"Not all of us. I guess." Teresa responded,

"If Winston can get infected we should assume so can the rest of us," Newt muttered. Clara felt her heart drop at his words as she remembered what her brother had said when they first came up with the maze "Those English siblings, the girl is immune, but the boy isn't". Newt was the boy, and he wasn't immune. And apparently, Winston wasn't either. Her fear grew as she realized she had no idea who else in the group might not be immune, and for a few seconds, she wrestled with the idea of telling Newt the truth. Ultimately she decided to wait until a better time, a less sad time. A silence settled over them again for a few seconds,

"I never thought I'd say it." Frypan spoke and Clara turned to him, noticing tears running down his face. "I miss the glade."

Clara couldn't help but agree with her best friend, although they were trapped in the glade, they were also safe there. They could have fun, they could laugh, and they could play games. She smiled when she thought of all her memories of the place, like the day they all decided to play a giant game of tag, which the runners obviously dominated. They'd taken that day off of work to lighten the mood for poor Chuck, who'd come up in the box the day before and was scared shitless. Her smile disappeared when she suddenly realized that Chuck wasn't with them, something she'd completely neglected to notice before. She turned to look at Minho on her left who was staring up at the sky,

"Hey, Minho?" She said, and he looked down at her, a small smile on his face.

"Yeah?"

"Uh, where- where's Chuck?"

She noticed Minho's expression change, his smile faltering as he blinked a few times and Clara felt a prick of sadness as she waited for the answer she was afraid of,

"He, uh. He didn't make it out of the maze." He answered, "Gally found us when we were out, but he was stung and he- he tried to shoot Thomas but Chuck pushed him out of the way."

"Shit. What happened to Gally?"

"I- uh- I threw a spear through his chest."

Clara felt tears pricking at her eyes as she took in the news he was telling her, it felt like someone was slowly pulling out pieces of her heart, the pieces that belonged to the people she lost.

After a few seconds, she stood up and walked a few feet away from the group, sitting down on the sand and taking a few deep breaths, trying to come to terms with everything that had happened. The tears began to roll down her cheeks as she thought about how much Wicked had taken from her, hatred for it and for her mother burned deep inside her. The sound of footsteps behind her pulled her out of her thoughts and a voice spoke,

"Clara?" She recognized Newt's voice,

"What?"

"Can we talk, please?"

"Not right now." She mumbled, standing up and walking back toward the campfire, but before she could get past him he grabbed her arm, pulling her back in front of him.

"Please." He pleaded,

"I said not now."

"Then when?"

"I – I don't know, Newt."

"No, you know what? I feel like I deserve a bloody explanation as to why you thought it was okay to do that to me." He hissed and she yanked her arm out of his grip, slightly shocked by his anger and confused by what he was talking about

"Excuse me?"

"I want to know why you jumped on that Griever's back in the maze."

"Where the hell is this coming from? Where was this when I got us out of Wicked and you seemed overjoyed at the fact that I was alive, huh? We've been out here for days, Newt. Did you suddenly just remember what I did and decide to be angry about it for no reason?"

"I'm angry about it because you LEFT us, Clara. You left ME. And I want to know why."

"What? You think I did it for fun? 'Oh yeah let me jump on a Griever's back, seems like a great idea.' I did it to help you guys, Newt. To save you. So that all of you could get out of the maze." She scoffed,

"No, no, that's not fair. You just left like- like I wasn't a good enough reason for you to stay."

Clara's jaw dropped open as she heard Newt's words, completely stunned by what he was saying,

"You're kidding me, right? Are you seriously about to tell me that I'm selfish for sacrificing myself for all of you?"

"Do you have any idea what you put all of us through? What you put me through? And Frypan?"

"Hey Newt, do me a favour and fuck off. You self-centered asshole" She spat, her anger growing, "You have NO fucking idea what I went through. Did you ever think about how I felt? Yeah, you lost me, Newt, you lost one person. I lost ALL OF YOU!" She shouted, causing everyone else at the campfire to look at the pair.

Newt stood completely still, just staring at Clara as she breathed heavily before she spun around, about to walk back to the fire,

"Clara wait I-" Newt said, reaching for her, but she flinched away from him and he looked up at her, confusion glimmering in his eyes.

"Don't touch me. Just, leave me alone. Please." She whispered, turning away from him and walking back to the fire, taking a seat next to Frypan, who looked at her with wide eyes.

"Just like old times." She heard Minho whisper from the other side of her, earning a chuckle from Frypan.

"Shut up Minho." She muttered, kicking him in the shin

Clara lay down on her back and stared up at the stars, she'd never seen them so clearly before, and it was a weird feeling. That something so beautiful could exist in the midst of all the terrible things that were