small of my back. "Newt," I mutter as we leave the Crank and other WICKED guards behind us, continuing down the sidewalk, "it's going to be suspicious with a WICKED patrol officer making physical contact with another like this."
"I don't bloody care." He mumbles, turning his head towards me as he limps closely beside me. "You said you trust me with your life, so I'm going to make sure that I keep it safe."
• • •
We finally catch WICKED's towering, shimmering building in our sights to the right once we've reached the end of the tenth block, and we quickly turn and stride through the crowd, the two of us picking up the pace slightly as our anticipation builds up.
Quickly and cautiously, we squeeze through the bustling ocean of people along the sidewalk, striding towards the north side of the building and slowing to a stop as we approach the front, glass door entrances of the facility.
Huffing a heavy sigh, I watch various doctors go in and out through the doors as I listen to the surrounding sounds of the city. In the midst of all of the bustling, I can hear, 'Warning. Warning. Warning.' coming from somewhere above, higher up on the facility itself. Tilting my head all the way back to examine the building, I watch the gigantic screen on the front shift its display from an ad to, obviously, a warning.
"Holy shucking..." my voice trails off as I gape, causing Newt too look up at the display, too.
The screen now says, 'WANTED: SCIENTIFIC ESCAPEES FOUND ON THE OUTER PERIMETERS OF THE CITY. IF FOUND, IMMEDIATELY REPORT TO WICKED.' Below the text, there are pictures of Thomas, Newt, and myself on the screen. The photo to the far left is a head shot of Thomas, and he wears a black t-shirt that reads 'Property of WICKED. Group A, Subject A2. To be killed by Group B.', and it looks like his photo was taken a little less than a year ago. Beside his picture is Newt's head shot, except his label reads, 'Subject A5. The Glue.', and his picture looks like it was taken about three and a half, maybe four, years ago. The third image is a head shot of myself in the same shirt, looking around the age I was when I first arrived in the Maze, but my label says, 'Group B, Subject B3. The Gift.' The fourth, and last, photo beside mine is a hidden camera shot that is zoomed into the crowd of Infected, revealing Thomas, Newt, and I. By the looks of it, it was taken seconds before the missiles were shot at us when we were outside the city because Jorge and Brenda are there, too.
"They forgot Fry, those slintheads." I mutter, gesturing towards the screen where I can clearly make out the back of the boy's head as he turns to look out into the crowd, opposite of the camera. I look to Newt. "And how did they catch our chips and not Fry's? Or Gally's? He was only a few yards behind us."
"They're scanners from the Bergs must have only caught one of us when we had first arrived to the outskirts of the city." He mumbles. "Then the cameras showed them the rest."
Frowning, I look back at the screen. "And what the shuck is 'The Gift' supposed to mean?"
There's a long pause before Newt mumbles, nearly inaudible, "'The Glue'?"
I look over to the boy as he stares up at the screen.
He turns to me, returning the glance. Sighing as he shrugs it off, he nods towards his left. "We need to get going."
Nodding in agreement, I clasp my Launcher in both of my hands, looking back up at the screen once more before jogging after Newt down the sidewalk, making our way around the WICKED tower and heading towards the backside, where the south doors are.
As we finally approach the back entrance, the two of us slow to a casual pace, calmly marching alongside other officers and scientists in lab coats as they enter or exit the building. Newt and I stride through the glass doors, and my heart skips a beat as soon as I spot the scanners ahead, stomach tying into knots. The six white scanners stand about five feet out of the slick, tile flooring, and they are spaced out just enough for bodies to stride past. There is definitely no way to get around them.
The chip removal better have worked.
Holding my breath, I look at Newt as he hesitates slightly, slowing to a stop in front of the scanners.
He turns to glance over his shoulder, back at me, clearly just as worried.
As I stare at Newt, I catch a glimpse of another guard in the side of my eye, the tall, armed, masked figure tilting his head to the side at us suspiciously as he stands along the wall.
Eyes widening, I nudge Newt forward slightly, trying to act casual whilst expressing to Newt that we need to get going.
Turning forward, Newt scans the crowd, seeming to notice the same officer because he stands taller, looking straight ahead, and swiftly strides through the scanners. He gets clearance, the green lights in the contraptions illuminating.
Holding my breath, I immediately follow behind Newt, marching through the white scanners, their lights illuminating green with a lighthearted chime to indicate that I'm also in the clear.
I let out a heavy sigh of relief. We're in.
Marching at a steady pace and not looking back at the suspicious guard, Newt and I make our way along the clean, white tile flooring of the the main area of the facility, keeping our attention straight ahead before us as the various doctors and guards walk quickly past.
Standing taller in attempt to embody my disguise, I scan the wide room, desperately searching for any sign of Gally and Teresa.
Blurred faces of scientists and masked officers are all I can see, but I don't have to look back to know that the suspicious guard from the entrance is still staring at us. I can feel his eyes searing into my back.
Suddenly, Newt nudges me with his elbow, and, as soon as I avert my attention to him, he nods in the direction ahead of us, and, following his gesture, I trail my eyes to Teresa as she stiffly strides through the north doors, scanning her thumb on her way in, and a guard escorts her.
Smirking slightly to myself, I quickly walk ahead of Newt, making my way across the main hall swiftly.
The guard, obviously Gally due to their height, holds tightly to Teresa's arm and looks back over his shoulder as he walks in our direction. He manages to turn ahead just before he can walk into Newt and I, freezing in his tracks.
With anxious eyes, Teresa stares at Newt and I, unsure if it's the two of us.
Newt, silently looking the two of them up and down, nods to our right before quickly turning and limping off in that direction.
Gally looks to me and I nod slightly, causing him to turn and push Teresa ahead, the two of them following behind Newt, and I stay close behind Gally, glancing over at the suspicious guard once more to see him finally look away.
Just as our map had indicated, Newt quickly leads us into an eastern hallway, walking down it at a brisk pace before suddenly making a left turn, pushing open a steel door that leads out into a colder, dimly lit area of the facility that opens into a vast, concrete room.
Rushing behind the others, I follow Gally and Teresa as Newt guides them across the long stretch of room, WICKED staff members passing us on the way. He makes a sudden sharp turn to the right, leading us to a steel stairway before hurriedly rushing down the flight.
Gliding my hand along the handrail, I stride down the steps as quickly as I can.
As we make our way to the basement level, we step out into an area that resembles a parking garage; however, while the area ahead and to our right is completely open, there is a wall to our left that is completely made of glass, looking out into the entrance way of the underground level that is mostly populated by WICKED guards. Rushing behind the single-file line, I look through the glass to see vans driving along the path on the opposite side, leaving the parking garage and driving out into the city. The siren lights illuminate as it turns out onto the road, indicating that there is probably another infected caught. My stomach turns as I worry about Frypan and Brenda getting caught, but I force that thought out of my brain before it can get the best of me.
Scanning my eyes along the glass, I spot two, clear sliding doors a few yards down the stretch of glass. That's the entrance that Thomas is supposed to meet us at.
Just in time, one particular WICKED guard in a dark grey and black uniform swiftly rushes to our group's side from the opposite side of the window, strutting alongside the four of us, the glass between us until he can cross through the glass doors. Just as we pass the sliding doors, he steps through to our side and marches out in front of our group. Looking back over his shoulder at the four of us, he nods. Thomas. That's definitely Thomas.
The boy, now taking the lead, strides ahead of us and guides our group to another steel stairway at the opposite end of the garage area, and we all rush up the flight as quickly as possible, making our way up one, two, three stories before stepping onto the second above-ground level, making our way down yet another hall.
The corridor turns right at the end, taking us into the main hall of the second level where scientists rush about, quickly making their way to other areas of the facility where they have business to attend to.
The five of us make our way along the white, clean tile flooring, approaching a line of elevator doors ahead.
As planned, Thomas makes a sudden left turn, walking to the far left elevator. Newt and I break right as Gally and Teresa head to the center lift.
Limping ahead of me, Newt stops in front of the doors at the far right elevator, pushing the upward pointed arrow. The button illuminates in response.
Within seconds, the doors slide open, and two conversing doctors step off of the lift, striding past us. I glance to our left to watch Thomas and Gally and Teresa enter their elevators before Newt and I step into ours.
Turning around to face the doors, I watch Newt as he pushes to button for the twenty sixth level.
Standing tall beside me, Newt returns his grip to his Launcher just as the elevator doors close. The lift jolts to life.
For a split second, I feel flushed with panic, quickly grasping onto the handrail as the image of the internal perspective of the Cage flashes through my brain, and my chest heaves with frantic pants.
I feel a gentle hand rest on my shoulder. "Are you alright?"
Averting my eyes to the boy, forcing my breathing to return to a steady pace, I nod slowly. "Yeah..."
"Reminds you of coming up in the Box, doesn't it?"
Gulping, I nod again as my racing heart begins to calm. "Exactly..."
He glides his hand down my arm. "Luckily, after this, we'll never have to deal with these bloody shanks ever again. No Mazes, no chases in the Scorch, no deceitful, sparkling tower to break into." He says.
I sigh heavily, shoulders sinking. "Yeah..."
He gently brushes his thumb on my arm before pulling his hand away and turning forward. "You know what's strange?"
Tilting my head to the side slightly, I ask. "What's strange?"
"None of us would be together if it weren't for WICKED." He says, turning his head to me again. "So, in a way, I guess they did one good thing."
A few moments pass, the two of us staring at each other's masked faces as we are reminded of the beginning of our lives as WICKED's variables and ponder on the the ironic concept.
Newt looks ahead just as the elevator begins to slow to a halt, the doors slowly sliding open to a level that looks nearly identical to the one we had just left.
Stepping out of the lift, I look right to see the other three exiting theirs, Thomas already rushing towards a steel door at the southern end of the building.
As I swiftly follow behind the others, doing my best to keep up but act natural, I hear Newt beginning to cough from behind me, causing me to glance back at him over my shoulder.
Clearing his throat, he waves his hand as if to say 'I'm fine'.
I nod slightly, though I feel anxiety twist at my stomach, and, turning forward once again and following the others through the steel door, the five of us crowd into a fairly lit, grey, somewhat-compacted stairway that goes up to several different flights, each level above holding two or more doors.
"This way." Thomas says, quickly rushing up the stairs.
I run up the first flight after Gally and Teresa, following closely behind.
Heart beginning to race as the adrenaline swells up inside me, I grip tightly to the side rail in attempt to pull myself whilst running up the steps, doing all that I can to increase my speed.
Minho's only a matter of a few flights away, and so is the Bliss, meaning we'll be able to help Newt in a matter of minutes.
We run up one, two, three, four levels.
As I turn to rush up the fifth, I glance over the railing and notice Newt falling behind, now one and a half flights short of us, and I stop in my tracks, waiting for him to catch up.
His limp must make it hard enough, but he has that shucking virus on top of it.
"Keep going." He calls as he slowly limps up the steps, sounding out of breath.
Pursing my lips together, I shake my head. "We're not separating, remember?" I say, rushing down the flight and meeting him halfway, gently grasping his arm and walking alongside Newt at his own pace.
I hear Gally from two flights up now. "Wait, wait, wait!" He calls to Thomas. "I can use this for Lawrence." He says. There's the sound of a creaky, steel door opening, followed by Gally ordering Teresa to take a seat on the floor where he can see her. Thomas's voice follows has he speaks quickly into his walkie talkie, checking in on Fry and Brenda with each of their routes.
"You really don't have to wait on me..." Newt mumbles as we turn and tread up the next flight. "I'll catch up on my own just fine..."
"Newt, you've got a bad leg, and you're sick. I'm going to help you whether you like it or not."
After a full minute of pulling Newt up the stairs, I finally catch up with the others just in time to see Thomas readying his Launcher and walking up the next flight to check for guards. Gally, now unmasked, fumbles around in something on the concrete wall that resembles a fuse box while Teresa sits on the top of the flight that Newt and I just stepped off of, frowning at Gally with her hands folded on her lap.
As I guide Newt to the bottom of the next flight, Newt breaks into another coughing fit, but it's much worse than the first, and he quickly shoves my hands off of his left arm, leaning over the side rails of the stairs and pulling back his mask just enough to expose his face, coughing violently.
I can see Teresa's face fall as she looks at the boy's appearance, staring at him in concern, lips parting slightly, as he sputters out sick coughs.
As his coughing eases for a brief moment, Newt shifts his eyes to Teresa, meeting her stare, which causes him to turn around and lean his back against the railing, grimacing as he fights off the further coughs itching at his throat and unveiling his face to me.
My eyes widen as I look at him. He's extremely pale now, and the circles under his eyes have gotten much darker. His blonde hair is beginning to soak up with his sweat. However, what really shoots my nerves up is what I spot as my eyes shift to the left side of his jaw, catching a glimpse of faint, light-purple veins creeping out from under the thick neck cover of his uniform.
"Newt?" I swiftly take off my mask, holding it in my right hand as I use my left to touch the side of his face.
Clearing his throat and sputtering a few more coughs, Newt shakes his head, catching his breath through soft wheezes. "I'm fine, I'm fine..."
"No, you're not." I protest, making him look me in the eyes. "Newt, you're getting worse..."
Staring back at me with his big brown eyes, the whites a light shade of pink, he whispers, "I'm going to be alright..."
Frowning as a deep ache invades my heart, I look back at Gally, who's staring at us with an unreadable expression, though his eyes reveal that he's worried. "We're just about there. A few more flights up, and we'll be with Minho, and we'll get ahold of the Serum." He says reassuringly.
Nodding hesitantly, I turn back to Newt, who clenches his jaw tightly as he steadies his breathing. "Are you going to be able to make it up these stairs?"
Although he is obviously straining to fight back further coughs, squeezing his eyes shut, Newt nods rapidly. "Yeah...Yeah, I'll be fine..."
I frown, not believing him at all. "'I'm fine' is the greatest lie in the world..." I mumble, quoting him.
Finally easing up a little bit, Newt opens his eyes to meet with mine again, frowning. "I'll be fine." He repeats.
"Good that because we need to get going." Gally says as he finishes hooking up a strange contraption to the technical box, closing the metal door and pulling his mask back over his face. "Let's go." He says, grabbing Teresa by the arm and pulling her up to her feet before dragging her alongside him up the stairs.
Sighing, I go to grasp Newt's arm, but he quickly pushes my hand away. "No," he says sternly, "I'll be fine."
Staring him in the eyes with pursed lips, feeling the urge to protest, I slowly nod.
His eyes soften, and he gently rests a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about me." He says before pulling his mask back over his face and limping up the next flight of stairs.
Following behind Newt, I put my mask back on and grip tightly to my Launcher, standing directly behind him just in case he stumbles or has another coughing fit.
Our group runs up four more flights, and then we quickly rush through a door to our left, stepping into a wide, long hall that makes a sharp turn right.
We swiftly walk to the end of the corridor, turning right with it to see two large, grey steel sliding doors at the end of yet another long stretch of hall.
"That's it." Gally says.
Thomas, without a moment of hesitation, rushes down the corridor, and, as Gally pushes Teresa forward, Newt limps past them swiftly, holding up his Launcher.
I am flushed with sudden excitement, and I jog after Newt, readying my weapon as we make our way down the hall quickly and quietly. I step between Thomas and Newt.
Just as the three of us approach the entrance to the sector, the two doors slide open as a WICKED officer is exiting the room, and his face falls the instant he sees us."What the-?!"
"Surprise, shuck-face." I say in a snark tone before firing the weapon at the man, the metal clamp latching to his chest and throwing his convulsing body backwards.
This sets off a chain reaction of the other guards inside shouting and quickly reaching for their weapons, but Thomas and Newt storm into the circular room, firing their Launchers over and over at the guards on each side.
Squinting one eye to get a better aim, I take out the three men standing in the center circle of computers, dodging any fires coming from their direction with ease.
Within seconds, all of the officers are unconscious on the ground. All because of three kids with Launchers.
Smiling proudly, I tear off my helmet and pull the fabric mask off from around my head, pulling my hair out from underneath the cloth and letting it fall to my shoulders and back freely. "Now that was shucking awesome." I mumble, grinning proudly.
"Good that." Gally says, quickly rushing past me while Teresa stays behind at the open entrance way.
Just as Thomas, who peels off his mask, and Newt rush to separate doors along the circular wall, I run straight across the room to the door just right of the massive center one, stepping on the unconscious guards on the way.
Stopping in front of the door, I peek