Lynn trudged along at the back of the group, dragging her feet in the golden sand. She had left her brother standing there with all the Gladers, ignoring his pleads to stay with him, running away to possibly kill her best friend. Lynn would do her best to prevent that from happening, but with Teresa's ways and the hold she had over the other girls now, there might not be a way to stop it.

The Queen had shoved Thomas into a burlap bag, making Sonya and Harriet carry him-wait no, drag him- to this designated area in the mountains where there was some sort of chamber that he was going to be thrown into the next morning. They were travelling through a rocky valley, slowly climbing up the incline that was going to lead to where they were supposed to set up camp before the sunsets.

Lily had joined Lynn after two hours of moving over from the desert sands into the treacherous mountains, staying by her friend's side and matching her slow pace. The two remained quiet, not a single word leaving their mouths or any hushed words exchanged. Lily could tell that Lynn was not herself, the latter hated leaving her brother and her friends to fend for themselves out in the dry wasteland.

"Lynn?" Lily asked quietly. She attracted the younger girl's attention, meeting her murky hazel-eyed gaze. "Are you all right?"

Lynn huffed, limply throwing her arms up and slapping them on the sides of her legs, "Why does everyone ask me that?"

"It's because we worry about you, Lynn." Lily placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder, wanting to provide some sort of comfort for her friend.

"You don't need to worry about me, I'm fine." Lynn shrugged Lily's hand off of her, turning cold and harsh.

"I'm just trying to help you." Lily said, her voice laced with hurt. "I know that it was your brother back there that you left behind. That asian boy certainly must be your significant other that you keep talking about, and you left him behind. Now you're expected to kill your best friend, none of us can't help but worry about what must be going on in that blonde british head of yours."

"I don't need help." Lynn snapped, her fists clenching at her sides. "Everyone thinks that I'm this fragile little flower that must be protected from the rain storm. But I'm not, Lily. I'm not. I can take care of myself."

Lynn knew that Lily meant well, and that what she was doing was only out of worry and care. But the blonde knew how to carry her own, she knew how to live without the help of Newt, Minho, Sonya, Harriet, Lily...the list goes on. She left her brother's embrace and ran off back to her friends to plot some plan to kill Thomas, betraying all the Gladers that she knew and loved. She was betraying them, and the feeling was eating Lynn from the inside out.

"Fine, I understand." Lily looked off to the side, still keeping her place beside Lynn.

The latter sighed, dragging her hands down her face. "Listen, Lils, I'm sorry okay? It's just a lot of shit has been going on and all of it involves me for some reason. I know you mean well, you are just being you, it's just...I have a lot on my mind right now."

"I know, I know," Lily said, turning her head back towards Lynn. "I really don't understand what it's like to be you."

Lynn laughed softly, a thin smile rising to her lips. "No one does."

A comfortable silence fell over Lynn and Lily, the two picking up their pace and making their way to the center of the group, lightly pushing and shoving a few other girls to get to where they needed to be, where Sonya and Harriet were.

The two girls were carrying the burlap sack that Thomas was thrown into, stumbling their way along as the tripped over their own feet, trying their best not to drop him. Sonya and Harriet clutched the rough fabric of the sack midway, clutching the material in their fists. Lynn and Lily came quick to their aid, coming up behind them and grabbed what felt like Thomas' ankles, hoisting the lower half of his body of the ground and lightening the load that Harriet and Sonya were forced to carry.

Sonya turned her head with a flick of her ponytail, seeing who had come to their aid. The corners of her mouth rose up into a warm smile upon seeing Lynn and Lily.

"Thanks," Sonya said breathily, readjusting her grip on the bag.

"You're welcome," Lily returned Sonya's smile, a gentle look in her eye.

As the four continued to journey on into the mountains where they were taking Thomas to be annihilated, making him vanish into the world above. They listened to Thomas' pleads to get out of the sack, saying that he has the ability to walk on his own. As much as Lynn wanted to tear the burlap bag open and hug the life out of her dear friend, she knew she would get an earful from Teresa and get stabbed with that scary looking spear of her's.

Teresa walked proudly at the head of the group, her whole body moving with purpose and focus, annoying the complete hell out of Lynn. The black-haired girl seemed semi-friendly when Lynn first met her, the two of them having a light conversation back in that prison that they were kept in before they arrived in the scorch. But now, now she was a completely different person.

She was vile and cruel, pretending to be the leader of a group that already had three leaders. Teresa refused to listen to what anyone else had to say, only focusing on what she wanted and how she wanted it done. She didn't care about the well-being of any of the other girl's or their problems, something that was always at the top of Sonya, Lynn, and Harriet's priority list. She didn't handle any of the difficult situations they were put into delicately, Harriet and Lily even told Lynn and Sonya that Teresa cared less that they could've died when they fell through the floor of that rundown market. Now, does that sound like a leader to you?

"Why don't you let me walk?!" Thomas pleaded, his fists punching the cloth as he struggled to be released from the sack. "I know you all have weapons it's not like I'm going to go anywhere!"

Teresa stopped dead in her tracks, causing all the other girls to stop short before they ran into one another and created a domino effect. Teresa spun around and stormed through the crowd, pushing the girls that stood in her way. With the harmless end of her spear raised above her head, she sent it directly into Thomas' head, earning a sharp cry from the boy inside the sack.

"Teresa!" Sonya shouted, earning the black-haired girl's attention. "We are far enough away from Group A, he can walk on his own two feet without us having to carry him all the way! Besides, didn't you say that we were only twenty minutes away from the Pass?" The tall blonde abandoned her place at the side of the bag, standing only five inches away from the fake leader of their little group.

"Let him walk, Teresa!" Lynn called from the back, and irritated look on her freckled face. "I'll keep an eye on him."

"Of course you will," Teresa muttered under her breath with a distasteful gleam in her blue eyes. "Let him out of the bag, if he makes a run for it, it's all on Lynn."

Teresa made her way back to the front of the group, leaving Lynn, Lily, Sonya, and Harriet in the dust of their footsteps.

"We'll leave you to it, Lynn." Harriet patted the younger's shoulder, shooing Lily and Sonya away and back to the herd heading towards the Pass that Teresa was supposedly taking Thomas to in order to kill him.

Lynn kneeled down onto the ground and untied the rope that held the top of the sack closed. With skillful and nimble fingers she had the knot undone in a matter of seconds, discarding it off to the side. She tugged the burlap sack open, Thomas' brunette hair peeking out of the top as soon as it was opened.

She moved away from the bag, letting Thomas scramble to find his way out of the sack. As Lynn rose to her feet, Thomas had gotten out of the sack and jumped to his feet, standing in front of the blonde girl as his chest rose and fell with a quick pace. Lynn shoved her hands in her pockets as Thomas looked on at her with wide eyes, his russet irises never leaving her amber ones.

"Hey Tommy," Lynn said quietly, looking shy and afraid. Scared of what Thomas might say or do, she left them without leaving a note or saying goodbye, surely he would be pissed. But Thomas wasn't, instead a wide smile spread across his face as he enveloped Lynn in his arms, lifting her feet off the ground. Lynn threw her arms around his neck, placing a sloppy kiss to his cheek before burying her face in his shoulder.

"You're okay, you're alright." Thomas hoarsely whispered as his embrace grew tighter by the second.

"Uh Tommy, you're kinda suffocatin' me here." The older boy released Lynn from his arms, placing her safely back on the ground.

Lynn could feel Thomas' russet gaze eyeing the black stitching on her hairline, Lily said that no one would be able to notice it since it was covered by the side bangs that framed the left side of Lynn's face where the stitches held her head together. Without even thinking, Thomas brushed the hair away from the blonde's amber eyes.

"So it was blood," Thomas muttered under his breath, a gentle look in his eye.

Lynn cleared her throat awkwardly, guiding Thomas' hand away from her face. "We'd better catch up or they'll leave without us." Her friend nodded his head, agreeing with her suggestion.

And so the two ran side by side, racing to catch up with the group as they grew further and further away from them.

xxx

In one more hour they had reached the sacred mountain pass that Teresa kept going on about. Thomas and Lynn never left each others side for the last leg of the journey, keeping the same pace as they walked at the back of the pack, earning ice cold glares from Teresa every now and then.

It was dusk by the time they reached the pass, making the nighttime air cool and crisp a small break from the harsh sunrays of the scorch.

"Lynn," Teresa had said, "Tie him up to that tree over there." the black haired girl pointed to an old, half-dead tree a few feet away, handing the young girl some rope to get the job done with. "I want to keep an eye on him."

Lynn, reluctantly, agreed to Teresa's plan. Clutching the rope in her grasp and Thomas' hand in the other, she dragged him over to the tree.

"Sorry 'bout this, Tommy." She apologized as Thomas sat down at the trunk of the tree, leaning back on the rough bark. "If I had it my way we'd have left ya be."

She circled the rope around the tree and Thomas' torso, telling him to left his arms so that he can have some mobility.

"I thought you were the second command? Don't you have some say in what and what doesn't happen?" Thomas inquired, resting his head on the trunk.

"I'm not, and will never be, the second command to Teresa. And besides, the Queen has decided that everything will be done her way and no one else's, she kicked Sonya, Harriet, and I off of our pint-sized pedestal." Lynn tied off the rope at the back of the tree, coming back around and sitting in front of Thomas.

There was an odd silence between the two, the air thick and dry. Lynn nervously fiddled with the loose strings at the end of the orange scarf she was wearing, shivering slightly as she felt Thomas' eyes glued to her face.

"How have you been?" He asked. Lynn laughed lightly at the question, it seemed like such an odd thing to have a normal conversation in a situation like this.

"I would say I've been well, but that's a lie. A lot of shit has happened to me and my friends Tommy."

That was an honest answer, Lynn had had a pretty rough time in the scorch. From being separated from her friends, discovering that she had to kill her best friend, getting lost in that weird 'Underneath' place, and then waking up to find some creepy guy tending to her injuries. It certainly had been a hell of a ride.

"I can tell," Thomas said. "What happened to your head?" Lynn knew they would be getting around to that question sooner or later.

"It's a long story." Lynn sighed.

"I've got time."

"Of course you do, you're tied to a shuckin' tree." Lynn stated, resting her elbow on her knee and dropping her chin so it was balanced on her tiny fist.

"Glad to see you still use the Glader Language." Thomas smirked.

"Not always, but it has worked it's way into my vocabulary."

Thomas softened his stare, a look of gentleness upon his features. Lynn had been his best friend since the moment he arrived in the Glade, the younger girl slightly guiding him along and helping him with learning the ropes. She seemed content and light-hearted, going wherever the wind takes her while still being the sassy and sarcastic character that he had grown to love.

She had changed since then.

Lynn's personality was different, her demeanour, her body language. Everything. She was rough around the edges now, the Scorch had made her stronger. She was still sassy and sarcastic, nothing would ever change that to be honest. Lynn no longer wore that white hoodie, but Thomas already knew that since he discovered that beloved jacket of her's in the Underneath, ripped apart and covered with blood, while the other remained in Newt's care, tucked safe inside his satchel. It was like the moment she went without her hoodie she lost that sweet, nurturing personality that could be found inside her soul.

"Lynn!" Teresa's voice rang throughout the air, calling the blonde to her aid. "This is not a little reunion date, if your job is done then you can leave!"

The younger girl rolled her eyes at the sound of Teresa's shouts, rising to her feet. She turned her head to see the so called leader of their group standing a medium sized distance away with her hands on her hips.

"This one's not my boyfriend!" Lynn shouted in response, turning back towards Thomas. "I'll talk to you later, Tommy."

As Lynn began to walk off in Teresa's direction, she heard her friend exclaim something to her. "You guys aren't going to kill me right?"

Lynn froze, spinning around to face Thomas. "What? H-how do you know?"

"Read the tattoo on the back of my neck." Thomas bowed his head as Lynn jogged back over to the tree, pulling the back of his shirt down to examine the tattoo.

Property of WICKED

Subject A2, Group A

To be KILLED by Group B

"Tommy," Lynn breathed out, taking a step away from her friend. "I can explain."

"I just need to know, Lynn." Thomas said firmly, his fists clenched by his sides and his teeth grinding together. "Are you going to kill me?"

Lynn stuttered for a second, opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water, searching for an answer to give to him. A reply came to mind moments after, Lynn speaking without a second thought.

"No."

xxx

Hey guys!

Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated this story.

I'm very sorry for such a long wait, it's just the idea flow for this story has been like dead. But I'm glad I was finally able to come up with something.

I would like to thank all of you for getting this story to over 70 followers! I had never imagined that a sucky little story could turn into something like this!

Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner, I promise I'll try to get it up in the next couple of days. Until next time!