"It means that Newt is still alive. And I think WCKD has him."
"I thought WCKD was destroyed." Frypan said, confused.
"It was," Minho replied, who looked absolutely blown away at this new revelation.
"No, don't you remember what Gally said?" Brenda cut in. "Lawrence suspected a separate branch of it that wasn't fully dismantled. They must be the reason."
"Well how the hell are we supposed to find him?" Minho muttered, eyes roaming the dirt, as if the sand would give him an answer.
"Well, we can't do anything tonight," Brenda said.
Thomas whirled around to face her. "Why not?"
Brenda crossed her arms and met his defiant gaze. "Because it's 1:00 in the morning, and we're all a bit drunk. And we're not ready at all."
"Yeah. We need a plan." Frypan said.
"Okay. Okay. Okay." Thomas nodded. "So, see y'all in the morning and we'll go from there?" The group nodded, and dispersed. Except for Minho, who remained rooted to the spot, eyes unfocused on the ground in front of him. Thomas approached him.
"You okay, Minho?"
"Oh, yeah, yeah." he replied, his voice more high pitched than usual. "Y'know, everything's fine. Fine." he said with a shrug and a voice crack. "It's only my friend, best friend, who I thought was dead, and y'know, just finally accepted it, and now I find out that he's actually alive and being held hostage with the same people who they tortured me, so I know what he's going through, and now I don't know how the hell we're going to help him…" The Asian's voice broke, and he heaved forward with a choked sob. Thomas caught him around the shoulders and started hugging him gently. He was met with a force of a hug, the hug of someone who was trying so hard to keep it together, that when it finally fell apart, it fell apart with a crash. His friend cried quietly on his shoulder, and it broke Thomas's heart to see Minho like this. His friend who was always so sturdy, so stoic, always heroic.
"It's okay man, it's okay. We're gonna save him, alright? It's going to be okay." And the two friends remained interlocked, the grim reality of the situation playing as a deadweight on their shoulders.
Thomas kept tossing and turning through the night. No matter how hard he tried to relax, he was still restless. He ended up sitting down by the beach until the sun came up, anticipation knotting in his chest. As soon as the first light broke over the horizon, Minho, Gally, Brenda, Teresa and Frypan all emerged from their sleeping quarters, all fully ready, as if they were just waiting for a reasonable time to get up as well. Minho or Fry must've told Gally. Thomas stood up, and they all noticed him and hurried over, not unlike a mother calling children to the dessert table.
"Hey," he greeted them.
"What's the plan?" Frypan asked, instead of replying.
"Plan? I don't have a plan," Thomas said, confused.
"We should have known. When do you ever have a plan?" Brenda put in, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, that train plan was a good plan!"
"Yeah, but it wasn't yours! It was Jorge's, Vince's and Newt's!" Brenda said loudly.
It always amazed Thomas on how quickly they could shut down a conversation by saying Newt's name.
"Let's go find Jorge." Brenda had realized her mistake, and turned quickly on her heel, Gally and Frypan following her. Teresa lingered behind, standing as if she wanted to say something to Thomas, but a ferocious glare from Minho sent her scurrying away with the others.
"C'mon man." Minho clapped his hand on Thomas's shoulder and led him towards Jorge's tent, all emotions from last night locked away in a box like usual with the Asian boy.
"Lemme get this straight, you wanna do what?" Jorge paced around the shack, his hands moving intricately as he spoke.
"They want to go on a death run!" Vince spoke through gritted teeth, his hands gripping either side of a table.
"No, that's not what we're saying-" Thomas started.
"Yes it is! You found the smallest, substantial proof, and you want to go running away into a torture facility to try and rescue a guy who may or may not be alive? You'll need an army behind you, and we did not spend all this effort trying to get here to be safe, just to die trying to rescue some insignificant Crank!"
Both Thomas and Minho lunged for the man, and Frypan managed to wrap his hands around Minho to stop him, but Thomas slammed Vince against the shack wall. Vince, caught completely off guard, looked fearful at the pure rage in the boy's eyes.
"Say that again." Thomas said through clenched teeth. "SAY IT AGAIN!" He shook the man a little, hands grabbing Vince's shirt.
"Thomas." Brenda said, her voice a combination of firm and gentle, that made Thomas release Vince and step back. Vince massaged his neck a little, and stepped away from the group. Jorge shot a disapproving glance at Thomas, but continued to stay quiet. The silence remained for another minute or so, until Minho spoke up.
"So, the answer is?"
"Do you guys even have a plan?" Jorge asked incredulously.
There was a pause. "No." Thomas responded. "That's why we came to you guys."
"You do know there's a very high probability that Newt is still dead, right?"
"He's not!" Teresa stepped forward. "I tested that syringe, it was used on Newt, and WCKD wouldn't waste it on someone who was-"
"I'm sure you are an expert of what WCKD does and doesn't do." Jorge said curtly, which caused Teresa's mouth to snap closed. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, I know how much Newt meant to you guys. How much he meant to all of us. But you have to understand that this is such a shot in the dark. There's no way that you'd even be able to find him, if we haven't found another WCKD headquarters. And I'm not putting these guys," he gestured out the door towards the crowd going about their days. "-into another war when they just got out of it. So I'm going to cut you guys a deal."
The breathing hitched in anticipation from the group of teenagers.
"We forgot some stuff on the last supply run. Some lady stuff… anyway, we'll make a detour when we go there tomorrow, and see if we see anything out of the ordinary, a'ight?"
"Jorge, you're not seriously considering-"
"Vince, we'll just look around. No harm in that. Put their minds at ease, if anything."
Vince huffed. "Fine. But-"
"We'll be careful." Jorge clapped him on the shoulder. "I'll meet y'all early tomorrow morning."
"Your attention please, attention. This is Eileen Dresnack, your second-in-command at FEUDING." The same squeaky women's voice blared over the loudspeaker, making Newt wince at the sheer volume. He had been awake for longer periods now, but he quickly found that he was less bored when he was asleep. There were only so many times you could count the ceiling tiles.
"Thanks to your non-stop tedious efforts, our ER technology is ready to be used!" Muted cheering and clapping erupted from the surrounding rooms. "Now that everything is in preparation, we will commence Phase 2. I repeat, Phase 2 is now in effect!" The loudspeaker shut off with a quiet hum, and for a second, all was quiet, until the doors to his room opened with a hiss. His nurse, Clarisse, came in, holding a needle.
Newt sighed. "I thought I got the serum yesterday."
"You did." she sat down on the chair next to the bed. "These are your nutrients."
"Why haven't I gotten them before?"
"You have, you're just usually asleep when you get them." She injected the needle swiftly into his arm. Newt made a small noise of discomfort.
"That didn't hurt."
"Anytime anybody comes to see me, it's to inject me with a bloody needle. I'm sorry if you think that my arm isn't a little sensitive to being stuck all the time."
"Well, it's either needles or Crank central. And if you'd like, I could skip out on the nutrients until you starve to death."
"That's not what I'm saying, I just...I'm a human being, not a shucking pincushion!"
"No you're not!" Clarisse hissed. "You're not a human being anymore. You lost that luxury as soon as we saved you from the city wreckage. You're a subject of FEUDING now, one that just happens to be annoying!"
They sat in fuming silence for a while.
"Can you tell me what that announcement was about?" Newt asked. The woman stood up diplomatically, pretending that she hadn't lost her cool about a minute ago. "Our technology is ready. Your part is coming soon. Then we can be rid of you."
She flounced out of the room dramatically. Newt sighed. He didn't remember knowing many 30 year old women, but this one was a prick. He didn't think he'd ever wish for Janson, but at least he would tell Newt what was going on. Coincidently, as soon as he finished the thought, the doors opened with a hiss, and Janson entered the room, followed by a squadron of soldiers. The arrogant smirk on his face as he was flanked with men in guns made him look more like his old self, and not a half-Crank.
His eye settled on Newt. "Newt," he said, and the smile he sent gave the British boy the chills. He walked over to the gurney, and Newt tried not to grimace. Janson leaned over him, and undid the bonds that had kept him strapped to the bed for 2 weeks. Newt was surprised at the unexpected gesture, but he gratefully stretched his arms and legs and moved into a more comfortable position on his side, as he wasn't strong enough to stand yet.
"Newt," Janson said, and for a moment, Newt had forgotten anyone was there, the relief was so immense.
"I'd like you to meet Adris." A young girl stepped forward, who couldn't be more than 9. She still had a bit of baby fat on her cheeks, and white blond hair tied back in a low ponytail.
"Hi!" she said, child eagerness written on every inch of her friendly face.
Newt smiled. "Hi."
"Too much small talk…" Janson muttered. He reached into his pocket, and not finding what he wanted, frowned, and fumbled with his other pocket. "Damn...must have left it in the office. C'mon." he gestured to his entourage to follow him out of the room.
"What about her?" one of the soldiers jerked his thumb toward Adris.
"They'll be fine for 10 minutes."
Janson left with the soldiers stomping behind him, leaving Newt alone with the young girl.
"So why are you here?" Newt asked, confused at the idea of a kid in a hate facility. Then a horrible thought struck him. "Rat Man's not your father, is he?"
The little girl giggled. "Rat Man?"
"He looks a little like a rat, doesn't he?"
Adris shook her head and giggled again. "Yeah. But no. My real parents died"
"Oh. I'm sorry."
She shrugged one shoulder. "They were sick for a while. Then one day I went into our kitchen and they tried to kill me. They had black eyes and veins and blood...it was scary. They chased me out of our apartment and were trying to attack me. Janson found me being chased by my parents and he killed them with his gun. It wasn't any better, cause he's kinda scary too." Her little face fell as she told the story, and Newt took her hand in his to comfort her, but decided to change the subject.
"How long have you been here?"
"Couple weeks or so. It's boring here. There's nothing to do except walk around and look at beeping things. Janson told me I'm leaving tomorrow though."
"Why? Where are you going?"
"I'm going on a mission." Adris looked super proud at saying that.
Newt cracked a smile. "Yeah?" Where are you going?"
"They're going to give me a secret package, and I'm going to deliver it to another group. They're going to be in some old city, and I have to give it to them and then be flown back. It's really important, they said." she nodded seriously. "I have to give it to someone named Thomas."
Newt's blood ran cold. "Thomas?"
"Yeah. They said I had to remember the name Thomas, so I did! Only give it to Thomas." Adris tapped her forehead.
Newt shot his arms out, using strength he didn't know he had, to grip the little girl's shoulders, and looked right in her eyes, all humour gone.
"Do you trust me, Adris?"
She studied his face for a while with big, innocent green eyes, and nodded 3 times. "You seem nice. But you talk kinda funny. We might have to work on that"
"Adris. I need you to promise me something. When you get to Thomas, stay with them. Do not come back here, alright?"
"Why?" Adris looked confused.
"These people are not nice people, Adris. They will hurt you. They have hurt lots of people. When you meet Tommy, you must stay with them. They will keep you safe. Because Janson will hurt you, use you. If you want to live, you must get as far away from here as possible."
The little girl didn't respond. Newt shook her shoulders gently. "Can you promise me that?"
She slowly nodded.
"Good." he released her shoulders. "Good."
Suddenly Janson and his men walked back in, and one of them gripped Adris tightly by the shoulders, lacking any gentleness Newt might have shown her. She looked genuinely frightened, and shot a glance back at Newt as she was ushered away, nodding slightly, confirming their agreement. Newt nodded back, and shot her a comforting smile, before he lost sight of her.
"Well then." The blonde boy's attention was diverted back to Janson, who stood with gloves on and a key in his hand. "Let's get to business, shall we?"
"Wait."
"Yes?" the half-Crank looked irritated.
"What does ER technology mean?"
Janson sighed and put the key down on a table. "It stands for Extraction-Replication. We couldn't use Thomas's blood until we had the technology to remove it and replicate it, which we now have. Now, we just need him."
Newt's eyes narrowed. "You'll never get him. Never."
"My dear Newton, that is where you come in."
Janson went to pick up the key again, and Newt had an impending sense of dread of what was to come, and felt the need to stall him. But he also genuinely wanted some answers.
"What about Adris?"
"Adris is a key part in this mission. She will deliver a package to Thomas that will, let's say, persuade him to come to us."
"What?" Newt was curious, despite not wanting to be.
"A videotape." Janson moved over to an overhead cabinet, and used his key to unlock it. The turn of the lock echoed ominously in the British boy's ears.
"We've observed Thomas enough to know that he will do whatever it takes to save his friends. Especially you." he pulled out a mysterious metal device that resembled the griever brain. "And if Thomas receives a video that shows you being tortured…" Janson pressed a button on it, and it made a whirring noise to show it was on. "It is clear that he will come quite willingly." Janson turned to face Newt, who tried to move away but was too weak, and was utterly horrified at the look of malicious glee on the leader's face. "Let us begin, shall we?"
PS: Adris is pronounced "Eh-Dris." Like the letter A, then Dris.
But stay tuned for Chapter 7!