The car ride was uncomfortable, to say the least. Gally had claimed the front seat next to Jorge, and Thomas was wedged between Teresa and Brenda. Frypan sat next to Brenda, and Minho did not look pleased about his current seating position next to Teresa.
"We'll be inside the City in about 10 minutes!" Jorge called to the rest of the car. "Keep your eyes peeled for anything helpful or suspicious!"
"This ride can't be over soon enough…" Minho muttered. Teresa shot him a frown, which he pretended not to see. Thomas kept his eyes trained forward. It was awkward enough having to sit between the two girls. Gally looked backwards and caught Thomas's eye, smirked, and winked.
10 awkward minutes later, the truck parked just outside the borders. "Keep in mind kids, that this is dangerous territory. Vince is already skeptical about this, so let's make a few rules. Number one, nobody goes off alone. Number two, always have your gun ready to shoot if necessary. Number three, don't go into any buildings. Number four, I'm taking the car. This is not my mission, so I'm sure as hell not walking."
The car murmured its agreements, and it peeled off into the city remains.
Gally had joined with Frypan, and Brenda happened to be walking in the same direction as Thomas, so it left Teresa to be paired with Minho. He openly expressed his contempt with the situation, by rolling his eyes and glaring.
"Minho seemed less than happy to be paired with Teresa." Brenda commented as she and Thomas stepped over rubble.
"You think?"
"I don't think anyone really wants to be paired up with her anymore. I feel kind of bad for her, to be honest."
"Me too, but…"
"Yeah."
Thomas kicked at a stone by his toe. "What exactly are we looking for, anyway?"
"Jorge said something suspicious. But how do we know that we're looking in the Last City?" WCKD could have headquarters anywhere."
"Yeah, and suspicious could mean a lot of things."
Brenda crouched and inspected the underside of a fallen concrete slab, then recoiled. "There is a literal arm under there." she said, shuddering.
Suddenly, an angry shout rang out across the clearing. "Minho?"
"C'mon, there could be Cranks or something!" Brenda grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the direction of the noise. They came to the spot the same time Gally and Frypan did, and found Minho in a screaming match with Teresa.
"You watched them torture me, did nothing! You got me kidnapped! And now you want us to be friends, just so you can get a better shot of hooking up with my best friend? You have to be out of your shucking mind!"
"You don't think I felt bad, Minho?!"
"Obviously not enough to help me?!"
"ENOUGH!" Gally roared. He stepped in between them. "You want every Crank in the city to come here? Does dying sound like a fun time, or do you actually want to find Newt?"
The silence that followed was deafening.
"That's what I thought."
Thomas stepped away from the group, the tense dynamic pressuring him. He bit on his lip as he studied the clearing. All that could be seen was burnt, collapsed, or wrecked in some kind of way. It would be impossible to find any kind of functioning headquarters in this place, let alone one person.
"You alright Thomas?" Gally asked, his voice dipping.
Thomas turned back around. He couldn't tell if it was the dust hazy air, or his tears that were making his vision blurry "It's going to be hard enough to find him. Don't make it harder. We need to work together. I want us to focus on getting our goal, not having to police you guys."
Teresa nodded, her eyes downcast. Minho mumbled an apology, but couldn't meet the eyes of anyone.
"Thomas is right, you guys." Brenda agreed. He nodded his thanks to her.
"Your name is Thomas?" A voice from behind him made him jump
"Jesus!" Thomas exclaimed, putting a hand to his chest.
A small girl stood there, covered in dust and bleeding from various scrapes on her legs and hands. She looked the epitome of innocence with blond hair and round cheeks.
"I didn't even hear her approach," Brenda whispered to Gally, who looked just as confused as the rest of them. Thomas knelt down in front of the girl.
"Yeah, I'm Thomas."
"Are you okay?" Minho asked, concerned about the blood leaking from her knees.
"Where are your parents?" Teresa asked.
"What are you doing wandering around here by yourself?"
"Are you immune?"
"How'd you know the name Thomas?"
The little girl ignored the questions firing around her, and focused only on Thomas. "I have a message." she said, and withdrew a large capsule from around her neck. It was rectangular in shape, and must have been heavy, as the rope it was tied to made red marks on her neck. She handed it on to Thomas, who hesitated, and looked into her face. He had never seen such a serious look on a girl that age before.
"Thanks," he said, and took it.
"He said you could keep me safe."
"Who did?"
"He said they were bad, and you were good. Is that true? Are you good?"
"Who said?"
"Will you keep me safe?"
Thomas's heart broke a little at the fear written over the blonde's face. "Yes, we are good. We'll keep you safe."
Brenda stepped forward and wrapped the little girl in a hug. "C'mere kiddo," and she stepped in willingly. "What's your name, hon?"
"Adris."
"Well Adris, let's get you out of here, okay? We'll get you safe and warm, with some food in your little belly." She poked Adris's stomach, who giggled.
"What about Newt?" Thomas asked indignantly.
"Thomas." Brenda stood up. "You cannot tell me that you want to keep her out here?"
"No, I'm saying that we came all this way to find Newt, and we're not just going to leave!"
"Newt?" Adris asked, but everyone was too busy arguing to hear her.
"We can always come back Thomas, but she-"
"No Brenda, Jorge said we have today, today only to find something, and we know that-"
"Brenda, we can't leave without knowing something!"
"Minho…"
"Shut up Gally!"
"HEY!" Adris yelled, and all eyes turned towards the 9 year old.
"What Newt are you talking about?" she asked. "Cause I know one too. He was with me at the scary place."
Minho knelt down next to her and gently put his hand on her shoulder. "Can you describe your Newt?"
Adris nodded fast. "He had blond hair, and they called him Newt. I talked to him, and he talked kinda funny"
"What did he say to you?" Brenda asked.
"He told me when I carried out my mission, I had to stay with you guys. That those guys were mean and you were nice. He said to stay with 'Tommy'." She looked at Thomas. "Is that you? I thought your name was Thomas."
Thomas couldn't breathe. He was alive. Oh my god Newt was alive. Proof. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off his chest, and he could finally breathe freely.
"What mission?" Teresa asked. The others looked confused and slightly concerned as well.
Adris pointed to the box in Thomas's hands. "The scary guys sent me out to find Thomas and give you that. And then come back. But Newt told me to stay with you. So I dunno what I do now…"
"It's okay, you're going to stay with us." Brenda reassured her. Then all eyes moved to Thomas, as he looked at the box in his hands. It was heavy in hand, a black rectangle attached to a frayed piece of twine. He opened it slowly, the click echoing around the empty concrete clearing. But all that was in there was a small screen, with a single button on the front. The others gathered around behind him, and watched over his shoulder as he clicked the button. The screen flickered on, and a woman with sleek white blond hair and a turned up nose appeared.
"Hello Thomas. My name is Eileen Dresnack." The woman's voice was very high, and everyone flinched as it blared through the video.
"If you're watching this, then Adris has completed her mission. Don't forget Adris, to return to the meeting spot." All eyes turned to the little girl, and her eyes went wide in fear as she frantically shook her head.
"As you know, Thomas, that WCKD has been destroyed. What you don't know is that we had a separate branch, one that is dedicated to saving the elite of society, one that will sell the cure to those who can pay large sums for it. We call it FEUDING. And with the fall of WCKD, the Flare Easing Utopian Department Inside New Governments has risen.
A young WCKD scientist has proven how valuable you are to our efforts. How you provide the key. And we want you Thomas. We want the cure."
Thomas hissed under his breath. Just when they extinguished the frying pan, the fire had to rage.
"From past observation, we know you won't come willingly unless you have some kind of incentive. I'd like to introduce you to your incentive."
The video followed Eileen as she walked down a hallway, one that resembled WCKD headquarters greatly, but Thomas could have sworn he'd been there before. As she continued to walk forward, muffled screams grew louder, ones of pure anguish, that caused all of the observers' hearts to squeeze. Glass doors hissed open, and they could see a body on a gurney, writhing in agony, screaming. A man had his back to the camera, and a nurse stood with a look of sick glee on her face at the metal instrument that she was pressing into the skin of the boy.
"Thomas, I believe you know this boy." Eileen stepped aside, and the identity of the boy was revealed.
Thomas's stomach lurched.
It was Newt.
He was screaming his throat raw, his eyes squeezed tightly, trying to curl up on himself, but restraints prevented him from doing so. There was blood flowing from so many wounds, but the distinct hum of electricity coming from the probe was what really made Thomas's heart stop.
The nurse removed the probe, and Newt moaned, moving his head to the side, and Thomas could see the sickening black veins that still snaked their way up his neck. They could hear his laboured breathing, watching the unsteady rise and fall of his chest.
"Newt," Eileen's squeaky voice cut through the silence. "Say hello to Thomas."
Newt opened his eyes slowly, and if eyes really were windows to the soul, then Newt's very soul was screaming in agony. But he looked straight at the camera, locked eyes directly with Thomas through the screen.
"Don't you dare come Tommy," he said, his voice shaking with pain and anger. "Don't you dare bloody come. Don't let them get you." The nurse frowned and pressed the probe in again, and he howled. He only took a break in his screaming to yell "Run Tommy, run!" and then the screen faded to black.
Aww...poor Newt! I hope the story isn't going too slowly, but I don't like to rush things. I think you can expect it to pick up a little in the next 1-2 chapters.