Chapter 3

The sun rises whilst we're on the road. I took over driving a while back. Thomas and Newt were both passed out in the back and I could tell Fry was getting tired, so I offered to take over. It took a bit of persuading but after a while Fry let up and let me drive. We had been following Tom's map towards the city, but it didn't feel like we were getting any closer. The van was silent, apart from the soft snores coming from the 3 boys surrounding me and the rumbling of the engine. I knew that we were heading into a world of trouble, but I couldn't help but feel at peace. Out on the road, freedom, my family surrounding me. It was a twisted sort of peace, but peace all the same.

A couple of hours after I took over driving, we come across a tunnel. I stop the car and wake the boys. Whilst they are rubbing the sleep from their eyes, I get out of the van and stretch my legs. Leaning against the bonnet I eye the tunnel. I don't like it. Big, creepy, dark tunnel, when we are running from creatures that like to hide in big, creepy, dark spaces. Uh uh, not my idea of a good time.

"You want us to go in there?" Newt comes to stand beside me, pointing at the tunnel. Thomas comes to stand on my other side, studying the map. Fry has itched forward a bit to get a better look. "I don't wanna come across as too negative, but if I was a Crank, that's exactly where I would be." I take his hand and give it a squeeze. The tension that had gathered in his hitched shoulders, eases a little at my touch, but not by much. He is still looking at Thomas. I keep my eye on the tunnel not willing to take my eyes off it for more than a second.

"I don't think we have much of a choice," Thomas mutters, looking at us apologetically. I take a big sigh.

"All right. I get shotgun." Newt announces before heading round to the other side of the car. "Fry, you're in the back." Fry gives a big nod and heads to the back of the car. I stay and keep my eyes on the tunnel. Thomas stands next to me.

"If this goes wrong…" Thomas whispers to me, before trailing off. I turn to look at him and take his hand.

"We'll deal with it. Whatever is in there, if it's our fastest way to Minho, then that's what we must do. Okay?" I give his hand a squeeze and jump back into the driving seat. Newt gives me a tight smile to which I respond in kind before starting up the engine again.


We slowly head into the tunnel, keeping our eyes peeled. I flick the main car lights on whilst the boys hang torches out the window so we can see what's in front of us.

"Well, here we go," Newt keeps his voice low and quiet.

"Yeah, just take it nice and slow," Thomas echoes his tone from the back. We drive slowly through the tunnel, making our way around the other stationary cars.

"They must have been abandoned. I wonder what happened?" I wonder. It was sad, looking round at the carcasses of engines that were once used by people trying to escape. I sigh gently before Newt shouts,

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I slam my foot on the break bringing us to an immediate stop. In front of us a crank has walked out from behind an old bus. My breathing quickens.

"It's okay," Thomas puts a hand on my shoulder. "It's just one, so take it slow, go around him." I roll my eyes in frustration.

"Why did you have to say that! It's definitely not gonna just be one now," I hiss at him. He looks at me apologetically.

"We'll be fine. Take it slow. Take it slow," Newt murmurs beside me. I gently inch the car forward, not wanting to make too much noise. A loud bang and a gasp from Fry and Thomas make me jam on the brakes again and turn around.

"Please. Please. Help me. Please." A lady bangs on the window of the car, wild eyes flashing panic. "Please! Let me in." I blow out a stuttered breath trying to calm my frantic heartbeat, before turning back around and getting ready to drive.

"Okay. Kira, we gotta go," Fry calls from the back as another crank starts banging on his side. I look ahead and see 15 or 20 cranks coming out of their hiding spots, surrounding us.

"Please! Open the door!" The lady is screaming now.

"You need to go right now!" Thomas shouts. I try to calm my nerves as I watch the crank in front of me run straight at us.

"Why won't you open it?" Her screams ring in my ears.

"Just floor it, Kira!" Thomas shouts again and this time I listen.

"Hold on!" I scream, as I press down the accelerator. The car jerks forward and we surge straight into the crank in front. He clings to the bonnet of the car screaming and trying the punch the windscreen.

"Floor it! Come on!" Fry screams.

"What do you think I'm doing!" I scream back at him. The crank starts to punch at the windscreen frantically, cracks starting to appear.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Newt shouts, frantically prepping his gun.

"Come on, Kira, shake him!" Fry shouts from the back.

"What the hell do you think I'm doing?" I scream, swerving the car back and forth, trying to shake the crank off.

"KIRA!" Newt cries.

"I'm trying!" The tunnel flies past us so quickly that I can barely see what's ahead. I swerve to the edge of the tunnel and the crank flies off the bonnet but grips onto my window. He punches it causing glass to fly into my lap. A sharp sting on my face alerts me to the blood now dripping down my cheek onto my arm. I blink back the tears starting to form in my eyes before noticing something shiny sticking out into my path. A ladder! It's sticking out of an old van up ahead. Perfect!

"Hang on!" I scream and I feel Newt grip my arm. I swerve almost into the van and pull away last second causing the ladder to hit the crank and knock him off the window. I let out a small laugh in relief and flick my eyes to Newt. He grins at me before a cry behind me brings my attention back to the road.

"Oh, God. Kira, watch out!" Thomas screams. Before I can do anything to correct us, the car's left wheels fly up a ramp on the road causing the car to fly off at an angle, tipping us onto our side and crashing to the floor sideways. My head smacks the floor as the car scrapes to a stop. I blink the black spots away from my eyes before stretching my body to make sure nothing was badly injured. A small twinge in my side caused me to groan.

"Everyone okay?" Thomas called from the back.

I open my eyes, that I hadn't even realised I'd closed, confused for a second as to why we were now upside down.

"Kira, cover your eyes," Thomas calls from behind me. I do as he says and hear him kicking out the back window so he and Fry can get out. As soon as I hear him get out, I start banging on the door to try and get it open. It's stuck. I look over to Newt.

"Are you okay?" I whisper. Newt nods at me whilst banging on his own door.

"Are you? You're bleeding," He says. I nod.

"The glass, from the window." He nods again and angrily kicks at his door with his foot. This time the door goes flying, almost hitting Thomas.

"Newt, you all right?" I could hear Thomas and Newt talking as I wiggle my way towards the open door. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," I hear Newt say before his face pops down by the door and his outstretched arm reaches for me. I gratefully take it and let Newt help me out of the car. As soon as I'm out, Newt wraps me in a hug.

"You okay? Any injuries?" His eyes flick over me, coming to a stop at my face now covered in blood. I suppose a bleeding face and a tumbling car will leave you looking pretty rough. I grab his hands.

"I'm okay. It's not as bad as it looks. I promise." He nods gently and seems like he's about to say something but the screeching of a crank tears our gaze away from each other and down the tunnel. A crank runs full pelt at us, screeching.

"Frypan, I think we gotta move," Thomas shouts but Fry instead ducks back into the car clearly searching for something.

"Now Fry!" I scream backing away as quickly as possible from the oncoming crank.

"Wait a minute!" Fry shouts from inside the car.

"Right now!"

"Fry, now! Come on, what are you doing?"

"We gotta move! Come on!" Newt, Thomas and I all shout at once. Our calls seem to fall on deaf ears as Fry continues rummaging.

"FRYPAN!" I shout. The crank is almost on top of us now, but before any of us can say anything else, Fry pulls himself out of the car, shotgun in hand and shoots the crank dead. I let out a shaky breath, whilst Thomas pats Fry on the shoulder.

"Nice shot, Fry."

"Thanks," He murmurs, not taking his eyes off the dead crank. Our relief is short lived when cranks start piling over the cars heading straight towards us. Fry tries to shoot them, but I grab his jacket and pull him off running with us. We continue running down the tunnel but come to a halt when in front of us, a heard of cranks comes towards us. We're surrounded! Fry starts shooting again, Thomas directing him. Newt grabs my hand.

"We can't outshoot them. There's too many and we have one shotgun!" I shout at the boys, looking for a way out, just hoping that backup would arrive in time.

"Not anymore," Fry cries, "I'm out!"

"Fuck!" I shout, pulling him back towards us. I look down the tunnel in the direction we come from. "Now would be a really good time for that backup!" I shout really hoping they won't be too late.

"What the hell are you talking about!" Thomas shouts at me. Before I can answer a loud horn blares as Jorge and Brenda come charging through the cranks, in Jorge's baby.

"Yes!" I shout as they come to a stop next to us. Brenda pops out the top, gun in hand and starts shooting.

"Hey, get in!" She shouts at us, and we don't need telling twice. We jump in the back and Jorge speeds off.

"Go, Jorge, go!" Fry shouts as I settle into my seat. I grin at Jorge through the mirror.

"I'm impressed! You guys almost lasted a whole day," Jorge quips, I smirk at his sass.

"You good?" Thomas asks Newt and I. I nod my head giving Newt's hand a little squeeze.

"Yeah," We both say. Brenda turns around in her seat and stares at Thomas. He sighs.

"I'm sorry. I didn't wanna bring you guys into this." Brenda flicks her eyes to me and I raise an eyebrow.

"I think what he's trying to say is thanks for saving us," Fry interrupts. She rolls her eyes.

"It's not us you should thank." The boys look at each other seriously confused. "If Kira hadn't told us what was going on before you guys left, we wouldn't have been here to save your asses." Three pairs of eyes shot to me. I shrug.

"Look, we all knew what Thomas's plan was. I figured we could use some surprise back up." Silence. Thomas stared at me in shock. "You're pretty easy to read." I shrug again. A whoop of laugher from the back, causes us to turn and look at Fry.

"Classic Kira…" He trails off into small giggles. I roll my eyes and look back at the other boys. Thomas has a small grin and Newt looks…proud?

"What?" I ask him. He says nothing but puts an arm around my shoulder, pulls me in and kisses my head.

"Classic Kira." He mutters, "Queen of the backup plan." I smirk at his musing before resting my head on his shoulder. "Just in case, eh?" I chuckle quietly.

"Thank you, Kira," Thomas speaks gently.

"You're welcome."

"Hey, don't wanna burst your bubble but I wouldn't get your hopes up. That checkpoint back there, that was the city's last defence. If that was overrun, chances are the city is, too." Jorge states from the front.

I feel Newt shift next to me before speaking. "Yeah, unless they figured out some other way to keep the Cranks out." I turn to follow his eyeline and see what he was talking about. A perfect city, skyscrapers and lights, surrounded by massive sloped walls.

"Oh my God!" I mutter, stating at it. The sun blinks of the city of metal and glass making it almost glow. Jorge has obviously seen what we're talking about and brings the car to an emergency stop. We all pile out the car and stare at the city before us.

"Funny... Spent three years trapped behind walls, trying to break out, and now we wanna break back in." Newt speaks in a completely deadpan voice, clearly not finding the situation funny at all.

"Yeah. It's hilarious," Fry calls from the back of the car.

"Jorge, how do we get in?" Thomas asks. Jorge shrugs.

"Don't look at me, hermano. Those walls are new. I guess that's WICKED's answer for everything."

Brenda sighs. "Well, we ain't gonna figure it out from up here. Let's go!" She, Jorge and Fry get back into the car, leaving Newt, Thomas and I continuing to stare. I think we're all thinking the same thing.

"You really think he's in there?" Newt wonders aloud.

"I guess we'll find out." Thomas answers, although I think we all already knew the answer. He was in there. I could feel it.

"You know she's gonna be there, too." Newt finishes. I look over at Thomas who says nothing but the increasing tightness in his jaw showed that he was not okay with that. We all get back in the car, and Jorge steams off towards the city.


We park up just in the outskirts and head in, following the mass of people who seem to be heading towards the centre. It's been a long time since I've been surrounded by this many people, and my chest starts to tighten at the realisation. The crowds push at us, almost managing to separate us. I grab Newt's hand so as not to lose him. He grips my hand back and gives me a slightly worried look. I attempt to give him a reassuring smile, but it's strained at best.

"This place has really gone through hell," Jorge mutters to himself, looking at our derelict surroundings. People are sat on the floor, surrounded by all their belongings, clearly having nowhere else to go. "We just gotta stay together." A loud noise startles me, making me turn. A large car, with armed people sat on it is moving its way through the crowds.

The guy on top has a megaphone and is shouting at the crowd. "We are the voice of the voiceless! They hide behind their walls, thinking they can keep the cure for themselves, while they watch the rest of us wither and rot! But there are more of us than there are of them. And I say, we rise up and take back what is ours! Let's bring back a victory!" Most are wearing masks and as the car moves past us, one of the masked men seems to notice us. He keeps his eyes on us as the car pulls away. That's probably not good. We follow the crowds and come around a corner, finally seeing what all the fuss is about. The crowds are surrounding a checkpoint, in front of a massive gate into the walled city.

"Let us in!" The crowds scream. I look around at the sheer amount of people here. Are WICKED cutting themselves off from everyone. All these people clearing struggling and WICKED are all sitting pretty in there? My heart rate quickens in anger. Maybe those masked guys are right. Maybe a revolution is exactly what needs to happen. People are dying out here every day and WICKED doesn't care at all. These are the people they claim to be trying to protect, and they are just letting them die!

"That's it. That's our way in," Thomas shouts at us, over the noise of the protesters. He starts pushing his way through the crowd trying to get towards the gate. We all rush after him, making sure to keep him in our sights. I shoot a look backwards and see the masked guy from the car still watching us. I decide to follow Thomas but keep that guy in my peripheral.

"Let us in! Let us in! Let us in! Let us in!" The crowd chants loudly. How long has this been going on for?

Jorge manages to reach Thomas, and grabs his arm turning him to face him. "Thomas! This is not what you're looking for. All these people trying to find their way in, you think you're gonna find something they can't?"

Thomas huffs and says, "Came this far. I'm not turning back now," before rushing towards the gate again. I roll my eyes frustrated and we follow again. As we move through the crowd, a whirring above us catches my attention. Drones up ahead seem to be watching the crowd. I pull the hood to my jacket up over my face, but I fear it's too late. If WICKED know were here, we are screwed.

"What the hell did we get ourselves into?" Fry murmurs to Newt, Brenda and I, looking round at the angry crowd. I don't answer, because I don't know either.

"Get out of my way! Get out of my way!" Jorge shouts as we reach the front. I hang back keeping my eye on the masked guys who seem to be surrounding us. "Thomas, this doesn't feel right."

I watch as the masked men keep moving towards us, all watching us now. I look over at Newt who seems to have caught them as well. I give him a sharp nod as he runs towards the others.

"Hey, guys, we gotta go now. Look." I see the group turn around and finally notice the approaching men. I stumble backwards towards them, when a loud groaning coming from the wall, silences the crowd. We all watch as machine guns come out form the tops of the wall and face the crowd. I grab the back of Newt's coat.

"WE HAVE TO MOVE, NOW!" I scream as the crowd around us starts to panic.

"Let's go, let's go!" I hear the masked guy standing behind me start to usher people away from the barricade. A flash of familiarity hits me like a train. I know that voice. I'd know that voice anywhere. But he can't be here. He can't be. He died. A million thoughts barrage through my head, but a loud bang and a hand pulling me away, brings me back to reality. The guns have started to shoot at the crowd.

"Thomas, let's go. We gotta get out of here!" Jorge shouts as we start to run. I have no idea where we are going, but we run as fast as we can. Huge explosions light up the street as people get flung around from the impacts. I keep hold of Newt's hand and run. My eyes flick around and I realise I'm looking for the masked guy. If I'm right about his identity (and I really hope I am) then maybe they are on our side. We run down a side street and are narrowly missed by another shot. I turn to make sure that Thomas and Brenda are following and run straight into a hard chest. The person grabs my arms and pulls me into a van. Thomas and Brenda are pushed in after me, followed by 3 masked guys. The van's door is slammed shut and pulls away at a very high speed. I eye Thomas and Brenda asking, "You guys okay?" They nod quickly.

"No talking," The guy in the middle snaps. I hold back a smile. I am right. It's definitely him. I narrow my eyes at him, before giving him a quick wink. I can't see his reaction due to the mask, but the silence tells me all I need to know. I take a deep sigh and rest my head against the side of the van, closing my eyes.