Is it too Late?

Sonya and her group's search for her brother were long and frightening with every second that passed. Aris's heart had jumped too many times from all the sudden screeches from Cranks leaping out from dark corners to try and kill them. Lawrence as the only grown-up took care of them very easily. Still, they searched but still constantly, they saw no glimpse of the British boy with blonde hair who wore his lover's pendant.

"Come on Newt," lamented Sonya. "Please be here,"

Sensing her despondency, Aris reached over and held her hand tightly. She took in her comforting space. "We're gonna find him. And we're gonna cure him. I promise,"

Sonya managed to smile a little as she sniffled her nose.

Harriet walked ahead of them towards a silent doorway with no door. She peeped around the cracked edges. "Guys…" she spoke carefully. "I think we've found him,"

Sonya instantly rushed over and looked ahead. She saw Newt huddled in the corner. But he didn't look the same as before. He had black drool dripping from his lips. His eyes were nearly hollow black. Black veins were crawling visibly under his skin. She instantly felt her eyes wet and her hand flew to her mouth. Aris grasped her shoulders in comfort. Lawrence glanced cautiously across to the nearly-transformed boy. He looked lymphatically at Sonya. "I'm sorry Sonya but he's gone too far,"

Sonya's heartbreak hardened. "No," she wiped her nose. "We're not leaving without him," Releasing herself from Aris's strong hands, she approached her brother huddling 50 feet away from her, trying to allow the shadows of the room behind him to swallow him from her sight. "Newt, it's me,"

Newt released a choked word from his black lips. "Leave," he begged. "leave!"

"I didn't get separated from you just to lose you again," Sonya still approached him. Aris and Harriet were scared. Lawrence cocked his gun but Harriet pressed its barrel down to the floor, shaking her head. "Just look at me. Focus on my voice,"

"Please," tears leaked out Newt's swollen eyes. "Please. Just go,"

"I'm not gonna leave you," Sonya shook her head, releasing tears of her own. "You're my brother. And family means we stick together,"

Newt shuffled back away from her faster than she was approaching him with a cautious pace. "I don't wanna hurt you,"

"You would never hurt me," she said. "And you would never hurt Thomas either,"

Newt clutched his pendant.

"Our friends rescued us. Edward is rescuing Thomas. We'll all be together again,"

Her talking calmed Newt down and she managed to get close enough to him. "Please. Come with me," she held out her hand.

Newt wouldn't take it. But his eyes remained glued to hers. He reached for it. But then he suddenly lunged at her with his mouth.

"Sonya!" Aris cried.

Lawrence tried to shoot but Harriet pushed the gun just as he pulled the trigger. The bullet grazed Newt's ears and he shrieked aggressively in pain. Sonya shuffled back in shock, watching her brother behave like a wild animal. Lawrence prepared another one but she quickly stopped him. "No!"

"Sonya! Your brother is a Crank now! There's nothing you can do!"

Sonya looked ahead and saw her brother standing up, eying all four of them aggressively, blood raining down his ear and damping his clothes. He snared black-covered teeth, and her tears fell. Was it too late?

Newt charged at them. Harriet swiped her gun and bashed him in the head. "Sorry!" he felt like she had to say that.

Newt attacked again. And again. Everyone kept shuffling back whilst Sonya kept Lawrence from shooting him. But just then, Aris saw a solution. He saw a net made of chains dumped in the corner. Quickly he grabbed it and threw it over the Crank who aggressively tried biting the chains. "Get him down!"

Lawrence pinned Newt to the ground. Then grabbing some more chains, he bound his hands and legs and then found a muzzle which he covered his mouth with. He stood up. Newt was now captured, chained like a captured beast. Sonya fell to her knees, crying into her hands. Harriet and Aris knelt beside her, hugging her tightly.

"We can't leave him," she sniffled.

Lawrence wanted to disagree but then he remembered Thomas, and how it was because of him and Edward that the Right Arm existed. They owed it to them. And all those teens they rescued loved Newt. And Edward's team had promised they would reclaim all the serum they could. "We'll take him with us," he decided. "But if he goes for the kill, I won't have a choice,"

Thomas, Edward and Amelia dashed through the shiny hallways but they heard Janson and all the guards gaining on them. "In here!" Amelia pushed the boys into a separate room and then shut the door tightly, locking it and then barricading it with tables and drawers of metal.

The boys looked around but all that was behind them were tall giant windows. "Great," Thomas cursed. 'Just great,"

"Well, I didn't see you come up with any ideas," challenged Amelia.

"Guys, we need to find Hans and Jorge," reminded Edward. "He's the only one that can help us unlock the message," When he said that he noticed the change in Thomas's face. "What?" His brother looked into his eyes with a blank expression. "No," he realised what he was saying. "They can't be,"

"I don't know what happened to Jorge. But Hans was killed in front of my eyes," Thomas released a tear. "It's my fault. I did this to him,"

"No," Amelia quickly hugged him. "You didn't do this. It was because of him and you that WICKED didn't find what your father hid. His death wasn't in vain. He saved us out there,"

Edward wanted to cry but the banging of doors made his heart jump.

"You can't hide in there forever brothers!" mocked the cruel Janson.

"What do we do?" panicked Edward. No sooner had he said that they heard loud shears coming from outside the door. Then the next thing they saw were sparks flying out through the thin gaps between the door frames. No way out. No escape.

Thomas looked around. He walked over to the giant windows and looked down. A giant pool lay at the bottom of the outside driveway just outside the WICKED building. "I've got a plan. We're gonna need to crack this open," He looked around and saw a perfect item.

He and Edward smashed the giant cylinder of gas against the glass and it cracked the entire middle window. They watched as the heavy item landed in the giant pool many floors below with a splash. Now all they had to do was jump. They stood back five meters.

"You sure about this?" Amelia asked.

"Not really," he confessed.

"Nice pep talk," replied his brother sarcastically. "Way to boost our spirits brother,"

"Hey. You guys came here to save me and the others. Might as well keep your motives up,"

Clang! Bang! The door busted open.

The three sprinted before the soldiers could get them. They leapt out of the window and screamed as gravity pulled them hundreds of feet downwards and they landed with a pair of massive splashes and sploshes into the water below.

Janson scurried to the windowpane and peered down. No heads came up. Jerry entered the room and was appalled to see what had happened hence the broken glass. "You lost them?" he berated his dad who didn't pay attention. He eyed the pool below.

Seconds later, three heads plopped above the surface. The boys covered whilst Amelia wiped some hair out of her face and spat out some water. They peered up and saw Janson, Jerry and the soldiers eying them sinisterly. The brothers pulled a pair of mocking faces at them which heated Jerry to the core. They swam to the pool ledge and climbed up. Amelia stammered a little so Edward helped her.

Suddenly they heard the cocking of guns. "Get down on the ground now!" a soldier in a squadron of four ordered. The trio froze. Just when they had escaped a noose, they were about to get another one. Edward slowly tried to reach for a back gun but he was spotted.

"Don't even think about it!" the soldier answered again. "Put your hands up!"

The three did nothing but hold their hands up.

"I'm sorry Tom," Edward felt like he had failed his brother.

"At least we'll be together," said Thomas with hope.

Just as the soldiers approached them with cuffs, one of them instantly turned his gun on them and electrocuted them in less than three seconds. The three became tense. The soldiers approached them and pulled off his mask.

"Jorge!" Edward rushed over and hugged his friend cheering for joy. "Thank goodness,"

"You're a tough man to kill Jorge," complimented Amelia.

Jorge chuckled and they grouped. "Glad to see you made it out Hermano," he said to Thomas. He eyed Edward eagerly. "Is Brenda…"

"She's safe," he promised. "With everyone else," he clasped his brother's shoulder. "Tom, Aris, and a few others went to the Crank Palace to get Newt and Minho and Gally to have all the serum WICKED harvested,"

Thomas blinked. "Gally's alive?"

"It's a long story," Amelia quickly explained. Noticing the tense muscles tightening under his neck, she spoke calmly, "When you see him, don't kill him. It wasn't his fault for what he did to Ed,"

"He helped us break inside to save you. And without him, Minho and the others wouldn't have been reunited with us," Edward answered. "He and I have sorted things out,"

Thomas still didn't say anything.

"We gotta go now guys," urged Jorge. "It's now or never," He led them over to a huge black WICKED car. They immediately boarded and Jorge activated the engine and drove them away from the building. Edward looked out and he saw Jerry shooting out through the front doors. He growled in rage seeing them escape and Edward smirked and waved adue to him.

Minho and Gally sneaked around the building searching for their friends, hoping that somehow they had managed to find a way. They couldn't risk being captured in the building with the alarm going off and so many soldiers scouting on every level. "Come on Lia," Minho kept praying. "Come on,"

"Duck!" Gally pushed him behind a column. They pepped around and they saw soldiers boarding jeeps and trucks; Jerry amongst them.

"Catch the brothers," he ordered menacingly. "They're heading towards the Crank Palace. And catch the bus of immunes. Kill any members of the Right Arm you see!"

Minho and Gally felt their hearts jump. They watched as the squadron of trucks drove at a fast pace onto the roads and into the city. Gally looked around and saw two soldiers near a car. "Bingo," Quickly he electrocuted the men and he instantly boarded the driver's seat with Minho in toe.

"Can you get this to drive?" Minho asked.

"Just give me a minute," Gally looked at the lever and the foot pedals.

"How hard can it be?" the former runner spat impatiently.

"Don't rush me," Gally retorted. "Ah ha," he managed to figure out how to start the car and it began to move. "Yes!"

Suddenly it stalled and he had to do a slow start again. Minho rolled his eyes and kept ushering him to keep driving. Gally managed to make it move and pressing the accelerating pedal managed to keep a good distance behind Jerry's band of jeeps which were now following after the brothers and their friends.

Lawrence and Aris carried the chained Crank Newt out of the Crank Palace. They loaded him into the jeep, regrettably in the back with handcuffs to hold him in place. Sonya couldn't stop crying every second she heard a growl or a snarl from her animalistic brother.

Aris hugged her. "I'm so sorry Sonya,"

"What if it's too late?" she grieved. "What if he'll never be my brother again?"

"We can't give up," said Harriet. "Once we're all safe, we'll watch Stephen's message and we'll find out how to bring him back,"

"Guys, we've gotta go now," pressed Lawrence. "The others will be out by now and we've gotta blow up the wall to escape. Come on,"

Everyone squeezed into the front and he started the engine and drove off. Sonya peered through to the bag and his brother's black eyes. Though they held no humanity within them, she saw the tears pouring from behind his irises; he was still there. He was still her brother and Thomas's true love.

Thomas held onto his brother tightly, wanting to suck every bit of warmth from feeling the only member of his family that he had in his arms. "Thank you guys,"

"I'm just so glad you're here now," said Edward. "I just the others made it,"

"We'll find them," assured Amelia. "I'll try and contact them. Hopefully, they'll meet us at the rendezvous point and we can make it out of the city just after the wall blows," she pulled out a walkie-talkie.

Thomas's eyes enlarged. "No. Guys…we need to go to the Crank Palace!"

"Tom, it's all right. Aris, the girls, and a new friend Lawrence went to the Crank Palace to get him. And hopefully, Gally and Minho had managed to get every drop of serum from WICKED's storage. We'll find a way to help him," he gripped his hand tightly. "We'll save him. I promise,"

Thomas held back his tears but Edward could sense how frightened he was and hugged him to comfort him.

Whilst he was driving, Jorge peeped out of the side window. He saw black cars behind them. "Uh oh,"

Edward overheard him. "What do you mean uh oh?"

"Looks like we're in for a car chase. Buckle up everyone,"

"We're already buckled up,"

"Well then hold on tight!' Jorge pushed the accelerating pedals harder and the brothers and Amelia felt their heads slam against the headrests. Peering up into the centre mirror above their heads, Thomas saw the WICKED cars behind them and Amelia looked into the side mirror and saw Jerry's callous face staring out through a windshield in a car only thirty feet back which was about to collide behind them.

Brenda drove the bus with Chuck and all the children at a quick pace. "We're nearly at the rendezvous point. We'll pick up Lawrence and the others and get out of sight before the wall blows,"

"I just hope Edward made it out," Chuck prayed.

"I know he did," Brenda believed hopefully.

"You like him. Don't you," teased Chuck.

"Course I do. We're friends,"

"No. I mean like…like…"

"We are not talking about this when we're trying to get away," Brenda dropped the conversation but Chuck held up smugly. Brenda concentrated back on driving but she felt her cheeks blushing from everything Chuck had brought up. She looked into the side mirror. "Oh no,"

"What do you mean 'Oh no?" asked Chuck.

"Hold on tight everyone!" shouted Brenda. She slammed her foot as hard as she could against the pedals and Chuck felt himself flying back into his seat as the bus accelerated.

WICKED jeeps were driving at a fast pace behind them. But Brenda was not going to let anything happen to those children.

Frypan and some members of the Right Arm peered from their watchtower for any sign of vehicles. The former cooker became more worried any second for his friends. To make matters worse, he couldn't hear Edward and Thomas's voice echo through the streets from the radio tower as they planned. He peered again through his binoculars. "Come on guys. Just give me one vehicle," he looked a little more right. He saw a bus. "Yes! They made it guys!" he exploded with joy. He peered through again but he suddenly saw black cars behind them. HE saw WICKED stamped on them. "Oh no. Guys, we've gotta blow the wall up now!"

"But Vince said…" a man said.

"It doesn't matter now. All those angry people out there are the only chance we have against WICKED,"

The man shared glances and realised he was right. "Vince," one called through a walkie-talkie.

"Are they safe?" the leader called back. "Did Thomas and Edward broadcast from the tower?"

"No,"

"Then there's only one option now,"

What did you all think? So sorry for not updating for a while. Been facing writer's block with this story. See you all sooner. I hope you all enjoyed it. Please send reviews and let me know what you all thought.