Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Twilight or the Maze Runner. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer, and James Dashner, please support the official release. I do own original characters made up for this storyline. Thanks for the support and Happy Holidays!
Note from the Author: Thank you Roxhall, Navywife, and Goddessnyte for your reviews! Christmas is in just 4 days everyone! Hope everyone is having a great week! I'm excited to get to this part of the story now. We have about 5 more chapters left, and it's getting so good. I hope everyone else is enjoying it as well. As always, I appreciate all of you! Don't forget to follow, favorite, and review!
When morning came, Bella and the others were ready. After breakfast, they put their plan into motion. They rushed the guards at the exit, and Bella swiped one of the key cards that would release them to the outside. They were shot at by some sort of weapon, and Frypan got tagged in the back, and he went down.
"Go!" Frypan screamed out, pain seizing his body.
Bella hated leaving anyone behind, but they had to get to their escape point. She managed to disarm a guard with Jasper's help, and they got their own weapon, and they used that to hold off other guards while Aris and Thomas worked on the door, getting it open.
Janson was angry that they were escaping, and he overrode the door, and it started closing. Bella covered the others while they made it under the door and the last minute she slid under, the door shutting, separating them from Janson and the other guards.
"We lost Frypan." Jake panted out, breathing heavy from the overexertion of running so much and so fast.
"I know." Bella said, and ran a hand through her hair. She looked around. "Let's keep moving. We need to put distance between us and them." She said and they took to the desert.
Bella wasn't sure where she was going, she just knew that they needed to get somewhere to get some sort of shelter. Newt and Thomas managed to grab water after breakfast to pocket it, so they would have some sort of water getting out of there, and Aris came more prepared, stashing some food in a pack that he carried when he disappeared into the vents to start the distraction.
They stopped, briefly, to take tiny drinks of the water. There was eleven of them counting Aris. They each took a drink of the water, and then they kept walking, the hot sand seemed to dry out their mouths and their skin. They finally found what looked like a large structure, and they headed towards it. Thomas had never seen anything like this, but neither had Bella.
"What is this place?" Sonya said as they cautiously walked inside. There was a glass skylight up above that let the sun in, some of the glass panels were broken in places. It was completely abandoned, or at least that is what it appeared.
"Clothes?" Alice said, gravitating towards a shop that was run down, dust layering everything, but there were clothing hanging on metal racks.
Bella looked around, going into the store, and finding a flashlight in a cabinet in the front, and she clicked it, and it surprisingly came on. She went towards the back, finding boxes of more clothing it looked like.
"We can change out of these clothes. Wear something lighter, easier to move in." Rosalie pointed out.
Bella nodded. "Yeah. These drab jumpsuits are a bit hard to move in." She agreed. "Alright, everyone find something they can change in to. Do it quickly. The sun is going down, and we don't know what happens out here at sundown."
They all silently changed, finding clothes that weren't as constricting as the clothes from the Wicked compound. They shifted through the building, looking for anything they could use. They found something that was labeled Dick's Sporting Goods, and they went inside, finding weapons, which was extremely useful.
"Crossbow." Bella murmured when she spotted one. For some reason the term came to her, and she picked it up, testing the weight in her hand and she liked the feel of it. She grabbed the arrows that went with it, and the straps that went with it.
"Oh cool." Minho spun an axe around in his hand, the weight of it felt nice.
Rosalie wasn't sure what sort of weapon she needed, but she grabbed a machete looking knife. Sonya followed suit.
They found more flashlights, and then bottled water, which they were all thankful for. They paused a bit to rehydrate, and Bella looked out at the skylight, the darkness wrapping around the building they were in.
Aris was looking at a map of sorts and Teresa came up beside him. He glanced over at her. "Looks like we're here." He pointed on the map. "This is a Mall."
Bella slung a backpack on, that had more water in it and beef jerky she was sure was out of date, but they would have to chance it if they got really hungry. There were first aid supplies in there as well, and extra weapons. "Alright. Aris, do we know where we should head? We're still so close to WICKED."
Aris studied the map more. "Well, from what I know, there is a sanctuary that is kept hidden from WICKED. It's where the Right Arm is staying. If we keep heading North, I believe this is where we can meet up with Callie, one of the girls that was in the maze with me."
Bella nodded. "Okay. We'll do that then. Let's get somewhere safer than being here in the open." She said and the 11 off them trekked down the stairs in the mall, going into the darkness. They switched on their flashlights, and they walked around, weapons ready. This was new territory, and Bella didn't like being blind like this.
There was a sudden noise, and they all stopped walking.
"What was that?" Jake asked, looking around, swinging his flashlight around when he did. He caught the face of a human creature, and it screeched at him and started running at him.
"We gotta go!" Bella yelled and they all started running, their feet hitting the ground beneath them hard as they ran from the humanoid creature chased them. When they rounded the corner, their lights hit more of them, and it was more than they could handle.
Bella looked around. "Shit shit. Stairs, take them now." She said and swung her machete from her back and she turned to fight, Jasper and Thomas hanging back with her. "Minho get them to safety!"
"I can't leave you!"
"Go now!" Bella said, and she swung the machete, slicing through one of the creatures and then the next, and Thomas and Jasper was right there with her before Sonya and Jake doubled back to back them up.
"Go! We can-"
Jake swung his axe, knocking two of them away. "No. Go. You're important Bella. We'll back you up. Run now." He yelled, swinging the axe around.
Bella growled, and swung her machete at another. "Jasper, Sonya, go." She said and Jasper hesitated, but then he grabbed Sonya's arm and hauled her with him against her will, carrying her off towards the stairs, knocking away the creatures at the same time.
"Bella, baby, you need to get out of here." Thomas panted out. They were slowly backing up towards the stairs.
"I'm not leaving." Bella said and then Jake swung around, catching another creature with his blade. "Go. There's too many of them." He said and looked at her. "I'm sorry for doubting you before. But this is too big. It's too late for me. I got bit." He said. "And I don't feel like myself already, so go now." He said.
Bella saw the bite on his arm now. It must have happened when they discovered the first creature. "Jake." She bit out, swinging her machete again. "You can be saved."
"No." Jake said. "We fight to get out, or die trying. At least my life meant something." He said and then he rushed a bunch of the creatures, and they followed his light, giving Thomas and Bella time to run.
"Jake no!"
Thomas hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her with him, carrying her up the stairs, and closing the door behind him. It was a stairwell in the mall, and they kept going up, until they couldn't anymore. When they made it to the rooftop, they burst through, and they slammed the door behind them, and wedged the machete through the handle and the iron beam next to the door to keep the door shut.
Bella's lungs burned from the crazy climb to the roof. She looked around, seeing Minho, Newt, Aris, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, Teresa, and Sonya. "Jake didn't make it." She croaked out.
Jasper closed his eyes, shaking his head and then ran his hands through his hair.
Teresa shook her head. "Maybe we should have stayed at the compound."
Thomas frowned. "How can you say that? They were going to experiment on all of us. Take our brains out. Kill us."
"Those things…. those are the Cranks." Aris said. "They're all infected by the Flare. It's why they're experimenting on kids. Because the kids are immune to the infection. Adults…they would suddenly start turning one by one. But kids…" he shook his head. "Something about us was immune when the Flare with. Which is why we were put in those trials."
"It's just immoral." Thomas said. "How could they use children like that?"
Bella agreed. It was sickening. She got a flash of memory.
"Emmett is there. You'll do fine." Esme told her daughter.
Bella stared at her mother. "It's not right. This who experiment is wrong and you know it. At least dad had the right idea. I should have disappeared with him, but then I would be leaving behind my family." She shook her head. "You sicken me."
Esme's eyes were sharp as she looked at her daughter. "This is for the better of mankind. Your father understood that once upon a time. Until he grew a conscience."
"Maybe it had something with you putting your children in the maze. Did you ever think that the maze is just a death sentence?"
"The maze is designed to find the strongest."
"And what if I'm not strong mother? Are you willing to sacrifice me?"
Esme pursed her lips. "Don't be selfish Bella. We're doing this for humanity. Maybe one day you'll understand."
"I'll never understand genocide." Bella spat back.
Esme then injected her with something, and it caused Bella to pass out in the iron box that would lift her up to the Glade.
"Bella, you okay?" Thomas asked, waving a hand in front of her face.
Bella blinked a few times. "Um…yeah." She murmured and looked over at Teresa, and another memory hit her.
"Bella, this is necessary." Teresa said quietly. It was before Bella was meant to go up in the box. She was going to be number five in the Glade.
"How is any of this necessary T?" Bella said. "All she's doing is sending kids to their deaths. We've been studying brain patterns for months now. Alby's brain patterns have not changed since the day he went in. This is a useless experiment, and it's going to cost people their lives. My life, T."
Teresa shook her head. "Your mother knows what she's doing. She's a great scientist."
"Oh? Well, if you believe in this so much, why don't you go up?"
"You know that's not how it works."
Bella snorted. "Right. A blind lottery. If your number gets picked, that's when you go up in the Glade." She shook her head. "You are poorly misguided."
"You're the misguided one." Teresa said.
Bella blinked a few times, looking up at Thomas who was watching her with a worried expression. "I drifted off again…"
"I saw that. More memories?"
Bella nodded. "Yeah." She said and then cleared her throat. "We need rest. We'll sleep in shifts.
"I'll get first." Jasper said, pulling his hair back into a bun, and tying it off with a strip of his shirt he tore off.
Bella nodded. "Thanks." She said and then they found a spot to lay their heads, using their packs as pillows. Thomas held her as silence enveloped them all. She was thinking about the memories she had. What did they mean? Did Teresa remember how devoted she was to her mother's cause, or was she still memoryless too?