Ash wakes up from the best sleep she's had in a long time, feeling warm and safe. Sunlight is starting to creep across her face, and she tries to roll away from it, but something's got her trapped in her current position.
Or rather, someone.
Gally's arm is still draped over her waist, his hand tangled with her own, pinning her in place. The rest of his body is pressed firmly against her back, and she can even feel his warm breath on the back of her neck.
Brown eyes snapping open, Ash tries to subtly look around to see who else may be awake...
Nearly everyone.
Luckily, only a couple of them seem to have noticed Ash's new location— Teresa and Newt, the latter who makes eye contact with Ash and smirks. She blushes, and tries to figure out how in the hell she's going to get up without alerting everyone else, and without waking Gally, who seems so peaceful.
Unfortunately, he wakes up on his own rather quickly when Brenda and Jorge come over, flanked by half a dozen men. They're blocking the platform's only safe exit, and it's clearly intentional.
"Up and at 'em, hermanos," Jorge shouts, though he doesn't exactly sound as friendly as he had the last time he'd called them that.
Gally— and any other still-sleeping Glader— startles awake, and he immediately lets go of Ash. They scramble away from each other, and in the confusion of their host's sudden attitude change, no one notices how close the pair had been.
"What's going on?" Thomas asks.
"You kids lied to me," Jorge says, glaring. "You're all property of WCKD. It's all over the airwaves. Fourteen kids between the ages of thirteen and nineteen— two girls, the rest boys. Escaped from a nearby WCKD facility."
Ash's heart sinks like a rock. Shit. She hadn't thought they would still be identified, since they'd gotten rid of their chips.
All fourteen kids quickly get to their feet, ready to fight, but Jorge's men are ready too. Everyone springs into action.
One of the men goes straight for Ash, but luckily her lessons with Gally back in the Glade have another chance to pay off. She knees the man in the groin, bringing her elbow down on the back of his neck as he doubles over. He hits the ground hard, but keeps trying to fight. He manages to grab one of Ash's ankles and yank her to the floor with him. Pain shoots up her wrist as it makes impact with the steel floor, and she cries out.
More men come running up, working together (however sloppily) to get hold of the Gladers. The fight ends when one of them presses a knife to Chuck's throat.
Everyone cooperates after that.
Jorge leads everyone to another area of the building, a spot Ash recognizes from the movie. Heavy steel chains hang from above, dangling over a circular hole in the concrete. One by one, Jorge's men tie the kids up and hang them by their feet over the hole. Chuck is the last one up, and the knife stays at his throat until then.
The teens are left alone to dangle and spin in the darkness.
"Great plan, guys," Minho says sarcastically, his voice echoing slightly off the concrete around them. "Let Ash do the talking- let's hear the guy out-"
"Oh, shut up," Ash grumbles.
A few of the boys attempt to reach up toward their feet, each of them failing and grunting from the effort. A few moments later, Jorge returns to the room. He's twirling an ornate walking cane in his hands, making him look every bit the villain he's trying to be.
"Enjoying the view?" he asks lightly, but Thomas scoffs.
"The hell do you want?"
"Now there's the question… you kids are very valuable," Jorge says darkly. "But it's up to you as to which way this goes. Tell me what you know about the Right Arm."
"I thought you said they were ghosts," Minho spits. He's slowly rotating in the air, and glares at Jorge for as long as the man is in view.
"I happen to believe in ghost stories," Jorge says casually, giving a small shrug. "Now perhaps we can help each other. Tell me what you know about them."
"Not much," Thomas says, glaring at the man. Jorge simply smirks, and tugs on the lever next to him. Everyone's chains drop about two feet, just enough to scare them, and Thomas quickly concedes.
"They're in the mountains, and they hate WCKD," he shouts. "That's it, that's all we know!"
"We were hoping they could help us," Ash adds, keeping her eyes closed to avoid the temptation of looking down… or is it up? "But we really don't have anything else. We're kinda running on less than half a plan."
One of Jorge's men approaches, a dark look on his face. "WCKD'll be here soon," he says, grinning, and Jorge chuckles, starting to walk away with the man.
"Hey, what about us?" Teresa shouts after him.
"Oh, don't worry, hermana," Jorge calls. "We'll get you kids where you belong."
Ash sighs. That line is a good sign— he's being intentionally vague in front of his own lackey, who clearly just wants to sell the group back to WCKD. This is good. They can still escape.
They continue to dangle for another moment or two, as each of them presumably tries to figure out a plan to escape. Well, each of them but Ash. For one thing, she already knows how this is going to go— and for another, too much blood is rushing to her head for her to think properly anyway.
"Currently taking ideas from anyone except Ash or Thomas," Minho announces.
Ash grumbles under her breath before speaking up. "Need I remind you that we're the ones that got us away from WCKD to begin with? Now… who's closest to that lever?"
"Me, I think," Teresa says.
"Okay, and who's closest to you?"
Newt chimes in that he is, so Ash instructs them to start trying to gain momentum so that the girl can reach the lever to get them down.
"So how about that complicated story?" Thomas asks.
Ash rolls her eyes. "Really, Thomas? Right now?"
"I think it's as good a time as any!" he says defensively. "It's not like we're going anywhere any time soon!"
"Sooner than you think," Ash retorts. "Besides, I promised I'd explain once we were safe, didn't I?"
"What are you two talking about?" Minho asks.
They're interrupted when Teresa successfully manages to grab the rail and twist herself upright. She pulls on the lever, dropping her friends another three feet or so, just enough to give herself the wiggle room she needs to sit at the edge of the pit and free her legs. Grabbing a nearby metal pole, she uses it to start fishing the other Gladers toward solid ground.
Ash is one of the furthest from the ledge, so she's among the last to be freed. By the time everyone has their feet on solid ground once more, they can hear the helicopters and bergs outside.
WCKD is here.
The Gladers' bags are piled in one corner of the room, so they hurry to get them as Janson's voice echoes out above the noise, demanding that the teens be handed over immediately. The man from before, Barkley, appears in the doorway with a shotgun.
"We're not trying to cause any trouble, okay?" Thomas says slowly, holding his arms out to show he's unarmed. "But we've gotta get out of here."
"Is that so?" Barkley spits, stepping closer. He pulls a walkie-talkie out of his pocket and presses a button, letting it crackle to life. "Janson, I've got 'em for ya. I'm bringing them down. Don't shoot us!"
He puts the radio back in his pocket before continuing his advance on the teens. He barks an order at them, but doesn't have the chance to repeat himself before a gunshot echoes off the concrete. Ash is the only one who doesn't flinch, taking charge of her friends once more as the man collapses to reveal Brenda behind him with a gun of her own.
"C'mon," she says breathlessly. "We don't have much time."
Music begins to drift from a roughly-wired speaker system as Brenda leads them back to the platform where they'd first met Jorge. She yanks a door open, revealing the open air of the outside. It's a straight drop down to the ground below, maybe fifty to sixty feet. A crude zipline stretches to the next building over, at least twice as far away as the ground.
Jorge grins at them before grabbing the first of several bungees, wrapping it securely around both fists and taking a running leap. No one else moves until he lands on the other side, safe and sound, and waves his arms in a hurry up gesture.
Ash stares at it, watching as Winston and Frypan each take a leap, her heart racing.
Shit. How the hell did I manage to forget this part?
"Uh... is there any other way?" she asks Brenda timidly. "Like... something from ground level, maybe?"
"Not before the song ends," Brenda says, grimacing.
"I think I'll just—" she tries to take a step back, but Gally has other ideas.
He sweeps her up, making her legs wrap around his waist, then grabs tight hold of one of the bungees. Ash just barely has time to wrap her arms around his neck before the wind starts whipping her hair around. Burying her face in Gally's shoulder, Ash tries not to scream. It's over in a matter of seconds, but the damage is done.
As soon as it stops, and Ash can feel Gally's arm around her back— signifying he doesn't need to be holding the bungee anymore— she drops to the floor and stumbles away. Her legs feel like jelly, and she barely makes it a few feet before vomiting what little she has on her stomach. Gally winces, watching her carefully.
"Please don't ever do that again," she begs, voice ragged from fear and stomach acid. "Please, promise me..."
"If my options are that, or letting you stay behind and die, I'm not promising shit," Gally says quietly. She shakes her head.
"You don't get it, Gally," she whispers, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment as she tries to steady herself internally. He helps her back to her feet, just in time for the explosion to shake the whole building.
Teresa, the last one over, screams in horror. As far as she knows, Thomas has just died. Jorge's eyes are wide in terror— Brenda was still over there, too.
"They're fine," Ash says, going over and grabbing Teresa's hand. "They're okay."
Teresa looks at her, eyes wide and full of tears and doubt. Ash sighs. "Brenda led them to an alternate exit down an old elevator shaft. They'll go through the sewers and meet us at Marcus's place. I promise."
"How could you possibly know that?" she asks, her voice cracking.
"It's… part of that complicated story Thomas was asking about," Ash says evasively.
"Then stop beating around the bush and tell us," Newt demands, and the tone of his voice catches her off guard. It reminds her of the first few weeks after he'd broken his leg, when he'd been angry at her (and the rest of the world).
Her throat goes dry, but she forces herself to speak anyway.
"I still had some memories when I got to the Glade," she admits. "But they're not what you guys would expect…"