She sat with her mother until the sun had set behind the mountains, learning what she could about her childhood; about who she was before the maze.

"You were a great child. You were stubborn of course, but nevertheless, a wonderful child. Your father and I adored you. You learned about Wicked because of us and when you asked for a job, we knew you had something up your sleeve. Ava liked you," Mary looked at her hands, "She was always asking to use you for testing. If we didn't know better, we might have let her have you. 'She could be the cure' she would say over and over again."

"If you knew about what they were doing, why didn't you do anything to stop them?" Cleo inquired.

Mary sighed, "We tried. We held small rebellions but they always won. Until you gave the file to Thomas. We had something to use against them then. We weren't sure where they had placed you. And once we raided the base Thomas said they took you, you weren't there. We didn't know if you were dead or alive."

Cleo watched her mother wring her hands together, taking in a deep breath, and reached over to grab her hands, "I'm alive. And for the most part, okay. I mean, there might be a few hiccups here and there, but I'm okay."

Her mother laid her hand over her daughter's and smiled soft, "I know. I know."

000

Talking with her mother had exhausted her. Emotions and tension weighed on her shoulders and added to the minor injuries she had sustain throughout their trip. Sleep sounded like music to her ears. But she could just make out her friends up on the ridgeline, talking with one another. Frypan shouted out something she didn't quite catch, but Aris twisted from his spot between his own friends on her left and waved in return. Cleo smiled when she saw her boys laugh and made her way over up to them. A few minutes wouldn't hurt.

They were sitting quietly, looking up at her when she arrived. She wasn't sure if the silence was coincidence or if they had ended their conversation with her arrival but she didn't care much. She was too tired to fight; too tired to talk for that matter. Instead, she sank onto the ground beside Thomas's leg, resting her head against the rock he was seated on and wrapped her arms around herself. It was colder, obviously, away from the fires, but her heart felt warm. Her hope had returned, and not just for her group, but for everyone. For these people. For the kids still at the compound. They were going to win and everything was going to be fine. She was sure of it.

"What do you think?" Frypan's voice broke her away from her thoughts and she turned to him blinking.

"What?"

"What do you think about all of this?" He extended a hand to fan over the camp below them and she looked down.

Aris was laughing with his friends. Vince and a group of men were pulling in more firewood. Her mother was just stepping out of the medic tent, Jorge behind her. The rest of the camp seemed to work in unison; together. She smiled and made herself more comfortable, relaxing when Thomas's hand brushed against her shoulder.

"I think this is good. We're good. I think we have a chance."

000

"Have any of you seen Teresa?" She wasn't sure how long they had been sitting up there, and she was too exhausted to realize they were a person short until just now. Scanning over the camp again, she couldn't find the girl.

"She went up there." Frypan pointed behind his shoulder.

Sure enough, Teresa was standing on a taller ledge, her back to them. She was wrapped in a thick blanket from what Cleo could see and something peaked curiosity in her mind. Pushing off the ground, Cleo brushed herself off.

"I'm gonna go talk to her. See you guys in a bit."

There was a chorus of response behind her, but she was trekking her way over to the other mountain. It was darker now, and the path was more rigorous than the first. She was dreading the hike back down. But she didn't want Teresa to be alone, especially if there was something wrong. The familiar throbbing pain in her ankle had returned by the time she reached the top, but she blamed herself for that. Never giving it the chance to heal, she was had to just grit her teeth and ignore it. Besides, she was getting used to her body aching.

Teresa didn't move when Cleo appeared behind her. The blonde wasn't sure if she even knew she was there. Slowly, she stepped closer, hoping not to startle her when she spoke.

"Hey, you okay?"

Teresa's head whipped around quickly, but she didn't seem startled. She didn't say anything, but returned to look out at the bordering ridge.

"What are you doing up here?" Cleo came to stand beside her, blinking out at the darkness to see if she could find what had Teresa's attention.

"Thinking." Teresa responded plainly.

Cleo looked over at her, studying her determined yet expressionless features. Aside from the blank staring and one word response, nothing about Teresa seemed unusual. Another red flag went up in Cleo's mind. Figuring she just needed time to herself, Cleo cleared her throat and turned back the way she came.

"I'll let you be alone." She spoke softly, letting her hand rest on her friend's arm before walking away.

She had just reached the other side when Teresa called out to her. She spun around immediately, expecting the girl to unravel. But Teresa never changed.

"I remember my mother." The words made the hair on the back of Cleo's neck stand up. She wasn't sure what to respond with. This wasn't what she had expected when she came up here. Her eyes flickered to where the Medic tent would be if a large boulder hadn't been obstructing her view and then back to Teresa.

"She was a beautiful woman," The brunette continued, "Everybody loved her. And before Wicked, she was all I had. When she got sick, I didn't know what to do," Cleo's stomach knotted; she knew where this was going, "I just kept her locked up. Hidden. I thought she'd get better. Every night, she'd make these awful sounds, like screaming," the echo of the Cranks that had chased them sounded through her ears, "And then one night, she just stopped. She was finally quiet."

The feeling of dread swept through Cleo as Teresa took a step forward. It took all that she had not to move away from the girl, hands starting to sweat. She could just make out the tears in Teresa's eyes and felt immediately guilty for being somewhat frightened of her friend.

"I went down to her room, and there was blood everywhere," Teresa continued, "But she was just sitting there, calm." The girl stopped once more, this time as if she was waiting for Cleo's reaction. But Cleo was still flabbergasted. She blinked at Teresa, trying to put pieces together; trying to finish the statement herself when Teresa finally blurted out,

"She took her eyes out, Cleo."

Cleo swallowed, blinking away her own tears, "Why are you telling me this?"

Teresa's fingers played with the hem of the blanket. Another red flag.

"There are millions of people suffering out there. Millions of stories, just like mine."

Cleo nodded, following along closely.

"We can't turn our backs on them. I won't."

Cleo shook her head, confused, "None of us will, Teresa. That's why we're out here. We'll figure something out. With the Right Arm-"

"That's not what I'm saying." Teresa interrupted.

"What are you saying?" Cleo blinked. Teresa wasn't acting like herself. There was definitely something off.

"I'm saying, I want you to understand."

Cleo's stomach knotted, heart beating a mile a minute, "Understand, what? What's going on Teresa?"

"Why I did what I did."

Cleo furrowed her eyebrows. She was about to open her mouth again when bright lights on the horizon caught her eye. Her heart dropped into her stomach immediately. Confusion dissipated into fear.

"Please don't fight them, Cleo."

Cleo's body went rigid. Her eyes shot from the advancing carriers to Teresa. She shook her head, telling herself it couldn't be true. She didn't want it to be true.

"It was you," She finally rasped, tripping over her own feet as she backed away from the girl, "It was you back at the compound. When Jansen stuck that needle in my neck, you were there. You," Her voice waivered, out of anger or hurt, she wasn't sure, "You let them drug me. You would have let them take me."

Teresa was crying now and when she reached for Cleo, the blonde girl couldn't help but completely turn from her. She scrambled down the side of the mountain before Teresa could stop her, slipping and sliding until her feet were on flat ground and she took off. She had to get to the others.

She was halfway back to camp when a figure came from her left and slammed into her. She ignored them, pushing away to continue on, but an arm snaked around her waist.

"Cleo!" It was Thomas, his eyes wide and alarmed, "What's going on?"

"Teresa! She brought them here. They're coming!"

"Who? Who's coming? Who is that?"

"Wicked." She was already pulling from his grasp, latching onto his arm to drag him after her.

Thomas was soon running just ahead of her, their hands still intertwined. Cleo tried to keep herself focused on her immediate mission of saving the people in the camp and her friends and pushed Teresa out of her head. But everything came crashing down around her when the first explosion stopped them in their tracks. The second one made her emit a heart-wrenching sob and Thomas pulled her into him.

Alright, so I'm stopping it there and the next chapter will be all action as well as the last chapter. From there, I might start working on some snippets of things about Cleo and the others before the Maze as well as in the Maze before Thomas arrived and the events of the movie/book begin. If you have any request or anything I can do, like oneshot things, her interaction with certain characters, whatever, you can PM or leave a review whichever you prefer. That being said, thanks so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed! And feel free to leave a review, favorite, follow, whatever you please! Xx