Chapter 7

Anna spent the next day or so curled up against the wall with her body pressed against Newt's, her head resting on his shoulder. She didn't know what to do next—should they wait there for the Berg to return with Thomas (on the unlikely chance that it would), or should they get up and leave? Anna wanted someone else to decide. She was done. Done with being the leader, done with fretting day and night about her charges and their safety, done with making decisions. She didn't want the responsibility anymore. She knew, however, that this wasn't an option, because she didn't entirely know what would happen if she let Jorge take over completely. Probably he and Minho would end up killing one another and Newt would be left in charge. Either way, Anna knew she needed to keep going. The Gladers depended on it.

The group had been slumped listlessly in their small building for at least twenty-four hours, using up their supplies without making any progress on their mission, before the whirring noise of the Berg filled the air once more. Anna jumped to her feet, her sudden movement jerking Newt awake. He stood up beside her and looked around, blinking in confusion.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I think the Berg's coming back with Thomas," Anna said, not entirely paying attention to Newt. Her eyes were fixated on the shape of the large plane as it touched down in front of them. The door on the side opened up and a figure walked out. As it came closer, it became obvious that it was Thomas, looking remarkably unscathed. The Berg rose up into the sky again once Thomas had begun walking towards the Gladers, and by the time he reached them it was gone. Anna was the first to intercept him.

"Where the shuck did you just go, shank?" she asked, unsure how exactly to feel right then. Thomas just looked at her.

"I don't know," he said after a second. "I was out of it most of the time. I guess those people were from WICKED, and they didn't want me to die, so they came to interfere."

"They didn't give a bloody shuck when Winston and half the others got blown to bits by lightning," Newt pointed out, sounding slightly annoyed. "Why are you special?"

Thomas shrugged.

"I really have no clue. Maybe the lightning was supposed to happen and the Crank with the gun wasn't?"

Newt made a grunting noise that indicated that he wasn't satisfied, but was going to let it slide. Anna ignored him.

"Okay," she said to Thomas. Then, to the group as a whole, "Let's go back inside. We'll fry like bacon if we stay here much longer."

The Gladers murmured assent, and Anna followed them to the small shack they'd been living in for the past two days. Once inside, she looked at Thomas again.

"Spill, shank," she demanded. "I want all the details, now."

"I see we've gone back to being incredibly hostile," Thomas muttered under his breath. Anna pretended not to have heard. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay," Thomas sighed. "But honestly, I'll keep saying it, there's really not much of a story to tell. I woke up in a bright room with a bunch of voices around me, I passed out again. This cycle repeated for about—How long was it again?"

"Two days," Newt supplied.

"Two days," Thomas repeated. "So, yeah, that's the whole story."

Anna frowned. She'd expected more information, but decided not to press him any further.

"Alright, shank," she said, sighing and pushing away the rebellious locks of hair that had escaped her ponytail. "Let's go to bed, then. We need to make sure we have enough energy to go hiking through the burning sand in shucking seven million degree heat tomorrow."

The next morning, Anna heard voices above her when she woke up. It took her a moment to realize that she was lying with her head in Newt's lap and that he was talking to Thomas and Minho. She sat up, rubbing the sand out of her eyes.

"Hey," she mumbled, smiling sleepily. "I see I'm finally not the first one up."

"We figured we should get a head start on you," said Minho. "Ya know, to give us some time to conspire and plot against you."

"Oh, shut up," Anna laughed. "You couldn't lead these shanks for five minutes."

"I'm sure I'd do a great job," Minho replied, making a face of false hurt.

"Okay, guys, stop with the small talk," Newt stepped in. "We need to establish what we're gonna do with ourselves."

"I vote we stay here in this city," Thomas said. "We could probably loot more supplies off of the Cranks here."

"Tommy, I keep telling you," Newt said exasperatedly. "We can't stay here. If we stay here in this bloody city, we'll all become those crazy shanks who eat people's faces."

Thomas frowned, but he nodded in reluctant agreement.

"Good point," he replied.

"I say the best plan is to get everyone up and across the Scorch as fast as possible," Anna voted. "That is what we're here to do, after all. If we find any supplies lying around, then sure, go ahead and take them, but we're not making any more pit stops."

"If that's the best plan, then we're all goners," Minho said. "Remember how awful it was trying to get here in the first place? We don't even have those sheets anymore to keep us from burning alive."

"Listen Minho," Newt sighed. "She's right. It's not the best plan, but it's never getting any better than this."

"Thank you," Anna said to Newt. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. Minho cleared his throat loudly.

"I'm gonna step in now before this gets any further. How 'bout I sit between you lovebirds." Minho moved so he was sitting in between Anna and Newt, who were both making faces in between amusement and annoyance.

"You're so immature, shuckface," Newt said.

"I'm just protecting the children."

"I'm assuming that would mean me," Thomas put in.

"You bet," Minho responded, smirking.

"Okay, back to the real issue here," Anna interrupted, refusing to let them go off on any more tangents. "We're wasting time. We need to suck it up and go."

"You're right," Newt replied. "Let's get a move on."

Sweat poured down Anna's face as she daydreamed about the Glade, where the weather was always perfect. They had running water there, too, and while it wasn't always the most crystal clear, it was better than what they had in the Scorch, which was to say practically nothing. The only thing that had been keeping her from collapsing onto the sand was the fact that she knew full well that if she were to do so the rest of the Gladers would likely follow her.

Right around the hour mark, Anna and the other Gladers noticed a small speck on the horizon that seemed to be a group of people.

"Guys, stop for a second," Anna called. "Am I having some sort of UV ray induced hallucination, or can you see what I'm seeing?"

"I can see it just fine," one of the Gladers—Frypan—replied. "It looks like people. Do you think they're the ones with the cure?"

"They said we'd have to find it ourselves," Thomas pointed out. "I don't think they'd send the cure to us."

"This seems sketchy," Jorge murmured. "I guess they could be Cranks, but they're pretty far away from the city."

"The only way to find out is to meet them," Brenda decided. "Let's go."

Anna led the group closer and closer to the strange people walking towards them. As they approached them, Anna could tell that they were all female, and that they didn't look too friendly. Suddenly, Thomas's eyes went wide and he pointed over at the other people.

"It's Teresa," he said. "I'm sure of it."

"Would that be the girlfriend you were telling me about?" asked Brenda.

"Now is not the time for relationship drama," Anna snapped. "What do you mean, you're sure of it?"

"I mean I'd know her a mile away. That's her. I swear."

Anna had no way to prove or disprove this besides continuing the trek, so that's precisely what she did.

After what seemed like an eternity, the Gladers found themselves face-to-face with the other group. Thomas had been right; it was definitely Teresa who was glaring at them as she stood with all the girls that she'd shown up with. There was no flicker of recognition or relief at being reunited with the Gladers in her expression, however, and Anna couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

"What's going on, Teresa?" asked Anna. She didn't reply to Anna's question, but instead raised her spear and said,

"We want Thomas."