Chapter 19
We all sat around the map, which was lain across the sandy floor.
The others were studying the map, while I was trying to figure out where I'd seen it before.
When I sniffed it again, I smelled the distinct odor of disease. It smelled sweaty and rotten, like bile.
There was a small rip in the map that looked like it had been stabbed by a blade of some sorts.
I gently fingered the tear, the smell of the old paper invading my nose. It brought back memories of the Crank warehouse and, even further back, memories from the Glade.
When I thought that, I realized something. It was like a lightning bolt hitting me in the chest.
The smell was almost exactly like what the warehouse had smelled like.
Remembering the map that had almost constantly sat on the table, I took another look at it.
Then I reached out and flipped it around.
On the other side I saw some words scribbled out in faded ink. I leaned forwards to read them.
It said: " Sometimes the person you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger".
I gently brushed my finger across the paper, feeling the worn softness of it. A tear slipped down my cheek and splashed on the words, making them blurry and smeared.
Charlie, who had leaned down to read the words, gasped and looked up at me.
"Do you think….?" She started, then trailed off once she saw the distress on my face.
I stared out into the blazing blue sky, my eyes unfocused.
"He knew what was going to happen. He planned it all out." I whispered.
Then I curled up in a ball, my arms wrapped around my knees, and let the tears silently stream down my face.
The others looked at each other with worried expressions, and the silence continued until Will spoke out.
"So? What does it say, guys?" He asked irritably.
Joan glanced over her shoulder at him in exasperation.
"It says, sometimes the person you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger." She growled.
Will glared in her direction.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He snapped back.
Charlie got up and waved the paper in his face angrily.
"It was written by Gabe, you bloody slinthead!" She huffed.
Will's face fell, and his hand reached out to touch the map.
"From the warehouse…." He said, looking up towards Charlie.
Evelyn and Marley looked up from the chest.
"Our warehouse?" Marley asked.
Bits nodded.
"It's the one that was on Gabe's, or your, table when he captured these three." She said, waving her hand to me, Joan, and Will.
I wiped the tears off my cheek, and grabbed the map from Charlie. Smoothing it out, I traced a line from WICKED's base to where the Right Arm was hiding out.
Joan was standing over my shoulder, studying the map. Charlie crossed her arms and frowned.
"You over your breakdown, shank?" She asked.
I glared at her.
"Did you seriously just say that to me?" I growled.
Charlie shrugged, and paced around the tent.
"I guess. I mean, it's always about Cleo, isn't it? Oh, poor Cleo, she had to shoot her manic boyfriend in the chest." She hissed coldly, stopping to turn towards me.
I shot to my feet, and before anyone could do anything, slammed my shoulder into her chest, knocking her to the ground. Complete silence had washed over the group as I stood over her.
"You don't understand, you slinthead. Every single friend I had in the Maze, the originals, they're all gone except him." I said menacingly, pointing at Will.
Charlie grunted and pushed herself up into a sitting position. I leaned down to face her, not caring that there were tears pricking the corners of my eyes.
"You have no right to tell me how to feel." I glared at her one last time, then stormed quickly out of the tent.
The cool night air brushed my hair out of my face and chilled the tears in my eyes. I took a deep breath in and out, a small puff of misty air blowing from my mouth. I glanced at the walls surrounding the last city, and thought of Minho, still trapped inside. My gut clenched as I remembered his horrid screams echoing through that room, watching helplessly through the window.
I shook out my hair. Charlie was right. I need to stop getting so emotional over these things. I heard footsteps behind me. They stopped right near me.
"Beautiful night." Will said quietly.
I nodded.
"One of the best." I agreed.
He looked at the ground, then came up beside me.
"You know Cleo, even though I can't see anymore, I can remember." He looked up at the stars.
"I remember the first days in the Glade, everyone confused and scared. But the person who ultimately put us together was Gabe." I flinched when he said his name.
Will looked in my direction.
"He was calm, well, calm-ish, in the chaos. He organized us and gave us jobs, waning our fear. I said he should be leader, but he refused. He said he wanted to be able to help in other ways." He nodded at the bracelet on my wrist.
"He made that. I remember watching him in his breaktime, weaving those leather strips together." Will turned to face me completely.
"That is why it's okay to remember. Never forget. Don't listen to what Charlie says. We're all wound up and tense." He said patting my shoulder.
Then he turned back to the tent and left me alone with my thoughts.
I looked down at the faded brown strip on my wrist. My face hardened, and I untied the knot at the end. It slipped off my hand, and I gently rested it on a sack of flour sitting on a chair. I looked back at the tent, a fire now blazing inside, the shadows of my friends sitting in a group.
Then I got up and walked away.
The streets were crowded with people. I turned at a corner and sensed a shadow following me. I decided to wait and see who it was and what they were doing. At the next corner, I slipped behind the wall and unsheathed my knife. Right when the person turned the corner, I yelled and pounced, bearing my blade.
At the last minute, I realized it was Bits, and I drove my velocity into an arc that barely avoided her. She leaped back with a screech, but I clamped my hand over her mouth. Once the shock had passed, I carefully lifted it away.
She inhaled slowly, then let out a long breath.
"You scared me!" She exclaimed.
I turned away from her.
"You're lucky I didn't hurt you. Why are you following me?" I asked.
She huffed and put her hands on her hips.
"Well, I saw you leave, and told them that I needed to use the bathroom. So then I followed you, and…" She trailed off, noticing that I had began to walk away.
She rushed after me, grabbing my shoulder.
"Hey! Where are you going?" She asked exasperatedly.
I shrugged her off, not turning around.
"Go back." I said flatly.
She reached forwards and grabbed my wrist.
"Not without you!" She cried.
I whirled around and glared at her.
"Go. Back. Now." I hissed.
She crossed her arms and pouted.
"No." She lifted her chin defiantly.
I snorted and resumed my walking.
"Well, if you want to die, I won't stop you. But I'm not going back." I said coldly.
Bits stared at me.
"You're going to die?!" She gasped.
I sighed angrily, but kept walking without turning around.
Bits looked between me and the distant light of the tent, and I could feel the mental struggle she was going through.
The sounds of her footsteps faded away as she ran back to the group. I mentally smacked myself. I'm so stupid! Now she's going to tell the rest of them, and there's no way I'll escape all of them.
I glanced around, and saw an empty car. I rushed forwards and peered through the dirty glass. It was discarded, but looked mostly intact. I heaved open the rusty door, and climbed in. The gas switch was hard to pull, but I was able to get enough leverage to push it down. The cars engine started with a whirr, and I slammed on the gas pedal.
I was steadily getting near the wall as the night drew on. Once I was about fifty feet away, I hit the brakes and got out.
The dust was much more disturbed up here, floating through the air like a thick cloud. I coughed and shielded my eyes as I looked up at the massive towering cliff before me. My knives were already in my hands, and I walked right up to the metal. I stabbed the first one into the steel, ripping a hole through it. My left knife drove into the wall a little higher, and I kept at it until I was a couple feet off the ground. I kept scaling the wall, the wind rising and the temperatures dropping as I got higher and higher.
It was if I was in a sort of trance. The spell was broken when I heard a car engine far below me. I looked down to see Evelyn and Marley's car drive up next to the one I had come in. Charlie, Joan, Will, Bits, Marley, and Evelyn all got out, and wandered around my car. I could see they were confused, and didn't know where I went.
Bits though, she had obviously found my footprints. She followed them to the base of the wall. Confused, she looked up and spotted me hanging like a dead leaf hundreds of feet above their heads.
She gasped with shock and pointed up at me. The others followed her gaze and saw me too. I growled with frustration, under my breath, and kept climbing.
Charlie ran up to the base of the wall.
"Cleo! Come down, it's not safe!" She screamed.
I ignored her, hoping they'd think I couldn't hear them. My eyes stayed glued to the top of the wall, watching it slowly get closer as I climbed higher. Thirty or so feet higher, I looked down and saw the group sitting in a circle, discussing a plan most likely. What could they possibly do? They don't even know why I'm up here.
My arms were getting tired, though. They were shaking and it was harder to pull the knives out of the wall.
I grunted as I drew my arm up and stabbed the blade into the wall a couple inches above me. When I stopped to rest, I glanced up at the top. It was near, could tell, but I wasn't sure if I'd make it.
I heard a loud shout from below me. I glanced down and saw Charlie standing below me, her legs shoulder-width apart and stable. She was holding a Launcher, from who knows where. She was aiming it directly at me. The others were trying to pull it out of her hands, but she was as firm as a rock.
I gritted my teeth and kept climbing, bit by bit. The first grenade whizzed by me, a couple feet off. It exploded in the sky like a silver electric firework.
When I looked down again, Evelyn, Marley, Joan and Will had managed to wrestle her to the ground. Bits was standing firmly between them and the Launcher.
I heard shout again, but this time it was from above me. I looked up and saw WICKED guards standing above me, aiming their weapons at my face.
"Freeze!" One shouted down at me.
The second grenade shot past me and slammed into him. He jerked back, dropping his weapon. He collapsed in a writhing ball, the silver electricity coursing over his body. I looked down and saw Bits smiling, holding the other guards shouted at each other and started shooting at the group below.
As their bullets rained past me, I slowly, carefully, started back up. The guards didn't even realize I had started climbing again until I reached the rim of the top. I rolled over the side, slashing my knives at their legs.
Caught by surprise, they stumbled numbly back, and I sprung up, whipping my leg around and knocking a few over. As they fell, I leaped up and punched one in the face, and kicked him into one running up behind. They tripped over each other and fell as well.
I grabbed one of their guns and ran towards the exit.