Between ragged breaths, William watched Gally fall to the ground with a loud thud. A spear pierced his chest. He glanced at the boys, but he hadn't paid enough attention before to determine which one was missing a spear.
There was no time for him to think, as he heard a loud cry. Thomas jumped to hug the little boy, wrapping his arms around him fearfully. His trembling grasp on the boy, one step away from shaking like a leaf, didn't dissipate as he looked into the boy's eyes.
"Chuck, you're OK?" Thomas asked. "You're not hurt, right?"
"The mysterious-looking shank stopped it. Look at the bag," the bad pep talker said, patting Thomas' shoulder comfortingly. "Little Chuckie didn't get hurt. Calm down."
If Thomas's cry had been loud, it had no comparison to Rowan's. She came running towards William, jumping to hug him. Her arms, just like her entire body, were shuddering. He doubted it was only because of him. Almost killing someone — a Non-Crank at that — after weeks of peace, had taken a toll on the four from Group S.
"You . . ." Rowan choked out, her arms raising to wrap themselves around William's neck. "You do that one more time and I swear . . ."
"I'm OK," promised William, bending to hug her back. "I'm fine, I swear."
George and Leen practically stumbled their way to them; with ragged breaths and shocked expressions that spoke louder than any words they could utter. They didn't bother trying to calm Rowan down. Instead, they joined in. After making sure William was unharmed, their eyes met the group of boys they had forgotten about.
"Is . . . is the little kid OK, too?" Leen asked, running her fingers through her loose ponytail while blinking a couple of bottled tears away.
The boys exchanged dubious glances, mostly the pep talker and Newt, but none replied. Not even Thomas, whose arms were still gripping onto the boy, Chuck, like a lifeline.
"Yeah," Chuck answered, still shocked at his near-death experience.
His hand raised to grab onto Thomas's, which made the older boy look at him. They stared at each other, before Thomas let go of him and got up, keeping a hand on Chuck's back.
"Who are you?" Teresa asked, keeping up the appearances for everyone except William. "Why did you help us?"
Blinking twice to wash away all the surprise off his face, William turned around, the best he could with Rowan still having a tight hold of his neck, and answered Teresa's question.
"Name's William. Um . . ." He pointed at the two who had managed to get themselves together enough to let go of him. "They're George and Leen." He then looked down at Rowan, who didn't mind the stares the boys were giving them. "She's Rowan."
Leen gave her back to the boys and rested a hand on Rowan's shoulder, trying to get her to let go. Rowan complied partly, keeping a hand around William's arm as he continued to explain their situation to Group A.
"I sincerely have no idea what just happened . . . We were with our group, then these weird-looking people took us away . . . I . . . Everyone's alright, right? We didn't hurt anyone, did we?" His breathing was quick and shallow, making his explanation difficult to understand at first.
The boys, as if just realising they had been in harm's way, glanced among themselves. Newt, who, alongside the pep-talker, had probably become the voice and provisional leader of the group, took a step closer to them.
"Well, apart from making us think you'd bloody stab us. No, everyone's alright," He said, though his expression didn't portray his anger if he even felt mad at all.
"I am so sorry," William answered truthfully.
In no way was it in his plans to aim a knife at a bunch of kids. Much less let the orders take over his entire body, and almost make him let the poor boy, Gally, kill Thomas. Or, as it turned out, Chuck, the brave kid that in a second had given up his life for his friend.
"We really couldn't control—" Leen said, but was cut short by the boy, who they had silently nicknamed 'The pep talker'.
"We know. Now, get ready. We'll get our butts out of here before those shanks outside come in," he ordered.
A commotion began exactly where Minho was pointing, the doctors looking at them through the glass. A series of shouts and cries managed to infiltrate the room. The doctors were falling to the ground, dead, or so it seemed. Blood spattered on the glass, and agonising cries made everyone take a few steps back.
George reached out to Rowan and William, making them join the closed circle that had formed at the end of the room opposite to the door. Leen hugged Rowan, almost falling to the ground as their backs collided against one of the boys, the pep talker.
Without saying a word, William approached George, standing in front of the rest of the boys, despite his lack of a weapon. George tried to push him behind to make him stand between Thomas and Newt, but he refused. Weaponless or not, William wouldn't let his three friends fend the entire group off by themselves.
Out of the corner of his eye, William saw as Newt eyed the bag, which still had the knife stuck in it. To their dismay, William had completely forgotten about it and let go of it in the middle of the room when Rowan came running at him. He could go get it, but that would mean risking his life.
WICKED was supposed not to kill any of them. But, of course, that promise had already been broken before. Neither Thomas nor Chuck should have ever been put in harm's way. Teresa had left it clear. She, an Elite, had never been told of such a thing, so WICKED could change their minds abruptly without an ounce of regret or guilt.
'William, what's going on?' Teresa asked in his mind, her voice just as desperate as he imagined her to look at the moment.
'Not sure. Janson's men are supposed to come to get us, but I don't know if that was supposed to happen.' He answered. 'Teresa, I really don't know what they told you before you went to the maze, but I don't think we can trust those words anymore. Chuck almost died because he jumped for Thomas. If not, Thomas would have died.'
'I know . . . it's just . . .' Teresa stopped talking to him telepathically as a large group of men and women dressed in military clothing got inside the room.
"We don't have time to explain," said the man who had been instructing Group S for weeks about the Right Arm mission. Also nicknamed by Henry, 'The Commander'. "Just follow me and run like your life depends on it. Because it does."
No questions asked. Everyone ran out of the room behind the man.
Only caring about keeping each other, and the A's alive, Group S trailed behind the rest, making sure no one fell behind or got attacked. Rowan, the fastest of the four, could go to the lead, protecting the rest from that position, but William knew it was a lot to ask of her at the moment. Especially when a minute ago she had been close to a panic attack.
Glass door after glass door they all followed, not stopping until reaching the outside, where the same bus that had taken half of Group S inside the building was waiting to take the entire new-formed group out.
"Get on!" yelled The Commander. "Hurry!"
The boys ahead pushed and ran up the stairs, though not quickly enough. Thomas, who was standing between Chuck and George, almost got yanked back by a Crank. George reacted quickly, pushing Chuck towards Newt and William, and jerking Thomas out of the Crank woman's grasp.
Not giving them enough time to freeze on the spot, William forced Newt and Thomas to keep moving, while Leen did the same with Teresa and Chuck. Unfortunately, the four turned around right before the stairs, freezing in place as they stared at the woman's features like it was their first time seeing a Crank, which it probably was.
"Don't believe a word they tell ya! Gonna save us from the Flare, ya are!" The woman shouted in a recital voice, almost like it was a song to her.
"Stay put, or I'll shoot you dead!" The Commander yelled at her, then turned them, unmoving in front of the bus doors. "Get on the bus!"
The four A's finally complied, rushing up the stairs to the inside of the bus, and allowing the four S's to do the same. Thomas and Teresa went to the back seat, plumping down together next to Chuck, who seemed to be eagerly saving them on the spot. Meanwhile, Newt sat next to the pep talker.
Leen, who was in the lead, turned to look at her friends. They couldn't be all together, though they could sit two in front and the other two in the seats right behind them. Rowan, tired and wanting nothing more than to sit down, motioned her to continue forward to take the empty seats.
"It's alright, Leen. We'll be right behind you," George assured, patting Leen's shoulder as he walked over to the seats behind the girls. "See? Not that far. If you get scared, you can always give me your hand. I promise I won't let go."
"Oh, shut up, George. Just because Henry and Bea . . ." Leen stopped in her tracks to look down at the floor. "Just because they aren't here, it doesn't mean you have to become the idiot of the group."
William reached out to rub Leen's arm, one of the perks of having the seat that led to the aisle. She placed her hand on top of his, clucking softly while caressing it with her thumb.
"You're cold," she said, a barely noticeable smile playing across her lips as she turned around to look at him.
"Yeah, I know." He laughed softly. "George's the pale freak, but I'm the popsicle."
George sat back in his seat, eyeing them with a smile. "Why did I have to be brought up, huh? Leave my paleness alone. If I'm breathing, I'm fine."
Running her hands through her hair, Rowan turned around rapidly. "Is no one worried that we're in the hands of some unknown people with guns? Guns, birdies, guns. I dare you to try to stand up against them with only these stupid knives."
The Commander, feigning as if they were unknown kids to him, halted abruptly next to them. He raised the gun he carried, his finger darting to the trigger. The four of them exchanged worried looks, unsure of what was happening.
"You've got weapons?" The Commander questioned, staring right into their eyes.
George pulled William back, trying to protect him from the gun that, so far, had been slightly pointed at his heart.
His voice was barely audible as he explained briefly, "some of us. They wanted to force us to kill some of these guys."
The Commander took his right hand off the trigger and placed it in front of them. "Give them to me. No weapons allowed." At the lack of compliance from the group, his other hand made a quick motion with his gun. "Won't ask twice."
"Darn it. OK, OK, OK. Here ya go," Rowan muttered.
Not wanting to test The Commander's sincerity, Leen and Rowan gave him the knives right away. George took a second, but gave up shortly after them. With his back pressed against George's arm, William watched as The Commander stared at him dead in the eye.
"I said I wouldn't ask twice." The Commander gave the knives to another guard and raised his gun to point at William, who immediately raised his hands in the air.
"Mate, I don't have the bloody knife!" He shouted, turning on the seat to face the guard entirely. "I used it to kill the woman back in the room you got us from! Who else do you think did it? The invisible man?"
The guard analysed him with his eyes, lowered his gun, and then walked away without a word. William stood still for a second, trying to process everything that had happened in a short amount of time.
He rested a hand over his chest, feeling his heart beat like crazy, while he slowly lowered the other one. His head fell down on George's shoulder, the world becoming too wobbly to let him make sense of anything.
"What the fu—" He breathed out.
"You alright, man?" George asked, laying a hand on his shoulder to get him to turn around, so he wouldn't be facing those right across from them, who casually were Newt and the pep talker. "That almost gave me a heart attack."
"Welcome to the club," William muttered, lifting his head from George's shoulder to sit properly. "Darn it, man, that was scary."
"Just scary?" Rowan asked, way more outraged at the situation than he was. "He was going to kill you! That's not just scary, that's terrifying!"
"Rowan, calm down. We'll probably get ourselves killed if we continue shouting like this," Leen reasoned. "Just close your eyes and sleep."
"Yeah, 'cause after William literally got threatened, I feel completely safe closing my eyes." Rowan rolled her eyes to add to her sarcasm.
Letting his hands fall to his lap, William blinked a few times to get the drowsy feeling to go away. "There's not much we can do, anyway. We have no idea where they're taking us, or how long it'll take. Just try to get some sleep." He sat back and rested his head on George's shoulder. "Our future selves will figure it out, won't they, George?"
"Sure will," George answered while resting his head on top of William's, ready to fall asleep.
With Leen's head on her shoulder, Rowan sat back and mumbled, "we're all going to die."
He was staring at a photo, similar, or perhaps the same, as the one from his memory about the fight with the doctor. He couldn't really tell. The people were blurred, like four shadowy figures standing in groups of two, far away from each other. It was clear that the two on the left were adults, while the two on the right had the stature of children, but that was all he could see.
"Five, watch out!" shouted someone, whose voice was identical to Flor's.
Startled, he hid the photo in an inside pocket in his military jacket and turned to look at what he was being warned about. A kid, no older than ten or eleven, ran at him with a knife.
"Two, what are you doing!" He yelled, but the kid didn't stop.
With his back pressed against a wall, there was no avoiding the boy. A large group of kids, from which he could only recognise five, tried to run towards them, but would not make it in time.
"Soldier S5, shoot." A command made its way into his head.
A gun he had not realised before that he was carrying, raised, pointing at the kid's head. His grip on the gun was shaky, and the finger on the trigger was fighting not to press it and kill the boy.
"Two, darn it, it's just me! It's Five! Get a grip!" He shouted, managing to lower the gun slightly, stunning more than one member of his group.
The kid, Two, stopped in his tracks, staring directly into his eyes. A gleam of sanity that had been long lost came back to allow the boy to mutter his last words. "Kill me. Please, Five, please." A single tear ran down Two's cheeks, making the purple veins more prominent. "Please, kill me."
There was a gunshot, and the kid fell down to the floor, a pool of blood forming under his chest.
"Hey, wake up!" Newt shook William awake.
Like a déjà vu, unknown guys were yelling at everyone to run and get off. Most boys passed by them without a second thought, but Newt stayed, his hand still on William's shoulder.
"I'm awake," he whispered, more to himself than to Newt.
Not needing to ask him, Newt moved over to Leen and Rowan, waking them up while William focused on George, whose head was searching for his previous pillow. Their eyes shot open in a second, the sleepiness toying with their heads as they tried to pick up what was happening around them.
"Everyone alright?" Thomas asked, running up to them with Teresa and Chuck.
"Yeah," William said, seeing as the guards kept shouting for them to get out of the vehicle. "Go first. We'll be right behind you."
Thomas nodded, pulling Newt and Teresa, who were reluctant to move, with him to catch up to Chuck, waiting for them at the bus' doors. Leen and Rowan were close behind them, followed by William and George.
Once they stepped out of the bus, it shocked them to see they were already inside the Sanctuary. Baffled at the situation, they turned to look at the bus, which was already turning to go out of the Sanctuary.
"Oh, so that's why," George mumbled.
The gigantic door opened to let the bus come through, allowing the large group to witness a Crank attack. It was difficult to make out the silhouettes, but the sounds gave them out. The creatures the guards were firing at could be nothing other than Cranks.
As if it was a regular procedure, the doors closed, and everyone got back to doing their jobs. They were all around, moving things, giving orders, or simply walking around to go towards another room.
It would be baffling for anyone who saw that for the first time. Group A demonstrated it with their expressions. They looked around, trying to make sense of the dozens of people and the work being done.
Not allowing them to have more time to stare at their surroundings, the supposed rescuers urged them to a room. The door closed behind Leen, making a soft metallic sound. There were shouts, questions, and claims to let them go, which Group S joined in. However, Thomas was the loudest, pounding on the door while shouting.
"Let us out!"