The day had once again transformed into night. The group lay down with their backpacks as their pillows; all except William. He sat with his backpack resting on his leg, his eyes posed on his brother and Newt, who had decided to sleep near him out of concern.
His ragged breaths had complicated the simple act of walking that day. Even while taking more pauses than usual, which he was sure Minho and Thomas did only for his convenience, he couldn't calm his beating heart, wanting nothing more than exhaustion to finally make its appearance.
Nightmares could come, and he would welcome them with the same enthusiasm as the thought of resuming the walk the next day. His mind, nonetheless, accepted a bad physical reaction better when there was a reason for it. The current situation had none. The lack of sleep could be a vague explanation, but for how long? Hadn't he had sleepless nights before? Why would his mind feel cloudy, or his body incredibly heavy and difficult to move after hours awake?
Not to mention what the rest of his mind could shake off; he was scaring everyone. Newt, Chuck, and Aris had concern written on their faces the entire day. Group S, however, could barely look at him in his eyes. They averted their eyes, like they suspected something, but didn't dare to say it.
"Liam?" Thomas's faint and hoarse voice appeared in the silence of the night. "What are you doing up?"
William glanced at his friend, who was leaving Chuck's side to sit down next to him, also staring at their friends. He shrugged, the icy breeze engulfing his body, causing him to be on the brink of shivering.
"Not gonna lie, I don't want to have another nightmare," William said, his eyes leaving Newt and Aris to travel towards Chuck. "How's he doing?"
"He's pretty tired," Thomas replied, a hand scratching the back of his head. "But, he'll be alright."
Even with his jumper and jacket on, William still felt his fingers going numb. His hands were cold as ice, contrary to his stomach or neck, which were burning hot in comparison. He rummaged around in his backpack to get a scarf and wrapped it around his hands, but not even that kept them warm.
"How are you, though?" asked Thomas.
"Fine." William huffed. "You all should stop worrying. Aris and Newt are the same, and I'm pretty sure George and Rowan keep an eye on me all the time. It's creeping me out, man."
"We just don't want to lose anyone else," Thomas said, his hands fiddling with his jacket's zip. "Liam, remember I told you I saw you when I got some of my memories back?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
Thomas doubted, but soon his eyes were locked with William's. "That's not everything. Newt said I shouldn't tell you yet, but, after what you said yesterday … I need to tell you."
"Thomas, you're scaring me. What did you remember?" William asked, his breath and heartbeat rapidly increasing with every agonising second that passed.
"You weren't just there with Teresa and me. You were our friend. I'm not sure what your relationship was, but you and Newt were more than friends, too … when he was sent into the maze … you were out, I don't know where … and—"
William placed his hand on Thomas's shoulder, stopping his friend's rambling. "What is this really about, Thomas? Are you trying to excuse your 'nobody left behind' policy by telling me we were friends and that Newt and I were, maybe, something more?"
"No," Thomas said. "'Cause it isn't an excuse. You're my friend. I'll never leave you behind."
"Alright." William lowered his hand from Thomas's shoulder to chuckle bitterly. "Can't say I didn't expect that answer. Just … if it happens, at least make sure they're safe. If someone dies, you'll see what real rage looks like."
"You? Angry?" Thomas chuckled, his eyes glancing around the group to make sure everyone was sleeping soundly. "Yeah, I don't think that's something I want to experience. I've seen how you handle the shuckin' knives. I'd like to keep—"
Thomas's head abruptly looked behind them, causing William to turn around as he gripped his knife, expecting a Crank to be behind them. There was nothing. No threat or Crank. However, the buildings they have been seeing for some days were now enlightened.
"No way," William said, his eyes widening at the discovery. "There's people there?"
"Hey," Thomas muttered as he turned around, his hand hitting Newt's leg lightly. "Get up, Newt, get up."
Not needing to say a word between them, William tried to get the rest to wake up. He shook George and Henry awake and called Bea's and Leen's names to get them to open their eyes. In a minute, everyone was awake and standing, staring at the building's lights with hope finally creeping up on their faces.
"Li!" A girl's voice called for him, making him turn around.
But there was no one. Everyone was too focused on their new reason to hope, to even open their mouths. The voice was childlike, too. It was so full of joy; he doubted it came from anyone that had been suffering in WICKED's headquarters. But his predictions hadn't been that accurate lately.
"Do you have another letter from my brother?" It appeared again. This time, way closer to him.
"Yep, here ya go," he said. It was his voice. Considerably younger, but still his. "He wants to see you, you know? I promise I'll find a way to make it happen one day. Who knows? With Tommy and Tessa as our allies, we might get WICKED to let us meet our brothers one day."
Like the roar of a cannon, a strong lightning sound appeared out of nowhere. William couldn't concentrate on it too well. He didn't know where it came from; reality or hallucination. Something else made its presence. Screams and yells that made him believe he'd end up deaf.
"Li, run!"
"Liam, come on!"
Someone grabbed his hand and began to run, pulling him along with them. Even in the middle of running, William couldn't force his mind to focus, nor his sight. Sometimes, the hand blurred, others, it got back to normal. There was no telling what would happen next, much less when the person pulling him halted abruptly.
His eyes finally decided to focus, only to see a horrible sight. One of the boys from A had been hit by lightning. His skin was burned, and most of his hair was gone. The one who had grabbed William's hand earlier, Newt, took a step back, eyes widened in fear.
"Go, go, go!" Thomas yelled at them while helping Teresa and Chuck not to stay behind.
It was his time to react. While pulling Newt's hand, William ran to catch up with the rest. Thankfully, Newt snapped out of the horror soon enough. With Newt's and Thomas' continuous encouragement, and despite the loss of two boys on the way, most made it to the door of the building.
However, as they opened it, lightning struck right behind them. Minho was the target this time. From the lack of burns and his hair still being in place, they deduced it had missed by little. That didn't mean it hadn't been enough to cause harm, since even Thomas was on the floor, a hand protecting his ear.
Letting go of William's hand, Newt, alongside Aris, took off running to help Minho. Meanwhile, William and Flor left Frypan, Chuck, and the rest to hold the door as they went to help Thomas up to his feet.
"Come on, get him up!" Newt said.
"Come, Thomas! They'll get him inside!" William shouted, trying to get his friend to listen to him.
"Don't be a hero for a minute and just come with us!" Flor added, taking Thomas' arm to drag him inside with William's help.
"Move! Come on! Hurry up!" Frypan yelled, still holding onto the door as they ran inside.
"Come on, guys!" added Chuck, waving at them to hurry.
Just as everyone had gone through, Frypan closed the door behind him, leaving them in the darkness of the building. Aris and Newt laid Minho carefully on his back just as Thomas regained control over his own body. They shone a light on his face while trying to get him to react. Thomas shook him by gripping his shirt while shouting his name, but nothing happened.
"Come on," Newt and Aris mumbled.
"I'll slap him awake," Rowan said.
Mae made her way through the anxious boys, giving Rowan a reprimanding look while pressing her fingers against the side of Minho's neck. "His heart's beating normally. He's alive, he'll be fine."
Minho then groaned, taking a couple of seconds to open his eyes. Everyone relaxed immediately, uttering all kinds of things through ragged breaths. Thomas, who still had a firm grip on Minho's shirt, was the only one to ask, "are you OK?"
"What happened?" Minho questioned.
Thomas glanced between Newt, Aris, and William, who were smiling, relieved that Minho was good enough to ask questions. "I think you got struck by lightning."
"Ah." A barely noticeable smile formed on Minho's face, as if what had happened was nothing.
"Come on, let's get him up," Aris said, helping Thomas and Newt get Minho to his feet.
"Don't scare us like that, man," said George, a hand squeezing Minho's shoulder the moment the boy was up.
'William.' Teresa's voice infiltrated William's mind.
His eyes instinctively searched for Teresa, who he found walking away from the group as if trying to find something. With one last glance at Minho, to make sure he was alright, he walked up to her.
'Is everything alright?'
'There's something about this place … I'm not sure. I might be imagining things.'
She took a single step forward, her nose scrunching slightly as she did. "What's that smell?"
Out of nowhere, quick footsteps in Teresa's direction made William push her behind him, his knife ready in his hand. Teresa turned on her torch behind him, pointing at the upcoming footsteps that turned out to be from a Crank running in their direction.
It stopped before it could hurt any of them, though it did try to get to Teresa. A chain somehow restrained him from moving or getting away. Another strange thing William could notice before Teresa desperately pulled him back to the rest of the group was how he had been ignored. The Crank had tried to go directly at Teresa, not him.
"Behind you!" He heard Teresa yell.
Dozens of Cranks appeared around them, chained just like the first one. They were placed one by one, close to one another, only leaving space to walk one way. William wanted to prove his prior theory by approaching one of them. But he decided that doing something of that level would not only be a terrible decision in their situations, but also reckless and unnecessary.
"I see you've met our guard dogs." A girl's voice sounded from the other end of the path that the Cranks left free.
She walked up to them. Confidently making her way through the Cranks as if she was used to it. Something in her smile made William know they were in trouble, but he decided not to point it out. It was either facing the girl, or the lightning storm waiting for them outside.
"Stay back! Stay back!" Minho warned, keeping Chuck behind him, between Frypan and Aris.
"You guys look like shit." The girl's eyes landed on George, analysing him for what seemed an eternity to them before turning around swiftly. "Come on. Follow me. Unless you wanna stay here with them."
There was a moment of doubt. Thomas, Minho, and Mae, the overall leaders, didn't know what to do. Although the storm raging outside the building, and the menacing grunts from the Cranks, didn't give them many other choices.
"I hate this so much," William muttered to himself as he followed behind the girl with the others.
"It doesn't look good, does it?" Aris asked in a hushed tone.
"Not really, no," replied Newt, who was right behind them with Chuck.
They followed the girl around up some stairs, opening a sliding door, taking a couple turns, and passing by people and fireplaces. The more they walked into the building, the more people surrounded and followed them, which they didn't like at all.
"Come on, keep up," the girl said while guiding them to another set of stairs. "Jorge wants to meet you."
Thomas and Minho were right behind the girl, just stepping out of the stairs as Thomas asked, "who's Jorge?"
She looked back with a smile and replied, "You'll see." Then she continued walking through an open space between refugees and their resting spots. "No one's come out of the Scorch in a long time. You've just got him curious." She turned her head to look at Thomas for a second, then behind him, her eyes landing on George. "And me, too."
William shared a doubtful glance with George and Rowan, walking in front of him. He took Aris' hand and motioned Chuck and Newt to get closer. Since the hallway was open, it would be better not to be too separate from each other. Instead of walking next to one person, they should be all together like a group.
"Anyone else starting to get a bad feeling about this place?" Newt whispered as they looked behind them to the many people following close behind.
"Let's just hear him out. See what he has to say," Thomas said.
"He's going to get us killed," Rowan groaned while pinching the bridge of her nose.
With their eyes constantly looking behind them, they continued following the girl, knowing that it had become the only decision they could make if they wanted to be safe. Although not needing any orders, Group S kept gently pushing the others into the centre, protecting them from the potential threats.
"I don't like this place," Chuck said.
They went up another staircase, finally arriving at their destination. The room was wide and filled with furniture. The yellow lights somehow made it look warm, though everyone knew better than to believe so after everything they had gone through with Janson and the Sanctuary.
"Jorge, they're here," The girl said, before sitting down by a nearby sofa, her eyes constantly sneaking glances at George.
The man, Jorge, was listening to the radio, which he unplugged with a huff. William pulled Aris by the hand and made him stand closer to Newt and Chuck, away from the surrounding people, who looked as menacing as possible. He didn't trust anybody in that place, and surely they did not look like what he had imagined the Right Arm to be.
Jorge turned around, his hands on his hips. "Do you ever get the feeling that the whole world's against you?"
The group shared confused glances, while William and George could barely stop themselves from giving a truthful answer to the man's question. Luckily, at the lack of a reply, the man carried on, pouring himself a glass of a transparent liquid, hopefully, water. Fighting with a drunk person was the last thing anyone in Group S wanted to do.
"Three questions. Where did you come from? Where are you going? How can I profit?" Jorge stared at them, silent, not knowing what to reply to his question. "Don't all answer at once."
"We're headed for the mountains," Thomas began, receiving a reassuring pat from Mae, who stood to his left, "looking for the Right Arm."
"He did not just—" Henry breathed out just as the surrounding people laughed.
"You're looking for ghosts, you mean," Jorge commented with a smile after giving an indecipherable look to the girl from before. He drank from his glass and took a step closer to them. "Question number two. Where did you come from?"
"And why do you need to know that?" Rowan questioned, being quickly backed up by Minho.
"That's our business."
Jorge raised one eyebrow, and soon three people were grabbing Thomas, Minho, and Mae. Out of confusion, most of the group stayed still for a second before reacting, trying to get the people to let go of their friends, only to be instantly restrained. William, however, took Aris's bat and swung it at the man holding Mae, knocking him to the floor.
"Thanks, William," she said, turning to face him. "Look out!"
Something hit him at the back of his neck, making the stinging sensation burn. He fell to his knees, feeling as if he would pass out. A person grabbed his shoulders, but he couldn't struggle anymore. Even Mae had ended up being restrained from getting near him.
"Let him go!" She cried.
"Get the hell off me!" Thomas shouted just as the man grabbing him made him bend over slightly. "Get the hell off of me, man!"
The unknown girl didn't stop to listen to anyone's complaints and pushed Thomas's head down, scanning his neck with a device she had taken from the table next to her. "Shut up, you big babies."
"What is that?" Thomas questioned, still struggling to break free.
The girl stepped back, watching the screen of the device as she turned to Jorge. "You were right."