After surviving a Crank attack at the last checkpoint before the city, and a massive shooting at what looked like the closed gates of the Last City, being kidnapped no longer seemed like simple bad luck. Mae had a theory, which signalled Thomas as the centre of everything. She could only hope that he would come up with one of his crazy plans soon.
The van stopped, and the doors opened, forcing Thomas and Mae to turn around to meet their kidnappers. Brenda and Henry scooted closer as they stepped down, mindful of the countless people pointing guns at them. Leen and Chuck complied just as quickly, joining them just as the other van parked right next to them—shouts and yells coming from inside.
"Where are you going?" Jorge's voice was muffled by the van's doors, which flew open as an unknown person was taken to the ground. "Where is she, you son of a bitch?"
George stepped down quickly, though not to put a stop to Jorge's scene, but rather joined in by pointing a gun at the person's head. Some masked people tried to push them back, but only managed to keep Frypan and Newt in place, since the two boys gave in and raised their hands in the air right away. The rest, however, weren't that complaisant. Amidst the first few seconds of confusion and panic—and before Brenda could run to put a stop to Jorge's and George's violence—Flor, Bea, and Rowan already had their guns pointed at those masked people around them, their fingers over the trigger without the smallest sign of doubt on their actions.
"I'm here!" Brenda shouted, though the frenetic moment from both parties practically drowned her voice. "I'm right here!"
"Oh, Brenda," murmured Jorge, leaving the masked person to lie on the ground as he got up.
"You," said George, pointing at his sister. "You're not leaving my side again. I swear to God that gave me a fright."
"OK," whispered Brenda. "OK, just calm down."
George glanced over to his friends, then up front, making sure nobody was missing. Flor and Bea proceeded to do the same after knocking down those masked people threatening Newt and Frypan. Just like George, the two calmed down only after seeing everyone there, alive and unscratched, and decided to rush over to their loved ones before things could complicate further.
"Mae, what's going on?" asked Flor, though the S's leader had no time to reply.
"Everybody relax," said a masked person, whose voice was oddly familiar to half of group S. "We're all on the same side here."
Thomas pushed away the person grabbing him by the collar of his jacket and walked forward to join Mae, who didn't show any interest in the person, but rather preferred to study their surroundings. "What do you mean, same side? Who the hell are you?"
The masked person stared at Thomas for what seemed an eternity, but was in reality two seconds. Still, while keeping their gun pressed against their chest with their right hands, they used their left to take off the mask.
"Hey, Greenie," the boy said.
Mae blinked in surprise, glancing from the boy to Thomas a hundred times in a minute. Greenie was part of the A's slang; the word Chuck so much loved to refer to their newbies, and had even been used to refer to her group, the S's, when they joined them six months ago. In the unknown boy's mouth, though, it seemed foul. He could be just one of the boys that didn't follow them out of the Sanctuary, but Thomas's enraged face didn't let her think so.
"Gally?" murmured Thomas.
"What's going on? Who is he?" Henry leaned down to whisper at Chuck, whose mouth was left agape as he stood with his sister's protective arm around his shoulders.
"That's the guy that almost killed Thomas and Chuck," mumbled George before Thomas took matters into his own hands; quite literally.
Newt and Mae took a moment to process the situation. Thomas punching somebody definitely was not something either expected, and it didn't seem as if he wanted to end it just there. Thomas pushed Gally to the ground, ready to strike again when Newt grabbed his right hand and Mae forced him to let go of Gally's shirt.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Newt said hurriedly. "Stop! Stop it."
"He almost killed Chuck." Thomas's eyes glanced at Newt for a split second. "If it hadn't been for William, Chuck would be dead. He would have killed him."
"Yeah, I know," replied Newt. "I remember. I was there too, alright? But I also remember that he was being controlled by WICKED and forced to do it." His head snapped in many directions, counting the large group of people that had their weapons ready to shoot at them. "Just calm down, alright?"
"Chuck's alive, that's all that matters," added Mae, keeping her hand over Thomas's left one, while Frypan placed his own on Thomas's shoulder. "Leave it be. At least for now."
Upon hearing his friends' words, Thomas jerked out of their grips and stood up, taking some steps back to leave some distance between himself and Gally. Newt and Mae followed him alongside Frypan, their eyes on Gally at all times, while the unknown people kept staring at their awkward interaction.
Gally brushed his chin as he tilted his head. "Kind of had that coming." His hand lowered to his side, though he still kept his nervous ticks: glancing at the spectators, frowning, and shrugging. "Anybody else? Fry? Newt? Chuck?"
"You know this guy?" Jorge asked.
"He was an old friend," replied Frypan.
"How?" asked Newt, standing closer to Thomas to keep him in check. "How is this possible? We watched you die."
"No, you left me to die," replied Gally. "And if we hadn't found you when we did, you'd be dead right now." He averted his eyes to look at his feet, then looked back up to meet Thomas's enraged expression. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Minho," said Newt quietly. "WICKED has him here. We're looking for a way in."
Gally froze, staring blankly at Newt, but soon blinked his surprise away to look at the obvious leaders of the group—Thomas and Mae. "I can help with that." He took a step back and gestured towards him with his hand. "Follow me."
"I'm not going anywhere with you," stated Thomas.
"Suit yourself," replied Gally. "But I can get you through those walls."
"Why would you do that?" asked Mae, pulling Thomas's arm in case he tried anything. "You don't know half of us. Why help?"
Gally turned around and nodded, more to himself than to her. "Let's say I have a debt to pay." His eyes met Thomas in the crowd of silent inquiries—just as doubtful and filled with anger as he expected them to be. "He didn't only save Chuck that day, you know? He saved me… from becoming part of the soldiers' experiment. I guess if he's not with you, something happened, so this is the best I can do to repay him."
"Something happened," scoffed Leen. "He's dead. WICKED killed him."
"We want revenge," added Bea.
Gally fiddled with the strap that kept his gun to his chest, but didn't look away. "I can help with that, too."
"Mae, next time could you not argue with the darn leader of this place just so you can come with us?" said Thomas, placing his hands on his hips. "Who knows what Lawrence could do? What if he hurt you?"
Mae copied his position, scoffing loudly. "That's rich coming from someone that was explicitly told to let Gally talk, and still took over the entire darn conversation."
"Hey, lovebirds," called Brenda from the other side of the room. "Time to go. Gally's asking for you."
"Stop calling us that, and tell him we'll be there in a second," said Mae, before snapping her eyes back at Thomas. "And you. You better behave. I know this situation is not the best, and that you're worried, but Gally's our only way to even get inside the city. So close your mouth, and let Newt and I do the talking. If I hear a single word from you, I swear I might strap you down here with Chuck and don't let you come along to save Minho."
"You can't do that." Thomas folded his arms. "And I think Chuck made a point by sneaking into Jorge's truck. You can't keep us here while you're out there risking your life."
"Try me." She did the same, though their slight height difference didn't allow for her to seem too menacing. "An experienced killer against a Runner and a thirteen or fourteen-year-old. I wonder who would win?"
"Obviously the Runner," said Thomas, his tone softening as the corner of his lips curved up. "I'm sorry for Chuck, but if you can't catch me, you can't kill me."
Before Mae could find a witty remark to his statement, Rowan's voice appeared from the room next to where they were. "Hey, you two, seriously, it's time. Get over here!"
Their departure was quick, hardly exchanging words among them as they followed Gally down a ladder into a hole in the floor. Thomas followed reluctantly behind Mae and walked in front of Newt, reminding himself why he was doing so. Minho was all he had to care about. It didn't matter what Gally could have done, as long as he helped them save Minho and find William's body.
The way to the city was rather uncomfortable and dirty, but they kept their complaints to the minimum, even when Gally made them run through a train track, and Newt almost got run over. Somehow, they made it to the platform. People walked in all ways—some wearing masks, others not covering their noses and mouths despite wearing them, and those who didn't even bother to wear them.
"Can't we just go back underground?" asked Mae, pressing her back against the wall. "I'd rather not be in a massive crowd when I'm not a darn Immune."
"Alright," mumbled Gally, leaving the three behind, only to come back a minute later with a pair of untouched masks with him.
Much to Gally's surprise, Mae gave one to Newt, which he didn't refuse for a second, before putting hers on. Although, after that, there were no further interruptions. The four walked through the crowd and out to the city with little trouble, though the imminent curfew turned out not to be a bluff. Patrol cars passed by every few minutes, forcing them to sneak away whenever they heard one near.
"They've definitely upped security," said Gally. "I'm guessing you shanks have something to do with that."
They resumed their run right away, trying their best not to be found out as they got increasingly closer to the inside of the walls, where Gally stopped to help Newt up. Mae tried to do it by herself, but she was too tired. In the end, Thomas helped her as soon as Newt had climbed up, and followed behind, leaving Gally to go up last.
After some more climbing and going up countless stairs, Gally finally stopped by what seemed to be near the top of the walls. "There it is," he said. "If WICKED's got Minho, that's where they'll be keeping him." He walked over to the side and took a field scope from under some ruins to place in the building's direction. "Lawrence has been trying to find a way in for years." Without sparing a glance at any of them, Gally looked through the field scope and moved it, as if looking for someone or something. "Place is crawling with soldiers."
"That's not a surprise," mumbled Mae as she leaned on the handrail next to Thomas.
"They also got surveillance everywhere," continued Gally as he raised his head to look at the three of them. "Scanners on every floor."
"Sounds like a bloody fortress," said Newt, fiddling with his right sleeve.
"Yeah, I thought you had a way in," added Thomas, which Mae couldn't really lecture him for.
Gally was explaining things as they were, but any plan he could have seemed futile against WICKED's end-to-end protected building. However, his reply to Thomas's complaint was a simple, "I might", prompting Thomas to succumb to his desire to argue.
"Gally, you said that you could get us in there. We're following your lead here. We've trusted you, and we don't have to do that," said Thomas, trying to ignore the subtle pressure on his shoulder from Mae's hand, trying to pull him back to calm him down.
"Yeah, alright, let's get a few things straight first. Otherwise, there's no point in going any further." Gally stopped talking for a second, looking away from Thomas to give in to his nervous ticks. "Look, I know what I could have done, and I know that Chuck's only alive thanks to that shank—"
"William," Mae interrupted. "Not shank, guy, boy, or soldier… his name is William."
"William," Gally corrected immediately. "I can't remember clearly what happened, but I see Chuck's face every time I close my eyes." At the lack of comments from either Newt or Thomas, he continued on. "Listen, we don't have to be friends. I'm just asking that we put it behind us because we want the same thing. And after this, we go our separate ways. But until then, none of this works unless we trust each other."
It was barely noticeable, but Thomas's expression relaxed as he nodded and replied in a faint whisper. "OK."
The trust, however, didn't keep Thomas from keeping his stubbornness at its normal levels. A single look through the field scope was all it took to glance back at Gally, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"What did you see?" asked Mae.
"Teresa," replied Thomas.
Newt and Mae locked eyes immediately, as if their thoughts had synchronised. It was obvious that Thomas still had lingering feelings for Teresa, which could backfire if he let them take over his judgement. Nevertheless, Mae couldn't actually picture a moment when Thomas had come up with a plan in which his feelings didn't take over him—being the cold-blooded strategist had always been her job, though she had been failing at it for the past six months.
"I'm sorry, Thomas, but that might be the best way to get in right now," said Mae. "No idea what you're planning Gally, but if it's what I think, she can even show us where they keep William's body."
"Yeah, but—"
"Thomas, we have no idea where Minho is or where they keep William's corpse. Going in there without her, even if we don't set off any alarms, won't get us very far. Not to mention the hours we'll be there trying to guess where they could be."
"Alright, and how do we get her help? There's a soldier with her. She might have some kind of guard all day by her side," said Thomas.
"A soldier, huh?" Mae walked past Thomas to look through the field scope, finding Teresa right away, with a masked person right next to her, though their attitudes were far from what would be normal. "Teresa can't stop glancing at the door. The soldier's standing at a blind spot in the lab, so they shouldn't be there. And she seems way too comfortable with them for a simple guard–protected relationship."
"What do you mean?" Newt leaned closer, wanting to look at the situation as well.
Mae stepped back to let him watch, but soon realised something had happened while she wasn't looking. Newt widened his eyes in an instant and turned to look at Gally, questioning if there was any way to get a closer look, which there wasn't.
"What happened, Newt?" Thomas and Mae asked.
"It's the soldier," he said. "He took his helmet off. And he looks an awful lot like Aris."
"Aris?" Gally frowned in confusion.
"William's brother," informed Mae. "We met him in a place called 'The Sanctuary'. WICKED also ran it."
"Couldn't it just be someone else or a coincidence? Aris said that his father was dead, didn't he?" asked Thomas.
"No." Newt shook his head. "He said that they got separated and never got any news of him again, so he just assumed."
"And since he's an Immune too, WICKED in their benevolence left him alive." Mae nodded along, bringing a hand to her chin as she frowned. "But why is he with Teresa? Does he not know anything?"
"Ask her yourself," said Gally, resting his back against the wall while folding his arms over his chest. "Tomorrow night. That's when we'll start the plan."
"No, there's gotta be another way." Thomas' statement made not only Gally, but Mae and Flor huff tiredly.
The plan's discussion was going horribly wrong. For unknown reasons to part of the group, Thomas continued denying Gally's plan, and, in fact, the only one they had. Only because Teresa would be directly involved.
"Like what? You've seen the building. She is our only way in," Gally defended.
"You really think she's gonna help us?" Thomas pointed out.
At the verbal dispute, Mae tuned out and sat beside Newt, who was deep in thought. His eyes were glued to some WICKED's clothes that they had snatched from the dead guards months ago in the Right Arm. He didn't seem to be listening, though his eyes twitched at moments, as if he was losing his patience. Still, she wasn't sure towards who or what.
"Am I missing something here?" said Brenda. "This is the same girl who betrayed us, correct? Same dick?"
Gally pointed at her with his thumb. "I like her."
"You and everybody else." Henry got up from his seat, pacing around the room, despite knowing that he could bother the rest. "Brenda's right. Teresa betrayed us. Let's repay the favour."
Thomas fell silent, letting Newt's voice be the one to overpower any other sound in the room. "What, are you afraid your little girlfriend's gonna get hurt? Hmm?" He raised his eyes to meet Thomas's. "Because this has obviously never been just about rescuing Minho and saving what's left of Liam's body. Has it?"
Taken aback by his friend's sudden attitude, Thomas turned to face Newt, who got steadily closer to him in a menacing way. "Wait, what are you talking about?"
"Teresa. She's the only reason Minho's missing and Liam's dead in the first place. Now we finally have an opportunity to at least try to get both of them back. And you don't want to because of her?" Everyone watched silently as Newt kept advancing, cornering Thomas against a wall. "Because deep inside you still care about her, don't you?"
"Newt—" Mae and Flor tried to get the boy's attention, but it was futile.
"Just admit it."
"Newt, I—" Before Thomas could defend himself, Newt pushed him the few centimetres left, so his back would hit the wall.
"Don't lie to me!" Newt shouted. "Don't. Lie. To me."
Everyone kept silent as Newt recovered his grasp on reality, stepping away from Thomas to apologise. Not one person could have a word in when Newt got out of the room, gripping his right arm firmly.
"We need Teresa more than I thought," Mae whispered to herself, watching Thomas try to compose himself before going after Newt. "And the fact that it all depends on the one person that wants to see her the least is concerning."