Not sure how many chapters are gonna be left, but I just want to thank everyone who has stuck around till now. It means so much to me, really.

I cannot wait to start on the final book. It's so strange to think that it's nearly two thirds of the way over!

Question of the Chapter: What WICKED mutts were your favorite of all? I think the Grievers were the best. They were the first ones we were introduced to, plus, they were pretty awesome.

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The squares finally stop spinning, squealing to a halt. They had all ended up bringing their hands to their ears, the noise being too much to bear. They are now fully encircled by the black square and white objects sitting upon them, definitely over thirty.

They all put their hands down slowly, not speaking a word, still shocked by the noise. They all stand still as the wind attempts to make them move, not letting up on strength. Lori finally pulled herself together enough to tug on Newt's arm.

"Do you think there are Grievers inside those things?" Lori whispers.

He looks down at her, a concerned look on his face, "I don't know."

Brenda approaches Lori, Newt, Minho and Clara, who stand together awaiting the inevitable. Following close behind, was Thomas; and where there was Thomas, there was Teresa, who no one was happy to see.

Minho speaks to his friends, "So what do we do?" He looks at them all, an especially sour look when he reaches Teresa, indirectly telling her not to give her opinion.

"If those things have bloody Grievers in 'em, we best start gettin' ready to fight the shuck buggers." Newt answers.

"What're you guys talking about?"

Lori looks back, to see that Harriet and Sonya, from Group B, are approaching their little circle conference. Jorge and Brenda also decided to rejoin, probably curious as to where the cure that they were promised is.

"Oh, great," Minho mutters bitterly. "The two queens of glorious Group B."

Harriet ignores him, "I'm assuming you all saw those pods back in your WICKED chamber, too; almost all of you at least," she glances at Lori.
"They had to be where the Grievers charged up or whatever they did."

"Yeah," Newt agrees. "Gotta be that."

Thunder continues to break the sky above, creating its awful booming and crashing sound, the lightning flashing even brighter than before. The wind also grows stronger, ripping at everyone's clothes, and making their hair fly everywhere.

Thomas looks down at his wristwatch again. "We've only got twenty-five minutes. We're either gonna be fighting Grievers or we need to get inside those big coffin at the right time."

"Calling them coffins doesn't make that seem like any better an idea," Lori butts in.

Thomas sighs, "Maybe they're the -"

This time, a hiss cuts Thomas off, hitting them from all directions. They all sling their hands back to their ears, hoping to block out the awful sound.

They all attached their gaze to the white pods surrounding them. On one side of every container, a dark blue light is being emitted. Lori realized, that the light is appearing, because the lids of each pod are opening on hinges.

There is no noise as they move on their hinges, the squealing sound was most likely the release from when they first unsealed.

They keep opening, slowly on their hinges. Finally, they reach the ground, two halves side-by-side. It's hard to tell, but there is definitely something inside of the pods. From what Lori can see, they don't appear to be Grievers, but she's too far to be sure.

All of a sudden, Minho is shouting over the roar of the wind to Thomas.
"What?" Thomas yells back at Minho.

"You, me, and Newt! Let's go check it out!"

Lori grabs Newt by the arm as he goes to walk off. "Don't think you're leaving me behind!"
His eyes search her face, but instead of saying something, he just nods. Clara and Teresa seem to have the same idea, as they take hold of Minho and Thomas.

The three pairs are about to go their separate ways, when something climbs out of one of the pods. A gasp spreads across the Groups, as they all see what's climbing out of the pods.

Things climb out of the pods, things that Lori had never seen before.
The creatures are a dark beige colour, their limbs all different lengths and shapes. They seem fairly mutilated, as if someone just got all different body parts and threw them together.

The creatures have only four fingers; wrinkly, lump skin; and strange protrusions growing from their bodies. Each bulb-looking protrusions glows a bright orange, and is spread out across their entire bodies.
They seem almost human-like, except for the fact that they are much taller than anyone of them. Though, to be fair, they are only young. But, these things are definitely not a normal height.

The creatures all continue to crawl our of their pods, giving them a full body view now. They have over two-dozen bulbs each, protruding from the stomach, back, elbows, knees, head, everywhere.
To make it even more disturbing, they don't seem to have any eyes, nose, mouth, ears, or hair.

Lori feels her stomach churn at the sight of them.
Every pod has now deposited its monster, and they all stand in front of the pods. Suddenly, in unison, the creatures raise their arms to point to the sky. And just as they do, thin blades shoot out of the tips of what are supposed to be fingers, toes, and even out of their shoulders.

The storm continues, crashing and booming, but that does not drown out the moaning sound somehow escaping the creatures. They have no mouth, yet they're able to emit one of the most haunting sound Lori has ever heard.

This was WICKED. Of course it was WICKED, who else would have the mind to create such a monstrosity?

Minho turns to his friends, allowing the strategic side of his mind to finally take hold. "There's about one for each of us! Grab whatever you got for a weapon!"

The creatures seem to react to this - Lori unsure as to how, considering they have no ears - and begin to close in on all of them. At first, it's as if they are trying to learn to walk, but then they grasp the idea. All the creatures begin to gain momentum, taking strong strides towards them, getting closer with every step.

This whole thing feel familiar to Lori. The whole, final fight for her life. She turns to look at Newt, to find her is already looking at her. His eyes show the worry she feels, but is much more intense.
"I can't do this again," he says loud enough so that she is able to hear him.

"Do what again?"

"Lose you, just when we're about to escape. I refuse to."

Lori pulls the dagger she had on her out, before gesturing to Newts knife. "Then we'd better put up one hell of a fight."
He nods, not seeming to sure of himself, but willing to trust her.

She knew it had felt familiar, and his comment had only confirmed it,
If only she could remember.

One look around, and she can see that everyone is arming themselves, preparing for when they finally clash with the mutations.

Minho and Harriet begin to walk around, telling everyone what's going to happen, and where they want each person to attack.

Everyone is still, focusing on the creature they are going to take on. When they are all in position, Lori hears Minho yell to every member of Group A and B. "Now! Charge them!"

Lori freezes for a single moment, worried about all her friends, and whether they would all make it through this time. An image flashes behind her eyes, of the Grievers, and the Maze. She doesn't recognize the scene, but it felt very real.

She shakes the thought free, and walks forward, getting closer to the creature she has targeted. The Gladers charge forward, screams escaping their mouths as they run forward.

Lori reaches her creature in just a few seconds, preparing to attack it. It slows down, awaiting her arrival. As soon as she is close enough, she begins to slash the air in front of her, before the blade finally makes contact with the flesh of the monster. It barely leaves a mark, so she decides to take a shot at stabbing it.

The blade sinks through the skin with ease, before hitting something hard, and not going any further. The monster's head tilts up, looking at her with no eyes. She panics, before ripping the blade out, and taking a step back.

How am I supposed to kill these things?

The monster lunges forward, swinging its hand, attempting to slice Lori with its bladed fingers. The monster grows closer, still trying to attack her.
She manages to look around, seeing Newt on the ground as his creature grows closer, Thomas trying to dodge his, and Teresa whacking hers with the hilt of her spear.

Why was she doing that?

Lori takes a moment to think it through, looking closely at the creature before her.
The bulbs!

Lori takes a step forward, dodging a hand, and slashing one of the bulbs on its chest. The light instantly goes out, oozing a disgusting liquid. The creature cries out in pain, getting angrier.

She continues to slash and dodge, eliminating one light at a time. Light after light, bulb after bulb, she weakens the creature. Everyone else seems to pick up on the creature's flaw also, breaking the bulbs on their own adversary.

As they continue to fight, the sky above becomes louder, streaks of hot, bright, white light streaking down from the clouds. Each strike hits the ground, searing the already scorched earth.

The screams of the people around her are attempting to compete with the clashing sound of the lightning. Scream are cut short as people are hit, and fires catch all around them; the smell of both burning flesh and earth are intoxicating.

As they keep fighting, the lightning slows, and the rain pours down, starting very abruptly.

Lori finally finishes off the last bulb on her creature, watching ti fall to the ground in defeat. Looking around, she can see that basically everyone else have also finished with theirs. The monsters all lay across the ground, some burned by lightning, others covered in their own ooze.

Newt spots Lori, making a beeline straight to her.
"You're alright?"

Lori pats her hips, stomach, arms, chest and face. "Well, I'm still all here, so . . . yeah." She gives hi a weak smile, before tearing a bit of fabric off the blanket she covered her head with, to clean off her bade. "You okay?"

"You're okay, so I'm okay."

She feels her cheeks blossom with heat. She is fairly sure that her whole face is as red as a stop sign. Before Lori can say anything, she notices Thomas and Teresa running towards one of the pods.
"What are they doing?"

Newt looks over to where she's gesturing, pushing wet hair out of his eyes.
"Must be runnin' out of time. Plus, we aren't gonna be able to stay out here to much longer; we'll all get fried. Come one."
Newt grabs Lori's hand, pulling her towards the pod closest to them.

They reach the egg, and Lori grabs on to the side of the egg. Newt knits his fingers together kneeling down and looking up at Lori. "Come on, I'll give you a boost!" He shouts above the pummeling noise of the rain.

She puts one foot on the platform, as he pushes her up, and she climbs over the edge of the pod. Newt climbs in with much more ease, swinging each leg over the edge, one at a time. When they are about to close it, Lori takes a quick look around, and spots Minho and Clara.
"Newt, wait! Hold on one minute." She leans over the edge of the pod, waving to the two. "Minho! Clara! Over here! Hurry up!" She yells as loud as she can, so that they are able to hear her over the weather.

Clara's head whips around to face her, pulling on Minho. They both run in their direction, reaching the pod within half a minute.
Minho helps Clara in, and follows closely behind.

Once they are all in, Minho and Newt both grab onto the lid of the pod, dragging it over so that the pod will close.
The darkness envelopes them, rain pattering down upon the lid, making a hollow echo sound throughout their hiding spot.

"What the bloody hell is happening? Where is our safe haven?"

Minho scoffs, "There probably wan't one to begin with. We were shuckheads to ever believe that WICKED would help us."

They sit silently, the only noise being that of the rain and cracks of lightning.
Suddenly, the egg jolts, and the cracking sound resounds much louder than before.

"What just happened?" Clara yells, fear palpable in her voice.

Lori searches the pod, locating Newt's hand, squeezing it tightly.
"It must have been the lightning hitting the pod. Hopefully we don't get hit too many more times. We don't need the pod breaking open, or we're free game for the lightning strikes."

After a while, the noise of the rain seems to almost begin to be drowned out. A whirring noise starts to take its place, making the pod vibrate.

"We need to get this thing open. There's something out there, I can hear it," Minho says to them all. They all voice their agreement, counting to three, before boosting the lid off of the pod, revealing themselves to the elements.

The boys help the girls climb out of the pod, setting them both onto the ground. They all turn towards the source of the noise, only to see something which they were half-expecting, and half not expecting.

A Berg lands before them, blue jets bursting with flames, as it slows to a stop, opening the hatch door built in to its belly. It was identical tot eh one which had picked her and Thomas up when he had been shot, and the thought of returning to one of those - and possibly seeing her mother again - terrifies the girl. More than it should after everything she's seen.

The four look to each other, sharing a knowing nod. Minho points to the Berg, "Get to the Berg, no one gets left behind!"

They all pull out their weapons, keeping hold of them just in case there happen to be any more monsters on the way.

Lori can feel her heart in her throat, pounding just as strongly as the rain. The thought of losing more of their friends to WICKED made her feel faint. She didn't want to lose anyone else. She couldn't.

"Lori?" Clara grabs her shoulder. "You ready?"

She looks to the girl. She remembers the hate she once felt for her, for everything she had done. But now, there was nothing. She realizes that it doesn't matter. She isn't the enemy. None of Group A or B are. It's WICKED. It was always WICKED.

Lori looks straight at her, a small grin pulling up the side of her mouth. "Yeah. Let's go."