~A/N:

As you can already tell by the title and the gif, we finally get to meet a new character. His appearance may seem brief, but he is like SO important to the plot, you have no idea.

Anyway, I hope you all love my bby boy Jarrod as much as I do!

Thanks for reading if you've gotten this far ;)

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~Sara~

The three of them slowly crept out with their hands up as the man kept his gun pointed at them.

He was a middle aged man with blond hair that cascaded just below his ears. He obviously looked vigorous enough to be able to shoot people, which was already a present problem.

Sara had lost count of how many times she'd been pointed at with a gun. It was rather annoying more than it was nerve-wracking.

"I don't like WICKED. I hate 'em," the guy started muttering, not really bothering to look at them. "Especially when they try to disguise themselves. I want your names before I kill you," he said, an annoyed tone lacing his voice.

He looked furious, as if Sara, Newt, or Rebecca had done something unforgivable. It didn't make sense. Sara didn't even know who those people were.

"Uh..." Rebecca began, "We're not with WICKED anymore—we're... runaways."

"Runaways?" the guy repeated, a mocking tone in his voice. "Runaways who had time to steal a berg? We were just about to raid it; thought we'd take a look at who rode it first before killing them and taking the berg for ourselves." He gave the three a cunning smile. What a dumb way to die; to end up killed by a bunch of random strangers that could only want trouble. "Yo Randy, can you imagine? Poetic ending, huh? Us bringing down WICKED, mounted on one of their bergs," he mused, his eyes full of delight.

"Aye, man. It's not everyday we get to ride one of those expensive beauties," another random guy, whom Sara assumed was Randy, replied.

Rebecca stepped forward. "Wait—"

The main guy groaned impatiently, then gestured at a few of his men to take hold of them. "Names. That's the first thing WICKED ever took from those kids. Now I want yours."

The men pushed the three of them forward, gripping their arms tightly as they struggled to break free.

"We're not working with WICKED! Not everyone that gets away with stealing a berg comes from them—ow, shuck!" Sara shouted, her voice strained as she tried to pull free.

Seriously, who were these people, and what were they doing in McGrath?

"Of course not," the same guy agreed casually, taking a couple of steps forward until he was inches away from Newt's face. Taking the tip of his gun, he placed it under Newt's chin and forced him to look at his face. Newt gave him a firm stare, but Sara could tell he was only minutes away from another outburst. "I would also like to know..." The guy began, his voice tauntingly curious, "Why do you have a Crank with you? You even realize what this thing can do to you? Might as well get rid of him now," he finished, pressing the tip of the gun directly on Newt's forehead.

Sara was furious, wanting to rip the guy's smirk from his face. But Newt was taking the situation a little differently.

"You'd do me a favor, actually," said Newt, his expression idle and unwavering. The way he said it startled Sara, and she gave Rebecca a nervous look. "But try anything funny with the women, and I'll have a little fun sinking my teeth into your flesh," Newt added, and his tone changed. That wasn't really Newt saying that. His eyes were a little more bloodshot, and what really got Sara on edge was the creepy giggle that came out of his mouth.

"Oy, okay. You're dead," the man said, cocking his gun. "I don't need your name anymore."

"Do not shoot the boy, Vince," muttered Rebecca, and Sara looked back at her in shock.

She couldn't believe it. This was The Right Arm. No wonder they refused to help Rebecca before; these people were literally savages.

Vince was startled, somewhat. He lowered his gun and backed away from Newt to stare at Rebecca. "Do I know you?" he asked threateningly, pointing his gun at her.

"You wanted names? Great," Sara butted in, trying to distract Vince from shooting Rebecca. "This is Newt," she muttered as she gestured towards Newt, then added, "I'm Sara, unfortunately Janson's niece, and this is Rebecca, the kind woman whom you deliberately left on her own when she needed your help."

"No way," Vince said, mockingly.

Sara forced a tight grin and tilted her head. "You have in your hands a WICKED employee who is good, a Maze trial survivor, and the assistant director's renegade niece. Now, would you be dear and perhaps not kill us before we explain ourselves?" she finished, and Vince looked at her with amusement. He gave his men a few glances, and they all shrugged. That still didn't seem to take away their skepticism.

Vince sighed, then glanced at Rebecca, who shrugged at him as well.

"Let's get to the berg," he said, annoyed, gesturing to his men to pull the three along.

Despite the change in plans to kill them, he didn't cut down the energy to escort them with guns still pointed at them. No matter who the three of them were, they were still enemies to The Right Arm. No one was welcome, and it was obvious that the tough circumstances had really shaped their skepticism and lack of emotion toward anyone else.

Once Vince and his men brought the three back to the berg, they all took over like the ship was their own. They grabbed the food, took a seat on the nice furniture, and put their feet on the armrests, where the dirt from their shoes violated the cleanliness of the place.

"I was trying to help the boys and girls out of the Mazes, but things went wrong and now we're separated," explained Rebecca.

Vince didn't seem too bothered by the entire story. Not even by the tragic parts, where friends were lost in the way.

As Sara listened to Rebecca provide the full story, it pained her to hear how everything came to be in such a short amount of time. She hadn't fully looked back at how much they'd fought, how much they'd tried, and how many times they failed after any attempt that gave them the slightest bit of hope.

She started to wonder how much it was really worth to escape WICKED. They would always find a way after her or her friends. And she didn't think The Right Arm would offer them any help either. They refused before, and they didn't look too willing now.

"Well, you see, we have quite similar objectives. You guys want to escape WICKED with those ya love, and we want to take down WICKED from the roots," said Vince, his eyes shining with delight, and his mouth forming a creepy smirk.

These people were definitely angry at WICKED, with due reason, but they didn't seem at all trustworthy. Sara was sure that they would help only if they could profit out of it, and at the first sign of danger, they would leave her and the others to fend for themselves.

"You're wrong," said Rebecca, furrowing her eyebrows. "I want to ruin WICKED, not kill everyone like the world itself is already doing. We don't need a civil war. I just wanna protect these young people. They've been at WICKED's mercy for years, and it's not fair. And Sara's like my own daughter. Janson wants her more than anyone, and he's willing to sacrifice anything to get to her. Please, just let us go. We have to go back to our friends."

Vince was fiddling with his gun, as if he were hardly even paying attention to Rebecca. "You call that civil war? Ya ever heard of the phrase 'my enemy's your enemy?' It means that makes us allies, and we're more than glad to help if you're interested." He pointed back and forth between himself and Rebecca.

Sara stood up, already annoyed. "You'll want something in return, and we're tired of getting duped."

"Well, it's simple. All we're asking is for you to let us get rid of the Crank," said Vince, gesturing to Newt. The way he said sounded so ironic, and Sara couldn't tell if he was just playing with them or not.

"I got you, boss," said a woman, walking up to Newt with her gun in hand.

"Stop!" shouted Sara. "You touch him, and I'll call Janson. The three of us will leave you here and you'll lose your chance to attack them first."

Her finger hovered above the control system of the berg. And she kept her eyes open for the stack of weapons they still had from the raiding of the weapons room at HQ. She wasn't sure she actually would've called Rat Man, but again, it was that or Newt's life.

Vince and the others immediately pointed their guns at Sara. "Not if you're dead first you won't."

A furious scream broke out to the side, and it took everyone off guard as Sara spotted Newt. He lurched forward, and grabbed Vince's shirt, slamming his body against the wall.

"Kill me if you want, but I swear I'll bloody gouge your eyes out and eat your klunk-face if you don't let them both go first." Newt growled behind his teeth, and his veins around his neck were almost black as he was sweating and breathing profusely. He was already so sick, and Sara couldn't do anything, especially if they kept wasting time with these people.

"You don't wanna kill either of us, Vince," Sara blurted out. "We know what the cure is." As soon as the words escaped her mouth, Newt released him, coming back to his senses to stare back at Sara.

"Enough of that, Sara," said Rebecca with a pleading voice. Her eyes were wide.

Vince chuckled, then the soft noise turned into loud laughter. He was almost cackling. "That's a good one, my dear. But we already know what it is—what it was. Five kids who apparently were supposed to save the world. All dead. And those who were taken by science before then, cured one person at most, then died of cancer. Yeah, we heard all about that."

"Six kids," Sara mumbled, not sure if he heard her or not. She repeated herself. "There were six kids. Now there's only one left," she added, staring down at her feet.

Vince and his men were acting like they never heard her, and Vince even stood up to go get himself a cup of water. He was trying not to show it, but Sara knew the news had made him uneasy.

Rebecca took the chance to pull Sara's arm, gripping it tightly. "Are you crazy? Don't trust him. You've literally told him things for which he could turn you in anytime."

"We wanna get out of this alive, though. And the only way is if they know the truth, and if we're technically on their side," Sara replied. "They have to trust us first before we can trust them."

After a little while of talking among his own group, Vince walked back to meet the three of them again, and he looked decisive. "In that case, I need to show you something. Leave the berg secured. No one visits these lands except for us, and maybe crazy people like you, which are rare."

"Where are we going, then? There's nothing else in this bloody wasteland," Newt muttered, taking a seat.

"We'll take you to our HQ. We have something for y'all to see," he said, and everyone in his group stood up and got ready on his order. "Load 'em up on my car, and keep an eye on 'em," he ordered a couple of his men. "And if the Crank starts actin' up, don't hesitate to knock him out."

A small growl escaped Newt's throat, and Sara walked over to place her hands on his shoulders, giving him a slight massage that would make him relax. She hated how they referred to Newt, reminding him every time that he was a danger to everyone. But she couldn't complain, or else, who knew what Vince could do; people like him were always unpredictable, and it was best not to trust them.

After leaving the berg secured, Sara, Newt, and Rebecca were escorted to Vince's car. A couple of men followed them onboard, and the rest of the men and women that came along got on the other two vehicles.

On the way there, Sara observed the town, holding onto Newt's hand and squeezing it from time to time, just so he wouldn't blow up and make any of Vince's men strike him.

Seeing that they had cars to move around in, weapons to defend themselves with, and even a safe base, Sara wondered what The Right Arm was really capable of doing for their survival. They had to get all those things and supplies somehow, and it definitely wasn't by asking nicely.

She decided it was best to stay silent. The three of them were now in The Right Arm's hands, and she almost chuckled at the irony of that fact.

There was another thing she noticed. No Cranks were attacking them on the way, like she'd imagined if they still lurked around.

"Are there any people around here?" she felt the need to accommodate the question so as to not hurt Newt's feelings.

"Ya mean Cranks?" asked Vince matter-of-factly. Sara sighed, rolling her eyes. So much for the effort. "Well, if people were living around here, they were already Cranks, and we go around killing them so that they stop suffering and so that we don't encounter surprises as we transit about. And we move around a lot, so if there aren't any, we've done our job in this town."

That response was enough to keep the three of them quiet for the rest of the ride. Sara made sure to keep an eye on Newt, but Vince's words hardly seemed to affect him. Or maybe his thoughts were elsewhere.

❀❀❀

The Right Arm HQ were nothing like she'd imagined.

It was an abandoned church, with brick walls, and graffiti all over the place. The building was huge. They were on top of a hill, and when Sara looked down, she could see a small village at the bottom, probably abandoned too.

Where did they even get their food? There was nothing nearby, not for miles.

The interior of the church wasn't all too promising either. The only good thing was that they at least had electricity. The lights had that annoying buzzing sound, typical of old buildings. As they walked along, Sara was surprised to see that the church could fit so many hallways and rooms.

Vince stopped before a door, one that had a lot of scratch marks on it.

"You're right, young lady," he said, glancing at Sara. "There were six of those kids, and there's only one left." He opened the door, inviting the three of them inside. It was dark in the room, only a faint light bulb illuminating a person lying on a bed. "Meet Jarrod."

They walked closer, and Sara saw a boy with brown hair, looking pale despite his tanned skin. When he opened his eyes, she noticed they were brown like Newt's, and they looked tired. The boy looked deathly ill as a whole, and he was probably much younger than he actually looked. Poor guy. He was attractive, and might've been full of life at some point. It was sad to see someone so young in that state.

"Oh goodness," Rebecca mumbled under her breath.

She looked at the sick boy with so much concern, and Sara couldn't help but wonder how everything she talked about with Vince came down to this. She felt awful having to look at him. And he probably felt uncomfortable, having random strangers come into his room to stare at him. Despite that, she was curious to know what happened and why he was under The Right Arm's protection.

Vince crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, giving Sara a curious look. "I wanna know how you knew about our boy Jarrod. Is WICKED looking for him?"

What?

"I—I didn't know about him—how...?" Sara began, but paused, the answer suddenly clicking. "When I said there were six, and that there was one left, I wasn't talking about him," she added, frowning, and her eyes filled with horror.

Vince uncrossed his arms and stood straight. It seemed like everyone else in the room was also taken aback. "You're one too," he whispered with wonder. "Janson wanted you for it."

Sara nodded, and Rebecca sighed, bowing her head.

Then she took a step closer, looking at Jarrod sympathetically.

"What happened, and why do you have him here? He needs help." The ill boy kept his eyes on her, but his face showed nothing. No emotion whatsoever. Sara wasn't even sure if he was really awake.

"He's dying. Nothing new for people like him—or should I say like you too?" Vince asked her. "But you're not sick, that's the difference."

Sara furrowed her eyebrows, not fully understanding. "But..."

"You don't seem too informed. What do you really know about kids who had your DNA?"

Sara remembered everything Rat Man had told her the day she went back to HQ to speak with him. Every awful thing that he mentioned about her genes and what experiments had taken place before, with a little boy.

As she was telling Vince everything she knew, she felt compelled to look at Newt. She hadn't told him about that yet, and she never wanted to in the first place.

Newt was shocked, to say the least. Behind the anger she obviously saw in his eyes, she could tell he was hurt. Maybe he wasn't angry at Sara for not telling him; he'd gotten over the fact that she kept certain things from him to protect him. He was aware her memories went way back before the Maze, and no one could understand her position other than someone whose memories hadn't been torn out by the Swipe. He was just tired of learning of new threats.

"You know almost nothing, then, Sara," said Vince, pursing his lips. "You really thought Janson would tell you the whole truth?"

"Then what's the truth?" Sara was desperate at that point. What a surprise that she'd been lied to yet again. "You suddenly appear in an abandoned town, you have food, protection, and a safe base—without easy access to any of that—and a dying kid with you, and you expect me to trust you as my best option?"

Vince took his place back against the wall, smiling slightly at the boy in bed. "All other five kids are dead because of science. One little spark of hope, and everyone goes bat crazy. They don't even care about the consequences."

"What happened?" asked Sara.

"Once news of this kind of DNA came out, many labs from the PFC targeted these kids," Vince continued. "Immediately, DNA was extracted from their cells and injected into the cells of the infected. Cured them immediately. Those lucky guinea pigs were, of course, other scientists who'd gotten infected. Now that they were cured, those bastards went to work for WICKED and stayed silent about their cure."

Sara was stunned. It wasn't just one little boy; all the kids were victims. "They all died of cancer."

"Every single one of them," said Vince, a somber look in his eyes. "Janson was partially right, but he didn't mention the other four deaths."

"How did they not realize the problem?" Newt asked.

"That's the only known way to cure the Flare, but it's not safe," Vince replied, shaking his head. "No one stopped to think that maybe the missing base pairs try to repair themselves and make up for the missing DNA. It doesn't work when all the cells are compromised. That's when mutations happen, and then the kids die of cancer. Their body rots from the inside, invaded by tumors."

Sara stared at Rebecca, as if the woman had any idea of what Vince was talking about. She could tell Rebecca's mind was busy, thinking everything through.

Then Rebecca walked over to Jarrod. "How did he survive until now?"

"We go around every town and city WICKED invaded, trying to rescue survivors of the raids," said Vince, walking over and placing a hand on Jarrod's forehead. "When we broke into one of the older labs, Jarrod was the last kid they used. The procedure had barely finished, and we knew what was gonna happen to him because of the other cases. We wanted him to spend his last days with people who actually cared about him, and not in a lab like a failed experiment. The lab was abandoned, and they'd just left him there."

Sara looked back at Jarrod. How was he still alive with cancerous tumors eating his body away? She remembered learning about the older methods used to treat cancers. In a lot of cases, they were effective, but nowadays, there were barely any resources available when the world itself was deteriorating. It wasn't fair. The boy was hardly over fifteen years old.

"Have you guys tried treating him at all?" asked Sara.

"No," Vince scoffed. "We actually offered to put a bullet through his skull to end it all for once, but the stubborn kid said he didn't want us to. He wanted to see if the effects of the DNA extraction could tell more about curing others."

"Well, has it?" asked Rebecca, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Not at all," Vince replied, matter-of-factly. "Imagine being able to cure only one person at the expense of your own health, then eventually your life." Sara actually thought about it. That was exactly what she wanted to do about Newt's case. If that was the only way, that was what she would do, no matter the side-effects in her own body. "And this guy doesn't wanna die soon. Keeps sayin' he'll die when he has to die."

"Well," Jarrod spoke up with a soft, croaky voice. Sara and the other two were startled, thinking the poor boy wouldn't even have the energy. "I've always been too much for you, Vince. I'm a die-hard patient," he added, chuckling. The guy was actually laughing, dying as he was. Sara was impressed, and she only wished Newt would have a similar mindset.

"Shut that mouth of yours, boy. Go to bed," said Vince, an amused smile taking over.

"I am in bed, genius," replied the boy with a smirk before he coughed a couple times.

Vince only shook his head, his smile disappearing from his face as he pensively looked at Jarrod. Sara's views on The Right Arm had dramatically changed since she met Jarrod. She could tell Vince truly cared about certain people. The Right Arm actually tried to rescue the people WICKED had hurt.

Meanwhile, Sara noticed Rebecca looking around the room, eyeing a few papers on the night table nearby.

"Those were the exams and the procedure they did on him. We also took 'em, even though we can't do much with that," said Vince. Rebecca ignored him as she kept her focus on the papers, truly immersed into the case like the good doctor she was.

Newt had been surprisingly calm for the past few hours. He glanced at Jarrod from time to time, and Sara found it sweet how his eyes widened once Jarrod turned to stare at him specifically, and Newt gave him a small smile.

It was like he was reflecting on his life again, seeing how a boy with terminal cancer still fought for his life no matter how hopeless it seemed. For once, Sara was glad their trip back to Alaska had served for a better purpose than intended. Maybe Newt would consider her suggestion this time.

Sara turned to Vince, making sure Newt wasn't really paying enough attention to hear her for the moment. "I wanna try to save Newt."

Vince lowered his eyebrows. "Have you even paid attention to a word I've said? You're the only healthy one left out of seven kids, of which five died, and one more has a foot in the grave," he said, gesturing to the boy lying in bed.

"Okay, but I won't be able to live with myself if my boyfriend dies, when there could've been something I could've done to help him. And it's pretty much guaranteed that the cure works. And even better, WICKED will stop prosecuting me when I take away their chance to use me," Sara offered, convinced more and more of her decision.

But Vince shook his head. "Maybe Janson would stop, but WICKED won't stop comin' after your friends. Think about it. None of the cured doctors said a word to anyone. Only Janson knows since he has a rep of getting in everyone's business. And if that's the case, that bastard only wants you as a guarantee that he'll be cured in case he gets infected. But WICKED itself won't know that, so they'll keep tryin' to get to the regular Immunes."

"No, we have to find another way," Rebecca blurted out, still flipping through the papers. "Vince, I need to talk to you in private. Now."

As they went over to talk, Sara approached Jarrod's bed, and stood right next to Newt, who was already having a conversation with him. Newt immediately grabbed her hand and squeezed it, occasionally rubbing it with his thumb. He always did that when he was feeling apprehensive.

"Life sucks, doesn't it?" asked Jarrod, looking at Sara with tired eyes.

Her forehead creased and she let out a nervous chuckle. "I can't even say that half as much as you can."

The sick boy smiled at her. "Nah. It's kinda liberating, you know? It'll be over for me soon, and without having crap like chemo in my system since that's a scam." He paused, then he gave her a worried look, "You've actually got it worse than me, though."

Sara was taken aback, scrunching her eyebrows together. "You have cancer, and it's slowly killing you," she said bluntly. "You're in pain every second of every day."

"But no one is after me anymore. I'm free to go. As long as you're healthy, WICKED, Cranks, and anyone interested in the cure—which is almost everyone—will be after you. Unless something happens and you free yourself from them, depending on whatever you consider is being 'free from WICKED.' And I did a good thing. I saved one person from suffering a terrible fate with the Flare," he said.

Sara couldn't even believe what he was saying. Newt's grip on her hand tightened, and she knew he thought Jarrod's words were only motivating her to accept the same fate, which caused him to be sick in bed in the first place.

"You saved someone who'll never even thank you for the sacrifice you've made," said Sara, with disgust in her voice.

"It's better than trying to survive the apocalypse that every other Immune is facing. But you... I mean, if you help him," he nodded over at Newt, "you'll save someone who'd not only be grateful, but who also loves you unconditionally, and who you know would do the same for you."

"That is bloody non negotiable," Newt immediately snapped, turning to face Sara as if she were being convinced of the most ridiculous idea ever. His eyes threatened to get bloodshot again, and the dark color of the veins on his neck was returning.

"But you're running out of time. And my decision is also non negotiable," was Sara's response.

Suddenly, Rebecca's wrist communicator started beeping. She picked up the signal and immediately, they heard Jorge's voice. "WICKED's on our necks. It won't be long before they find us, but you guys have to come get us. You'll have to sneak your way in somehow so they don't kick you out because of Newt."

"We have to get back to the berg," said Rebecca, turning to Vince again. "Take us back now."

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~A/N: Just a quick note, I'm not discrediting chemotherapy at all. For the purpose of this book, it is only considered a poison and has been clinically proven to be 100% ineffective.

Also, my poor sweet Jarrod. I love him so much, he's precious :'(