~Sara~

"How did you guys break in?" she asked as Minho handed her a launcher he'd stolen, then they ran down the hallway.

"Vince," Minho replied. "But I don't know how the others got in."

"I do," Sara grumbled as they hid behind a wall.

One guard rose from the ground with difficulty and began heading their way. She peered over slightly, targeting the man, and shot him with a grenade. He collapsed, writhing with sparks flying around him.

"How?" asked Rachel.

"Vince traded the Immunes to free The Right Arm of prosecution. He sold them to WICKED basically," said Sara, and Minho laughed humorlessly.

"I should've shot him in the berg," he muttered.

More gunfire and grenades were being shot in the distance, and it really seemed like WICKED was caught by surprise this time. There weren't as many guards retaliating, and Sara kept seeing more familiar faces as they rushed to fight back against whichever guard appeared.

Sara could see Thomas, the Scorch duo, Gally, and the two teenage traitors rushing forward to meet them. The relief was immense, but their time was limited. It wasn't happy reunion moment. Some things—grievances, hellos—all of that would just have to wait until they could solve all their problems.

She had to avoid thinking about Newt. It was impossible; he never left her thoughts, but if she let the sadness take her over, she wouldn't be able to continue running with the others. Newt would've wanted her to help her friends, and for once, to just stop crying over everything.

"Did you guys know about this?" asked Minho, specifically looking at Teresa with suspicion. She was always an easy target to blame, but that was what past experiences had taught them.

"About what?" asked Teresa.

"Vince. Shucking slinthead sold us out," Minho replied.

Jorge scoffed. "I knew it—"

"No, I didn't know," Teresa interrupted, specifically looking at Thomas, as if wanting to gain his favor. "Believe me."

"Vince never talked to any of us, he acted on his own. The Right Arm had their own plans; they just used us however they deemed necessary," said Thomas.

Sara noticed he wasn't as angry with Teresa like before. There was always a part of him that just couldn't forget what she did, and Teresa must've expected him to forgive her so easily, but those things took time. Yet he wasn't as harsh to her anymore.

"And you?" Minho asked Gally. "You knew about this, right?"

Gally raised his hands in defence. "Hey, the plan is literally the same. We just need to go get 'em now." Everyone gave him a suspicious look, but he just sighed. "Vince lies to make his plans work out, okay? You guys still made it. Don't question me. I'm not the one who lied to you multiple times." As soon as he said that, he glanced sideways at Teresa.

Brenda must've noticed the subtle tension and she quickly grabbed Thomas's arm. "Let's go." Then she looked over at Sara. "What do we do?"

"Rat Man said the Immunes are back in the Maze," she said, and it was almost as if her friends hadn't heard her, simply blinking back at her, appalled. Maybe they didn't believe her—there were certainly many doubts regarding that information. "I know. But guys, we have to go back." She scanned their faces, and they didn't seem too excited about the idea, but if that was where everyone else was taken, then there was no other choice.

"Why the Maze, though?" asked Rachel. Only those who experienced the nightmare that was being stuck in there understood the skepticism over going back. Sara wasn't gonna lie to herself. That wasn't a very pretty thought.

"WICKED wants to restart the trials. They've got the Immunes, and they'll continue to hurt them," said Sara, and with a softer voice, she added, "they'll never stop."

"Then we make sure they do," said Brenda with a look of determination.

"Teresa," Sara called to her, allowing herself to speak to her for the first time after everything that happened. "Can you lead us to the Maze?" Sara was wrong to think she knew every inch of the place, but at least she knew Teresa did.

Her eyes widened to the fact that Sara was even talking to her, but she smiled a bit and nodded, seemingly glad that she could help even if it was the least she could do.

❀❀❀

They stepped foot into the lab right below the Maze. It was the same lab with the computer station where they should've escaped had they followed the exit meant for them. It would've been destroyed if they had, but given it was never used, it remained intact.

They even saw giant, luminescent pods, with some kind of embryonic creature suspended in liquid. Sara looked over at Thomas, and she saw that he was really disturbed by the sight, almost like he'd seen something like that before.

And then Sara realized they all had.

"Is it bad I feel more disturbed by baby Grievers than full grown ones?" asked Minho, looking at the pods with disgust.

He wasn't wrong. But what was more disturbing was knowing that even if WICKED knew they were losing in their own game, they didn't stop. They didn't plan to anytime soon, apparently.

"Guys, we should hurry up before this place blows up," Gally pressed on, sounding a bit urgent.

Jorge perked up and snapped his eyes at Gally. "You mean that... metaphorically right?" he asked, pointing at him for confirmation.

Thomas gasped loudly. "Vince! The Immunes! Explosives!" He put a hand to his forehead and frantically looked around.

Everyone turned to him in a panic, watching him as if he'd been possessed.

"Lotería!" screamed Jorge, before receiving a smack in the arm from Brenda.

"Stop fooling around!" she screamed, then looked at Thomas. "What're you talking about?"

"I totally forgot Vince mentioned he planted them all over the place. I don't know if he knows we're inside but he's gonna blow up the place!" shouted Thomas, his forehead creasing.

Immediately, they all ran towards the Griever Hole, and there was no indication of an optical illusion anymore. It was just pitch black, and no gray wall—no flat trans. There was a ladder in place, which they discovered when Sara ran into it, and they all strapped their launchers behind their backs as they started climbing in single file until they reached the edge of the Cliff.

The memories rushed back to Sara's mind, and she was pretty sure the others were having a similar experience.

They were back.

Minho looked over at Thomas, arching his eyebrow. He then knocked on his own temple. "Your fabulous memory can truly save lives," he said, and Thomas rolled his eyes. "My hero."

They all let Minho lead them since he was the only one who knew the Maze enough to run it blindfolded if he wanted to. And they would reach the Glade faster—at least on time to alert all the Immunes that they needed to get out of there and follow them all the way to the exit.

Sara ran alongside Minho and Rachel, and every once in a while, catching a glimpse of Teresa trying to make small talk with Thomas.

He was still being sort of nice, but Sara could tell that girl would have to try really hard to make him talk. It was a good thing Brenda wasn't trying to cut in, but it was also pretty obvious she didn't appreciate what was going on.

Aris, on the other hand, hadn't even said a word to Rachel. Only sideways glimpses here and there. Sara figured he was probably just scared of Minho, and with due reason, given that Aris had a lanky figure compared to Minho.

And if he wasn't afraid, then he probably didn't like Rachel like he'd said he did.

Nevertheless, everyone else was minding their own business, following Minho's lead until they reached the clearing of the Glade.

Minho made a few more turns, and then the corridors started to become familiar. They then made the last turn, and the majestic split of the doors didn't seem so majestic anymore. Sara thought it was just her, since she was always aware of the actual size of the walls, but then Minho scoffed.

"Seemed a lot scarier before," he said, looking up at the top of the walls, and Sara remembered how the implants the Gladers used to have made certain things appear larger. It would've been the same for her, but Rebecca never manipulated her like that. It was nice for all of them to finally have a real taste of what it meant to have a mind of their own.

When they looked ahead, they saw a few hundred people standing in the middle of the Glade. They were larger in number than when they were taken to the shelter on the outskirts of the city.

"Where did all these people come from?" asked Rachel, turning to the rest. "I don't remember there being this many."

Sara thought for a bit, and she came to the conclusion that Vince wasn't being completely honest from the start. "He probably already traded the other Immunes before we even met him."

The rest of their friends had spotted them, and more people started noticing them as soon as Frypan, Winston, and Zart started running towards them. A couple of the girls, Lizzy, Harriet, and Yuna joined them too.

Frypan and Gally gave each other a fist bump, and then Winston came over to pat Gally on the back.

"You shanks are okay," said Zart with relief, as he greeted them.

The Med-jacks—Clint and Jeff—also approached them and gave them a welcoming hug.

"Why do you have that smile on your face?" asked Minho, looking at Zart. "Please tell me I won't have to remind you where your shuck butt is."

Zart's smile faded only a little. "Well... we're back in the Glade. That's as good as it gets, shank."

"You've been here for days, how are you all keeping up?" Sara wondered, taking a look at the place she once called her temporary home.

The Glade was still a bit wrecked from the Griever invasion the last time they were there, but it was starting to look better with people cleaning it up and making it look more decent.

Winston answered her, clarifying some things. "We've been here for about a month. The others probably longer. Vince told us to let ourselves be captured to give him time, but he hasn't been back, so we're just getting used to being back for good."

Frypan agreed with a nod before telling them the rest. "Yeah, WICKED still sends stuff in the Box like before, but since we have no more electricity or special effects, it looks like they're running low on budget or something. Can you believe it? I can't even cook my bomb meals anymore. Now they send us canned foods and all kinds of this nonperishable klunk," he said as he snatched a can of food from a table, looking at it boringly.

Sara took a look at the can and cringed. WICKED obviously cared less about the supposedly 'new trials,' but they still couldn't just stop the experimenting. It was basically engraved in their soul.

When everyone else caught sight of Teresa, they quieted down, giving her a disapproving glare.

Thomas pursed his lips before addressing that detail. "Guys, she's trying to help us right now. Cut it out."

"Yeah," added Sara. "She might've done quite a number to us, but she did help us find you."

Minho raised his arms as if wanting to make an announcement to anyone who could hear him. "And just to let you guys know, your butts have just been saved by Thomas's memory."

Thomas groaned, and once everyone saw that Sara and the others who had come with them weren't smiling, they ignored Minho's comment.

A couple of Sara's other friends from the Glade and from the girls' group came by to greet them. Lizzy, especially, approached Sara with a fearful look in her eyes. As soon as Sara saw her, a knot immediately formed in her throat.

"Newt?" asked Lizzy as she gently grabbed Sara's hands, desperately wanting to know what had happened with her brother.

This time, Sara couldn't bring herself to stop the storm she knew was coming. Her mind was invaded with thoughts of him, everything he'd gone through, and her vision blurred with the images in her mind. Her lungs felt like they were lacking oxygen as a choking sob escaped her lips, and she shook her head.

She didn't say a single word.

Lizzy burst into tears when she saw Sara's reaction, and the two girls hugged each other tightly, crying into each other's shoulders. They weren't even scream-crying as the grief already felt too thick in the air.

The mood instantly switched, and everyone—especially everyone who knew Newt—was visibly upset.

Newt was someone capable of changing people's lives after having had met him only once. He was easygoing, charismatic, super nice, humble, and he cared about people in a way that no one else found the time to. Surrounded by plenty of other guys who could care less about being that nice, he was different. Sure, there were plenty of kind boys in the Glade, Sara remembered. But none like Newt. And it wasn't just her biased opinion; Newt was known for that quality.

There was a reason people respected him so much in the Glade and after, in a way the boys hadn't done with Alby. The only reason Newt lost some of that respect in the Glade was because of Sara and her secrets back then. She still regretted that.

Minho, being one of the most affected by the news, broke the silence. "I hate to be a mood-killer, but we need to blast outta here, like now."

Sara tried to pull herself together, but she didn't have much energy to do so. "Minho, I lost him forever," she mumbled softly.

Minho grabbed her arms and shook her gently. "I know," he said, his voice trembling slightly. "The news has us all shucked up, but we gotta go, or we're all gonna die."

Rather quickly, after deciding crying wouldn't fix a thing, Sara cleared her throat, suggesting they spread themselves out so that each of them could tell each group of people what was going on. The whole group was too large for one person to strain their own vocal chords trying to reach everyone.

As expected, everyone was scared, and many of them were carrying small children, which would make it even more dangerous to escape. Luckily, the Grievers were still in the making process, so none were lurking in the Maze, but guiding this whole group of people through the narrow corridors would be no easy task.

Sara helped Minho and Thomas gather some of the leaders from Group B and a few others among the new group. They would be in charge of leading the people out from all angles, making sure no one stayed behind or got hurt.

She noticed Gally's uneasiness, and she couldn't understand why he was tagging along with them if he refused to say anything about Vince.

"Gally," she called to him, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him away from the crowd. "He's not gonna wait, is he? Can we get everyone out on time?"

Gally only looked at her, but she knew they were both thinking the same thing. Finally, he sighed, scratching his head. "Listen, Sara. I'm sorry about everything, but... Vince took me in when death was all I had left. He's gone nuts now, but I don't wanna just stop the project of his life just to test if we might be able to escape with all these people."

"You're telling me you'll do nothing even if it means you'll get crushed by the freaking ceiling like the rest of us?!" she screamed.

"It's Vince!" Gally yelled back. "He won't care."

Sara almost laughed. She couldn't believe all their efforts came down to this. "Why did he put so much effort into helping the Immunes, just to blow them all up?"

"He's still helping you," Gally argued. "The Right Arm is kicking WICKED's butt as we're talking."

"Then why didn't he just blow up the Glade before any of the Immunes were brought in?" she kept going. "If he was able to plant explosives all around this place, he would have blown it up already." Sara squinted her eyes. "So why did he wait until we were all here? How does he benefit from that?"

"He doesn't give two klunks about other Immunes, or anyone else who isn't part of The Right Arm," said Gally, his voice getting softer. "He only ever cared about three outsiders. A girl he rescued a long time ago who almost died, a dying shank named Jarrod, and well... me. But I guess it's just two now."

"Nope, just one," said Sara, and Gally gave her a funny look. "Jarrod died and he didn't even care." Vince must've been a madman, obsessed with people on the brink of death. But what Gally was saying was horrible. Vince turned his back on him completely, just like with Jarrod. "It's because you're with us, right? Is that why he cut you off?"

"It doesn't matter. We'll never make it on time anyway," he said with a defeated voice, glancing up at the stone walls of the Maze. And then he said something she should've imagined beforehand. "He knew you'd come rescue them, so congrats, Sara. Vince wants you dead just as much as he wants WICKED destroyed."

"All I did was defend the people I love from his killing frenzy," she said, shaking her head. "Now we're all gonna pay? You're telling me everyone's gonna die because of me?!"

"He's killed people for much less," he said, looking back at her. He definitely wasn't the same Gally as before, and his eyes told her he'd seen some things even she hadn't, despite everything. "He would've let the Immunes die anyway—you're just here to join them, which was what he wanted. And he would've killed Rebecca but didn't, just 'cause of her looks."

Sara's eyebrows narrowed. That just sounded like a premeditated plan for Rebecca's death. "Why on earth would he want to kill her? Was it because she called him for help a few years back?" She knew that must've not been the case, but she couldn't think of any other reason.

"Look, I don't know exactly why, but I do know that the girl Vince protects wants her dead. Straight up. And Vince was off to kill her, but he didn't do it," said Gally.

Sara's eyes widened. She was completely appalled to hear that someone—some random girl—hated Rebecca so much she wanted her dead.

But time was still running out, and Sara wasn't willing to have everyone die just because someone ditched on them all. "Gally, if you're with us, help me out."

"I told you, there's nothing I can do!" he yelled at her.

Sara desperately put her hands on her head, sliding them back down. "Okay, hear me out," she muttered, her face molding into a mixture of panic and anger, "I already lost Newt, the most important person in my life. I don't wanna lose you guys too. I don't even want you to die, Gally. So who do I need to speak to, to talk Vince out of exploding that thing?!"

Gally groaned, and he just looked at Sara for a while before he finally took out a handheld transceiver from his own vest. He pressed a button, and it made a scratching sound.

"Hey," he spoke into it, turning away from Sara a bit. "Tell Vince to wait, over."

There was another scratching sound before a female voice replied. "I just talked to him. He's gonna do it in ten, over."

Gally scoffed, continuing to talk to whoever was on the other side of the line. "There's no time! And I'm in here too! You think it's cool to leave us here while he blows up the place? He just wants to kill a girl that pissed him off, over."

"Are you kidding me? Which girl? I'll take her down if he wants, and you can get out of there before he blows it up, over."

Sara's eyes widened. Whoever that girl was meant business, and if Gally was asking her to talk Vince out of his plans, this had to be the girl that wanted Rebecca dead. And now that she knew about Sara, much less did Sara want to be killed by whoever she was.

"May! Don't kill her, she's in the mission, over," said Gally. At least now Sara knew her name. If she ever saw Rebecca again, she counted on asking her if she knew who May was or why that girl wanted to kill her.

"Then you're all gonna die in there, Gal, sorry. Over," said the girl.

Sara couldn't take it anymore. She snatched the HT from Gally's hands and pushed the button before speaking to this May girl.

"Alright, listen here, whoever you are. My name is Sara, and you have no idea what I've been through—what we've all been through. We helped your bat crazy adoptive father, and we're trying to save hundreds of innocent people here. I don't know what's your deal, but it looks like you've had it rough too. So please, if you find it in your heart, please convince dear old Vince to abort the mission at least until there's no one left in here. Over."

There was silence for a good couple of seconds, and Sara was losing any hope of surviving this. They were doomed.

Gally took the device back and spoke into it again. "May? May! Hey, did you catch any of that?"

There were more scratching noises before the girl's voice was heard again. It sounded different, like the girl was nervous. "Y—yeah. Um... I'll tell Vince."

Gally and Sara looked at each other like they had no idea what that was, but they immediately got busy telling the others they had a chance to leave before it was too late.

"Alright, let's go!" Gally shouted, and Sara went around, passing the message so the leaders were ready to get them all out.

Sara ran to the front of the crowd to meet Minho and the others, spreading the message until she got to them.

"Where were you?" Minho asked her.

"Trying not to get blown to ashes," was her response.

❀❀❀

There were still about thirty or forty people left to go down the ladder and across the Griever Hole. Sara stayed behind to help them since the slowest ones were in the back.

Gally was also in the back, and Sara heard the HT hanging from his vest start crackling.

"He's doing it—make sure you're all outta there, Gally!" It was the same girl from before.

Gally gave Sara an urgent look and they started shouting at the rest of the group, trying to get them to move faster before the explosion went off.

They'd spared themselves more time to save their lives, but Vince was impatient and started the explosives before everyone was through.

Sara finally heard the explosions not too far away from their current location in the Maze. It must've been the Glade blowing up that they heard in the distance.

But then the unimaginable began to happen. Actual cracks formed from the base of the stone walls and extended in a snake-like pattern that spread all the way up until reaching the top of the walls. And the rock exploded.

Sara wanted to reconsider what she'd thought before, about the walls not looking as frightening as they used to look. Now that she saw the walls of stone crack and crumble one by one, the story was different.

The huge monuments produced that distinctive sound, where a massive object slowly begins to fall over, like in slow motion. It was terrifying. Even the ground cracked and was beginning to split. The explosions were closer now, every detonation causing her to flinch. The walls kept crumbling and falling on top of each other, like giant dominoes.

However, just as the Maze was crumbling over, Sara and Gally were the last to climb down the long ladder of the Griever Hole, into safety. And she didn't fail to notice how Gally had deliberately grabbed her arms and pulled her away before a piece of concrete fell on top of her.

Sara didn't know what kind of material this area of ​​the complex was built on, but it was enough to hold tons of ruins crumbling on top, only crushing the entrance to the Griever Hole. Crumbled stone and vines plummeted down in a heap on what once was the main entrance to the Maze. The ruins created a massive cloud of dust, sending the ones who were nearby to a coughing fit.

As Sara and Gally pushed through the crowd to get to the front again, they had to cover their faces to prevent the dust getting inside their eyes, nose, or mouth. Sara didn't even know where she was going, and being disoriented and all, she felt several pairs of arms pulling her closer to guide her. She opened her eyes and saw her friends surrounding them.

"Stop trying to act like Thomas," said Minho, his voice stern as he looked at her. Sara only ignored him as she was catching her breath.

"He changed his mind," said Jorge all of a sudden. Everyone turned to him all confused. "He did. Vince changed his mind. We would've all died in there. Something else is going on."

Right at that moment, Gally's HT started making scratching noises again, before the same girl's voice was heard yet again.

"Gally?" Her voice was frantic, totally different from the bold tone she spoke with, earlier. "Did everyone go through? Is the girl okay? Over."

Sara frowned as Gally glanced at her.

"We all made it. And she's fine," said Gally, looking a bit confused as well. "May, where the shuck are you? Please tell me you're not still at the church. Over."

"I'm inside the same building as you, chill out. Tell me where you're all headed, and I'm gonna catch you guys there," she said before the device completely stopped making any noises.

Everyone froze, looking at Gally as if expecting him to explain what was going on.

Sara turned to Jorge and Brenda, hoping they would have answers. "Guys, where are we going? Vince will probably explode the whole building and we have nowhere to go."

Jorge and Brenda looked at each other, and then Brenda spoke.

"I know you don't trust Rebecca's mother, but when we came back, Ava said she would help us as soon as we came back. She was the one that helped everyone escape last time they were here." Knowing where this was going, Sara started shaking her head. "She has a flat trans available for us to use. It's in your old room," Brenda finished.

Sara didn't understand why Ava Paige was doing this for them. It was hard to believe she had a sudden change of heart. But if she had, Sara was more than certain that was due to Rebecca, and Ava's fear of losing her.

There was a single explosion nearby, louder than the others. Vince wanted to tear down the whole building.

Sara, Minho, Rachel, and Thomas decided to take the lead to find her room, making sure the coast was clear for everyone to move along safely. They each had a launcher in hand, and some of the others followed them with knives or other weapons of their own just to be completely safe.

Now they had to watch not only their backs but also what was right in front of them. Rat Man was definitely around somewhere, just waiting to ambush them in order to get Sara back, and Vince didn't care if any of the Immunes died as long as Sara did too.

Both ends of the spectrum, Vince and Janson, with different perspectives but with the same motives, wanted her dead for one or more reasons.

They passed the weapons room, and they heard a shuffling noise inside. The door was ajar, and Sara and the other three quietly leaned against the wall, giving them a decent view of the interior of the room.

There was a girl with short, light brown hair in there, dressed in similar clothing the members of The Right Arm wore—worn pants, and a beige vest over a black shirt.

Her back was facing them, and she was looking through the weapons—the launchers, pistols, shotguns, revolvers, and knives—one by one, examining them carefully. It looked like she had some special plan in mind if choosing a weapon with such scrutiny was worth being vulnerable to being found alone in the weapons room.

Sara took a deep breath and decided to step forward, also taking a look around at the remains of the wooden box Jorge had blown up a while ago. The fact that the weapons room was fairly intact after that explosion made her question why WICKED hadn't thought of implementing the same anti-detonation features to the entire complex. They would have resisted The Right Arm.

She had an idea of ​​who the girl was; her instinct couldn't have been wrong after so much proof it hadn't been. But what else could Sara say? This girl was a hitwoman. Vince's hitwoman. And she somehow changed her mind about killing Sara. That alone was intriguing.

"May, right?" she cautiously asked the girl, pointing the launcher at her just to be safe.

The girl inhaled sharply and quickly snatched a gun to point it at Sara as she spun around, her hair swinging around gracefully.

"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa," Minho threatened in a low voice, pointing his launcher at the girl. "Careful," he added mockingly, "I would think twice about facing four of us by yourself." Minho then turned to Thomas. "Finally, I can say that without being ambushed by a fake Crank's men," he said, and they all knew what he was referring to.

But Sara lowered her launcher, staring at the girl with shock, her eyebrows twitching. The girl had also lowered her gun, her fierce look faltering as she stared back at Sara.

"M—Maggie?" Sara called to her, still unable to believe her eyes. Her voice came out meek but tender.

"Sarì," the girl whispered, her voice trembling.

The other three turned to Sara with their jaws almost to the floor. They could never get used to little surprises like that—at least not when Sara was involved.

"Is there ever anyone you don't know?" Rachel commented.

"Sara, who the shuck is this?" asked Minho, eyeing the girl carefully.

She almost couldn't bring the words out, "...My cousin Margaret."