~-~-~

After fifteen long hours, filled with many stops (all because of the McCall pack), they had finally reached New Mexico. Just a few more hours until they reached the Scorch.

They got a call over the walkie, saying they needed to stop again. Brenda, having enough of stopping, took the communicator off the dash, ready to give Scott a piece of her mind. The others didn't try to stop her.

"Listen here, Dog," Brenda snapped, and continued before anyone could interject. "You can stop all you want, but if you call to stop one more time, we're leaving you behind. Whatever thing you have to stop for can wait til we get back, because I guarantee you can't find whatever you want in the Scorch and we're not stopping until we get to the last town. Understand? Good."

She then put the walkie back on the dash and sighed. This is going to be a nightmare.

~-~-~

It was with stiff legs and sore butts that the Gladers, Scorchers, and supernaturals got out of their respective cars.

Immediately, the pack started complaining about everything, the heat, the soreness they were feeling, the fact that they hadn't been able to stop for the past three hours.

The survivors ignored them, instead surveying the town, looking for threats, escape points, things like that.

That'd be a good escape route, big enough for Bertha but not for the big tanks WICKED has, Thomas signed, pointing to an alleyway off to the side. He was thankful that there was a little light left, and that the street lamps had given some.

That arch over there could be good to drop after we escape if needed, Brenda pointed to a stone arch on the opposite side of the alleyway.

That man over there has been staring at us since we got here, Harriet subtly motioned to a big guy under an awning, that was indeed staring right at them.

You guys have weapons on hand, right? Jorge, always being the dad. They all nodded to confirm.

Before they could continue discussing the land, Malia interrupted. "Mind sharing what you are talking about?"

"No." Wow, who knew Aris could be such a badass?

"Excuse me?" She growled, stepping forward and glowing her eyes. Still has anger issues, Thomas thought, and she doesn't like the word no.

"I said 'No'," the small boy said slowly, like she was a little kid who didn't understand English.

She went to step forward again when Minho saw the man from before start moving towards them and interjected. "Shanks," he muttered, gaining the attention of Sonya and Gally, who were standing right next to him. Thomas was too, but he was watching the interaction between Malia and Aris too carefully to see the two move. "Shanks," he said louder, but the were-coyote jumped at the brown haired boy, so everyone didn't hear him.

Thomas stepped in front of the group B boy and Fry pulled him back. Instantly, Harriet and Sonya were checking him for injuries, all while the man got closer and Thomas wrestled Malia. Scott was trying to get Thomas to stop 'hurting' Malia, while she tried to get out of the boy's strong grip to attack Aris, even though he didn't do anything. The other Gladers and Scorcher's just watched, waiting for their leader to either kill her or at least knock her out.

Minho didn't pay much attention to what happened after that, and he turned to watch the approaching man, his hand going to his gun. The man was now close enough that the old Keeper of the Runners could see that he was a little older than middle-aged with a mustache and a beard. He also looked vaguely familiar.

Minho glanced towards the fight to see Thomas had put Malia into a head lock until she passed out, in which he had dropped her. "Shanks!" he practically shouted, and everyone looked at him. He pointed to the man with one hand, the other still on his guns.

Without hesitation, his friends got into slightly defensive positions that wouldn't be noticeable unless you knew their fighting style. The man chuckled, stopping a few feet away from them.

He raised his hands in surrender. "I am no threat to you," he told the Gladers and Scorchers, before looking to the McCall pack, who have now surrounded the unconscious were-coyote, occasionally throwing glares at Thomas, who ignored them. "Them? Maybe." He chuckled along with some of the survivors.

Thomas walked forward, getting right in front of the man, studying his face. A moment later, his face breaks out in a grin, and he leans forward, pulling the man into a hug. "Vince!" This caused the others to relax and Harriet and Sonya ran forward to hug him after Thomas let go.

"What are you doing here?" Sonya asks, totally confused.

"I could ask you the same thing."

But of course, Scott had to ruin the moment. "Uh, Stiles...and other people, mind introducing us?"

Before the humans could say no again, Vince interjected. "I'm Vince, a friend of theirs." He gestured to the survivors. "Now, what the hell is a Stiles?"

Thomas chuckled a little at that, before answering. It was my old name, before WICKED.

"Ohh," he said softly. So these must be your friends?

Nah, these are just a bunch of shanks.

What are they doing here?

They tagged along to stop us from killing the cranks which they seem to think are human enough to talk to, Minho answered before Thomas could.

"Wow," the leader of the Right Arm said out loud. "You guys are dumber than I thought." They looked offended by that, but couldn't answer seeing as Vince had already kept talking. "What are you guys even doing here?"

WICKED is back. That's all it took, three simple words, that had a deeper meaning to the group, to have the man motioning them all to follow him to a small building a little ways from where they had parked the vehicle.

"After you guys left, or for some, were taken, Cranks had overrun the Safe haven. Only a few survived. I had picked this town to settle down in because it was close to the Scorch," he explained as they walked, both talking and signing so Thomas could follow as well. "I always suspected we hadn't seen the last of that bastard." His voice was so full of hatred that the McCall pack all took a step back, Scott almost losing his balance due to carrying Malia, who was still unconscious.

By then, they had reached the house, everyone going inside, while Vince looked out, scanning to see if they'd been followed. A group as big as the one that came in, especially in a small town like this, would definitely get curious and suspicious people looking.

Malia was set down on the table in the kitchen with her friends all standing around worriedly whilst the Gladers checked the windows and the Scorcher checked the doors.

"Is she going to be okay?" Lydia said, scared she might lose another friend, completely forgetting the fact that she should be able to sense that she was fine and not on death's door.

"She's fine," Gally responded in a voice devoid of emotions.

"Stiles, what the hell did you do?" Scott growled, looking towards the deaf boy, who felt his stare but was too preoccupied with looking out the windows.

"He only knocked her out, stop worrying." Again Gally answered with a blank expression and a voice to match.

Vince came into the room, stopping the conversation from continuing. "You need to tell me everything," he said seriously, looking directly at Thomas, who had turned away from the window when he was done looking.

Stop, looking back my authors notes are so cringy omfg

Anyway, here's another chapter with a character I didn't plan on adding but thought 'why not, they need all the help they can get'.

Also, I know nothing about escape routes and shit so I have no idea about that part and I'm sorry.

So here you are, to the end of another chapter, an if you got to chapter 7, ily tysm.