Thomas' POV

My head was pounding as the minutes slowly passed by and we were still hanging upside down from the ceiling. Since the argument I had with Teresa and Aris, the room has been completely silent. We're all hungry, thirsty, and by now I'm sure everyone else's head hurts just as much as mine if not more.

My thoughts started wandering back to the period before we left the glade. Things seemed so much simpler then. We woke up at the same time every day, ran the maze, came back just before the doors closed, ate, slept, and repeat. That was it. We had a set schedule for everything and now, as we're hanging upside down after days of not having anything to eat or drink, I'm find myself wondering if we would get out of this. At this point I didn't even know if Clara was alive, if Jorge was going to come back and let us down, if Brenda was going to get us food and water, or if we would ever find the Right Arm.

"Thomas?"

Teresa's voice interrupted my thoughts, bringing a sense of momentary peace from the harsh reality of our situation. My eyes scanned the area as best as they could from this position until they landed on Teresa.

"What did you see at Wicked to make you want to leave so bad?" Her voice was quiet and I realized this would be the first time we'll have revealed what we saw. Everyone just followed us out, there weren't many questions about why or what happened.

"All the kids that got taken to paradise didn't go anywhere. They were taken to a large room and machines were hooked up to them. They were just hanging from the ceiling not even able to breathe on their own. I'm honestly not even sure they're still alive." My voice was quiet as I reflected on what we saw.

"And they were coming for us next." Aris added.

A moment of silence passed through the room as everyone thought about how much of a close call it really was for us.

"I wonder what happened to the ones that stayed in the glade."

We all turned as best as we could to look at Minho as he nearly mimicked my thoughts from earlier.

"I mean we escaped and look what happened. If they're still in the glade they're probably better off than we are. Better off than the ones that got left behind at Wicked. I don't want to end up like them." Minho's eyes were trained on mine as he spoke and I heard the plea in his voice. He was right. None of us could handle going back to Wicked after knowing everything we did.

"We won't go back. We'll get out of here and find the Right Arm."

"Tommy, we don't even bloody know where the Right Arm is or if they exist." Newt was slowly spinning in circles and I found my mind wandering to how he got started.

"What do you know about the Right Arm?"

Our eyes went to Jorge as he casually leaned against a wall with a curious expression on his face.

I took in a staggered breath before speaking. "We don't really know anything except that they're taking immunes that Wicked wants." Hopefully he'll get the answers he wants and let us go, feed us, give us water...

"No one believes they truly exist. That they're ghosts; a rumor that Wicked created to keep kids, like yourselves, from running. I however, believe in ghosts. Especially when I hear them talking on my radio." Jorge took a step closer as his eyes scanned our group. "Tell me what you saw to make you run and I might be able to let you down."

I watched him closely and decided he had no reason to lie. Not like we have anything to lose by not talking to him anyway.

"There were a lot of kids hooked up to some kind of machine and they were being harvested. I don't know why or what that even means since I only overheard part of the conversation but that's what we know. We didn't even know we were at Wicked until we overheard the conversation." The betrayal I felt seeped into my voice and Jorge frowned in response.

"Wicked wants immune children, as many as they can get, to experiment on. They believe something in your blood can give them the cure for the flare. The Right Arm is said to be taking those kids from Wicked though and taking them to some kind of safe haven. They're located in the mountains so not many people have actually encountered them." Jorge spoke quickly but was cutoff as his name echoed through the room.

"Jorge!" Brenda rounded the corner with an anxious expression and she gestured over her shoulder. "Can you come with me?"

Jorge nodded in my direction before quickly following her out.

"What the shuck was that about?" Minho asked sourly.

"Might have something to do with Clara."

My eyes met Chase's and I was immediately eager to escape since he could be right.

"We have to get down from here." I mumbled quietly. I glanced back over to Newt who was now swaying, as well as turning in circles. "Newt, how'd you start swaying like that?"

"I don't know. The bloody chains are twisted or something." He muttered in response, clearly agitated.

My eyes trailed up the chains holding me up and I looked up at Chase. "There's a lever over there that can release us, right?" He nodded in agreement and I quickly continued. "Maybe if we start swaying we can push someone to the lever to get us down?"

Chase's gaze moved to the person closest to the lever. Teresa. "Hey T, you hear that?"

"Yes. I can do it." She replied, already moving as best as she could towards the lever. She started swinging her arms to get more momentum and was quickly swinging her body towards the lever.

After a few minutes of everyone swaying towards each other I was finally able to reach Teresa. My hand grasped the back of her shirt and I pulled her back to me. Chase's hand grabbed the back of my shirt at the same moment and he held me still so I could push Teresa towards the lever. I pushed her as hard, yet gently, as I could towards the lever but it didn't work and she barely got away from me. I grunted and felt someone else, Newt, latch on to me.

"I got you Tommy. Now, get her over there." He mumbled quietly, his voice strained from the amount of time he's been upside down.

I grabbed Teresa once more and glanced around at the boys beside me. Minho, Newt, and Chase were all holding on to me while Fry Pan and Aris were grasping on to them. We would do this as a team, just like we always have. We moved in unison and with all of us swaying in the same direction, after a few minutes of attempting to get that way, we managed to get Teresa closer to the lever.

There was a loud crash in the next room that caused all of us to jump, temporarily throwing off our rhythm. After another couple of minutes trying to get back to the rhythm we had we managed to get Teresa a couple of inches away from the lever that could bring us to freedom.

"Come on, T you can do this!" Chase called out as Teresa swung back to us. With one last push she swung to the lever and grabbed on to it.

"I got it!" She called out with excitement in her voice. She pulled against the chains holding her up and pulled the lever towards her, dropping us by about six inches.

"Pull it again!" I yelled out, watching her movements with blurry eyes. I couldn't imagine how the first one that was strung up felt since I came back a few minutes later.

"I...I can't!" Her grip fell from the lever and the chains holding her pulled her back to the group and away from freedom. "No!" She cried out, angry tears streaming down her cheeks.

"No, don't give up yet! We can do this." Chase called out, refusing to break formation as he grabbed onto Teresa once again. "Come on, just try again."

I turned towards him and noticed the tears in his own eyes. His face was dark red and his breaths were coming out in short gasps but he still refused to give up. In that moment I realized why he was dubbed the protector. Clara was the one who gave us hope but if there was something hindering her then Chase was the one to step forward and take care of the group. No wonder Chase and Clara made such a great team. They refused to let anyone give up and fought to protect us.

"He's right Teresa. We can do this." I added, grabbing one of her arms. "Are you ready?"

She nodded somewhat breathlessly and I took that as my cue to push her again. Her fingers just grazed the lever and without pausing as she swung back into me I pushed her as hard as I could and sent her flying back towards the lever. She gripped it tightly and pulled and we all lowered a couple of more inches but still not close enough. She yanked on her chains as she held the lever and managed to turn herself around. With one more forceful tug on her chains she plopped down to the ground as her chains released her and a broad smile appeared on her face. Her hands moved fast as possible to release herself from the chains and in a few seconds she was climbing to her feet.

There was a long pole leaning against one of the support columns in the building, about seven feet from the lever. She picked it up and held it out to me to pull me over to her. The seconds ticked by slowly as I was finally pulled in enough for her to grab me and help me over to the platform she was on. After she helped release me from my chains we continued bringing people in. It was a painfully slow process as we struggled with the chains and every second that passed left us feeling more exhausted than the last.

"Chase, why did you call me T?" Teresa's voice was quiet and weak as she spoke but she still helped me pull Fry Pan onto the platform with us.

"It's what Clara and I always called you." Chase shrugged as he began working on the chains around Fry Pan's legs. "Habit I guess." He added quietly.

She nodded silently but didn't say another word after, seemingly deep in thought.

A thought popped into my head after Chase spoke and I couldn't help the words that came out of my mouth. "Have you guys remembered anything since we left the maze?"

"Bits and pieces." Teresa replied, her eyes locking with mine.

Newt frowned, looking back and forth between Teresa and I. "No, I haven't remembered anything."

"Me either." Minho added with a nod to Newt.

"Me either." Fry Pan replied, briefly making eye contact with everyone.

"What have you remembered?" Chase asked with a husky voice and curiosity shown prominently on his face.

My eyes met his and I shook my head slightly. "Nothing much. Just brief images." I didn't want to announce to the group that memories of Clara were resurfacing.

"Why are we different?" Teresa whispered, looking back at me.

I arched a brow and was about to respond when a horrible pain split through my head. I didn't even have time to question what was happening when I heard it.

Newt and Chase were standing beside me when a bone chilling, gut wrenching scream echoed through the room. The scream was full of agony and fear as it rang through the building, vibrating through my body. It caused all the hair on my body to stand on end, my stomach to churn, and my head started pounding furiously with agony.

I spun on my heel towards the scream and my heart felt like it would explode in my chest. "Clara?"