|When everything you love is leaving, you hold on to what you believe in.

|Song: Not gonna die, Skillet

|||

Dawn's P.O.V.

Darkness swallowed me as I jumped through the Flat Trans. I shivered as I fell on the ground, my whole body aching. I forced myself up and turned around. The Flat Trans hung in the air, silent and motionless.

'Come on,' I heard Lisa mutter next to me. I clentched my hands, staring at the silver screen before me.
Suddenly it started moving, like a wrinkle from a stone being thrown into the water. It started in the middle and spread to the sides until the whole screen flashed with a bright light and disappeared with a clicking sound.
I took a shaky breath and turned to Lisa. Her eyes were wide as she stared to the place where the Flat Trans used to be.

'I can't believe he did that,' she mumbled.
I was at loss for words and could only stare. It was then I felt all the energy leave my body and sank down on the ground. Lisa sat down next to me, worry written all over her face.
'I'm fine,' I mumbled.
'Fine, like klunk you are,' she answered. 'If only we had food. That would give you some energy.'
I shook my head. 'Let's find the others first.'
Lisa stared at me for a couple of seconds, seeming in doubt with herself but finally she nodded. 'But first we have to stay here for a while, catch our breath.'
'Lisa, he's not coming,' I whispered.
She nodded. 'I know.'

I took a shaky breath and leaned back against the wall. Slowly I started taking in our surroundings. We were in what appeared to be some sort of tunnel and it was dark, very dark. Here we had some light, though I had honestly now idea where it was coming from. But further inside the tunnel it looked completely dark.

'Do we really have to go in there?' Lisa asked, sounding tired.
'If we want to find the others...' I said even though I had no desire to walk into a dark tunnel without even a flashlight.
We were silent for a couple of seconds and I closed my eyes. My head was throbbing, my hands shaking and my legs felt bruised. Actually my whole body was aching. The serum they used to return my memories had a horrible effect on my body. And Lisa was right, if I didn't eat soon I wouldn't have much energy left to find the others.

'What were they doing to you anyway?' Lisa asked.
I didn't answer right away. Should I tell her? About my memories? Right now some were still clouded, vague and even some words made no sense at all. I remembered only bits and pieces. And until I was certain I knew everything maybe I should keep my mouth shut.
'Probably running some kind of shuck test,' I answered.
She kept staring at me for a while but didn't ask more. I rubbed my eyes, feeling the headache worsen. It felt like getting too much information at once, as if your head is going to explode from all the knowledge.

'I'm sorry,' Lisa suddenly whispered. It was the sudden pain in her voice that made me turn to her.
Her eyes were turned to ground and suddenly I knew what she was talking about.
I put my hand on her shoulder. 'It wasn't your fault.'
She didn't look up at me. 'But it was, I could've fought it but...' she cut herself off, at loss for words.
I had no idea what to say, or how to comfort her. And so we sat in silence, my arm around her shoulder. Until finally she had calmed down a bit.

'We should get moving,' I said.
Lisa looked at me. 'You sure?'

I gave her a small smile. 'Well, we can't stay here.' Slowly I stood up, seeking support by the wall.
She stood up as well, a worried look in her eyes. I threw her a tired glare.
'Honestly, I'm fine.'
A deep sigh left her mouth and she threw my arm around her shoulder. 'Come on.'

The tunnel was dark, the floor uneven and the walls rough. There was a strange smell in the air, like mud and burned toast.
My legs were hurting and we couldn't move very fast yet the thought of seeing the others again made me keep going.
We didn't talk much, saved all our energy for the walk. Lisa her arm was still hurting, she didn't complain about it but I knew it did.
I couldn't explain what was happening with me. My body seemed to grow weaker the longer we went on, my mind clouded and no thoughts were clear. It felt like when I woke up in the Box for the first time. I was trying to hold on to every memory, picture or voice that appeared in my head but they all slipped through my fingers. Past and present blurred together and I felt so tired with this growing storm in my head.

Suddenly Lisa stopped walking, shaking me awake.
'What-' 'Sshh!'
I frowned, trying to focuse on listening. The tunnel was completely silent until a very distant sound rose out of the darkness. It was a boy, screaming.
I felt my insides freeze, my breath caught in my throat.
'Is that...?' 'The boys? Probably.'
The screaming continued, it echoed off the walls, hurting my head.
'What's happening?' I asked, fear pumping through my veins.
'Let's find out,' Lisa mumbled.

We walked on, the screaming was still going. Whoever it was, was in a lot of pain. I could only imagine the worst and felt myself grow more and more anxious as we got closer.
Suddenly it stopped.
And I couldn't tell what was more terryfing, the screaming or the sudden silence.
Lisa grew restless beside me and seemed ready to get it over with. 'Let's go,' she muttered, clearly trying to supress her worries.

We moved on and this time I felt more awake and alert. How could I not when I just heard a boy scream in pain?
My feet were hurting in my new shoes and I felt my legs growing more tired with each passing minute.
Suddenly a new sound reached my ears. Voices. They were muttering, worried and scared.
Lisa picked up the pace until we were almost running. I bit my lip, forcing myself to keep moving but I was so incredibly tired.

The voices grew closer and now I could make out what they were saying. They were screaming for Winston, telling him to lay still, that help would come.
Had Winston been the one screaming?

Suddenly my legs gave up and I collapsed on the ground. A yelp left my lips and the voices grew quiet.
I heard someone whisper but couldn't make out what they were saying.
'Dawn, come on, you've got to stand up,' Lisa said, taking my arms.
I tried but failed, there wasn't any bit of energy left in my body. My stomach was empty, my mouth dry.
Footsteps echoed through the tunnel and a sudden light blinded me.

'Lisa?' A familiar voice asked.
I tried to roll over and saw a sillhouette of a boy standing in the blinding light.
'Thomas!' She breathed out.
'How did you-' he stopped himself and I could feel his gaze on me.
'I swear it wasn't me, Wicked did something to her, some fluid did this, I tried to help...'
I could feel the boys were being hesitant.
'It's-it's true,' I muttured, my voice hoarse.
'Tommy, what's goin-' The familiar voice cut himself off. Newt burst out into a sprint and kneeled down next to me. Orange light shone on his face, reminding me of the time he stood by the window before he showed me the Griever. He looked like an angel.
'What did you bloody do to her?' Newt screamed, looking up at Lisa.
My sister was dumbfounded, she looked completely lost, shattered that they blamed her.
I took Newt his arm, as firm as I could. He turned to me, eyes wide and worried.
'Wicked did this, not Lisa, she saved me,' I mumbled.
Newt took my hand, then turned back to Lisa. 'Is that true?'
She took a shaky breath and nodded. Probably deciding that saying something would make it worse. I looked at her, hoping she understood that we couldn't say a word about Gally. It was clear now the Gladers would have a hard time trusting Lisa again. Bringing Gally into this would only make them distrust her more.
And she understood, turning her gaze to the ground.

Newt threw my arm over his shoulder, taking me up but I immediately fell down again.
'Come on, Dawn. We can't stay here,' Newt mumbled, something other than worry over me was on the edge of his voice.
I didn't ask about it and forced myself to stand, seeking support by the wall, with Newt next to me to catch me if I should fall.
Finally I stood, my legs feeling like jelly. Newt supported me as I slowly walked towards the group. Lisa was behind us, keeping a small distance and I felt a stab in my heart when I realised she would have to regain their trust.

Newt sat me down on some sort of stairs. 'The tunnel doesn't go any further,' he explained. 'There's only some sort of trapdoor in the ceiling.'
I looked up and saw the bright light came through a crack in the ceiling. It wasn't normal light though, it was warm and took my breath away. But right now, I had other things to worry about.
I frowned at him. 'Why don't we go through there?'
'Because, chick, when we get out there the shucking sun will scorch us. We were busy trying to regroup,' Minho's voice sounded.
I looked up the stairs and saw him standing right under the trapdoor.
'We could wait here until night fall,' Lisa mumbled.
'Great idea, except for the silver liquid that can drop of the ceiling at any moment,' Minho snapped again.
'Wait, what?' I asked.
'Some kind of silver liquid falls from the ceiling, then sticks to your head and burns your face off. Forms some sort of ball and rolls away,' some Glader spoke.
I felt my heart beating faster in my throat. 'Is that what happened to Winston?' My voice was small. No one answered, which said enough. I felt a shiver crawl down my back.

'Alright, we've stayed here long enough,' Minho suddenly said. 'We're moving on, I'm not having my head turn into a shuck bowling ball today. Newt, Thomas and Dawn you come with through the trapdoor first.'
I looked at Newt who still hadn't left my side. 'Since when is he in charge?'
Newt stared at the blinding light that came from above when he answered. 'It's a long story. One I'll tell you when we get out of here.' Then he turned to me, a small but concerned smile on his face. 'Seems like you got a story as well.'
I could only nod.

Minho stood on the last step, direct before the bright line of light. He moved his hand into the beam only to pull it back quickly.
'That's hot, definitly hot.' He turned to face us. 'If we're gonna do this we better have something wrapped around us or we'll have second-degree sunburns in five minutes.'
'Let's empty out our packs,' Newt said. And I watched silently as he took some sort of sheet from his shoulder. I felt curiousity fill me but knew better than to ask. 'Wear these sheets like buggin' robes as we check things out. If it works well enough, we can stuff the food and water into half of our sheets and use the other half for protection.'
As he spoke he handed me an apple. 'Eat it,' he spoke softly, then continued working.
I took a bite from the apple, letting its delicious fresh taste fill my mouth. How it still tasted this good was a mystery to me, but it didn't matter right now.
'We'll look like ghosts, maybe scare the bad guys away,' Thomas said, making me turn my gaze to Lisa who rolled her eyes at me.
'Funny boy, that Thomas. Let's just hope we don't have some nice Cranks to greet us,' Minho said as he started untying to knots in his bedsheets.
'Cranks?' Lisa asked. Minho sended her an angry glare and didn't respond. She seemed to become smaller under his gaze. I bit my lip.
Thomas stood up, wrapping his face with the sheet like an old woman in a shawl. 'How do I look?' He asked.
'Like the ugliest shanky girl I've ever seen,' Minho responded. 'You better thank the gods above you were born a dude.'
'Thanks,' Thomas replied dryly.
A small smile tugged my lips as I started to realise how much I had missed all of them. We hadn't even been seperate for a few days but still it had hurt not to be with them.
Newt handed me his sheets. I looked up at him, seeing he had wrapped himself in another.
I took it with a sigh and wrapped my head like Thomas had. Then I turned to Minho, nodding at him.

'You shanks ready?' Minho asked.
'Kind of excited, actually,' Newt said.
I didn't feel like that was the right word, all I knew was that I wanted to get out of here, as fast as possible.
'Let's go,' Thomas said.
I took a deep breath as Minho opened the trapdoor, the bright light blinding me.