ALEX WATCHED AS GALLY REMOVED THE COVER FROM THE SEWER. They had yet to say a word to each other, and she was still thinking about what she was going to say because she was going with him, Newt, and Thomas to scope out the city. Frypan told the boy, "Gally, take care of these three."

"Yeah," he answered before climbing down and into the sewer. Alex sighed before going down after him. As luck would have it, her foot slipped on the second to last rung, and she fell. Hands wrapped around her waist, and she looked up to see Gally staring back at her. He started, "Lexi, I—"

She shook her head. She could not have that conversation with him right then, in the freaking sewer with her friends right above them. She cut him off. "Not now. I'm trying to save my friend."

"Please, just let me—" He was interrupted when Thomas hopped down. He froze when he saw the position that the two were in, and his eyes widened, not totally sure how to react since he hated the boy with a burning passion.

Alex pretty much jumped away from Gally and brushed off her pants as an attempt to act normal. It was too late, though, since Thomas had already seen them. He pointed between the two and raised his eyebrows in question. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No," she answered quickly, even though Gally opened his mouth to say something.

Newt climbed down next, and they started walking through the muddy and very disgusting sewer after Gally. He did not seem to have a problem with it, but the rest of them were grimacing as they stepped. Newt murmured, "This is gross. Jesus."

"Stay with me," Gally told them as he moved to a switch. He turned it on, and lights on strings illuminated the sewer hallway. He started walking once again, and they reluctantly followed him. "We got a ways to go."

They finally reached the city and were able to get out of that nasty place. The three that had not been there before stared in awe at their surroundings. They had never seen anything like it. Everything seemed to be running on electricity, and there were trains and buildings with lights. It was insane. "This is a long way from the Glade."

"Fifteen minutes to mandatory curfew. Please proceed home in an orderly fashion. Remember, this is for your safety. Thank you for your compliance," said an automated voice that seemed to be coming from everywhere. Alex assumed that there were speakers spread throughout the city. If that was not the case, then she was kind of scared.

"Yeah, we better get off these streets. And I know it's hard, but act like you've seen it before," Gally said. They ran across the street and pressed up against a wall to hide from a car that was passing them. "They've definitely upped security. I'm guessing you shanks have something to do with that. All right, let's get outta here." They ran over to a wall that they were going to have to get up on. Gally kneeled down and held his hands together so that he could give them a boost. "All right, Newt, you're up."

Newt climbed up, and the boy gestured for Thomas to go next. He refused the help and just jumped. "I got it."

"Ladies first," Alex said when Gally turned to her, and she gestured for him to go. He smiled just a little bit. She could not be that mad at him if she was cracking jokes. He hopped up after Thomas, and she did the same.

He led them up some stares and across a bridge to a little balcony somewhere. He pointed at a building right in the middle of the city. "There it is. If WICKED's got Minho, that's where they'll be keeping him. Lawrence has been trying to find a way in for years. Place is crawling with soldiers. They got surveillance everywhere. Scanners on every floor."

"Sounds like a bloody fortress," Newt commented as the not-so-dead boy grabbed a telescope that was on the ground and positioned it on a stand in front of him.

Thomas nodded in agreement. Gally was doing a pretty bad job of convincing them that he could get them inside since he was talking about how impossible it was. "Yeah, I thought you said you had a way in."

"I might," he answered, positioning the telescope and looking through it like he was trying to confirm something.

"You might? What the hell do you mean 'might'?" Thomas exclaimed angrily, and Alex decided not to comment on the fact that 'might' was the closest they had gotten to getting in so far. She did not want Thomas to get mad at her, esp\ecially after what he saw in the sewer.

"Take a look," Gally told him, and Thomas leaned into the telescope after he backed up. He looked through it for a moment, and when he pulled away, the look on his face told Alex everything she needed to know. Teresa. "I said I had a way in. I didn't say you were gonna like it."

《 ✢ 》

"NO," THOMAS INSISTED WHEN THEY GOT BACK TO THE BASE. He was very opposed to the idea of getting Teresa involved with everything even though it was probably the only way into the building because of all of the precautions. "There's gotta be another way."

Gally scoffed, and everyone that was in the Glade had flashbacks to when Thoams was there and the two would fight nonstop. They never could agree on anything. "Like what? You've seen the building. She is our only way in. There is no way we're getting Minho without her, especially since there's apparently another kid that we have to keep an eye out for."

"You really think she's gonna help us?" Thomas asked even though she actually might because it was Thomas and she might do something to make it up to him after she betrayed them. Gally also had a point. There was a very low possibility that even if they did get into the building that they would be able to get Minho and Nick out without her.

Gally shrugged. "I don't plan on asking for her permission."

"Am I missing something here?" Brenda asked, interrupting their little alpha male argument for a moment since she was trying to compr\ehend why the hell Thomas was defending the girl that told WICKED where they were and got everyone kidnapped in the first place. "This is the same girl who betrayed us, correct? Same dick?"

"I like her," the boy with the short hair informed them, pointing to Brenda since she was also against Teresa. He had never trusted her, and he had kind of ended up being right.

"What's going on?" Newt asked, and his voice was stern, causing all of them to fall silent. "What, are you afraid your little girlfriend's gonna get hurt? Hmm? Because this has obviously never been just about rescuing Minho. Has it?"

Thomas furrowed his eyebrows, wondering where the sudden hostility was coming from. Newt had never said anything like that before. "Wait, what are you talking about?"

"Teresa. She's the only reason that Minho's even missing in the first place. Now we finally have an opportunity to get him back. And what? You don't want to because of her? Because deep down inside you still care about her, don't you? Just admit it." The blonde had now stood up and was backing his friend toward the wall as his voice turned angry.

"Newt, I..."

He yelled, causing Thomas to flinch as he slammed him into the wall. All of them watched in shock, never having seen that side of Newt before. He had never yelled at Thomas like that. Something was wrong. "Don't lie to me! Don't lie to me!"

"Sorry. I'm sorry," the other boy breathed out, and Newt froze for a second before turning around and walking straight out of the room. Thomas looked around at the confused room before following after him.

Later, Alex was sitting outside on the roof with her legs hanging off the side, thinking. She was fiddling with the ring around her finger, allowing the cool metal to slide against her skin. She had not really had time to process the fact that Gally was alive. He was alive and there. He was alive, and he hadn't tried to contact her. Did that mean something?

"You kept the ring," came a voice, and she almost jumped because she did not hear someone come up behind her. She did not have to turn around to know who it was, and she stood up and faced him with a sigh.

She knew that they had to have the conversation at some point, but that was not the time. They had Minho and Nick to focus on. They could deal with whatever the hell was happening between them afterwards. She tried to p\ush pa\st him. "I can't do this right now, Gally."

"Then when?" He grabbed her arm, causing her to whip around to look up at him.

She shook her head and sighed. She could not do it, but the way that he was looking at her caused her knees to go weak. She just wanted to fall into his arms and forgive him, but she knew that she could not do that. "I don't know."

"We have to do this at some point, Lexi," he pointed out, but she would rather that po\int be later rather than sooner. "Come on. Scream at me. Hit me, damn it. Just don't give me this silent treatment."

"What do you want me to say, Gal — that when you died, it nearly killed me? That I went through hell mourning you, just to find out that you've been alive this whole time?" she snapped out, finally breaking. There was only so long she could go with him pushing her like that without breaking.

His gaze softened as he stared at her, and she could tell that he felt really bad. "I'm sorry."

"Well, 'sorry' is not gonna cut it," she informed him. That did nothing. She had never felt more betrayed. He had not tried to find her or contact her, and it hurt. "I spent months thinking that you were dead."

"I wanted to tell you," he insisted, finally letting go of her arm because he figured that since she was already in the fight, she was not just going to walk away until they were done.

She raised her eyebrows. "Well, why didn't you?"

"Believe me, I tried," he said, but she was not convinced. To be fair, though, she had kind of been off the grid for the pa\st few months. "I didn't know how to reach you, and then Lawrence told me that you all were probably dead."

"And you believed him?" she questioned, trying not to let the fact that he talked to Lawrence about her affect her. She needed to hold her ground. He did something that hurt her.

"No, but I realized that if you thought I was dead, then you would get over me and move on with your life," he explained, but it was not a very good argument. "If I somehow got the message to you, then you might try to find me, and I didn't want you coming to the city and getting taken by WICKED."

She scoffed. That was not an excuse, and he had kind of lost her halfway through it. "That makes no sense."

"I know, but I was out of my mind. You were gone, Lexi. You're not the only one that mourned. I did too," he finished, and they stood there in silence for a moment, just staring at each other. It had been forever since she had gotten a good look at him like that.

All of a sudden, the door to the roof opened, and they both stepped apart, trying to pretend like nothing was going on. Frypan was standing there, and he looked between them awkwardly. "Hey, um, it's time to set this plan into action."