𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘼𝙧𝙜𝙪𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨

Whirling and chopping sounds from the helicopter hovering above, echo through the air as Janson lets out an annoyed sigh.

"They got 40, maybe 50 kids."

Another sigh leaves the man's lips as he continues walking along side the guard. "We're still compiling an official count. But the pilot got a good look." The guard pauses. "He thinks it was them."

"Of course it was them." Janson said, rolling his eyes at the boy who always ruined his plans. "What about the Berg?"

Sighing, the guard shakes his head, "We tracked it a few miles, but someone must have known about the locator. They're totally off the grid."

Both men come to a stop as other guards usher the teenagers out of the shipping container—all sporting disappointed expressions plastered over their faces as they're once again forced onto their knees.

"C22" The guards call out as the pile the kids off. "B9"

Janson shifts his focus to the teenagers kneeling on the ground, smiling to himself when a familiar face appears within the sea of teenagers.

"We're searching the area, but they're probably long gone by now."

"Oh, no. They're not going anywhere." Janson pauses before walking up to the exhausted boy. Smirking down at the pair of angry dark brown orbs glaring back at him. "He didn't get everything he really wanted."

The boy's thick brows furrow at the older man standing above him. Craning his neck and letting his dark orbs scan the crowd, Minho's heart races as he looks for his best friend.

"Where is she?" Minho snapped his eyes back to Janson, whose face fell a tad.

"Gone. Your little buddy, Thomas got her." Janson grumbled, still annoyed at the fact that they lost half of the kids. Ava is going to be livid.

A sigh of relief left Minho's cracked lips— knowing Blake had gotten out. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘸.

The boy's heart leaped with joy, knowing his best friend was safe. His lips tugged into a smirk as he and Janson stared at each other. "Good. She's away from you." The boy spat, narrowing his eyes at the older man in front of him. "You can't hurt her anymore."

Janson chuckled as he looked down at the boy. "Oh she'll be back. And when she does—"

Trying to dart forward and connect his fist with the side of Janson's annoying face, Minho grunted as a guard pushed him back down and held him in place.

"I'll kill her—and Thomas." Janson smiled sinisterly as he slowly turned around, but before the man left—he quickly whipped back around to collide his balled fist with the side of Minho's cheek—sending the boy to the ground in pain.

Dazed emerald orbs stare at the ground below as the small brunette fiddles with her hands.

Leaning her elbows onto her thighs, Blake waits patiently as the nurse finishes bandaging her wounds.

"I'm sorry, love. Thought we had him, also."

Blake winces as the nurse dabs a cloth onto her deep gash on her cheek. "Sorry." The nurse whispers as she steps back. "I'm all done, sweetie."

A sigh leaves Blake's lips as she squeezes her eyes shut, trying to ignore the three pairs of eyes trained on hers.

"It's okay, Newt. You couldn't have known that they split us up." Blake's voice whispered softly as she lifted her exhausted gaze up to meet Newt, Thomas, and Fry's worried gazes. "I didn't even know—considering I was out cold."

Blake fought back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she swallowed a thick lump in her throat.

She had 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 been separated from Minho.

Her heart ached in her chest just from the thought of what Janson would do to him.

He would surely be pissed off and would end up taking it out on the next available punching bag—which would be Minho.

"I thought I heard him." Thomas whispers "I swear I did. I thought we got both of you."

Silence filled the thick air as Blake snapped her emerald orbs over to the pair of softened whiskey orbs staring back down at her.

𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴.

"At least we got you back." Fry tried to lighten the mood as he lowered himself to sit on the edge of the cot, beside the small girl.

Thomas let his eyes roam all over her beaten and bruised face as he watched the other boy pull the small girl into a hug.

His heart pang at every bruise and cut littering her beautiful face.

He didn't know how someone could still look so beautiful with gashes and bruises covering the majority of their body.

The small brunette took in a shaky breath as she embraced the hug from one of her best friends. "Thank you, all of you—for saving me." Blake whispers as her eyes flicker between each set trained on hers, lingering a little longer on her favorite pair. "I don't know how much longer I could have gone."

Smiles formed on each of the boy's faces as Newt stepped closer. "You don't have to thank us, Blake. We were gonna get you two back, no matter what it took."

Blake blinked back the tears, not wanting to cry even more as she had just balled her eyes out earlier. She honestly hadn't thought she had more tears left to cry.

Sure, she was ecstatic to see her favorite blond, favorite cook, and the boy she loved—but her heart couldn't take the thought of her best friend still being tortured.

"What did they do to you in there?" Thomas' voice cracked, curious as always.

"What didn't they do is the question." Blake's voice comes out dry as she lifts her gaze up to Thomas' saddened expression.

"They—"

Blake shook her head, in relief. "No." The girl answered quickly. "Not that...Janson's a dick but not a complete monster."

A chorus of relieved sighs left all of the boys as Blake answered Thomas' sensitive question.

Shaking her head to get the subject off of herself, Blake's voice cracked as she spoke. "So, how are we going to get Min back?"

Thomas smacked the thin paper of a map down ontop of the wooden table, tapping his index finger on the circle drawn onto the paper.

"There—that's it. It's a few hundred miles." The boy spoke as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Based on the railways, everything that Aris and Blake told us, that's gotta be where they're headed."

Blake shifted in her seat as she sat beside the blond with her arms also crossed over her chest, listening and watching as Thomas informed Vince of the plan.

"We take everyone who can fight—Follow the roads where we can. We can make it back within a week."

"A week?" Vince questioned in disbelief. "It took us six months to get here. We got over a hundred kids here now." The man spoke as he shifted his gaze from Thomas to Blake glaring at him from her side of the table. "We can't just hang out here forever, after what we just pulled."

Anger rises inside the small brunette as she listens to the man, glancing to Newt and Fry as they mirror her same expression.

"You can't just wander off to some random point on the map. You don't even know what's there." Vince continues scolding the younger boy in front of him as Blake opens her mouth to tell the man off, but Jorge cuts in before she can say anything.

"I do." The man calls out, walking into the room filled with thick air. "It's been a few years, but I've been there."

Blake furrows her eyebrows as the man walks closer to the table. "The Last City. That's what WCKD called it. It was their whole base of operations. If that city is still standing, that's the last place you wanna go, hermano. That's the lion's den."

"He's telling the truth." Blake spoke up, all eyes snapping to the small brunette drumming her fingers on the wooden table, leaned back in her chair.

"I heard them talking about moving us. It's real. They wouldn't move us to some place that doesn't exist." The girl went on as she narrowed her eyes at the older man sitting in front of Thomas.

"See?—She's right. It has to be there." Thomas spoke up as he flickered his gaze between the pissed off brunette and the older men. "And it's nothing we haven't done before."

"Yeah, with months of planning." Vince interrupted "and reliable information, the element of surprise, none of which we have now."

𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. Blake rolled her eyes as she pushed herself to sit up.

"Vince, I've thought this through—"

"Hey would you just hear me out!" Vince raised his voice at the boy, instantly flipping the small brunette's switch.

"I am 𝙉𝙊𝙏—leaving my best friend behind." Blake yelled over the men, catching everyone's attention.

Vince shook his head at the angry brunette. "You don't get a say in this matter." The man hissed as he glared at the girl.

"Watch it." Thomas grunted angrily as he sent the older man a warning glare.

Blake quickly rose to stand, pushing the chair out as it scraped against the floor. "I do get a say so in 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨."
The girl started as she leaned over the table, not wanting to deal with the older man's shenanigans.

"I was in that fucking place for months—being tortured. I sat in a fucking cell every day, twiddling my thumbs. I'm not scared of these people." The small girl's voice raised as she spoke.

Lifting her index finger to point at the older man, who glared across the table at the younger girl challenging his authority.

"𝙔𝙤𝙪 have no idea what we went through!—What I went through!" Blake's voice shook in nothing but anger. "Last time I checked—I don't take orders from you. If I have to go save Minho by myself, then so be it."

Vince's eyebrows knitted together as he stood up from his chair, along with Thomas and the other two boys who instantly rose to their feet.

"I saved your ass." Vince hissed, pointing a finger at the small girl folding her arms over her chest, not bothered or threatened by the older man. "You should show me more respect, than that."

Blake barked out a laugh as she rolled her eyes. "You know—you are the human version of period cramps."
The girl laughed "And I don't have to answer or respect anyone that disrespects me, first. I'm not under your command." Blake hissed as the boys all pressed their lips together and furrowed their eyebrows in shock of her words.

"Let's calm down a bit." The blond tried as Thomas spoke up again. "We gotta do something—"

Vince shook his head as he flickered his gaze between Thomas and the small girl. "The last time we went off half-cocked...I lost everything. You remember that?" The man yelled out, making Newt, Fry, and Jorge flinch as Thomas bowed his head in sorrow.

"You just got her back!" Vince deadpanned as he raised his finger, once again to point at the small girl, not bothered.

"Look, I know it's Minho. All right?" Vince looked between the two brunettes, wanting to cut through the tension. "But you can't ask me to put those kids on the line for one man...I won't do it."

Blake chuckled in annoyance as she turned her body away from the annoying older man, growing more angry and annoyed by the second.

Static over the radio fills the room as Blake snaps her attention towards the device, furrowing her eyebrows as the rest of the men in the room also shift their attention.

"A is completed. Scanning B-sector now."

The small girl's eyebrows furrow in confusion as Thomas quickly jumps away from his spot. "Shit, hit the lights, now!"

The men around the small girl disperse as Jorge ushers them. "Let's go, let's go!"

"Wait, what's happening?" Blake questions as the blond beside her quickly guides her to move gently.

Jorge quickly rushes to the large lever on the side of the building and pulls it down, shutting off the power to the whole area as familiar calloused hand reaches out to guide Blake through the pitch black of the night.

"Jeez, they're getting close." Vince whispers, watching as the helicopter's spotlight searches the area off into the distance.

"You're right." Thomas keeps his gaze off into the distance. "We can't stay here."

Blake slowly turns her her to the boy beside her, narrowing her emerald orbs at the boy. 𝘐 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳—

Thomas shares a nod with Vince in understanding as the older man runs a hand over the boy's shoulder in comfort.

Sending the man a fake smile as he walks away, Blake snaps her emerald orbs back to the side of Thomas' face.

After Vince reaches a safe distance, far enough away from the two, Thomas shifts his gaze from the helicopter in the distance to the set of angry emeralds burning holes into the side of his head. Knowing exactly what the girl is assuming, Thomas clears the air. "I have a plan."

Blake's glare softens, relief flooding her body as her lips tug into a smirk. "You better." The girl sighs "I thought you lost your mind for a second."