𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝘼𝙧𝙢

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙨 of the tires rolling against old pavement calm Blake's heart rate as she keeps her eyes trained outside—watching as the trees and mountains fly past.

Every once in a while her green eyes look away from her daze induced daydream to look around in the vehicle, accidentally catching the whiskey brown she's been avoiding.

As Blake whips her head back to glance out the window, Thomas furrows his eyebrows in confusion—wondering what she was upset about.

Before they know it, Bertha comes to a stop—making the group all snap their heads up.

Jorge opens the door with a loud squeak sounding from the old rusted metal as three other doors quickly squeak and scrape open behind him. All teenagers pile out of the vehicle behind the man as Blake's eyes wander over the mountains towering above them.

"Well. I guess we're on foot." Jorge says, cutting Blake out of her gaze on the beautiful scenery in front of her.

As the girl turns her head to look—she notices Thomas quickly turning his head back around from her direction.

Scoffing, Blake shakes her head before she pushes past the group, walking towards the old and rusted vehicles blocking their path.

"What's her deal?" Minho asks the blond beside him with his brows furrowed in confusion.

Newt only shrugs as he watches Jorge start to follow behind her  "I think I have an idea of why she's pissed." The blond deadpans as his eyes quickly snap over to Thomas—who stands off to the side listening.

Thomas' eyes widen in realization before quickly taking off after Jorge.

𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵...𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬.

Blake's head tilts up and down as she scans the rusted vehicles in confusion. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳—𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦.

Echos of crows chirping sound through the canyon as Blake walks up to a shattered window.

Peeking her head through she looks for anything useful before pulling her head back out—just in time to see Thomas right next to her gliding his hand over something in the windshield of the car.

The boy's eyebrows furrow as Blake begins to take a step forward, but immediately halts when something whizzes past them—striking the metal.

Dirt clouds from the impact of the hit as Thomas and Blake both flinch back and raise their arms above their head— protecting themselves.

"Get down!" Jorge yells as all of the teens duck and cover.

Thomas quickly grabs onto Blake's upper arm and pulls her in front of him, keeping his back to the danger as he guides her behind one of the rusted cars.

"Take cover!" Newt yells out as Blake and Thomas scramble to crouch behind the vehicle for protection, covering their heads from the bullets whizzing past.

Jorge plops down beside Blake as they look around once the gunshots and bullets cease.

Silence.

"Hey is everyone okay up there?" Thomas yells in worry.

"We're fine!" Teresa shouts back

"Anyone know where those bloody shots came from?" Newt yells out

Jorge fiddles with something in his jacket as Thomas breathes heavily beside Blake. "Son of a bitch, Marcus. He led us into a trap." Jorge mutters.

Thomas let's go of Blake's arm as he pushes himself up, inching his head up and over the hood of the car to get a better view.

"Thomas get down!" Blake hisses just before a few gunshots sound and bullets hit the hood of the vehicle—making Thomas jump and sit back down, shimmying closer to the girl.

Blake rolls her eyes at his attempt as he mutters an "oh shit."

"Told you." The girl scoffs

"What do we do?" Thomas asks, ignoring the girl's scold.

"Here. Hold this." Jorge says as he pushes a device into Thomas' hands. "We gotta create a diversion." The man continues as Blake raises her eyebrows to look at the device in Thomas' hand, noticing the wires poking out.

"You get ready to chunk it." Jorge continues as he fumbles with another device on the ground below him.

"Wonderful" Blake mutters as her eyes connect with Thomas' for a split second, noticing his agitation growing from her attitude.

A sudden buzzing noise makes the girl quickly whip her head to the other side. Jorge releases his finger from a bright red button, connected to a different device, with a shit eating grin.

"Everybody!" Jorge shouts as he nods his head to Thomas. The boy pushes himself up to his feet as Blake readies herself to sprint. "Get set to sprint back to the truck! And hold your ears!" Jorge finishes informing the others.

Jorge lowers his voice into a whisper as he leans closer to the two Brunette's, lifting his thumb up and over the red button. "Ready? One..."

Blake inflates her lungs with air, taking a deep breath as her heart pounds against her rib cage in nervousness.

"Two" Jorge whispers as Thomas pushes his hand up against the old rusted vehicle.

Just as Jorge is about to say 'go'—a sudden click sounds from beside the three.

Blake, Thomas, and Jorge's eyes widen with shock as their bodies freeze at the sound of a bullet clanking against the concrete.

"Drop it." A woman's voice causes Blake to flinch as she blinks in disbelief.

𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨.

The man beside Blake hovers his finger over the red button as the woman yells again "Now"

Blake and Thomas both flinch again, Thomas lowering the bomb to the ground as Jorge lowers the trigger to the ground—slowly turning his head to the woman.

Another click sounds from beside Blake as she flinches back again, keeping her emerald orbs trained on Thomas' frozen position.

Inching her head to look to her right, Blake slowly meets her eyes with the ends of two rifles aimed at her and the two men beside her.

"𝙄 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙥 𝙞𝙩!" The second woman yells as she steps beside the other. Both women stand feet away from the three with masks raised over their mouths—one being a blond and the other a brunette with dark curly hair.

Jorge quickly turns the device off and throws it to the ground. Blake's eyes stay trained on the two women as her legs beneath her couched position— shake in fear.

"On your feet. Let's go." One of the women demand

Thomas' hand reaches out to pull the small girl beside him up as Blake slowly raises her hands up in surrender.

"Let's go! 𝙈𝙤𝙫𝙚." The woman shouts, making Blake flinch back again as she, Thomas, and Jorge stand to their full height.

The woman then aims the barrel at Blake's chest, angering both men that stand beside her. Thomas pulls the small girl slightly behind him, keeping his hands up in surrender as Jorge jumps in front of the two kids. "Easy" the man eases in a clam tone.

"Back up!" The same woman yells as she now aims the gun at Jorge's chest.

"So much for a distraction." Blake mutters.

Thomas' eyes flicker down to the small girl beside him, shooting her a warning glare. "Not the time, Blake."

Blake scoffs as her emerald orbs find his deep whiskey brown. "I'd say this is perfect timing."

"You two! Shut up!" Jorge scolds

"Back up!" The woman shouts, cutting the three out of their small argument as she and the other blonde push the three to take a few steps back.

"Easy" Jorge tries again. Thomas pulls Blake with him as they take a few steps back.

"You two! Over here now!" The woman demands

Minho and Newt both slowly rise to stand, both tense with fear as the woman shouts again "Don't be stupid, move!"

As the rest of the group slowly makes their way over to the other five, the brunette woman's eyebrows furrow together as she adjusts her grip.

"Aris?" The woman asks, making Blake immediately furrow her eyebrows in confusion.

Thomas' hold on her arm stiffens as his facial features scrunch as well.

Heads turn to the boy standing behind Teresa and Brenda with shocked and confused expressions.

The woman pulls her black scarf down and lowers her gun in shock.

"Oh my god. Harriet?" Aris questions as he stalks toward the girl.

Blake cock her head to the side and keeps her brows furrowed. 𝘞𝘵𝘧?

"My God. What the hell are you doing here?" The woman questions as she darts forward, wrapping her arms around the boy's neck as she pulls him into a tight hug. The two share a heart felt reunion as the blonde girl then steps forward to embrace the boy in a hug. "Sonya" Aris breathes out as he wraps his arms around the girl's frame.

Emerald and whiskey brown eyes connect, both confused and slightly relieved as Thomas lets the girl's arm go. "Perfect timing for a family reunion." Blake mutters as the edge of her lips twitch up—earning a small scoff to sound from the boy next to her.

"Aris. You're lucky we didn't shoot your dumbass." Sonya exclaims as Newt and Minho share a glance.

"What's happening?" Minho questions

"We were in the maze together." Aris answers as he continues to reunite with the two girls.

Thomas and Blake share a glance at each other, the small brunette's heart beating fast in her chest as she and Thomas both think the same thing.

A whistle blows through the air from Harriet's mouth as she looks up into the canyon. "We're clear guys! Come on out!" The girl yells out as the group turn in that direction, all furrowing their eyebrows.

"We're clear! Stand down." A voice echos from above, making Blake widen her eyes at the realization.

Numerous people then emerge from their positions, all along the edges on the canyon—carrying rifles in their hands.

Relief floods through Blake's veins at what the scene could have turned into, knowing it would have ended in blood.

"Back it up Joe!" Sonya yells out as she motions with her hand.

The whistling and rumbling of the truck echos through the end of the tunnel as it backs up—unblocking the path.

Blake's eyes widen as she scans around her—noting the number of army vehicles and people scattered with rifles.

"We're taking them to base." Sonya says as the group follows closely behind.

"Wait, so...how did you guys get here?" Aris asks as he falls into step behind his two friends.

Blake and Thomas share a glance to each other, walking side by side as Harriet answers "The right arm got us out."

Thomas blinks in disbelief as he quickens his pace to push in front of the group "Wait, wait, wait. The right arm?"

Harriet steps to a vehicle and lays her hand on the handle as she spins around to the curious boy behind her.

"The right arm? D-do you know where they are?" Thomas asks as he stops in front of the girl.

Harriet only smiles as she jerks the door open.
"Hop in."

The doors creak open and shut with a slam as the group piles out of two vehicles.

Blake's eyes soften as her mouth agape—gazing at the sight before her.

"We made it." The girl blinks in disbelief as relief floods through her veins, instantly calming her nerves as she scans over the small settlement in front of her.

Green eyes finally tear away from the camp in front of her, shifting to the boy beside her.

Blake's bright emerald eyes gaze into Thomas' deep brown as a smile spreads across her lips.

"We made it." Thomas confirms, letting out a breathy laugh as he mirrors Blake's expression.