the scorch trials
chapter eleven

❛❛ where's bertha? ❜❜

————————————————

Poe watched Jorge interrogating the man, Marcus. His face was beginning to swell, bruise and bloodied from Jorge's punches. Demanding Marcus of the Right Arm's location and Marcus wouldn't give it up. If this guy has been smuggling and helping the kids to get them to the Right Arm, why isn't he helping them now and refuses to give out the location? Unless Marcus have another plans for himself.

When Brenda woke up and told Jorge what happened when she and Thomas found this place, that's when Jorge began to interrogate Marcus. To watch and listen to Jorge beating up Marcus to try and get him to talk frustrated Poe. He got up and went around the fireplace, found himself in the other side of the room and there was Leigh and Aris sitting at a table with Anton. Leigh was wrapping white bandages around Anton's hand where he had been cut. Poe went to join them.

"How are you, bud?" He pat Anton's shoulder before taking a seat across the table.

"I'm all right" Anton slightly smiled.

In a moment, Leigh finished, "There you go, kid. Hope that'll be good for a while"

Anton looked at his hand, his palm to his wrist all wrapped in bandages. "Thanks... Leigh" he gave a weak nod then got up.

Poe watched Anton walking away and went to the front of the fireplace to sit with Teo. "That kid is something" Leigh commented, "like he's been through too much and needs a break from all of this. I can see why you're overprotective"

Poe nodded in agreement, sometimes he feels terrible that he's not protecting Anton enough, like whenever Poe tries, something happens. "Yeah, whenever I am, something happens to him" he mumbled.

Leigh gave a sympathetic look at Poe, as if she understands and she does. "Your friend still not waking up?" Leigh asked Poe.

Friend. She meant Thomas. Poe never really thought of Thomas as his friend, not once. For some reason, when Leigh said that Thomas is Poe's friend, oddly infuriates him. "Thomas? No. And he's not... my friend" he rested his elbow on the table.

"Aren't they all your friends? The Gladers?"

"Most of them" there's Newt, Teo, Anton and Frypan. And Teresa. He's barely close with Minho. He remembered a time where Minho told Poe of how it should've been him instead of Nick. There were times where Nico and Poe were rivalries in his first months in the Glade but when Nick died, Nico suddenly lost interest and since the past week have been different between him and Poe. Like they don't have a choice but to work together to survive. Poe is somehow oddly reluctant to consider Teresa as his friend. There is definitely something about her that makes him strangely attach to her at times, and she's also attached to him. To see how she's getting close to Thomas, like at the moment, she hasn't left his side, Poe has seen her looking down at Thomas every ten seconds, anxiously and waiting for him to wake up. There was a hint of rage growing.

The feeling made him to think that he should draw more attention to Teresa and get closer. The journey since escaping the WCKD compound have been pushing them both apart from each other and rather pulling her and Thomas closer to each other.

"How long were you in the Maze?" Aris asked.

Poe looked at Aris across the table, "Three months" Poe immediately assumed that Aris was only boy in the maze for within a few days like Teresa in the Glade. He never asked them what happened to them in their maze. "What happened to you and your friends? Back in the maze. How'd you guys solved it?"

"Well—" Leigh looked at Aris momentarily, "it was all him and Rachel. After we killed a Shade, Aris cut open the thing and found a transmitter—"

"Shade?" Poe's attention fell away for a second as he heard Jorge yelling at Marcus but turned his attention back to Leigh and Aris.

Aris answered to this question, "They're these creatures that roam in the night in the maze. I'm sure you've got your own monster in your maze, right?" Poe weakly nodded before Aris began, "Stupid me decided to turn this transmitter on and let the Shades into the Spring"

"Aris, you know that's meant to happen—" Leigh's voice was full of comfort, "it was the only way to escape the maze"

Aris didn't respond, Poe assumed many of their friends were killed and Aris blames himself for it. Like what happened that night when the Doors didn't close and Grievers came into the Glade. Many Gladers lost their lives that night. The transmitter that Aris mentioned must be the equivalent to the key that the Gladers found in a Griever. "And then what happened?"

"We got rescued" Leigh went on, "well, WICKED rescued us. Just me, him and Rachel, the only three of us made it out. The rest of them, well, I don't know. I guess the rest of them are dead"

Poe suddenly felt bad for these two. He should say something, he felt an urge that he should say something, something that could make them feel better even though it won't make them feel better with only words. He also developed a sudden sympathy for these two, mostly for the girl.

Jorge was still interrogating Marcus. Nico can be heard implying that he should just shoot Marcus.

The girl then asked, "What about you?" Poe shifted his head back at Leigh and exchanged a questioning look. "What happened to you guys?"

Poe sighed, "Same thing. Almost. Except we got some sort of a key from a Griever that opens their place which was our way out. Of course, it costed a lot of lives. Then we got rescued"

Their attention shifted where Jorge was interrogating Marcus and Teo came around the fireplace and approached the table. "Shank's awake, finally" He meant Thomas has woken up. Teo has his hands on the table, leaning over as he looked at Poe then at Aris and Leigh. "What's with the teddy bear?"

Poe turned his gaze towards Leigh and Aris. Her pack was on the table and there was an old, brown, dusty teddy bear's head sticking out one of the pack's pockets. The girl pulled her pack and set it on the floor, "He protects me when I'm asleep" Poe wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not.

"Cute" Teo smiled, "Where'd you find him?"

"Back in the station we stayed in last night. I couldn't resist"

Poe decided to go back to the other side of the fireplace as Jorge was heard punching Marcus. "Where is the Right Arm, Marcus?"

Poe leaned against the fireplace's wall as he watched on. Thomas was standing near Newt. "Wait, this is Marcus?!"

Marcus snickered in response, "The kid catches on quick. Are you the brains of the operation?"

Jorge pulled back Marcus's head by the hair, "I know you know where they're hiding. So you tell me, and I'll make you a deal" Jorge let go of Marcus's hair as he softly laughed, "You can come with us"

Teo was beside Poe and even Leigh and Aris, and they watched and listened. "I burned that bridge a long time ago" said Marcus, "Besides, I made my own deal. You're the one who taught me, never miss an opportunity" Marcus snickered.

"What's he talking about?" Newt asked. Just as Poe thought, Marcus had other plans but what other plans he had instead of helping kids get to the Right Arm?

"I'm talking about supply and demand" Marcus said aloud. Poe and Teo exchanged glances before turning back to Marcus. "WICKED wants all the Immunes they can get. I help provide that for them. So I lure the kids in, they get drunk, they have a good time. And then, later, WICKED comes in, they separate the wheat from the chaff" he finished with another chuckle.

Teo sighed exasperatedly, "You know what, maybe we don't need him, we can find the Right Arm all by ourselves. Shoot his arse, serves him right"

"I don't think we can find them without this bastard" Aris murmured softly.

"I changed my mind, hermano" Jorge gave Marcus a pat on the chest, "I do enjoy hurting you" he thrust his foot on Marcus, falling back onto the floor.

Jorge took his magnum pistol out, for a moment, Poe thought that Jorge was going to do what Teo said. Jorge had got down on his knee and had the barrel of his weapon against Marcus's throat.

"Talk!" Jorge yelled, "Talk!"

"Okay! Jesus!" Marcus gave up, "but I'm not making any promises. These guys like to move around" Jorge grabbed him to sit him back up. Marcus gave a few breaths before he went on, "They have an outpost in the mountains. But it's a long way away. You've got half of WICKED on your ass. You're never going to make it" he let out another chuckle.

"Not on foot" Jorge sneered, he leaned down, smacked his hands on Marcus's shoulders, "Where's Bertha?"

Poe had a single brow raised in perplex. Marcus's smirks changed into a rather concern look. "Not Bertha"

Bertha revealed to be an old vehicle, some sort of a jeep, it was a very old kind and it had bull horns hanging against the front rear. Jorge pulled off the sheet that covered the vehicle after he and the teens took a short walk to an old warehouse in the corner of the Zone A.

As Poe stood in front of the vehicle, he gave a strange look at the vehicle, "Looks like a piece of junk" he commented as he looked at Jorge who kept his smile on.

"Are you kidding me?" Newt was standing beside Poe, Newt smacked Poe's arm as he flashed an enthusiastic smile, "She's bloody gorgeous. I'm taking shotgun" he hurried over to the passenger door on the front. Poe have never seen Newt this enthusiastic for a while.

Poe managed to get a seat behind the driver's seat, with Anton beside him and Minho next to him while the rest huddled together in the back.

The ride out of the city wasn't difficult, it seems whoever have already made a path from the warehouse to the out of the city. Jorge sped up once the vehicle reached the highway and went ninety miles per hour. There were bumps on the way, the teens from the back would utter out loud groans from the bumps and Jorge barked a laugh at every bump while Newt grinned.

Poe would exchange a scoff when Newt gazed back at him before smiling back. Whenever Newt smiles, it's like the whole world around Poe have brightened and everything is okay.

There was a banter going on and off between Leigh and Nico as they were sitting next to each other. "God, can you just—?" She tried to scoot away from the guy but could only scoot inches away as their arms still touched.

"I would but this piece of junk-looking of a vehicle had to be small" Nico also tried to scoot away. The Gladers, Aris and Brenda had to listen Leigh and Nico's bantering the rest of the way.

The day was turning dusk, it's been a few hours since they drove and the sun was about to set when they finally reached the mountains. The road became rough and sometimes they had to drive off the road for a while, that slowed them down on the way.

It's like the world was empty, seeing no one else on the way besides themselves, not a single human moving in their sight, not even an animal besides blackbirds. The world was a lot bigger with very few, possible thousands of population. The rest have been ravaged by the solar flares and lost to the horrible virus.

It came to Poe's belief that everyone he once knew, like a mother, and a father, are dead. It doesn't saddens him at all.

When they arrived the mountains, Jorge slowed down within the mountains, the road was surrounded by tall cliffs, it was all canyon. Jorge stopped when they found abandoned old cars in front of them, blocking the road all the way into the tunnel. There would be too many to move. Jorge got out of the vehicle and so did everyone else.

Poe walked behind Jorge and everyone were huddled together before they all approached slowly ahead. "Well, I guess we're on foot" Jorge said.

As they all walked ahead, on the way, they checked the vehicles before proceeding. Crows or ravens' cries echoed within the canyon, there were soft sounds of rocks crumbling down the steep hill off the road.

Poe kept Anton beside him and even when the boy is only ten feet away from his side and even the place is seemingly empty besides the cars, he'd call him, "Anton, stay close" and the boy would step close to Poe's side.

As he and Anton were looking into a car while Thomas examining something on the window, there was a sudden sound of a bullet ricocheting onto the car and everyone moved promptly. "Get down!"

"Take cover!" Poe grabbed Anton and pushed him down beside the car as bullets flew around the group. Few more shots and the last shot echoed around the canyon.

"Hey, is everyone okay out there?!" Thomas exclaimed and his loud yell echoed through the mountains.

"We're fine!" Teresa replied somewhere nearby.

"Anyone know where those bloody shots came from?!" Newt shouted from ahead, to hear him relieved Poe.

"Son of a bitch, Marcus" Jorge said, he was hiding by the same car where Poe and Anton were. Jorge took his gloves off, opened his pack "He led us into an ambush"

Thomas decided to take a peek up over the front car. As he peeked his head up, another sounds of ricochets hit the car few times. Poe felt Anton fidgeting against his arm. "What do we do?" Thomas said.

Jorge pulled out an odd rectangular object, "Here, hold this" he handed it to Thomas and Jorge continue to dug into his pack, "We gotta create a diversion. You get ready to chuck it" Jorge raised another odd object which was smaller, he got the top part open before clicking it and the object made a soft whirring with low rapid beep sounds. "Everybody! Get set to sprint back to the truck! And hold your ears!"

Poe furrowed his brows as he watched Jorge preparing to trigger to what it seemed to be an explosive and Thomas is about to throw the bomb.

"Ready? One..." Jorge started, "Two—"

"Poe?" Anton uttered. Poe saw the boy's stun look and his gaze was on the opposite direction.

There was a sounds of weapon cocking behind Poe, Jorge and Thomas. "Drop it" a woman's voice demanded. The four of them froze. Jorge and Thomas made no movements. They slowly turned around with their hands raised. "Now!" With that, Thomas dropped the explosive. "I said drop it!"

Jorge deactivated the source of the explosive before putting it on the ground. Poe was rather confused to see these two young women with rifles. The one who spoke was the one with dark skin, black hair all in dreadlocks and the other was pale and blond hair. Both had cloths covering up to their noses.

"On your feet, let's go" the black-haired spoke. Jorge and Thomas moved, the blond one had her rifle pointed at Poe and Anton. They both got up and slowly as they followed Jorge and Thomas. "Let's go! Move!" As Poe and Anton got around the car, the girl kept on yelling, "Back up!"

"Easy!" Jorge urged.

"You two, over here, now!" The girl demanded Minho and Newt to move to the group.

"Come on, let's go!" The blond one's voice was more girly-ish and sounded younger than the way she looked.

"Don't be stupid! Move!"

"Slowly!"

The group had huddled all together and all their hands raised. "Poe?" Anton murmured softly as if concerned.

"It's alright, we're gonna be fine, just stay calm" Poe assured him. Is this the Right Arm? Are they the Right Arm? Poe wanted to ask them.

There was a brief moment of silence, everyone got tense as they looked at the two young women. Until the one with the dark haired uttered, "Aris?"

There was a sudden confusion as they all shifted their heads back at the boy.

"Leigh?" She pulled the mask down under her chin revealing her face.

"Oh my god, Harriet?" Aris was shocked.

Leigh let out a sharp breath as she looked at the two young women in stun, "Harriet. Sonya?" She and Aris approached the two. Leigh and the girl who's name is Harriet embraced.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?!" These two young women were rather teenage girls. Leigh turned to the blonde girl while Aris and Harriet hugged.

Meanwhile Poe and Anton exchanged perplexed looks and everyone else had the same expressions.

"You're both so lucky we didn't shoot your dumbasses" The blonde girl smiled as she hugged Leigh.

"Are you guys all right?" Harriet asked Aris and Leigh.

"Yeah, yeah" Leigh smiled.

"Uhm—" Minho began, "what's happening?"

Aris and the three girls turned to the Gladers, "We were in the maze together" He answered.

"Oh, that's a relief" Nico uttered, somewhat sarcastic as he dropped his hands down.

Poe slowly put his hands down as Harriet signalled with a whistle. "We're clear, guys! Come on out!" She shouted.

"Copy that! We're clear!" There was a man shouting back somewhere up in the hills, "Stand down!"

Everyone glanced up and spotted people at the top of the hills. Harriet and Sonya lead the group into the tunnel, lead them all the way to the other side where a dozen or more people were waiting, they were armed.

"Back it up, Joe!" Sonya called ahead. A man responded as the big truck blocking the road ahead reversed.

"Think this is the Right Arm?" Anton asked softly.

"I hope it is this time" Poe replied.

"We're taking them to the base" Harriet informed the people.

"Wait, so—" Aris walked with Harriet and Sonya, "how did you guys get here?"

"The Right Arm got us out" Harriet answered.

"Wait—" Thomas said and Harriet stopped by a vehicle, "the Right Arm? Do you know where they are?"

Harriet responded as she opened the door, "Hop in" and her lip curled into a slight smile.

*****

Alright, definitely not this chapter but next chapter for sure xD
I don't want to rush The Scorch Trials and I'm trying to get this part plenty enough of it's chapters, you know? So I'm trying not to rush it to get it to the good parts and the final act :)
There are probably 3-4 chapters left of this part (3 most likely)