Sonya told them where to park and they all hopped out. Hope was glad there was extra clothes, it was a bit chilly out today and up in the mountains it was definitely cooler.

"Okay, so. It's just a watch. We all have a com. Hope and Lanna I'd like you up over the tunnel, you got deadly aim. You'll be with Harriet and I. Show you the drill." Sonya instructed.

"We have others stationed around in the trees and stuff. We don't shoot to kill, obviously. But we don't want infecteds coming in."

"Definitely not good." Lanna agreed with a slight frown.

Hope gave her best friend's hand a squeeze.
The girls nodded and followed Harriet and Sonya up to the spot above the tunnel. Hope found that there was already a place set up. The underbrush was cleared out, and places for people to lay down with their guns. Rocks around to keep them protected from the elements and possible return fire.

"Nice digs!" Lanna grinned.

Hope set up her stuff, Sonya watched with a look of mild surprise, Hope and Lanna both had their own guns, with scops. Papa had given them their own guns from his huge personal stash, taught them how to use them and how to shoot. His military training had kept the girls safe for almost 11 years. Sonya and Harriet watched as they set up without asking a hundred questions.

"It's kinda cloudy, easy visibility." Lanna observed.

"And minimal wind."

"Uhh...these are important because...?" Harriet asked.

Lanna gave her a weird look.

"Effects the shot. Wind can blow the bullet off course. Sun can reflect of surfaces and make the target hard to see sometimes." Hope explained patently.

Sonya gave them an impressed look. Once the girls were settled down. Sonya and Harriet settled as well, it was a long morning of waiting. Hope and Lanna passed the time easily, they were used to long watches together.

"Dude I'm hungry!" Lanna finally whined.

"Did you not pack snacks?"

"No!" Lanna moaned, "it was too damn early to function this morning!"

"That's why you pack them the night before, ya idiot!"

Harriet sniggered.

"Share pleeeeease!" She whined and then gave Hope big sad puppy dog eyes.

"You're ridiculous." Hope rolled her eyes, "Ya, in my backpack there's some granola bars."

"You're the best!"

"Damn right I am." Hope rolled her eyes again, giving Lanna's head a shove.

"You two clearly have been together a while." Sonya smiled as she watched their interactions.

"This happens so often I just pack extras out of habit now." Hope said.

"Also...how do you two lay so still for so long?" Harriet groaned.

"Learned behavior. We've always taken watches." Lanna said as she got up and reached for Hope's backpack.

"When you're hiding for your life and you need to keep yourself safe from cranks, bounty hunters, gang members, rough thieves...you learn fast. Also Papa is ex-military." Hope explained.

"Damn." Harriet muttered.

Hope's walkie talkie crackled to life. A male voice came through slightly staticy.

"Incoming! I have eyes on a car coming your way. One car."

Hope felt her stomach twist weird. It was always the same, when there was an unknown threat. She had stopped people from coming into their camp before, but there was something different this time. They were part of a resistance army. Not just a small community trying to survive.

"Hey Lanna! We got incoming. Get your ass back here!" Hope waved a hand to her friend.

Lanna twisted around, and dropped to her stomach beside Hope, a granola bar still hanging from her mouth. Sonya and Harriet tensed up immediately.

"Any other details?" Lanna asked, peeking through her scop and readjusted her gun quickly.

"No."

"How many people? Did they see weapons? Ages? Anything?"

"Nope." Hope said popping her p.

"Seriously?"

"These guys weren't trained by Papa Bear, remember? They clearly need to step it up."

"Why's that important?" Harriet whispered.

Lanna picked up their com.

"This is Eagle One, Team Awesome...to anyone out there. Any other details you can give us? Number of occupants, what kind of vehicle, estimated ages? Any visible weapons...like anything helpful?" Lanna snarked into the com.

Hope just rolled her eyes with a smirk. Lanna had no issues questioning things, or giving attitude. Sonya and Harriet exchanged looks.

"Uhh...no. I wasn't looking." Came the voice.

"What good of a watchman are you? You weren't looking?" She gave Hope a look that said 'seriously, what the fuck?' pushed the button on the walkie talkie and grumbled into it, "Amateurs!" Lanna sassed, rolling her eyes, tossing the comb beside her. She looked at Hope, "guess we're winging it."

The girls heard the vehicle before they saw it. It sounded like an old beater.

"Not WICKED. Unless it's undercover." Lanna said.

"How can you tell?" Harriet asked.

"Because WICKED likes to show their power. They wouldn't drive anything that clunks and makes a noise like that. They're usually in big massive army trucks, or Berg's. They like to come in hot and heavy." Hope explained.

Lanna snorted, "that's what she said."

Sonya and Hope snorted. Hope had her eye pressed to the scope. I see it. Male driver. Middle aged. Blond teen in the front seat.

"Ooh, he's kinda cute." Lanna giggled, also looking through the scope.

"Six other occupants. Two females." Hope said out loud as she spied the group.

"They're all young. I don't see visual weapons."

"Okay ..well, they have to stop and go on foot if they want to keep going." Harriet said.

They watched as the vehicle slowed down and stopped. There was a pause. And then the driver side door opened and a middle aged Hispanic man got out. He walked a little ways. Even from their location she could see his frown. He cursed and turned back to the car of people. The rest of them got out.

"Well, I guess we're on foot." The Hispanic man said. It wasn't loud, but it echoed off the mountain. The group slowly walked forwards.

"We need to stop them!" Harriet whispered, she reached for her walkie-talkie.

"Warning shots." Hope breathed, "Make them cower. You two are the leaders, round them up, question them."

"Fire a warning shot but come with us. We could use you two down there, you two are clearly teaching us the ropes." Sonya said.

Harriet whispered the directions into the walkie talkie.

Hope pulled the trigger and sent a warning shot, it whizzed and hit the car behind the older man. A few more shots rang out.

"Get down!"
"Take cover!"

The four girls slid out if their hiding spots as the new group ducked behind the cars. The shots kept coming. Not a lot, but enough to keep them crouched.

"Hey, is everyone okay out there?" Someone yelled. He peeked his head up, Hope had stopped sliding down and sent a shot at him. It dinged off the car by his head. Someone yanked him back down.

"We're fine!" Someone else yelled back.

"Anyone know where those bloody shots came from?" Someone else yelled, his voice was rather gentle and had an accent similar to Sonya's.

Hope made it to the bottom. She motioned for Sonya and Lanna to go one way, and her and Harriet went the other way to the back. Hope pulled her hood up and the scarf part of her cowal covered her face. The others are doing the same, covering their faces. They nodded and they kept creeping.

"That son of a bitch, Marcus. He led us into an ambush!"

"What do we do?"

"Here. Hold this-"

Hope didn't hear anymore she snuck through the trees by the side of the road, the group was so busy amongst themselves, they didn't bother looking around them.

"Everybody!" The man yelled, "get set to sprint back to the truck!"

"And hold your ears!" A bit yelled.

"Ready? One...Two..."

"Drop it."

Sonya and Lanna had stepped up behind the man who held the handmade explosive. Harriet and Hope held their guns up. Hope jammed it into the back of a boy who immidiatly held his hands up.

"Now!" Harriet demanded.

"I said drop it!" Sonya yelled.

She sounded quite angry and demanding. The man held his hands up. A boy held the home made explosive, but dropped it when Lanna jammed the gun into his head, and then held his hands over his head.

"On your feet. Let's go." Hope barked. With one hand she held her gun and the other she grabbed the boy's collar and yanked him up.

"Let's go! Move!" Harriet yelled. Motioning with her gun.

"Back up!" Hope demanded again, a girl with dark short hair stood up, she looked terrified, she was breathing hard. She took a few steps back

"Easy." Lanna demanded and jammed the gun into his chest, a boy with dark spiky hair and looked like he could easily pick Lanna up, and looked at her with a smirk.

"You two, over here now!" Harriet demanded. Two boys came inching over.

"Come on, let's go!"

A boy tried to move his hand towards something.

"Don't be stupid! Move." Hope barked, her eyes narrowed. "Slowly."

"Aris?" Harriet cried, she pulled her scarf down.

"Oh, my God. Harriet?" A blond boy cried.

"No way!" Harriet cried again and pulled the boy into a tight hug who hugged her back immidiatly. Hope and Lanna exchanged a quick glance.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Harriet asked, she clearly knew the kid, and was shocked he would be here. Hope assumed they were in the maze together. Sonya said WICKED took their memories from premaze and Vince had busted the girls out. Sonya came running, and yanked her scarf down.

"Sonya!" Aris cried, a mix of joy relief and disbelief in his voice. Sonya pulled him into a tight hug.

"Aris, you're lucky Hope didn't shoot your dumb ass!"

"Who's Hope?"

Sonya indicated to me. The group looked at me. I still had my scarf and good up, and still had my gun ready to shoot.

"You all right, man?" Harriet asked, pulling the attention away from me.

"How...?" Aries sputtered.

"What's happening?" The smirking Asian Boy asked, he had folded his arms, looking suspiciously back and forth between the girls and Aris.

"We were in the maze together." Aris explained, still with wild disbelief on his face.

"We're clear, guys! Come on out!" Harriet stepped back and whistled.

"Copy that! We're clear!"

Hope unloaded her gun and slung it over her shoulder and walked back to the tunnel, Harriet and Sonya clearly were fine with the group. Hope and Lanna were just there to help with the watch. Hope nimbly climbed up and grabbed Lanna and her own backpack, she hopped the last bit and tossed Lanna her bag.

Harriet and Sonya were leading the group through the cars and towards the trucks parked on the other side of the tunnel.

"-you're alive!"

Harriet patted the huge pick up truck that blocked the tunnel. "Back it up, Joe! Back it up!"

"We're taking them to base." Sonya said to Hope. "We can split them up, drive them back."

"Wait, so, how did you guys get here?" Aris asked them.

"The Right Arm got us out." Sonya replied with a smile.

"Wait. The Right Arm?" A tall boy with dark brown hair asked, "Do you know where they are?"

Hope opened the truck door, "Hop in." She turned the engine on. Sonya tossed a set of keys to Lanna.

"Sorry, gonna have to split up." Sonya instructed, "You four with Hope. You three with Lanna and Joe can take the rest of us."

"Shot gun!" A dark skinned boy called. The blond boy groaned, but climbed into the back seat of the truck.

"Buckle up." Hope said.

The boys blinked. Hope sat waiting patiently. The boy in the front buckled up with a big grin.

"Names Frypan! And your name?" He looked at Hope with his big eyes.

"Hope." She answered, "is Frypan seriously your real name?"

"Nice to meet you Hope! And no, just a nickname. And it's been used so much for so long it's weird if someone uses my real name! Just call me Fry." His smile showed all his teeth and lit his eyes up. "Back there is Thomas, Newt there in the middle and Minho."

Hope nodded and glanced behind her. "Good. Now that we're buckled we can get this show on the road."

She started the truck and pulled out. Lanna followed, and Joe brought up the rear.

"How come you know how to drive?" The brown haired boy, whose name was Thomas asked.

"I was taught when I was young."

"So you weren't in the Maze." The Asian Boy, whose name was Minho said. He sniffed in a way that made Hope feel like he was considering her, like not being in the maze trials made her less then.

"No. I wasn't. And learning to drive saved my life a few times."

He just hummed, and looked out the window.

"How come? What did you do before? How do you know the Right Arm? Also, how come the blond girl-"

"Sonya?" Hope cut in.

"Sure." Thomas waved his hand, "said it was a good thing you didn't shoot Aris..."

"Jeeze does he ever stop?"

"No." Frypan chuckled.

"I survived. That's what I did. I hoped to live to the next day. And Sonya said that because I could have hit your driver before he even got out of the car."

"No bloody way you could have."

Hope clenched her jaw and grilled the wheel tight. Her patients with these guys was thinning.

"So, Hope? Where are you taking us?" The boy in the seat beside me asked.

"To base camp."

"Ooo. Mysterious." Minho said, his voice dropping with sarcasm.

"Well I could veer off the road and kill you instead." I snapped back.

"Like a girl like you could."

"You don't even know me! You have no fucking clue what I'm capable of!" She shot back.

"Slim it guys." Frypan scolded and looked at the three in the back. Minho huffed and rolled his eyes, he crossed his arms and looked out the window.

"Sorry. We've been through a lot the last little bit. We're a bit...tense."

"Hold up!" Hope looked at Frypan. "You guys were in the Maze Trials...you escaped! You're the damn eleits who ran away!"

"Umm..." Fry said scratching his head, "don't know what you mean by eleits, but the other two are true-"

Thomas had leaned forwards, and interrupted. "Ya, we were in the maze- though you guys know about the maze? And how did you know we escaped?"

"WICKED isn't exactly quite. Everyone and their dog knows about the trials! If you don't know about them...your living under a rock.
And your wild escape? It's all over the news!
You pissed off WICKED. And the rest of us are paying the consequences."

"What do you mean, Hope? What consiquenses?"
"Did you expect us to sit back and let them do whatever the shuck they were gonna do?"
"How'd we get on the news?"
"Oh so sorry escaping from the evil empire has disrupted you easy none WICKED life."

I slammed on the bracks. My anger was right in my chest. The boys slammed forwards.

"What the shuck is your problem? Minho yelled.

"We're here." I snapped.

"And where is here?" Frypan asked unbuckling.

"Welcome to the Right Arm."

•°•
° Not a very good first
impression with our Ivory trio. °
°Maybe Fry...°