The gladers ran. They ran straight into the wind and sand. The night was dark, and cold. They couldn't see much with the sand blowing everywhere. It got into their eyes, and mouth, it was already inside Alex's boots.

They just needed to get away. Far away. So they ran. They ran for their lives. Thomas yelled at them to move faster. He led them up a sand hill. That's when the siren started to wail. The sounds of motors could be heard over the sound of the wind.

"Gotta keep movie!" Thomas yelled over the wind.

"Thank you Captain Obvious!" Alex yelled back, which was a bad idea, she got a mouth full of sand.

Stupid shucking sand!

They scrambled down the other side of the sand hill. The sounds of the search party still close behind. They kept going, doing their best to run against the elements. Minho had grabbed onto Alex's hand. She wasn't complaining, it was hard enough to run in the sand, now they had the wind to battle with. They kept each other from stumbling too much. She also didn't want to lose him, the visibility in the sand storm was reduced to almost zero. They ran for a while, or more like scrambled for a while. The sounds of sirens and vehicles were gone. They climbed up a few more sand hills. Thomas yelled for everyone to stop, but Teresa was too far ahead to hear, she kept going. She dropped out of sight.

"TES!" Alex screamed.

She dropped Minho's hand and ran after her. Alex didn't see where she went. She just disappeared. It wasn't until she was falling herself did she realize there was a hole in the sand hill... She rolled down the hill, coming to a stop on some cold cement. She moaned and sat up, looking around. It looked like they were in some kind of building. But the sand had piled up so much it felt like they were underground. It had a creepy abandoned feel to it.

Everything was covered in dust and sand. The place was big, two maybe three stories. She could see broken escalators, some stairs. Possibly a broken water fountain. All the glass was smashed and missing. Graffiti covered all the walls.

Teresa held out a hand for her to take.

"Thanks. You okay?" Alex asked.

She just shrugged her shoulders, her forehead scrunched. Alex heard yelling and then saw the guys sliding down the sand hill. Minho slid down the hill, like he was snowboarding, and quite gracefully landed in front of Alex and Teresa.

"You girls okay?" They both nodded, shivering.

Thomas came tumbling down, and immediately started yelling at them frantically, "Come on! We gotta keep moving!"

Frypan had slid down "Where are we?"

"We gotta go. Come on!" Thomas urged them, taking a few steps.

"Feels creepy." Clint added.

Winston, A.J, Leo and Aris slid down the hill and stood up looking around their new surroundings.

"Come on! Guys we have to keep going!" Thomas was frantically calling, having walked away.

"No. Thomas, stop!" Teresa said. Both girls still had no idea what was going on. Alex just knew she woke up, people were chasing them, Janson was evil, and they escaped.

Thomas just shook his head "We gotta keep moving!" He didn't seem to be listening at all.

"THOMAS!" Alex yelled at him, finally frustrated with him. He finally stopped and turned around. Alex never called him by his full name, so when she yelled his name, he stopped.

"Tell us, right now, what the actual shuck is going on." She demanded.

Thomas sighed, but walked back to the group.

"It's WICKED." he sighed, "It's WICKED. They lied to us. We never escaped."

"I shucken knew it! I knew something was off right from in the helicopter!" Alex growled. She gave a very angry look at Newt, who had the audacity to look shocked.

"Me and Aris...we found bodies. Too many to count." Thomas muttered, his body gave a shudder.

"What do you mean? Like dead bodies?" Newt asked.

"No, but they weren't alive either. They had them strung up. With tubes coming out of them. They were being drained. There's something inside of us that WICKED wants." Thomas rushed, needing them to understand.

"Something in our blood that helps fight the Flair." Alex muttered, rubbing her temples. It wasn't memories exactly, but she seemed to know what Thomas was talking about. Thomas nodded at her.

"Ya. So we have to get as far away from them as possible." Thomas concluded.

Everyone seemed to agree on that point. No one wanted to be back in WICKED's clutches.

"HOLLY SUCK!" Alex yelped. Making everyone jump.

"What? Alex? What's wrong?!" Minho panicked, grabbing her shoulders. Alex's eyes were wide. She put the pieces together.

"Minho...Rat Man..Janson...He was the shuck faced shuck who authorized our torture...and sent you and Newt and Sonya to the maze early...he took Bark..and he did horrible experiments on me! Sticking me with needles and pumping me full of poisons and 'trial serums'...that Herculean trial klunk? They were trying to make some kind of super soldiers! I was their shucken bloody genuine pig! Just straight up torture That shucking shuck faced mother f-"

"Language Alex!" Newt scolded.

Alex flipped him off and kept swearing anyway. Angry tears running down her face.

Minho shook her shoulders gently, "Hey, we're not there anymore. We escaped! You're safe now." She just clenched her jaw and fists. He gently wiped away her tears, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Okay. So, what's the plan?" Newt asked, Thomas opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"You do have a plan, right?" Newt asked again, annoyed. Everyone was looking at Thomas expectantly.

"Yeah. I don't know." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Newt took a few steps towards him, "Well, we followed you out here, Thomas..." he poked his chest, angry, "and now you're saying that you have no idea where we're going...or what we're doing?"

"Newt! Slim it! Enough! He got us out and away from WICKED and Rat Man! Isn't that enough?" Alex pulled away from Minho and stepped in-between Newt and Thomas. She turned to face her brother, glaring at him, her arms crossed tight in front of her chest.

Even if Thomas was flying by the seat of his pants Alex would still follow him. He got them out...he got them all out. Without losing anyone. That's more than Alex could do. She lost most of the Gladers on her great escape from the maze.

"Wait! Janson said something about people hiding in the mountains. Some kind of resistance or army!" Aris piped up from the back of the pack.

Who's that kid?

"The Right Arm!" Minho said excitedly, remembering, "The Captain mentioned them too! He said he works with them or is part of them, something. Shuck, I'm an idiot. He said we needed to go find some building by the mountains...and uhhh something about a guy...shuck...I can't remember the rest, SHUCK!"

Thomas jumped onto the idea, any idea. "The Right Arm. Ya. If they're really against WICKED, maybe they can help us!"

Alex nodded, agreeing. The Right Arm..it sounded familiar. She smacked her forehead. Of course it was familiar, it was the group she was helping, the group Captain Ronin worked with.

Newt was looking back and forth between Minho and Thomas skeptically. "People. In the mountains. Mountain people. That's your plan?" He folded his arms.

Alex sighed in frustration. She grabbed Newt's hands, and held them tight. She studied his face for a moment. She saw the heartbreak of having to run for their lives again. She saw the loss of hope and promise of peace. She saw how truly tired he was. He lost his family, and he knew those boys a lot longer than Alex. He lost one of his longest and best friends. Alex's heart broke for her brother.

She pulled him close and gave him a tight hug.

"It's the only chance we have, Newt." She said quietly. He didn't say anything, just let Alex hug him for a moment. She pulled away and held his hands again.

"Why don't you believe us? The right arm was the group Captain Ronin and me were passing information to. Captain Ronin obviously told Minho about them too. And I wholeheartedly trust that man. And Tommy heard about them from Ava herself. They are real. It's our best chance! And I would rather have a chance then become their shucking guinea pig again!"

Newt deflated, hanging his head.

"Hey, guys. Check this out." Winston called.
The group turned to see him a little ways away crouched on the ground looking at something.

"Minho, give me a light!" He called.

Minho rummaged in his pack quickly and pulled out a flashlight and clicked it on.

"Someone's been down here." Winston said, pointing to the ground. There were footprints on the sandy floor.

"Where are they now?" Minho asked, crouching beside Winston.

They glanced nervously at each other. Thomas and Frypan dug in the pre-packed backpacks and each pulled out a flashlight. The little beams of light flashed around, showing different rooms full of all kinds of stuff, personal belongings and stock from different stores, everything seemed to be old, broken and abandoned.

"Come on. Open up." Thomas grunted, trying to push the closest door open.

"Just thomas the door, Tommy, sure you could squeeze through at this point, look how big that opening is." Alex teased. He just rolled his eyes. Frypan and Clint gave her a high five.

"Thanks guys."

"Anytime Lil' Lady." Frypan chuckled.

"Looks like people lived here." Thomas said once they got the sand stuck door opened.

"Where are they now?" Teresa repeated Minho's previous question nervously, looking around.

"I don't know, they look long gone." Thomas said, looking around too.

"Let's pack some of this stuff up. Anything you think we might need." Alex suggested, finding an empty backpack on a table.

"We'll split up, see what else we can find. Or anyone who can help. Meet back here." Thomas added.

Alex wandered further into the room, after Teresa.

"Hey Alex?" Minho called, and she turned at her name.

"Be safe. I'm going with Thomas."

Alex smiled. "Use your shuck brain. Come back to me, Love."

They both drew an X.

________________

"Hey, Tes, I found some clothes here.." Alex called quietly. Teresa came over and started digging through the box. She was quiet and her eyes looked haunted. Alex straightened and placed her hand gently on her friend's shoulder, making her jump.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you...Are you sure you're okay? You seem...off." Alex searched her friend's face. Teresa rubbed the back of her neck and looked away.

"Alex...they did something to me. I don't know what. But..I'm scared. I don't feel like me. Like I am me...but it feels like there's someone else living in the back of my head. And not that telepathy humming feeling."

Alex's eyes went wide, but she didn't say anything.

Teresa turned her back on Alex and moved her hair. "They did something."

There on the back of her neck was a little barcode tattoo with words underneath that said:

Property of WICKED. Subject A1-
The Betrayer.

"Tes...did you know about the tattoo?" Alex whispered. Teresa spun around her eyes wide and mouth open.

"What? What...tattoo?" She choked out, her hand flew to her neck, trying to feel it. Alex's stomach twisted with nervousness, she reached a hand to the back of her own neck.

"When did I get that? What is it?" She asked.

"Uhh it says property of Wicked subject A1- the Betrayer. That sounds promising, doesn't it?"

However Alex's insides felt like they dropped out. Her mouth went dry.

"Tes? Do...do I have one..?"

Teresa stepped up and turned her around, lifting Alex's hair. Teresa stood still, and didn't say anything.

"...Tes..?"

"Ya ..you have one too. It says:

Property of Wicked. Subject A0
The Defiant
Herculean Trial human subject 1

"The shuck does that mean?" Alex asked, turning to face Teresa. Both looked confused and lost for words.

"If it's WICKED...who knows what goes through their heads." Teresa answered bitterly.

"Very true. But whatever they did to us, we have each other. And we have the boys. They might be a bunch of Shuck faces...but we're family. Ya?"

Teresa nodded, and pulled Alex into a hug. The girls hugged tightly for a moment.

"Thank you! You're so much better with this kind of stuff than me. I'm not really cut out for this soldier on the run kind of stuff." Teresa sniffed.

"Like I had the option." Alex sighed. "Come on, we better get scrounging." Alex motioned to and turned to the box again. She pulled out a pair of pants that would probably fit Teresa, she was still wearing the hospital pants and shirt. They also found her a jacket and scarf.

Alex still had on her black jeans, and grey top and black combat boots. But it was cold, and she was shivering. She found an army jacket that fit ok and a black bandana and fingerless gloves.

"Hey Tes, what size are your feet? There are some shoes here."

Teresa walked over and started digging around. Alex turned and started going through the other boxes and dresser drawers. She found another backpack and tossed it to Teresa. Alex stuffed an extra shirt inside the one she found earlier.

Alex decided to venture into the next room. There she found a box of flashlights and a few batteries. Only one flashlight actually worked. She found a few water bottles and a big container of fresh water. She filled the little ones up as best she could. There were also some new clean bandages sitting with a small first aid kit. She found another knife which she strapped to her thigh. She found a few stale granola bars, which she shoved in the backpack. She shouldered her bag and went to find the others. She rounded the corner and bumped into something. Or someone.

She screamed. A hand clamped over her mouth.

_______________________________

**CLIFF HANGER!

Poor Tes. What's going to happen to her? Do you think she's more like Book Teresa? Or Movie Teresa or a whole new concept of Teresa?