Hastily I threw a few empty water bottles inside my backpack, brokenly gripped them to the point my palm dug into their already bent surface with strength incomparable as I forced my bubbling feelings down, ignoring the stinging of sureness and partially anger which was brought up to the surface. Coiling my fingers around the piece of paper with Thomas' handwriting on, I gripped the packed bag and stood up, mind shattered over the fact he would lie to me like that; even if he did lie, saying goodbye without even seeing me in person was what broke me the most- perhaps I needed to forget it ever happened.

Pushing the thoughts away, yet as if something just carried on pressing my mind in a never-ending bubble of disappointed in myself, anger at Thomas and a wish to prove him I was not in need of his protection, it would not let go even as I stepped outside into the cooler air which bit onto the exposed skin on my cheeks and gray, disappearing smoke wafting through the blueness of the sky above.

I passed people on my way, each pair of eyes lingering on me questioningly as I felt them drill the back of my head, my being disappearing even before they could manage a question and eventually caught up with Brenda, leaning on the side of a car with a book gripped in her hands.

"Hey Brenda." Puffing out some air, I stopped in front of the girl whose eyes had lifted from skimming the pages and found mine in a questioning manner- she dropped the book to her tight, carefully gazed me up and down as her features gained out of a sudden an even more confused look.

Her brows rose slightly. "Going somewhere?" The girl inquired, an essence of sarcasm in her voice.

"Thomas, Fry and Newt left." I breathed out heavily, showing her the wrinkled paper in my hand which surely was far worse than I first found as my palms were rather sweaty in worry and nervousness.

Gingerly taking it she unwrapped the paper and skimmed it over, gaze as if suddenly darkening at the words written before finding me fidgeting to what the girls lips curled into a smile and lightened the previous darkness of her gaze. "We're going after them, right?" Brenda didn't wait for me to answer, just nodded to herself surely and continued speaking. "We are, of course. Come on, Jorge will be here any minute."

She handed me back the letter, grabbed the backpack hanging over my arm and strode to a car she was just leaning over; the vehicle looked rather used, full of bullet holes and cracked glass on its right side, none of which made me half sure it was still functional as Brenda carelessly swept into the back, open part of the car. She nodded me to follow, soon enough I found myself laying my back to the dusty metal in silence bracing us both as the girl on my right checked over her guns.

"Ready to go?" Jorge strode by Brenda and I a few moments later, smiling knowingly yet I did not want in any way to question how did he know where we were going or if he did see three boys leaving the sanctuary before our real one, before Safe Heaven.

Brenda smiled lazily, picked up the last piece of her weaponry. "Always." The girl answered after the brief, only second long silence following the sound of her voice car's engine as Jorge turned it on.

Not even a minute later the car was already on the move, fading in the distance our safe camp whose structures and people disappeared within the thin air as we welcomed the sight of burned mainland, littered with broken vehicles on the road, their color a deep, sick brown and plants whose leaves they had trampled as the rest speeded by.

I still could not think of anything else, but hope all three of them were alright, it squeezing me in worry over and over again as Brenda kept a small smile each time I would look over at her for some type of confirmation which soon grew into a comforting one, never faltering from her lips and eyes with a twinkle of certainity I surely missed in mine.

Driving through the land with no speed limit, for there were no people in the middle of the road aside us, Jorge kept a still balance to the vehicle despite the blowing wind carrying sand that hit car's cracked windows, whooshed past my ears in heavy, weighted motions and never quieting down as it continued beating the metal form making me even more relentless. Playing with the ends of my leathery jacket, I watched the land in whirlwind of colors, yellow, orange and small amounts of green yet still saw nothing as if trying but failing to focus on its moving structures rather staying within my own thoughts of those three boys leaving that suddenly.

Slowly, the land creased in width, no more there were wide, empty fields of burned plants and ashes scattered with the wind but metal gates following us through the sandy driveway, behind whose surface were abandoned cars that began loosing their previously shiny color and plates, scraped and burned whose titles I was squinting to read. Flare, fever, cramps...those were the words I had noticed there, out of all that I managed to catch as the others were not visible at all or far too faint to be read.

Jorge looked into the rearview mirror, smiling a rather tense smile at the two of us watching the surrounding area, drove by as quick as we had entered the secured space and onward to the black, screen like darkness of a tunnel in whose depth aside a few narrowly lit cars nothing was visible. I grabbed the handle of my gun tightly, didn't even notice when my hands turned pale white underneath the darkness that welcomed us as at first carefully, the man drove the car around scattered others.

All until gunshots made Jorge slam car's pedal and lurch forward.

I felt something faint nag at the pit of my stomach, something like acid and sour aftertaste the smell of rot and spoilt eggs and meat left the moment we went deeper into the tunnel. I crammed my both hands over the handle of my gun tighter after hearing awful screeching float to me, despite the constant whirring of engine loud and clear which sent a reminder through me- Cranks.

My mind began drifting off to the state of fear, overpowered by enormous sounds of screaming and screeching, that no matter how much I wished weren't there only came to be even louder and louder as we approached the middle section of still hazy tunnel; aside cars and scattered metal there was barely anything else visible, partly because I stared at my hands gripping the gun and partly because the speed with which we travelled was quite dangerous.

Then the sounds grew profound, even more audible that they even pushed back tire screeching as my head abruptly snapped up, having forced away everything I began feeling since the moment we had entered the tunnel. My eyes spied the incoming group of Cranks, gripping the gun I still remained seated as Jorge without a second of doubt pushed the vehicle toward their huddling group, running over a few in the process- it was not a worthy distraction, as the remaining creatures nevertheless advanced on three boys helplessly huddled in the middle, resulting in gunshots ringing as Brenda reacted faster than I did, started shooting at the Cranks.

Shifting the aim of my own weapon, I managed to bring a few advancing Cranks down at our front, recoiling inside the car the moment I noticed further ammunition waste would be of no use later on as Jorge gave me a curt nod, signaling he was ready to step on it. I nodded back, a second too late as the car once again lurched forward, through the groups of Cranks and back into the blinding sunlight of the day; all the smell, danger and metal constructions were no more in my sight, but nature far better looking than the one following us on the way there with trees green in color and faint flowers blooming beneath them.

Sitting in a wide seat next to Brenda, I got a good sight of three boys behind and I did realise the silence was full of surprise and suspense, yet I kept myself out of their sight as good as it was manageable, for I was sure they would notice me sooner or later.

"I'm impressed. You guys almost lasted a whole day." Jorge broke the silence, a slight undertone of sarcasm in his voice while his eyes remained glued to the road as Brenda turned to the boys, smiling.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to bring you guys into this." Thomas answered, his voice rather unsuspecting as he surely still did not notice I was with them the whole time.

"Hey, I think what he is trying to say is thanks for saving us." Fry laughed silently, leaning forward.

"You're welcome," Brenda smiled, sitting back next to. "You know if it weren't for you letter Thomas, we wouldn't even be here. So thank Aria." She concluded, that being the last straw before I turned to smile at the boys behind, seeing equally happiness as much as focused expression of one person that studied me carefully; Thomas' smile faded fully, there standing only an expression of surprise, unblinking as he stared back at me, forcing a pang of something yet indescribable down my spine. I swallowed harshly, dropping down in my seat as did the smile drop down too.

"Don't get your hopes up. That checkpoint back there was the city's last defense. If that's overran, chances are the city is too." Jorge, briefly averting his eyes to me decided to speak up, after which his gaze punctured the sight of road up ahead.

"Yeah, but what if they figured out another way to keep the Cranks out." Newt mumbled, head leant over the window as his words made Jorge abruptly press the brake pedal, slowing down as we all climbed out of the car immediately after- enormous city towered in my sight, walls enclosing the area around skyscrapers which as if made of glass glistened on the sun. Yet the sight around it was a huge difference, no buildings higher than city's walls, no glistening and no color- only gray.

"Funny, we spent three years trapped behind walls trying to the break out and now we wanna break back in." Newt scoffed with a slight puff of air.

"Yeah, it's hilarious." Fry continued after him.

"Jorge, how do we get in?" Deciding to ignore his friends' statements, Thomas asked.

"Don't look at me, hermano, those walls are new. I guess that's WICKED's answer for everything." Jorge replied, focused still on the glimmering city in the distance.

"Well we ain't gonna figure it out from here," Brenda stated carefully, crossing her arms. "Let's go." Looking back at her I nodded, slowly began walking to the car as a hand clamped down on my wrist, making me snap toward the person who held me- Thomas, and his expression was unreadable.

"Why did you leave?" His words were defensive, just like the walls of that city as if built around him and rather cold, nowhere to hear the warmness he usually held.

My eyes snapped shut involuntary and I inhaled a small huff of colder air before facing him with open eyes again, as he let go of my wrist. "Look, I don't want this to become a fight now, especially since we need to go. But you have to understand Minho is my friend too. Please, just go on, we'll talk about it later." I looked up at him sadly, his own expression as if shattering into pieces of something he just could not comprehend and his hand reaching forward to brush mine- I only gave him a small, barely visible, sad smile in return before climbing up into the car again.

With a heavy heart beating in my chest, I watched the road go on, toward the Last City.

(A/N):

why the hell am i doing this to myself...

well, that was a nice hello. so, hehehe, i'm sinking with my ship.

my heart is aching everytime i open up this book and write something in it, so yeah...i hope the pain this book causes is enjoyable cause it surely is for me (jk, im crying)

anyway, thank you for reading!!