At first, Mara woke with a drowsiness, her mind unable to comprehend what was going on. There was a black abyss surrounding her, a darkness her mind seemed to be engulfed by. Her body was separate, her mind left to float in the space of nothingness, left to fight against the unknown.

There was a hum of voices somewhere in the distance, and if Mara listened hard enough she could make out exactly what they were saying.

"She's losing blood, and fast!"

"Well, what can I do to help?"

"Just hold this, I think I've got it."

Were they doing something to her? She could feel something happening to her, but at the same time she couldn't. She didn't understand what was going on, everything seemed foreign and abnormal.

And then, she faded back into the abyss.

-

The second time, she woke with droopy eyes, using as much strength as she could manage to open them. Her head span and throbbed with a searing pain as the light burst forward, making her shade her eyes behind her hands.

The sudden movement of her arm twisted her stomach, where she felt a deep sting. Of course, now she could remember. The fight. The knife. Her stitches had reopened and then she'd blacked out.

Slowly, she dropped her arm to her side and squinted until her eyes matched the sunlight. She was still in the same room, but now she laid across an old mattress with missing springs and was turned towards the window.

Beside her sat a dark haired boy, facing towards the window so that his face was hidden. He was looking down at something, but Mara couldn't quite see what it was over his shoulder. He seemed to be one of the only people in the room, along with one or two other Gladers who seemed to be sleeping.

Mara awkwardly coughed, grabbing the boy's attention; it was Clint. Dark circles wrapped around his eyes and seemed to drown out his already black eyes. Then she noticed what he was holding- a can of some type of food. It was a bit of a disappointment; she thought it would be something interesting.

"Ah, you're awake," He acknowledged her with a dim smile, putting his can to the side. "How're you feeling?"

"Like shuck. So pretty much the same as usual." Clint laughed lightly as he checked her stomach, which had been re-stitched.

"It looks fine now. Should be good to go, as long as you don't do too much activity and take it easy then it shouldn't come undone." He told her, grabbing his food can and standing up.

"Good that." Mara lied. She wasn't going to take it easy. If she did, then she wouldn't be doing her part. She was going to do what was necessary to get out of the city and find out whatever WICKED had planned. And she was going to get revenge.

They had ruined their lives and that was not okay. They would pay. Mara was going to make sure of that.

"Look who decided to wake her shuck butt up!"

Mara twisted her head to see Minho and a few other Gladers standing in the doorway to her right, all looking scratched from the fight the day before.

Minho beamed widely once Mara spotted him and then strolled over, his arms crossed against his chest. Sweat dripped down the sides of his face, tangling with his white t-shirt.

"Least now you're not snoring. Shuck, I think you rocked the whole building."

"Slim it, slinthead. At least I'm not as bad as you. Even the Grievers ran away from you when you were asleep." She joked, pushing herself up onto her elbows. The moment she moved the pain she knew too well returned, stretching across her stomach.

She winced and let out a small groan as Minho kneeled beside her. He grabbed her by the arms and slowly aided her upwards into a sitting position; it was the best she could manage.

"You didn't die, then?" He smirked, taking a seat beside her on the mattress. She could feel it sink beneath him as he moved, then come to a halt once he was comfortable.

"It seems to be the one thing I can always avoid. Maybe I'm immune, must be a miracle."

"You're jacked." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Plus, if you were, you'd have the pleasure of staying in this shuck place. Is that really a miracle?"

"Touché." Mara caught Minho's eye line and smiled lightly. "Anyway, where'd you shanks go earlier?" She asked, changing the conversation. She was curious. Even she couldn't do much to help, she could still keep up with what was going on around her.

"Went out to look for food, and Thomas, of course. Our group found some scraps of food, but no Thomas." He looked worried; lines drew across his forehead like worms and embedded into his skin. "That shank really can't stay still. Would make the job easier if he would."

"Well, that's Tommy for you. He's too bloody curious to sit still." Mara laughed- an actual laugh- but felt the consequences almost immediately.

"You're not helping yourself by doing that."

"Would you rather me scowl at you?" She demonstrated jokingly, and Minho pretended to be scared, jumping back and shielding his eyes.

"Woah, if you'd have done that yesterday maybe that shank wouldn't have stabbed you." He smirked, climbing back to his original position next to Mara. "You could've scared off all of those shanks."

Mara went to retaliate, but then her name was called and she was pulled away from their conversation. Newt stood broadly by the entrance to the room, smiling lightly. She smiled back, immediately feeling comforted by his presence.

"How're you feeling?" He asked, strolling over and taking a seat beside Minho. A look of seriousness crossed his face- a look that had seemed to have moulded into his complexion.

"Just dandy," She reached out and took his hand, which was warm but stiff. His hand relaxing into her palm and rested there. "Did you find anything out there?"

Newt shook his head and sighed. He was stressed because they couldn't find Thomas- Mara could see that. She just wished that she could do something to help. Anything at all.

"You know," Minho burst through the silence. "I'm starting to think that the shank's hiding from us. Maybe he ran off into the sunset with that girl."

"Wouldn't be surprised." Newt chuckled, and it made Mara smile to see him lighten up.

"Maybe he's just found his true calling." Mara suggested, and both boys turned to look at her.

The door burst open, and an excited but freaked out Frypan jolted through it, bent over to catch his breath. Everyone around the room stopped to look at him, and all waited silently for him to explain what had happened to make him that way.

"I... found... them..." He huffed, between large breaths. "Thomas and that girl. I found them, and they're in trouble"

Mara tilted to the side slightly, losing her balance as she tried to stand up. He had found Thomas, and she had to make sure he was safe, especially if he was in trouble. She knew the others would help him, but she needed to make sure he was okay. He needed to be okay.

Newt caught her before she fell, but that didn't stop the abrupt passing of pain. She was sick of her body failing her, sick of having pain splurge across her stomach.

"What are you doing? You need to rest." Newt told her strictly, laying her back onto the mattress gently. She was glad that he cared, but she knew that she couldn't go out on a rescue mission- she physically wasn't able to- but she could do something, at least. There had to be something she could do.

"I know, Newt, I'm not that stupid, I promise." Mara comforted him, and he seemed to relax a little bit, so she turned to Frypan. "Where is he?"

"There's this alley close by," Frypan began, walking over to talk to Mara face to face. The other Gladers gathered around her, closing in on her. It was a little intimidating, but she knew they were just being respectful because they didn't want her to hurt herself trying to get up again.

"I saw him and the girl going into one of the buildings down there after three shanks pulled a gun out on them. They took them inside, but I don't know much after that, other than the music was pretty loud."

A few curse words came from many of the Gladers' mouths, including Mara. They had pulled a gun on him? Why would they do that? Did he threaten him? No, Tommy wouldn't do that, Mara thought. He's too kind, plus he'd rather negotiate with them, so it had to be the other way around. Maybe it had something to do with Jorge, or the girl he was with. No matter the reason, they had to get them out of there.

"Are you shucking kidding me?" Minho voiced Mara's anger and squeezed his hands into fists. "When I get my hands on those shanks-"

"Why the shuck would they do that? If they touch either one of them I swear I will rip their heads from their bodies." Newt clenched his teeth aggressively and rose to his feet. His muscles tensed across his body and his face became a picture of complete content. "Where are they, Frypan?"

"Newt, you can't just go in without a plan." Mara tried to reason, pretending that she hadn't noticed how quickly his anger had risen, and how intense it was. "You need a plan."

"Mara's right, we can't go in there without a plan of attack." Minho nodded, taking a deep breath to calm himself at the same time.

"If we wait around, Tommy could be dead by the time we get there." Newt turned to Minho until they were standing face to face. "You really want that to happen?"

"Of course not, you shuckface, but we'll probably be outnumbered. Do you want our butts to fail and end up losing Thomas and our lives at the same time?" He retaliated, crossing his arms and standing his guard.

Others began to join the argument, backing either Newt or Minho, and it drove Mara crazy. They were fighting about what to do, instead of actually doing anything. How was that supposed to help? Tommy was probably in a lot of trouble with the Cranks that found him, and instead of figuring out how to help him, they Gladers were trying to prove that their idea was the best.

"Are you shanks seriously just gonna sit around and argue about what to do?" Mara yelled in frustration as she painfully rose to her feet, stopping the colliding voices and turning the sound into silence.

"M, you need to sit down-"

"You shanks are so stupid. Tommy is out there right now, probably trying to get away from a bunch of shuckfaces, and you're all just standing here and arguing about it instead of actually doing anything. I have an idea, and if you shanks can go five minutes without tearing each other's throats out, I'll tell it to you. So shut up, sit down and help me save Tommy's ass."

All of them stood stunned for a moment, and a proudness rose inside Mara. She had gotten them to shut up, and in her book, that was an achievement.

Eventually, they all agreed reservedly, and so, they began to plan Tommy's rescue.

-

A/N

So, it's finally up! It's taken some time, and its a bit longer than usual to make up for that, but Him is back! My exams are now completely finished, and so it's now summer, meaning I have way too much time on my hands, although most of that time will probably be taken up by procrastination but still...

I want to finish this book this year and hopefully get onto the third and final installment of this series by the end of this year/beginning of next year, which I can reveal will be titled 'Them'. That probably wasn't much of a shocker though.

Anyway, thank you guys for being so patient for these updates! You're all so great, and I hope you'll stay until Mara's journey through the Scorch comes to an end!

-Lows