She was crouched on the ground, unable to breathe or think straight. She vaugely heard rushed footsteps. She felt hands on her shoulders and a blurred face before her. It was trying to talk. Newt was saying something, but she couldn't hear or process what was being said.

Newt shook her shoulders, he was still trying to talk. And like a switch was turned on, her hearing kicked back in.

"Evelyn. Listen to my voice. Where are we, right now?"

"Uhh..." She stuttered, she had to think. Her hand felt the cool metal of a wall. "The...it's the Berg."

"Good. Who is here on it with you?"

"Just...just you.. it's just us."

"Why? Why is it just us?"

"Because... it's'cause we 're not immune... because we're crazy."

"You know I love you, right?"

"Yes..." Her chest didn't feel so tight. It still hurts. It would probably always hurt. But the wild panic was gone, now just a deep loneliness and sorrow. The tears slid silently down her face.

"I love you too Newt."

Newt pulled her closer for a moment. She collected herself and pulled away wiping her tears.

"We need to leave. I can hear something outside."

Newt nodded. "Cranks."

Evelyn stood up, her legs felt shaky. But she was up. Once she had her bag and newt had his backpack on the stood infront of the berg ramp door.

"Well. Our last chance to change our minds." Newt said quietly.

She shook her head and pushed the button to open the door. As soon as the door opened they were hit by the loud ambient noise of people, erratic and...off. Cranks. They weren't there when Evelyn and Newt said goodbye. It must be close to night now. That's when Cranks come out.

They must move in packs and groups. They must be everywhere outside the walls. Those wild past the Gone, trying to get inside the walls for no other reason than the madness inside told them to. Desperate for food, like the primal animals they'd become.
What she was becoming.

Evelyn couldn't see the fully past Gonners, but she heard them. It made her shiver. It made her think of everything she had gone through in the Underneath. The cranks, the fighting, the fear. Newt reached for her hand, and intertwined his fingers with hers.

"You left a note for the others?" She asked.

Newt nodded, "left it on the table."

Evelyn nodded again. Itching with irritation and anxiety. She needed off the Berg, she needed to walk away. Leave her loved ones behind...it's for the best, she told herself. She didn't want them to see her turn into a mad raving cannibalistic former human. They had seen enough already, she had tried to hurt too many friends already. No ..this was for the best.

Newt wasn't as far gone as she was, but she could see it taking over. His always gentle eyes weren't so calm anymore. He smiled less and frowned more, his muscles were tense and stiff. He would soon reach her stage...and by then she would probably be way past Gone. Hopefully he would keep his promise and end her miserable crank life before then. He promised.

With one more shaking deep breath she took a step away from the Berg, Newt right beside her. They took another step...and another and another. They kept going, not looking back. Away from the Berg and their friends, their family and towards the wild unhinged noises of the cranks.

____________________________

The streets were chaos, a mass disorder, nothing made sense. But yet it did. It made sense to Evelyn. It didn't frighten her, the chaos around her. It felt...normal. She thought back to the wildness of Goose and the club, it scared her at the time...now she probably would have enjoyed it.

She walked slowly down the middle of the street, Newt beside her holding her hand. They looked both ways, trying to see it all.

The remnants of the suburbs lay in scattered, trashy ruin; buildings and homes with broken windows missing doors, with peeling paint. There was garbage strewn everywhere like disgusting confetti. Crushed smashed fire-scorched cars were parked at random on the streets.

And then there were the cranks. They were everywhere. They ambled about, on the street, lawns, Evelyn caught a glimpse of a few in the smashed out windows of homes. Newt was limping a lot more than normal. She pulled him to the curb on the corner of the street. They leaned back against a pole that had been ripped from the ground and was now laying down half way into the connection street.

"This is a cozy neighborhood. Look at all the nice families our crank babies can play with!" Evelyn smiled. It was twisted and slightly crazy.

Newt glanced at her. And hummed.

"I think I saw a nice house, which might be empty. The neighbor was a bit much though, acting like a dog, trying to pee on a bush."

"Hmm. Too bad. Such a lovely neighborhood."

They were quiet again, watching the things around them. Newt was frowning and his eyebrows were pulled together.

"Whatcha thinking?" She asked.

"Well... talking about neighbors and playing with other kids...and a dog...it seemed...not like a made up thing...more like...maybe a memory?"

"What?" She gasped, "really?"

Newt nodded slowly. Then he frowned and ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Of course I'd finally have some bloody memory of my past when I'm slowly going buggen' insane."

"Maybe the Flare is slowly eating away at those damn chips or whatever they put in our heads."

Newt looked at her thoughtfully, the anger and frustration gone in a split second.

"You're probably right Love."

"Usually am."

She pulled a granola bar from her bag and slowly chewed while she watched the chaos around her again. She leaned her head on Newt's shoulder.

"What a bloody messed up world."

"Yep." She said, and popped the p.

They watched. People were everywhere.

"Everyone here must be infected, just at different stages." Evelyn said quietly as she watched a family across the street. They sat huddled together on the brown dry grass, eating hurriedly from cans of scavenged food, the mom held a shot gun for protecting while the father slowly circled the three children.

"Yeah...some seem to have awareness and normal movement... acting as normally as possible."

Newt indicated to a woman leaning against a broken cement wall, her arms folded while she cried. Her eyes revealed the despair of her circumstances, but not madness. Not yet.

Evelyn turned her head. She saw others clumped in groups, talking in hushed tones. While others were in the in-between stages; acting erratic and angry, uncertain, sad... switching. Like her. She was in-between. She was still able to come back to her sane mind, but it was getting harder and hard to control the madness, the crank inside her.

She watched sadly as a man crossed the street holding the hand of a little girl. She smiled slightly, maybe they were off to the park, or some ice cream. But right in the middle of the street he stopped, dropped the girl's hand looked at her like a stranger then wailed and wept like a child himself.the girl just stood there, eyes glazed over staring at nothing, reacting to nothing around her.

Evelyn's heart broke. She could feel the tears burning her eyes. She blinked hard and sniffed. Newt let go of her hand and pulled her into his lap. He held her tight, like he could protect her from the madness around them. He pressed his face into her hair. He rocked back and forth.

They fit right into the chaos around. She cried and he rocked her like a baby. This world, what they saw was their new normal.

"I'm not scared...and I don't know why. But I just feel so sad... watching that little girl..."

"I know Love. I know. I feel the same." He picked his head up. He wiped her tears. "It's like...no fear, no apprehension no bloody stress. We've felt with bloody cranks before. Running terrified, fleeing for our buggen' lives....and now...I feel quite comfortable."

"Is it because we are slowly becoming one of them? Slowly descending into the madness around us or is it the crazy itself, slowly destroying our human instincts?" Evelyn asked, she had laid her head back down on his chest.

"I don't know Love."

They sat in silence again, watching. One lady was squatting in the middle of the street eating a banana. Half way through she threw it onto the ground and started beating it, smashing it to mush.

A few wild looking cranks were smashing what remand of a car. The glass shattered all over the street. Once the glass was smashed they turned on each other, snarling and fighting like a pack of wolves.

A fully grown man was twirling down the street. He twirled too close to the wild cranks and they jumped him, she turned her head slowly away, still able to hear his screams for help.

There was a rumbling sound of engines that tore her from the melincoly thoughts bouncing around in her brain. Three trucks appeared around the corner at the end of the street. Though calling them trucks was like calling a tiger a kitten. These things were massive, huge armoured trucks, it was as wide and tall as it looked heavy. The windows were tinted black with steel parts for reinforcement against any crank attacks. The tired alone were taller than Newt if he stood beside them.

Evelyn could only stare in shock and wondered awe.

"What's gonna happen?" Newt asked.

"Dunno." Evelyn shrugged. She still sat in Newt's lap, his arms still holding her tight.

A horn sounded from all three vehicles at once. A noise so loud it made her eardrums rattle. Some of the surrounding cranks ran at the sight of the monster on wheels. They were still smart enough to know danger when they saw it. But most the people around were too cranked to realize what was about to happen.

Newt and Evelyn sat where they were and watched, they were far enough away...and curiosity held them where they were. Evelyn felt safe, in the most unsafe of places.  Though she did slowly pull her axe out while Newt had unzipped his backpack and put his hand on the launcher he stole from George's Berg.

The trucks came to a stop, the blasting noise of their hired ceasing. It still rattled around, echoing off the buildings. Men and women came piling out of the trucks, dressed to the hilt in black and grey armour. Some in red shirts pulled over their armour. They all had their heads covered and shinny black visors. They each carried long shafted weapons that made the launches look like a toy.

A dozen of these new guards started firing haphazardly. Their aim was on anyone who moved. Flashes of light shot from the end of the barrel like a missile. It made a sharp ting noise.

They weren't killing the cranks, it looked like they were just stunning them, causing temporarily causing paralysis. Many of them still shouted and cried after they had fallen, and continued to scream and cry as the soldiers dragged them, with no tenderness or mercy towards the huge doors at the back of the trucks.

They picked up the cranks and started tossing them inside the deep dark cavern of the truck.

"I think we need to go." Evelyn said.

Newt nodded, his eyes still focussed on the trucks. Evelyn got up and pulled Newt's hand. He got to his feet, swung his backpack on. Together they ran down the street, away from the sweep.

They ran. Eventually they had to stop, they needed to breathe. It seemed like they were out of danger for now.

They looked for a place to sit. They found a set of stairs leading up to an apartment building. The steps had stone and cement walls. They sat down on the steps and leaned back against the wall. Evelyn leaned her head back. And closed her eyes.

"It was a good thing you two ran, when ya did. They were doing a full damn sweep of the area."

Evelyn yelped and jumped, her axe in her hand quicker than she expected. Standing at the bottom of the steps was a woman holding a child of maybe three. The child clung to her his arms wrapped around her neck like twisted bars of steel. Evelyn slowly lowered her axe, trying to regain her regular heart beat.

The woman at the bottom of the steps had dark hair dark skin and dark eyes. She looked as rough as Evelyn felt, but she. Didn't have the insanity in her eyes yet.

Evelyn glanced at Newt. He had leapt to his feet as well, and was breathing as hard as she was.

"They are doing sweeps up and down this whole area."

"Where are they taking them?" Evelyn asked, slowly sitting back down, but kept a firm grip on the handle of her hatchet.

"Probably taking 'em to Crank Palace." She shrugged. Apparently there are people who are immune-"

Evelyn bristled at the word immune, it made her shiver. Newt reached a hand out and placed it on her back. He looked the same, ticked at the word. But they both clamped their jaw and stayed quiet.

"-people who are kind enough...or stupid...or just laid a crap ton of money to sorta look after 'em at the Crank Palace, u til they...uh..are un-take-care-able anymore.. though I've heard the place is getting too full.  Wouldn't surprise me if they round em up and are taken straight to the Flare pits."

"Flare pits?" Newt asked, his eyebrows pulled in.

The woman gave Newt a funny look.

"What do ya think the constant smoke on the other side of the city is?"

Evelyn's stomach twisted. She hadn't noticed the smoke, but the woman's response said enough. Newt shivered beside her.

"So...you two coming with me?"

"With you where?" Evelyn asked.

"Away from the damn sweeps, dear child!"

Newt glanced at Evelyn. She shrugged, what else were they gonna do? They didn't have a plan and no where else to go.

"Might as well..." She whispered quietly to Newt who nodded in agreement. He stood up and helped Evelyn to her feet.

"We're coming with."

"Good. Rest of my family is dead. And I could use the help."

Even appreciated the self serving motive. She was a short curt woman who said what she was thinking. It made Evelyn relax a little, she suspected no trap. They came down the stairs. And followed the woman. They walked at a brisk pace.

"So my name's Keisha." She nodded her head down at the child still clinging to his mother's neck. His little face buried deep. "This here is Dante. He doesn't talk a whole lot- if ever. It's just the way it goes. Ain't nothing I can do."

Evelyn wondered what was wrong with the child. Traumatized? Impaired? Shy? Who knows. And she didn't really want to know their tragic back story.  Evelyn slowly reached out and gave the boys arm a little tickle and a smile. To her surprise the boy gave her a small smile back.

"Aww he likes you!"

Newt did the same, playfully punching his cheek. The boy smiled shyly at him.

"Aww see, he likes ya too! You can be his new papa!"

Newt took a wild step back and Evelyn froze. A wave of anger rose up.

"Oh relaxed. I'm just teasin'! Sheesh you two are tense. You don't look like dad material anyways."

Evelyn bristled again and growled. Newt would have made the best father. Who was this woman to say otherwise. Maybe it was a mistake coming along. She narrowed her eyes at the woman. Newt pulled her away and wrapped her his arms trying to sooth her.

"You'd make a great daddy!" She whispered into his chest, her anger replaced by a deep sorrow again. "I'm sorry Newt! I'm so sorry!"

"Ain't nothin' to be sorry about Love." He whispered back, gently petting her hair.

"Man you two are quite the looney tunes couple." Keisha said, tilting her head.

"Thanks." Newt said dryly.

"So what's your story? Two young lovers running from the law?"

"Something like that. Sure. Why not." Newt answered. "What's yours? Said your family was dead...."

Evelyn peeked her eyes open and watched as Krishna's face morphed into dispair.

"Yeah. All of 'em. The hubby, mom, dad, sister, brother...and my other...other..."

"You don't have to say." Evelyn said from the safety of Newt's arms.

Keisha sniffed hard and wipped her cheeks. "Do me a favor. Don't ask about me and my family."

"Then don't ask about our past. Fair's fair." Evelyn snapped.

To her surprise Keisha smiled, "deal." She nodded. "So what's your plan then?"

Newt and Evelyn both shrugged.

"We left. Our friends didn't need to see us going down the crazy whole. They saw me crank one too many times and I'm not going to be responsible for hurting them. I don't want them to see me become the deranged human. So we left. It's for the best. Crank Palace I guess it is for us."

Newt nodded in agreement.

Keisha & Dante board