The bowling alley was hot. And it stank.

"Uh. It stinks!" Evelyn whinned. She way laying on the bowling alley floor, nursing some pretty good wounds. She had her head in Newt's lap, as he held a cloth to a fresh bleeding wound.

"Up to high heaven." Newt laughed.

Evelyn gave him a weird look. Newt shrugged. The goofy look slid off his face, and he pulled his eyebrows together the corners of his mouth pulled down.

"Something my mom used to say." He said slightly confused, he was rubbing his forehead with his knuckles. "Usually in regards to my bloody bedroom. No matter how much I pushed dirty clothes and socks into the deepest part of the closet, the stench always wafted out when mom opened the door."

"Hmm. Must be nice. To remember a mom." She didn't mean it to come across snappy, but it did.

"Sorry." He snapped back. "Newt time I won't tell you a shuck bloody thing."

"Slim it ya British cranky twat!" She rolled her eyes. "What would your mother say if she heard such fucken launguage?"

He laughed right then, in the present day, no mother in sight, a nice belt of a chortle that made everyone within 20 feet give him a wary look. Then he threw his head back, shook out his shaggy hair from his face and yelled a loud string of curses. It made Evelyn cackle with joy. That made him laugh even harder. Their little security detail chuckled along with them, though not really understanding the whole conversation.

It had only been two days since Newt showed up at Goose's office, since her awful headaches and coughing attack. Since she felt her mind was almost whole. Newt said he had had an awful headache the night they had been separated.

Keisha had agreed to their plan. Newt, Evelyn, Goose, Spider, Ruffio and Jonesy had gone to Keisha's and explained everything. Goose insisted, quite kindly, that he would feel better if she stayed in their apartment complex. She was important to Newt and Evelyn, which ment she was under his protection.

Dante had given Evelyn a big smile and titled over to her and plunked down in her lap. She stopped listening to the conversation and started to play a silly game of peek a boo, drawing the smallest of giggles.

He had also given Goose and Spider a small smile, and that seemed to settle it for Keisha.  On the way back up to The Circus, Spider carried Dante who had fallen asleep on the man's shoulder. Keisha kept a close eye on them, but Spider looked calmer and his eyes looked glassy.

"My kid used to do this." He said wistfully. "That was a long time ago." He gently squeezed the boy a bit tighter, and gently laid his bald veiny head on the little boys.

Evelyn and Newt had written everything they could remember, or saw, or witnessed, how they felt...everything. Everything was recorded down in their journals.

Newt had helped her find a small backpack, and she kept her journal, and a bottle of water, she kept the bag with her at all times, she didn't have much in the way of possessions, but the journals she kept with her.

But Newt was starting to… slip.

Evelyn was already mostly there on a regular basis. It was hard to come back, and she seemed to be in an angry mood since last night.

They were slipping into an abyss.

The abyss.

Evelyn's mind… constantly jittered, now. It quaked. It wouldn't stay still. Keeping her thoughts still amongst all that squishy commotion had become tougher with every passing hour of the last two days. Her hold on reality was loosening, in both the here and now and all her memories from the Glade.

But for the moment, she only had two things to hold onto. Number one was Newt was with her. And two were to help Keisha and Dante. And that was enough.

Evelyn and Newt sat on the far left lane of the old alley, where the crowd was sparse, staring at the fires that roared in the pin caves, a long row of them, like teeth of flames.

Newt had the Launcher cradled in his lap, along with Evelyn's head; he’d had to take the launcherback from a guard three times already, each one successively with a little more violence. The guard was not in the pocket of Goose, so it wasn't an easy transition of power. But the ones in Goose's pocket seemed to have... Turned a blind eye to the increased violence in the Central Zone and surrounding areas.

The guards pretty much left them alone after what had happened that morning. As Newt had joked when one of the women in the alley saw him supporting Evelyn covered in blood, and he was all scratched up, on their way back to the Circus for a shower.

"You should’ve seen the other guys.”

Evelyn had jumped into the mix when the guard shoved Newt backwards. Evelyn swung her axe more then once, splattering blood all over herself. She ended up taking a few guys out who got too close. It took Newt, Ruffio, Rex Spider and Goose to calm her down after she cranked out during the planned riot.

Now after another scrap with a few other wild cranks Evelyn and Newt stumbled into the bowling alley where Ruffio had forcefully taken some first aid supplies and was helping clean up Evelyn's injuries. Jonsey was standing guard, as they waited for back up and something more for one of the nastier cuts she sustained from some broken glass one crank used as a weapon. He was no longer a threat anymore.

"Hey, Newt!”

He didn’t answer.

"What am I chopped liver?" Evelyn grumbled.

"No, my Love." Newt cooed, stroking her forehead.

"Evelyn!"

"See?" He gave her a wild twisted smile, "they love you my darling. You are their Princess...their godling from the heavens."

They ignored them, never answered. People bugged them constantly, “all the time” being a relative term considering they'd only been there a few days. And they found that if it was something important they’d actually come up to them; that's if they got past their constant security detail. Evelyn didn't like the attention, she hated having to talk about the Glade and Maze and her past. For one it was hard to remember and when she did, it brought up mixed emotions.

“Newt, man!” Someone nudged him on the shoulder.

He turned around.

"Princess, we have one of our Munie's with a proper first aid kit he's at Leroy's. Come on." Ruffio bent down and slid a hand under her knees and back.

Newt looked like he was going to protest.

"I'll bring Your Heart back to you." Ruffio promised quietly. "She just needs that stitched. It will only be a few minutes. Then we can go back to The Circus. The plan is almost ready to start."

Newt nodded reluctantly.

"I'll be back Newt." Evelyn gave him a small smile. "Don't do anything stupid."

Ruffio picked Evelyn up, cradled her to his strong chest and turned. The cranks in the bowling alley parted letting him through with a giggling Evelyn in his arms.

As they passed the cranks bowed their heads, Evelyn was more than just a Maze Trial survivor. News of what WICKED and Janson did to her somehow leaked and spread like wildfire through The Palace. It was also easy to spot that she was different; white veins were not normal, frosty eyes were not normal, death and ice from your hand is not normal. She was also favored by Goose, the Mafia king and his elite group of cranks. She was feared and revered by the other cranks.

Newt felt like Ruffio took his whole heart. He watched as he walked away with her. But he knew he needed to just sit and get himself together. This morning had been wild. And not in a good way.

_____________________

"Newt, man!" Someone nudged him on the shoulder.

He turned around.

Jonesy stood there with two of the Munie guards, he didn't recognize these two from Goose's list of croonies. A short fat one and the tall dude with the mustache. All of the guards who weren't paid off by Goose were on highest alert because of the small riot that him and Evelyn had started that morning, and they knew that part of keeping the peace now included playing it cool with The Crank Princess and her Prince and Goose's gang. Newt liked to think of them as cronies. He’d always wanted cronies. Evelyn called them her security detail, the Mafia princess needed body guards.

"What’s going on?" Newt asked.

Maybe they’d decided to arrest him and Evelyn. He snickered at that idea. Especially if Ruffio and Goose found out Evelyn was arrested.

“Some people are here to see you,” the short fat one said. Every word he uttered showed just how much he hated his job.

Newt sighed. “Tell them what we tell everyone else. No stories about the Maze, no stories about WICKED, no stories about anything. Evey and I are un-storytellers."

"Where is the High and mighty Princess of the cranks?" The taller guard asked, looking around, like all the people in his line if view were beneath him, like some cockroaches to be squished and not humans dying a very painful death.

"She is being tended to...we had some excitement this morning, in case you didn't hear."

"Oh we heard. Now the answer I'm giving is a no?"

"It's a no. We are un-storytellers." Newt snapped, not bothering to turn around.

"I’m not gonna sit here and argue with you, Mr. God-Almighty. They paid me to deliver a message and that’s why I did. I don’t give a rat’s patooty whether you see them or not."

"Paid you?" Jonesy asked. "People are paying to see them, now?" There was a hint of regret in his voice, as if their planned escape with Keisha might prevent him from a golden business opportunity.

"Goose could start another side hustle to bring in income." He chuckled quietly.

"They came here in a Berg," Tall Mustache said. "They’re not your typical lowlife Cranks."

Newt didn’t hear the last few words. All he heard was "Berg." After that a roaring sound buzzed in his ears. The bowling alley tilted before his eyes. Nausea swam up his gut, up his throat. He had to swallow back some bile.

He composed himself. "What do you mean they came here in a Berg? What…"

He wanted it to be true. He wanted it not to be true.

"Exactly what part of that sentence did you not understand?" Short and Fat said. "Now do you want to see them or not? Yes or no?"

"Did they give you any names?" Newt asked, stalling more than anything. He knew the answer before they were spoken, almost as if he were manipulating the guard’s mouth as he answered.

"Thomas… Minho… Sonny...Sonya...Brenda, I think. Some other guy who was the pilot."

"Where's Evelyn?" He barked at Jonesy instead of answering.

"Rex. Go check on them." Jonesy ordered. The huge man unfolded himself from leaning against the wall and stalked out of the alley.

Newt had spent several days building himself back up, even as he felt his mind slipping. He’d solidified his security and standing with Goose and the Crank Mafia- sounded like a damn rock band in the old world—he’d gotten used to a post-Thomas, post-WICKED life. He had come to terms with him and his girlfriend loosing their minds together. They had said their heartfelt good byes last night on the roof top, when they were both of sound minds. They had worked out a huge plan to help Keisha and little Dante and to try help the Right Arm get an actual vaccination out to the "public".

They had planned an escape, settled on short-term goals to wrap up his and Evelyn's life. That very morning he’d willingly and almost gleefully taken part in a riot, beside his even more gone girlfriend. He had watched as she took the lead in the wild miv, swinging her axe and letting her powers go. It had felt great, exhilarating, intoxicating. Tomorrow morning they were going on the last and great adventure of their lifetimes.

And this stupid, petulant, arrogant guard who barely came to Newt’s chest had just taken it all away with a few words. Why? Why would they all come here? Sonya...his own sister...she should know better than to come back! What would it take for them to leave us the bloody shuck alone, to let us deal with having the Flare in the way we needed? We finally felt secure in what we were planning. Why couldn’t they just leave us alone?

"Hey!" the guard yelled, snapping Newt out of his frustrated line of thoughts. "Yes or no? What’s wrong with you? You’ve got three seconds to answer."

Newt couldn’t. He simply couldn’t. It would break him, shatter him once and for all. And he couldn't do that to himself or to Evelyn.

"No," he replied in as firm a voice as he could muster. "Tell them we said to get lost."