Newt was scrunched against Keisha, who had both of her children held tightly in her lap. Her brother hadn’t made a peep since they’d first arrived; now, he blankly stared out the side window as if he’d given up on life long before this latest turn of events. Keisha didn’t say a word; her kids cried as silently as possible. Newt was so enraged he thought every blood vessel in his body might burst from the strain on his nerves, and he didn’t think the virus was to blame for much of it. He shook from anger, from all the things WICKED had done to him. It never stopped and it never would.

Three guards in the front, their backs to him, facing forward. Surely there was a way.

The truck was thrown into reverse throwing Newt around. He could hear the crunch of wood and broken house under  the huge monster wheels; which were spinning trying to find some traction. The truck finally unstuck itself, and the WICKED worker managed to turn the truck around, Newt peeked out the front windshield; he saw a line of people in the road, just at the end of the driveway. Their hands clasped like a thread of paper dolls. Goose, Ruffio, Rex and Spider were in the middle. And standing before them all, facing the truck a lone figure, her eyes lit up with something like ecstasy.

"Why’d you stop!" the female solder yelled.

"Why’d I stop?" the driver yelled back. "Why the hell do you think I stopped? There’s people in the road. Are you blind?"

"Well run over them!"

"That's Subject X! You tell the boss we ran over the one thing he's really after!" He yelled back.

Newt heard all this, but his brain couldn't process it all. His eyes were glued to Evelyn. She had taken a few steps forward. One arm swinging the hatchet, her other arm was glowing a bright blue white in the dark gloom of the evening. The frozen glow pulsed with her heart beat. Newt could see even from here, her eyes were totally frosted over, completely white now.

His heart slowly broke. Would he be able to get to her? Bring her back one last time? He felt the tears forming. Hot butter and angry. He hated WICKED. They did this to her. And to him. And their friends. He hated them!

Before the driver of their truck could respond, the front windows on both the driver’s and passenger’s sides exploded inward with a crack and crash. Arms and hands- it seemed like there were way more than accounted for the number of bodies that could fit in such a space- reached inside, grabbed at the soldiers, pulled on the inner door handles, popped the doors open.

There was a loud thud making Newt snap his head back to the front windshield. Evelyn had jumped onto the hood of the truck. She was swinging her hatchet into the glass. It was starting to shatter, it spiderwebed and started caving with each scream and swing.

The soldiers fought and kicked but all three of them were soon dragged out of the truck, trying to prevent the intruders from ripping off their helmets. The female guard failed and hers came off, revealing a pale white face covered in scars. She screamed as jagged fingernails tore at her to make new ones.

This wasn’t just Goose's crank gange from the Crank Palace. There were dozens of people out there, some looking past the Gone, others looking sane but angry. With nightmarish sounds and unbridled energy, they attacked the three WICKED guards with something like primal glee. Clothes were ripped, helmets broken, bodies beat with fists and sticks and rocks found from the side of the road. Newt stared out the window, his disbelief only matched by the rising storm of the Flare in his mind. It was taking over again, triggered by the sights and awful sounds.

"Newt!" Keisha yelled.

He looked at her, barely able to see through the spots that swam before his yes.

"What," he whispered.

"I have my kids and my brother is shell-shocked. Get your ass up there and drive this thing away!"

"But..."

Newt hesitated, he wasn't going to leave Evelyn. Or Goose...but he was having trouble controlling the tide of red rage that swept through his brain and nerves. The roar and buzz of static overtook his hearing again. But he fought through it, held onto whatever he could hold onto. A Crank he didn't recognize slipped into the front seat, swinging his legs under the steering wheel, and that’s what finally snapped Newt into action.

Roaring like a sprung animal, he heaved himself forward and scrambled over the back of the front bench, reaching for the Crank who’d stolen his way into the truck. Newt grabbed his shoulders, used the man’s body as leverage to pull the rest of his own body into the seat. Just as his legs landed in a heap, Newt punched the man in the face, barely connecting since he didn’t have his balance yet.

The intruder said nothing, just snarled an inhuman sound that Newt heard as if it came through a wall. Newt got his feet to the floor of the cabin and braced himself, swung another punch at the Crank. The man blocked it, laughing as if he fought off a toddler.

The glass from the windshield smashed. Sending shards of glass all over the front seat and all over Newt and the Strang crank trying to grab the wheel. There was a wild high pitched shriek. The guy was yanked forward away from Newt. Newt had just enough time to see blond hair and a white blue hand reach into the truck cab. The crank screamed in surprise as he was yanked out the window. A hatchet came swinging down into the cranks chest.

"Don't touch him!" Evelyn screamed.

Something grabbed Newt from behind, making him loose focused on Evelyn; he turned to see a woman had entered from the passenger door, pulling on his shirt. Static electricity frizzled her hair into a furry cloud, framing a filthy face with a huge gash across one cheek.

"Newt!" Keisha yelled, her voice somehow making it through the cacophony of interference caused by his burgeoning madness.

Newt unleashed a buildup of frustration, unsure of what he was even doing. His legs kicked out violently, slamming into the face of the woman. He felt his foot connect with flesh behind him. She let out were scream. Suddenly she was yanked away and the door was slammed shut again. Newt saw Ruffio had yanked the female crank out by the hair and slammed the door. He disappeared to the back of the truck.

Newt whipped his head around just in time to see another huge crank climb into the truck. Newt went to swing a fist, but the crank caught his hand.

"Newt!"

The deep rumbling voice broke the foggy barrier of his mind. He shook his head and blinked a few times, trying to clear his mind enough to concentrate.

"Newt!" The voice called again, a huge hand grabbed his shirt and shook him.

"Grab Evelyn!"

Goose. Gosse was sitting beside him in the driver's seat.

"Grab...what? Who?"

"Evelyn!" He screamed, throwing I hand towards the hood of the truck. Evelyn was still on hood, swinging her hatchet. She was on her knees, her back towards them, wildly swinging and screaming. Newt threw his body out the front window, just as Ruffio reappear. Somehow he managed to squish into the front seat of the cab as well.

Goose threw the truck into drive, making Evelyn fall backwards towards Newt and Ruffio. They grabbed hold of her, and yanked her backwards. Goose slammed the accelerator down. Tires slipped, then the back of the truck fishtailed. Rubber finally caught on pavement, and the vehicle leaped forward with a burst of speed. They roared away, and Newt was only distantly, peripherally aware of the thumps and bumps of bodies beneath them until they hit clear, open road. It was not an easy task to pull a wild crank into the front seat of a moving car while she tries to fight you.

The car slammed through a line of past gone cranks, making the truck bounce slightly. The screaming was terrible. The guys managed to get Evelyn back through the broken window and into the truck cab. Evelyn had lost her hatchet in the wild fight. But it was her wild death power that was still the problem. Newt didn't care at this point. His task to reunite Keisha and Jackie was done. He had a handful of her shirt and yanked her backwards one last time as the truck slammed through the last row of cranks.

She slammed into his chest. Before she could go anywhere, he pulled her tighter, making her sit on his lap. Newt managed to pin both her arms to her chest. She fight and struggled, screaming to be freed. Both his arms wrapped around her holding her arms tight to her chest. Ruffio had her legs pinned.

"Spider! Rex! Jonesy!" Keisha screamed from the back seat. "What about them?"

"Spider and Rex are in the back!" Goose screamed from the front, as he whipped the truck around another corner.

"Jonsey?" Keisha cried.

Goose didn't reply. In some other universe he may have felt pity or guilt over leaving Jonesy and the rest of them behind. He even felt a pang thinking that they may have just run the truck over someone who had sworn to help them. But it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter. The world was Hell, and in Hell things were different.

Keisha , he thought through the clouds of madness that filled his mind. He held on with everything he had to a still struggling Evelyn. Newt held her as tightly as he could. He had no idea how long they drove, how long he held her pinned.

Newt understood on some level how lucky they were that he was on a relatively straight road, because he was barely holding onto his wits.

The night settled around them like an ocean of black air, as if they’d sunk to the bottom of an alien sea. As if the sun had been hurled to the other side of the planet. Newt had no memory of sunset, of fading light. And now all was dark and quiet.

He was aware that they had pulled off the road into a small building, a garage of some kind. He was aware that Evelyn still fought febelly in his lap. Goose had turned the truck off and the doors flew open. Everyone tumbled out. Newt stayed out with Evelyn still on his lap. Something in his mind clicked.

"You're okay Lee. Breath. Breath Love. Open yours eyes. Come back! Please. It's over. It's all over. You're okay. Wake up. Please wake up Evey! Don't do this to me! Please! Please don't do this! Come back! Come back! I love you! I love you so much!"

Newt didn't realize how hard he was crying now. Tears slipped down his face as he held Evelyn. He desperately pressed his lips to hers.

"Please Lee. Please come back! I can't do this without you!"

"Newt."

A raspy tired voice whispered. Newt's eyes flew open. Evelyn's green eyes were looking back at him. But they weren't as bright or as focused. They were frosted over still, but he saw her. She was still there. Evelyn was still trying to fight it.

"Evelyn!" His voice got stuck as a sob in his throat. He wrapped her up tighter.

"Newt...I...I can't much longer." Her voice was so weak. So empty.

"You won't have to." Newt whispered back. "I promised...I promised."

"You right. You won't."

Newt turned his head. Goose was leaning on thtough the smashed out window. Keisha joined him. Evelyn tried but it was too much work.

"What...what do you mean?"

"Thattaboy," Keisha said, reaching through the broken window and patted him on the shoulder.

The storm inside Newt continued to recede; he could hear her, actually hear her words clearly.

"I don’t know how you just pulled that off back there, but my guess is it’s because you’ve lost your damn mind. Thank goodness." Goose's deep voice rumbled through the garage.

Newt looked at him, in disbelief he could say something so cruel, considering he was also a crank. It made Keisha chuckle slightly, face lit up with a smile, a beaming smile, like something from the days before the apocalypse, surely.

"I’m proud of you," she said. "I’m really proud of you."

Newt gave his best attempt at his own smile. Evelyn had been quiet, her eyes closed and head flopped. She let a small whimper out. He closed his eyes, hugging Evelyn closer and took several deep breaths without saying anything. His nerves calmed, the noise faded, his heart slowed. When he opened his eyes again, no mist obscured his vision. He felt as if someone had lifted a curtain, freeing his mind to see and think freely.

He rolled his head and watched as Keisha gave him another smile and a pat on the shoulder and walked back to the corner where her family was huddled.

Goose watched her go, and watched as Spide came over with some water. Goose looked back at Newt and Evelyn.

"So...you gonna tell me what else your planning?" Newt asked quietly.

"Your a sharp young man. Nothing slips past you."

"Yeah well...I wasn't chosen for the maze trials on just a pretty face."

Goose snorted. And a crooked smirk appeared on his face.

"Well. We're on the run from WICKED now. But the plan doesn't change-"

"Which is what?" Newt interupted. Evelyn picked her head up slowly, looking at Goose, but let it flop when a wave of coughing brought up black.

"Meet with the Right Arm. This Doctor Mary had a coworker inside Denver, a Doctor Hans. The two of them were working on this serum supressent... vaccination stuff. Apparently it worked quite well in Kitten for a while. But it didn't work as well as a girl named Kennedy."

"Kennedy...maze B. Blond curls. She was their Chuck." Evelyn whispered.

"Yeah, that's right Love. You remember her?"

"Not really." Her voice was horse and hardly above a whisper.

"She was bite the same day you were shot." Newt explained.

Goose nodded and continued. "She was infected and received an injection same as you, but used Teresa's blood. Apparently she has been Flare free since."

Evelyn's head flopped up to meet them. Goose was looking back and forth between Newt and Evelyn.

"How long have you been in touch with the Right Arm?" Newt asked.

Another crooked smile appeared on his face.

"You shucked face slint head!" Newt cried, making Evelyn flinch. "You've been in contact with them the whole time!"

"Oh shuck ya. How do you think they found you on that over pass?"

"Are you actually a crank Goose?" Evelyn asked.

"Unfortunately, yes. I still do have the Flare. However....I can attest to Mary's serum. It's definitely helped!"

"You son of a bitch!" She muttered.

"Business, Kitten." He winked.

"Did...did anything mean anything to you?" She asked, Newt could hear the hurt and anger in her words. Her body started to shiver and shake.

"Yes. Every single word. I've been helping Muni kids escape Crank City. Amanda's Uncle, Marcus, he would lour kids into his club and get them drunk and then sell them to WICKED. I would find them immune kids, and as best I could, Amanda and I would smuggle them out to the Right Arm. WICKED would test the kids crank kids were sent back. I ment everything Kitten. If it wasn't for Newt here I'd have asked if you wanted to stay. But. I know how much Newt means to you and how much Evelyn means to you Newt. I ain't gonna stand in the way."

Newt had narrowerd his eyes.

"How do I know your not lying again. That's a huge thing to keep a secret! Are those guys cranks?" Newt nodded in the direction of Rex, Ruffio and Spider.

Goose glanced over his shoulder. His dark eyes flicked over the three guys huddled in the corner.

"Same as me. Only mildly. In return for helping smuggle Munie kids out, they give us regular injections of the suppressant."

"So. What was going on. Keisha was helping coordinate an actual meet up with Mary to receive a special formulated serum for you two."

"How can we trust you?" Evelyn whispered bitterly.

Jer voice had no threat to it, she was exhausted and weak from cranking out for so long. Her breathing was raspy and shallow. Newt knew there wasn't much time left. And he didn't want to use it arguing.

"I guess you can't, there isn't anything else I can do to convince you." He crossed his huge powerful arms. His face held nothing, neither good or bad. "I've told you everything. You either trust me and come willing or you don't and you come kicking and screaming." Goose shrugged.

Newt sat in the truck with Evelyn in his arms staring at the huge Mafia crank..who apparently had connections to try help them.

The question was...did Evelyn and him want to be helped?

"We leave in 5." Goose growled.