Newt and Evelyn didn't have much of a choice but to go with Goose. Evelyn had fallen asleep on his lap, he didn't want to wake her up. He closed his eyes and squeezed them tight as well as his arms around Evelyn. Goose and Ruffio climbed into the front seats, trapping him. Keisha, her brother and kids climbed into the back seats, Rex and Spider climbed into the very back. Goose started the engine and Goose backed them out of the garage and out into the dark silent night.

Goose drove them through the streets of the suburbs. There weren't any other cars out on the roads. They didn't see anyone else. There was some screaming and wild crashes they heard in the distance, but nothing close. Goose drove closer and closer to the huge walls that kept Denver separate from the Flare infested world.

The closer they got the more Newt could see that the walls weren't doing much anymore. It looked as if a full scale riot had just paced through. There were giant wholes in the walls Newt could see groups of Cranks milling about and fighting. There were fires all over the place. It looked as if WICKED soliders had been clashing with civilians and cranks alike. Body's were laying everywhere.

There was wild sirens blaring and fires blazed all over the place. Security cars and WICKED trucks swarmed the streets.

"DECLARE MARSHALL LAW. NO ONE LEFT ALIVE."

The loud speakers on every building screamed this over and over. Newt felt the crawling in his head.

________________________________

Evelyn's eyes peeled open, slowly. Everything hurt. Her headache was constant, the pressure and pounding, the aches and pains in her body, and her arm was shooting pain. Her chest was so tight it felt like breathing through a straw.

She heard voices rumbling around her. And she strained her cotton filled ears to listen.

"You have to let us out." Newt said quietly.

"What?" Keisha asked, her voice came from the back seat.

"You have to let us out of the truck. You need to leave us behind. And ditch the truck!"

"What do you mean?" Ruffio asked.

"You can’t mess with these people,"  Newt said, he sounded strained. "Sometimes I think they’ve given up on finding a cure, and now they’re just operating on… I don’t know, something like spite. Trying to prove they ever had a reason to exist. An' I don't bloody know why they want Evey so buggen' bad! She's only a few hours...and that bloody RatMan just wants to torture her again!"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"They’ll be coming after us, RatMan will be coming for Evelyn and me and there’re only two ways they can catch you guys- find this truck, or track us down. I think we know by now that tracking us down is a bloody cakewalk for them. And they obviously know where their own vehicles are. So…”

"They won't ever stop." Evelyn whispered. She felt all the heads look at her. She slowly tipped her head, looking up at the ceiling she let a few tears leak down her temples.

"He won't stop until I'm dead or he has me back. And I'm not going back." Her voice was so weak and shaky but she was determined.

"Newt. Evelyn, I’m not having this conversation." Evelyn could hear the tears and sadness in Keisha's voice. "We’ve been to Hell and back together in a very short time and I’m not gonna walk away from you."

"Sometimes...life is making hard choices Keisha. You're a mom...you should know this." Evelyn responded.

"No."

"What?" Evelyn picked her head up and looked around at Goose. His knuckles were white, he was holding the steering wheel so tightly.

"I.said.no." he hissed.

"Not your fucken decision to make!" Evelyn snarled, narrowing her eyes. "I'm not putting anyone else at risk. So stop the truck and let me out."

"No." He repeated.

Evelyn was growing now. She tried to squeeze the pain away, hating that they were making this harder than it already was. Evelyn could feel the Flair fighting its way back to the surface. The rage she felt was making her body shake.

"Let me out." She whispered. She had clamped her hands over her head, shaking it back and forth as best she could while being squished in the front seat with three huge guys. "I'm going to hurt someone. Let me out!"

"No."

"Let me out!" She yelled.

She heard a small whimper from the back.

"NOW!" She screamed, her face twisting pain and anger.

"Almost there!"

Evelyn screamed and before anyone could do anything she twisted around and yanked the wheel. The truck was speeding down a side street, and when she yanked the wheel the car twisted. It hit a garbage dumpster bin and spun in the other direction and slammed to a stop against an old brick building. Everyone inside screamed. Arms legs and bodies went everywhere.

Evelyn's head whipped around and slammed her head into something. The Crank sprang to the surface. Evelyn screamed and crawled out of the smashed out front window.

"Wait!" Someone screamed.

Evelyn didn't. She didn't even slow down when her hands shredded up from the glass on the window. She left bloody streaks and slid off the hood of the truck and scrambled away as fast as she could. All she could think as her mind slid into the madness was Keisha, Dante and Jackie. Don't hurt them you can't hurt them. Get away. That's all the matters. Get away don't hurt them.

She ran. She ran from everything. Or tried to. She had rounded a corner when she was tackled. Evelyn snarled and snapped. She screamed and swung. She felt her hand getting colder and sharp pain shot through her.

Her infected arm was slammed down above her head and held. She couldn't twist anymore, something heavy was on top of her.

"Get off!" She screamed.

"LEE!"

The voice screamed in her ear. And then her breathing was cut off. Evelyn fought and squirmed under Newt for a bit longer, the longer she fought the more feeble it became, until she was finally laying still. Newt kept his lips firmly pressed to hers. The hard forced desperate kiss slowly softened. The anger and rage she felt melted and it was replaced by fear. Fear of hurting someone. Fear of forgetting everyone. Fear of dying and never have Newt again. She was afraid. Newt's grip on her wrists loosened, she pulled her food one free and raised it and tangled it into his hair. Pulling his head closer. Their lips moving in sync, tongues tangled around each other.

The fear slowly morphed into a new feeling.

Happy. That’s how she felt.

She’d lost her backpack and had no food. No possessions, her notebooks were left in her backpack, which was left in the truck.  The Flare infested her mind, quickly driving her toward another step towards the Gone and then past it. Their stolen truck was dead and crashed, she had nowhere to go. Only Newt to talk to.  She’d never see Minho or Sonny or Tessa or Sonya...or Chuck, or Jeff or Nick, or Gally or Alby or Frypan, or Thomas or Jorge or Brenda or Harriot or Noah or Keisha or Ruffio...no one. She would see no one again. And she had no idea what happened to anyone, they could all very well be dead. She was alone.

And yet happiness filled her chest. It made no sense, and it was probably just another sign of her encroaching madness, but she gladly accepted it. She’d done something good. Deep down, she had a feeling that Keisha was immune- she’d shown no overt signs of the Flare, at least not around her or Newt. And although her part had been tiny, she’d helped her get back to her daughter and her obviously troubled brother. Evelyn was ending her era of sanity with a positive, hopeful spark. And it made her happy.

Newt broke the kiss, placed his forehead on hers and they both laughed. They were both skidding deeper into the madness. They lay in the middle of a street, a burning building on one side and a building that looked as if it was smashed by a giant. There were people running around the streets screaming, some from wild manic joy others angry and others in pain. There was yelling and cheering all mixed with sounds of gun shots, sirens and explosions.

"Shall we take a romantic walk through the chaos, my Love?" Newt asked, his eyes slightly wild.

"That would be wonderful." She giggled back.

Newt leaned down and kissed her roughly one more time and then got up. Evelyn pushed up onto her elbows only to roll over and start coughing. She coughed so hard she threw up. She felt a hand on her back. Newt was beside her, his eyes clearing for a second as he watched her wipe her mouth with the back of her hand.

She struggled to her feet. Newt took her good hand and they slowly walked deeper into the wild burning city.

They wondered for a while. With no place to go, no destination, anyone to meet or anything to do they just walked aimlessly. Sometimes Evelyn skipped and other times she could hardly walk. Her infected side was shaking with the pain now. Her mind was a constant swirl of fog, anger sorrow and pain. Her infected arm didn't leave her chest.

At one point a crank tried to jump Newt, but he didn't last long. He was frozen and dead before he hit the ground. Evelyn was breathing heavily, her frosted white eyes rolled and she stumbled into the closet building. Sliding down the wall she lay in a crumpled heap on the sidewalk, not really awake, but not really sleeping either. Just in a half conscious state, floating between the two. She didn't know how long she stayed like that. She didn't know if Newt stayed or not, but she just couldn't. She had used up the last of her strength.

Just kill me. Just let me die.

Her body slowly stopped shivering despite the fever; it was trying to converge that last of her energy, the last of its strength trying to keep her heart going. Her breathing was just wheezing, the black phlem filled her lungs again, making it feel like she was drowning. Noise around her stopped, it was all a muffled fuzzy sound.

Her mind finally let her sink into darkness.

_________________________________

Goose watched as Evelyn scrambled out of the truck, Newt right behind her.

"Wait!" He screamed, trying to grab them. They didn't listen, Evelyn had cranked out again, and by the looks of it, Newt was close to it again as well.

Goose was pinned, and couldn't get out. Nothing was broken or bleeding, he was just stuck. Ruffio hadn't moved, meaning he was out cold. He twisted his head looking over his shoulder. Keisha had both kids pressed tight into her chest. Her daughter was sobbing silently, her boy was wailing loudly like an alarm.

"Boss?"

Goose whipped his head around. Rex and Spider had climbed out of the back. They looked a little banged up, and bloodied, but they were standing and nothing looked broken.

"You two alright?"

"Yeah. What happened?" Spider asked, his eyes swept the truck and then went wide. "Where are Newt and Princess?"

"She...cranked and I wouldn't let her out, she grabbed the damn steering wheel. She left."

"Dammit." Rex cursed he turned and looked up and down the street.

"Keisha? Dante? Jackie?" Spider asked. He had come to the back door and was trying to force the door open, which was so mangled it wasn't going to open.

"Pass me the boy." Spider held his arms out for Dante. Keisha passed him through the window.

"Okay, you next mama." He said, he held Dante in one arm and held his other out to help Keisha. Once she was set down in the road, he handed Dante back and smiled quite warmly and Jackie.

"Come on baby, it's okay. He's here to help." Keisha coaxed her daughter closer. Spider gently helped her through the window, and onto the road. She clung to Keisha, pressing her face into her.

Rex and Spider worked to force the front door open and get Goose out. The three of them had to pull Keisha's brother out, he refused to move or do anything. Ruffio had started to groan, and his eyes fluttered open.

"We are only a few blocks from the Right Arm base. If we can get there and find Mary and Vince and Hanse we still have a chance." Goose said, rubbing his chin.

"Goose, you and I can get the family there." Spider said, nodding at them, "if Rex and Ruffio take the walkie and head out, try to locate them."

"I think, Spider, you're right. That's the best plan." Goose agreed. He turned back to Ruffio still sitting in the truck.

"How ya doing, son?"

"I'll live." He groaned and slid out of the truck. "Not the first time I've been knocked out. Sure it won't be the last. Let's go find the Princess and her other Heart."

Goose and Spider escorted Keisha and the kids and her brother through the streets, it wasn't so loud and wild the further they got. Goose strode up to the wearhouse, it was dead quiet, like it was abandoned. It gave him an unsettling feeling they were supposed to be here. Sure they were a bit late, but they should still be here! He shoved the door open without any hesitation.

"Vince? Mary? Anyone?" He yelled.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" A voice yelled, the sound of a gun was cocked.

Goose held his hands up.

"It's Goose. And you are?"

"Wait...Goose? From...Crank city and the Palace? Mafia king Goose? Like... Evey's Goose?"

"The one and only." He called back, "and you are?"

Out of the shadows came five people. He recognized a few of them.

"We meet again." He smirked.

"What the bloody hell is going on?"

"You must be Newt's sister." Goose smirked and cocked his head, "yes I see the resemblance."

"Yeah. We've met a few times. You've also met Harriet, Fry and Brenda."

He nodded. His eyes landed on the other boy in the group.

"Alby." The boy said, his dark eyes swept over Goose and then the people behind him. His eyes went wide.

"You're the Source."

Goose included his head.

"Good. We've been waiting. Everyone had to vacate the area, unfortunately. Another wild extremest group decided they were going to blow the city up. We're just waiting for Jorge and the Berg. Come on." Alby waved them to follow.

Without waiting for more Goose followed, everyone else.

"We were expecting...more. We were told you had Evelyn and Newt with you." He said, he was short and gruff, to the point.

"We had some complications. I have two of my guys out looking, if they find them they have a walkie."

Alby nodded. He led the group up a bunch of stairs to the roof of the building.

"What's going on?" Keisha asked. On the rough was a group of about 30 kids, ranging from 6 all the way to 18.

"It's a long story." Frypan groaned and rubbed his forehead.

"We don't have time for long. Make it short and sweet kid." Goose snapped.

Frypan opened his mouth to say something, but Alby shushed him and turned to look at Goose.

"Minho was captured. Along with Teresa- his girlfriend. Thomas, Sonny, Gally, and the rest of us made a plan along with Jorge, Captain Jaz and Vince. While there we stole some Bliss and their stash of serum. We also found the kids. Brenda, Frypan, Gally, Sonya stayed to get the kids out and get the serum. Thomas, Sonny and Gally went back for Minho and Teresa. Now we're waiting for Jorge and Vince to get back with the burg and Mary."

"Change of plans." He turned to Keisha and with a raised eyebrow said "see. I ain't that paranoid am I. Look how much the plan changed. This is why we check the damn phone!"

Keisha rolled her eyes. Goose turned back to Alby, he seemed to be in charge at the moment.

"So. Once the Burge is here, we load up and go find everyone and get the hell outta here."

"I hope it's that bloody simple." Sonya muttered.

"It's never that simple." Goose said flatly.