XX

Brenda's body hit the ground with a loud THUMP.

Fortunately, she had landed on her hands and knees amidst a soft patch of Scorch sand, but that still didn't relieve the pain that throbbed throughout every inch of her body.

Pulling herself up into a sitting position, Brenda swivelled around to see Chuck, who was lying on his back about three paces away from her.

"Hey, buddy, are you okay?" Brenda wheezed as she leaned over and shook his shoulder.

Chuck grunted in reply and waved his chubby hand around in assent.

A loud, disgruntled shout from above caught Brenda's attention and she tipped her head up to gaze towards the window she and Chuck had just jumped out of. The three guards were squeezed into the small, wooden frame, angrily eyeing the two and speaking urgently in their radios.

Knowing that WCKD wanted them both alive and that the guards wouldn't shoot at them for fear of accidentally killing them, Brenda decided to take her chances.

"We need to get out of here!" she urged as she scrambled to her feet. "C'mon, Chuck!"

Hoping to evade their pursuers, Brenda, dragging her brother along by the hand, sidetracked the open desert by ducking down a deserted alleyway sitting on the outskirts of the Flat Trans. Keeping a firm hold on her pistol, Brenda sprinted nimbly up one street and down another.

Then, a large cleft of rocks, situated just outside of the terrain, loomed into view. Scurrying behind it, Brenda and Chuck huddled together, listening to the gun-shots, screams and explosions occurring from within the Palace.

Tears glistened in Brenda's eyes as she leant her head back against the cool rock. The faces of Sonya, Harriet, Aris, Vince, Trish and Jorge flashed through her mind. What if some of them didn't make it out alive? What if some of them were taken back to WCKD? What if she never saw them again?

The whirring sound of chopper blades sounded from right above Brenda and Chuck, alerting the two with its ear-splitting noise. The two cowered low behind the rocks, watching in fear as a huge helicopter, labelled with the letters, "WCKD is Good" flew straight over them!

As soon as the copter was out of sight, Brenda pushed herself off the rock, straining to hear more. "Stay here," she instructed Chuck as she slowly straightened up and poked her head over the half-decimated pile of stones.

With eagle-like eyes, she watched as the chopper circled around the Palace, trying to find a place to land. No doubt it had been summoned to convey the newly-captured prisoners back to the experimental labs of the WCKD department.

Brenda's heart sank as she realised: there was nothing she could do.

"What do you see?" Chuck piped up curiously from below her.

Brenda quickly dropped back down to the floor beside him. "The whole building is surrounded by WCKD. We need to leave otherwise we're gonna get caught!"

Chuck's eyes widened in surprise as he looked around. "B-but there's nowhere to go!"

"On the contrary, there is," Brenda assured him, her mind clicking and whirring like clock-work. "There is a city on the other side of this desert. It's called the City of Scorch. There are some good people there who will help us. Now, let's go. We have no time to waste." Her hand strayed down to the holster on her belt and, in one swift motion, she whipped out her pistol before loading and activating it.

"Follow me."

Keeping low to the ground, Chuck and Brenda crept cautiously away from the cover of the rocks. They headed towards a large sand dune that was a couple hundred metres away. Using any large obstructions in their path to their advantage, the two quickly clambered up the tall bank of sand.

As they finally reached the top of the dune, Brenda, completely out of breath, gave her surroundings a quick scan to make sure they weren't being followed when, suddenly, something strong and wiry wrapped around her ankle!

With a startled shriek, Brenda, unable to keep her balance, toppled backwards and rolled heavily down the other side of the dune, taking her assailant with her.

Before her unseen attacker could gain the advantage, Brenda kicked out at him with the heel of her boot, satisfied with the groan of pain it produced. Using her knees as a leverage, she slammed the body into the ground and struggled into a sitting position so she could take the upper hand. Snapping the safety lock off her pistol, she swung it around, shoving it straight into the fore-head of a very shocked Minho!

"What the shuck, Brenda!" he yelped.

"Minho!" she cried out in surprise as she lowered her weapon. "What were you thinking grabbing me like that? I could've killed you!"

Minho raised his hands in defence. "Lesson learned. I'm never doing that again."

"Brenda! Chuck! Are you both okay?"

Brenda snapped her head back and looked up to see Newt and Thomas hovering nearby.

"Newt!" Chuck cried in relief as he rushed to the older boy's side and enveloped him in a tight hug.

Newt bit down on his lower lip as he crouched down to Chuck's level and brushed back some stray curls from his forehead. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Chuck shook his head as he glanced over Newt's shoulder towards Brenda. "It was so cool. You should've seen us! We were running and then we jumped through this window and ran some more..."

"What?" Newt suddenly whirled around to face Brenda. His eyes were like flames of fire, his mouth was pressed in a long, firm line and his jaw was tightened in anger. "What were you thinking? You could have killed him!"

"I'm glad that he's the only one you're thinking about!" Brenda scoffed. "Your damn girlfriend sold us out and tried to shoot me!"

"Well, she didn't, did she? She got me instead!" Newt snapped.

Brenda paused. "Wha...?" Wonderingly, her eyes trailed over Newt's body. Trying to look past the rippling muscles that were clearly showing through his tight-fitting shirt, her gaze landed on a ragged patch of red staining the front of his pants.

"N-Newt?" she quavered. "Teresa shot you?"

Newt hesitated before replying. "She didn't mean to. She tried to get you but she missed. She grazed my leg, that's all. Just forget about it."

Brenda shook her head in disbelief as she stood up and brushed off her sand-covered pants. "Unbelievable. Why would she do that?"

Newt sighed as he ran his fingers through his thick, dirty-blonde locks. "I don't know. I guess she thought she was doing the right thing? B-but what if she's hurt? Shouldn't we go back for her?"

"And have her turn us in to WCKD?" Brenda guffawed. "No thanks."

"Yeah, forget that shank!" Minho snorted, annoyed. "She betrayed us. She deserves whatever she gets."

Brenda opened her mouth to degrade Teresa further, but stopped when she realised how shaken up Newt looked. Her shoulders sagged in defeat and the furious words died from her lips. Instead, she diverted the topic by asking, "How'd you guys get out?"

Thomas shrugged. "We managed to run through a side door before the WCKD guards got up the stairs. We almost didn't make it though because this shank over here wanted to go after you!" Thomas frowned over at Newt before nodding towards Brenda.

Brenda stiffened in surprise. "You were gonna come after me?" she queried softly.

Newt, trying to hide the flush that was crawling up his neck, rubbed his hand across the back of his head as he turned away. "It - it's not like that!" he stuttered. "Don't jump to conclusions. I was trying to make sure Chuck was okay."

Thomas arched his eyebrows knowingly at him but said no more. Turning to Brenda, he uttered, "Thank you, by the way, for saving Chuck's life."

Brenda gave him a hint of a smile. "He's my brother, Thomas, of course I would do that and more."

Before anyone else could voice their thoughts, however, a spine-chilling scream ripped through the air.

"What the hell?" Thomas looked over his shoulder towards the noise.

With a deep frown furrowing her brow, Brenda crawled up the sand dune towards where he, Newt and Chuck were crouched. Slowly, she poked her head over the top of the earthen mound before letting out a horrified gasp. "Oh no!"

A group of four people, Sonya, Aris, Vince and Gally to be precise, had also attempted to make an escape from the ransacked palace. However, they hadn't been as lucky as Brenda and the others. They had been caught just before entering the Scorch and were surrounded by dozens of guards who had them all on the ground at gun-point.

"Take them back to the chopper," one of the guards commanded harshly as he leaned over and jerked Sonya to her feet by her hair.

A shriek of pain escaped the girl's mouth as she was dragged away. Aris and Vince attempted to break through the ring of guards to go after her but they were physically restrained.

"Leave her alone!" Aris shouted, tears streaming down his face. "She's not doing anything wrong."

A nearby guard, tired of the commotion the young boy was making, whirled around and punched Aris right in the stomach. Aris groaned and doubled over, making horrible retching sounds.

"You bastard!" Vince thundered as he glowered at the man.

The guard just laughed and hit Aris again as he sneered, "Whatcha gonna do about it, huh?"

Upon seeing this, a mad rage rose up within Brenda. Before she did something she would regret, she slowly slipped down on her back. Her hands were shaking so badly, her gun slipped from her grasp and cascaded down to the bottom of the sand dune, right to where Minho was waiting for them.

Burying her face in her hands, she let out a stifled groan, her mind spinning with mixed feelings of anger, sadness and worry.

A large hand, lined with callouses and rough patches, closed around Brenda's shoulder. With a surprised start, she glanced up to see Newt, who was gazing sympathetically at her.

"Oh. I-I'm sorry," she muttered as, on instinct, she moved away from him.

His features hardened up as his hand dropped back down to his side. He turned away and slung his arms carelessly over his knees, which he had drawn up to his chest.

A pang of regret stabbed Brenda as she chanced a quick side-glance at him. He was just trying to be kind and, like always, she had brushed him off, pushed him away. She was ashamed that he was seeing her in a moment of weak vulnerability. She was embarrassed by the fact that she, too, had human emotions. She was a leader, she was capable, strong, independent, fearless. She wasn't supposed to break down...not like this.

Gathering the last of her wits together, Brenda was just about to suggest that they move on when, suddenly, a familiar, feminine voice from beyond the sand dune reached her ears.

Slowly, she turned around, just in time to see the white-clad figure of a grey-beaded, hook-nosed man, accompanied by a slim, brown-haired woman, her face hidden amidst the folds of a dark hood, appear at the scene below them.

"Where are the others?" the man demanded as he strode towards the guards who were leading Aris and Vince away. "Where is the Right-Arm leader?"

"W-we have him, sir," the guard pointed at Vince with the end of his gun.

"No!" the man boomed out authoritatively as he stepped menacingly towards the guard. "Not him. The other one. The girl. Where is she?"

The guard hesitated. "Uh ... she isn't back at the Palace with the rest of the prisoners?"

The greying man let out a yell of rage and struck the guard right over the head with the butt of his pistol. "You let her escape?" he howled as he watched the guard collapse to the ground in agony. "This whole operation depended on that one girl and now she's gone! You imbecile!"

"Janson, sir," the girl quickly stepped up towards the man and placed a restraining hand on his arm. "You can depend on me. I can help you. I can help you find Brenda."

"T-that's Teresa!" Thomas hissed as he nudged Brenda in the side. "I - I can't believe it! She's actively helping them!"

"She's shucking working with them, that shucking bitch!" Minho burst out from right beside Brenda.

Surprised at Minho's sudden appearance, Brenda whirled around to see him crouched beside her, her gun gripped tightly in his hands!

Before Brenda could do or say anything to stop him, though, Minho lifted up the weapon and pointed it straight at Teresa.

BANG.

Gif: Thomas, Minho and Newt on the sand dune.

Q: If you were given the opportunity to do so, would you fire that gun at Teresa or Janson?

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