XX

Brenda woke up, a few hours later, only to feel a pair of warm, sweaty hands cupping her cheeks.

What the hell?

Quickly, Brenda opened her eyes.

It was Chuck.

"Ah...what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to make your mouth into a raspberry," he giggled as he squished her cheeks together.

Brenda hiccupped, then gave a short laugh. "Stop doing that. It feels weird."

Chuck dropped his hands. "Alright."

"How long have you been awake?"

"About five minutes ... I didn't mean to wake you up, but I got bored so..." Chuck hung his head.

"Hey, it's okay, buddy," Brenda gave him a gentle shove in the shoulder.

Just then, Winston stuck his head through the door. "Yo, sleepyheads!" he hollered. "It's dinner time."

"Go on," Brenda nodded at Chuck before kicking off her blankets and starting after him.

However, Thomas' groggy voice stopped her mid-stride. "Be?"

Slowly, she turned around to see him sprawled across one of the many mattresses strewn across the room. Kneeling down next to him, she leaned forward to brush some hair out of his face. "Hi," she smiled. "You ready for tonight?"

Thomas nodded as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. "Yeah. I guess. Hey, don't worry about Chuck, okay? He'll be fine. Everyone loves him likes he's their own brother. They'll look out for him."

Brenda bit her lip, a little surprised that Thomas had seen straight through her facade. "Yeah. I know."

"We'll come back from this...alive," he assured her. "Don't worry. You'll see them all again."

As Thomas scrambled up from his bed, Brenda didn't have the heart to tell him that the chances of both of them coming back alive and well were very, very slim.

~~~~

After a noisy, fun-filled meal shared with their friends, Brenda and Thomas gathered around an open fire in the lounge. Soon enough, Harriet, Jorge, Newt and Chuck came and joined them to engage in an all-round favourite game: cards.

As Thomas dealt out the deck, Brenda's eyes flickered over the happy scenario in front of her and her chest fell in sadness.

She was going to miss this...a lot.

"Brenda?"

She turned to look at Newt who had taken a seat beside her. "Yeah?"

"You alright? You seem - er - quiet."

Brenda shrugged. "Just a bit tired, I guess. How's the ankle going?"

"The swelling's gone down," Newt answered, turning his foot this way and that. "It's still a bit bruised but it should be fine."

Brenda nodded, relieved. "That's good. I'm glad you're okay."

Newt nibbled on his bottom lip as he glanced up at her. "It's all thanks to you."

Brenda turned away to hide the blush staining her cheeks. "Er...what a dreary discussion..." she stammered. "Let's talk about something brighter, hmm? What about...Teresa?"

The moment the words slipped from her mouth, Brenda could tell that she had made a mistake.

Newt's whole body stiffened up, his jaw clenched tightly and his expression darkened.

"Oh ... I-I'm so sorry. I - I still thought you cared about her..."

"I do."

Brenda paused. "Y-you do? I - I ... uh ... that's great. She's your girlfriend, after all. Of course you - um - care about her."

Newt sent her a weird look. "Yeah. That's right."

Brenda swallowed hard before turning away from the dirty-blonde haired youth.

She hated to admit it but those words had cut her deeper than a knife.

As she chanced another side-glance towards Newt, she noticed how sad and hurt he looked. Even though it pained her to think of it, she knew that she had to bring Teresa back to him, to receive a second chance, to explain herself, to make things better.

Trying to turn her mind off the situation at hand, Brenda got up and went to pour herself a hot chocolate from a nearby booth.

When she returned, she settled down next to Thomas just as an idea suddenly flashed through her mind.

"Hey Jorge," she said. "When I was a girl, I remember you saying something about the Last City, you know, the place where WCKD's HQ is. What do you know about it?"

Jorge raised his eyebrows. "Why are you asking?"

"I'm just curious," Brenda shrugged, pretending not to see the warning glare she received from Thomas.

"Well ..." Jorge sat back with a sigh. "Yeah, I've been there."

"Wait, you have?" Brenda gaped at him. "How come I never knew about this?"

"It was a long time ago, before you and Chuck came to stay with me," Jorge answered thoughtfully, his eyes fixated on the dancing flames of the fire in front of him. "It isn't really an experience I like talking about."

"Aw c'mon, Jorge," Harriet bumped his ankle with her foot. "You've said this much, you can't keep us in suspense now."

"Fine," Jorge flung his hands into the air. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything," Brenda returned as she leaned forward in anticipation.

"Okay, well, I was in my early twenties when I was offered a job by a neighbouring farmer who worked away from home. His family lived on the outskirts of the city. Of course, it wasn't the only city back then. The City of Scorch and a few others were still standing...That was before WCKD bombed them. Anyways, it was still a novelty to travel out to the government faculty. Not many people had the chance to do it.

"One day, my employee asked me to take the day-trip over to the market-place situated out front of the City and retrieve some supplies for his wife. Of course, I was absolutely ecstatic; I couldn't wait. I set off the very next morning at first light.

"When I came into sight of the Last City, I was in awe. The place was huge with massive concrete walls surrounding it on all sides. The entire inside of the city was designed like a maze with every single house and building the appropriate size and proportion."

"What is with WCKD's obsession with mazes? So creepy," Harriet rolled his eyes. "Sorry. Go on."

"Anyway," Jorge loudly cleared his throat so he could continue, "I didn't have too much trouble along the way and eventually, after following my employees' directions, I found the little cottage were the farmer's family was staying in. But, in those last few weeks, great turmoil and oppression had been enforced upon the families living outside of the City. I thought it would be a treat to take the children to the market-place with me but, unfortunately, a revolt led by rebel leader Lawrence Cromwell erupted and we were caught up in it when they charged the walls.

"Everyone was furious with WCKD because they weren't allowed inside, seeing as they were considered infected and not allowed to reside in the quarantined area. They all wanted a safe sanctuary and accused WCKD of taking it from them.

"As more and more people started arriving, screaming, yelling and shaking their fists up at the walls, WCKD decided to take action. We all heard the machine guns being mounted and tried to get out of there as fast as we could...but we weren't fast enough. The guns started peppering everyone with shells, rocking the outside village with explosions. Hundreds of people died that day, including the children that I was supposed to protect. I wasn't able to save them. I was barely able to save myself.

"It was at that moment that I realised that WCKD was not good and that I was going to do everything in my power to stop them from destroying the lives of people they cared so little about..." Jorge's voice broke and he stopped, unable to continue.

Ashamed, Brenda stood up and walked over to him. She placed a soothing hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "It's okay, Jorge. You did your best and for that, Chuck and I will be eternally grateful. Mum would be so proud of you, her little brother. She always was."

Jorge reached up and squeezed Brenda's hand, tears trembling in his eyes. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you to tell that story," Brenda confessed.

"No, no, it's okay," Jorge assured her. "You needed to know. You deserved to know."

"Well ... I'm gonna call it a night," Harriet piped up, attempting to divert the topic.

"Yeah, me too," Newt added.

"Oh, look," Thomas chuckled fondly. "Chuckie's already asleep."

Brenda turned around at the mention of her brother's name and smiled at the sight before her. He was curled up, comfortably snuggled in a soft pile of pillows straggled across the couch.

"I'd better take him to bed," she spoke.

Slipping her arms around her brother's chubby form, Brenda staggered over to the corridor where their bunks were set up. Gently, she laid Chuck down on one of the mattresses and tucked the blankets tightly around him. Then, she bent down and gave him one last kiss.

"Goodbye, muffin," she murmured softly, knowing that she probably wouldn't see him again.

Blinking back tears, Brenda made her way out of the room, almost bumping into Thomas just outside the door.

"Crap, Tommy!" she gasped, bringing both hands to her cheeks. "You nearly gave me a freaking heart attack!"

Thomas shot her a lopsided smile. His face fell as he looked over her shoulder towards a peacefully-sleeping Chuck. "We'd better leave now," he whispered.

Brenda nodded in agreement. "You have everything we need?"

"Yes. It's all been stowed away in the jeep which is waiting for us around the back. Clint's assistant, Jeff, is waiting to see us off."

Brenda swallowed and then heaved a deep sigh. "Alright. You packed extra jackets and water, didn't you?"

"Yes," Thomas confirmed.

Brenda chanced one last longing look over her shoulder towards Chuck before straightening up in determination. "Okay, let's go."

The Last City ... here we come.

Gif: Winston.

Q: Would you have gone back to WCKD with Thomas and Brenda or would you have remained with the others in the underground?

~ If you enjoyed this chapter or want to give me feedback on anything, don't hesitate to vote, comment or DM me. I'm open to any suggestions, ideas or constructive criticism. I love chatting with my readers and I love to hear what they think about my writing. However, any hate or negativity posted on here will be deleted and reported. Have a great day everyone! Catch you all soon. ~