< Jina >

Jina's eyes flew open and she sat up, fists swinging. Her heart was pounding in her chest so hard her ribs hurt.

"Whoa whoa whoa, Ma Hija, slow down."

"What the fuck?" Jina gasp, swinging her head back and forth trying to process everything all at once. A middle aged Hispanic man was kneeling in front of her, hands held up trying to calm her down. The man raised an eyebrow as he placed his elbows on his knees.

"That adrenaline injection seemed to work.

"Jorge?" Jina finally managed to spit out.

"You remember." He stated.

"Ya I remember. I remember it all. I remember we passed you a shit ton of stolen information and then as soon as you had it, you took off. Leaving me behind. Just like everyone else in my life. Used me and then dropped me."

Jorge frowned and rubbed his scruffy chin. He finally sighed and straightened up. Walking over to the corner he scooped up a bottle of water and some crackers and beef jerky.

"That's not exactly how it went down." He dropped the food into Jina's lap. "Eat. We don't have a lot of time."

"We have enough time to tell me what's going on!" Jina snapped. "Where are Tommy and Minho and Aris and the rest? Why am I here? Why... Why am I hooked up to this?" She shook her arm indicating the IV that was almost gone.

"Do you remember last night?"

Jina's cheeks flushed bright red. Oh she remembered all right. No way she would forget the way Thomas made her feel.

"The storm?" Jorge asked, leaning on the desk, arms crossed. Jina's mind ripped away from Thomas and focused on what he said. "The lightning?"

"The- what?" Jina frowned, a cracker half way to her mouth.

"You guys all got caught in the storm... You were struck by lightning, kid. Teresa administered CPR. Got your heart going. You're lucky to be alive."

"Wait... Hold up." Jina placed the cracker back and rubbed her eyes. Pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes she tried to remember. She remembered her and Thomas sneaking off. She remembered everything in-between..and until she got dressed and lay back down with the group. And then nothing. "No." She finally said. "Nothing."

"What's the last thing you remember?" Jorge asked.

"None of your business." Jina snapped. Her body heating up with a full body blush.

"Fine, seems like I don't wanna know. But the lighting might have given you a short term memory loss..."

"Oh. And you said Teresa gave me CPR? What the actual hell?"

Jorge nodded.

Jina's head was sore with this news. She sat up again. "Where is everyone?"

"You guys showed up last night. We scrambled to get ready- you guys showed up earlier than expected. David said it would take you a week. He seemed to have underestimated your survival skills."

Jina hummed as she munched on crackers. Her stomach was hurting from lack of food.

"Now.... We try and get past my crew and get you kids up to camp."

"How do we do that with WICKED on our ass?" Jina asked with a mouth full of food.

"We get ourselves to Marcus-"

"That dirty nasty bast-"

"Jeeze girl." Jorge interrupted. He shook his head. "Just listen. My job before you guys showed up was slowly taking out his network of kidnappers and snatchers. The last few years I've been here that's what I've been doing. Now you guys are here early so we need to improvise. I was supposed to have his club destroyed, him delt with and meet you with a truck and take you all up to camp. Now? We do that, just in a different order."

"Fine. As long as we take that bastard out." Jina snapped.

"That's the plan."

"Now, where are my friends and brother? "

"Just hanging about." Jorge smirked. "Don't worry, they're fine. You've been out for the day. Now we quickly pack what we can carry and we get out. How are you feeling?"

Jina frowned. She was tired and sore. But she felt way better then before. She remembered her head killing her. Jina shrugged, "better. I guess."

"Good. Your backpack is there. Brenda already added some medical supplies and other things. Just...finish eating."

Jorge pushed off the desk and grabbed a backpack and started to stuff things inside. Jina lay her head back, slumping into the couch. Her mind busy with everything. How come she remembered Jorge? She had her memories swiped. Janson was so scared for her to have her memories they even kept the Grievers from stinging her, and avoided the memory reversal surgery in Waystation. Was she that dangerous?

Something on Jorge's desk started beeping. Jina peeked an eye open when she heard curses. Jorge ran to the wall and pulled what looked like an old fire alarm.

"What's wrong?" Jina asked. "What are you doing?"

Jorge ran to the door ripped it open and yelled down the hall for Brenda. He slammed the door and came back to the desk.

"WICKED."

"WHAT?" Jina yelled, scrambling to sit up. She ripped the IV out of her arm with a sharp hiss. And came over to the desk.

"I have radar and scanners set up. It'll go off if anything bigger than a dog goes by. Right now...we have 4 huge military helicopters coming in hot. We have about 6 minutes. Where the hell is Brenda?! I just pulled the alarm in the civilian camp on the main floor. I have WICKED defectors and their families down there. And a few rescued kids. They'll see the alarm and clear out, hopefully before WICKED takes the building down."

He ran to the door just as it swung open. And Brenda came in.

"WICKED is on its way. We need to leave. Now. Grab your stuff. And then go get the guys."

Brenda nodded once and was back out the door. Jorge turned to look at Jina.

"We're going with plan C. Improvise on the back up plan."

"Do your plans ever work?" Jina rolled her eyes.

"Hardly. That's why I have more then one. Always have an escape plan, ma hija. Now toss me that bag. And go grab the ready to go first side kit in the closet."

Jina tore across the room. She could now hear the steady thumps of the helicopter motors and blades. Fear spiked through her. She didn't want to go back with WICKED. She couldn't. Jina could also hear the distant yelling and noise from people scrambling to get out and flee. A huge spot light flicked on, blasting the warehouse with bright lights.

"Good evening!" A voice echoed across the building.

Jina recognized that voice. She invulantarly shuddered. Her teeth clenched together and she shuttered.

"Jina! Come on! Hurry."

Jina jumped and dug through the closet.

"This is the World in Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department. We have your compound completely surrounded."

She found the premade first aid kit and ran over. Her legs were feeling shaky. And her head was starting to hurt.

"Good. Now, top left desk drawer. Inside is a key. The key will open the safe behind that ugly picture."

Jina ran to the desk as Janson kept talking through some megaphone. She wished she had a long range gun to just blow him out of the sky. She hated him with every fiber of her being.

"You find yourselves, through no fault of your own...in possession of WICKED property."

"I'll take full responsibility." Jorge mumbled to himself. "You dirty nasty rat."

Jina's lip twitched. Maybe Jorge wasn't so bad. Sure they had left her...but he was doing something good. He was helping other kids avoid her fate. Still...it hurt, watching Jorge, Brenda and Mary walk away the day she was caught. She remembered the feeling of abandonment very clearly.

She unlocked the safe. And she gasped. And then let a small chuckle out. Inside were a few hand guns, extra ammunition, a map, walkie talkie, and a stack of cash.

"Emergency get away stash?" Jina called over her shoulder.

Jorge grinned at her. Jina took one of the guns, ejected the magazine. It was full. She smirked and jammed the thing back in and flipped the safety. She slid the one gun into her belt and then grabbed everything and brought it over. Jorge gave her a quick questioning look but didn't say anything else.

"The Glenn had guns."

"I didn't ask." Jorge said throwing the stuff into the bag. He checked his watch, "Brenda should be here right away!"

"...consider this a simple misunderstanding. Or you can resist. And everyone will die."

"Yes. You sure will." Jorge grinned in such a way it made her glad he was on their side. He took an old record out and placed it on the record player, and flipped a big switch on the big control pannel on his desk. Music started to blast from every available speaker in the building. It was playing over the intercom system as well.

"What's that?" Jina asked.

"Playing them my favorite song. We have exactly three minutes and fifty six seconds to get out of the building."

"I have a feeling after that...no one gets out of the building."

"You would be correct."

"Well shit." Was all Jina could say back.

"It won't be long before the Flare wipes out the rest of us. The hope of a cure lies in your hands. The choice is yours." Janson kept talking through the megaphone.

Her stomach was twisting in forbidding. She felt very close to throwing up. The building was going to blow, the guys weren't here yet, WICKED was outside the building...what could go wrong?

Jorge had her destroying all the electronics on his work desk. She had a long screwdriver and was slamming it into the control panels, making everything spark and sizzle. The door to the office burst open and Brenda came running in.

"Brenda hurry!" Jorge cried.

Jina turned and saw the guys all piling into the room. They looked distressed and slightly pale. Jina dropped the screwdriver and charged. She flung herself into Minho's arms.
The guys were yelling, music was blasting, guns going off, the thumping of the helicopter, it was chaos.

"Omph." He grunted as she slammed into her brother. "Wait..what? Jina?" He cried and pulled her tighter. She hugged him tight for a second and then pulled away and pulled Aris into a hug. She breathed a sigh of relief. She pulled away and lastly flung herself into Thomas's waiting arms. He pulled her closer, into a desperate kiss. Her toes lifted off the ground as Thomas clung to her just as desperately.

"Ummm. What the hell shank?!" Minho roared.

Jina pulled Thomas's head closer for a quick moment. She felt safe again. Even this brief desperate kiss made her head dizzy and limbs weak. When Thomas placed her back onto the ground her legs almost gave out. She lost her breath.

"You're okay?" He asked

"I don't remember what happened. But...I'm alive. And we won't be if we're still here when the song is done."

"We don't have much time!" Jorge called. "Time to go!"

Jina reluctantly pulled away from Thomas and ran to the couch, grabbed her backpack. She felt Minho's glare on her back. She ignored it. Brenda tossed the guys their backpacks again. Jorge flung a window open and pulled something.

"Right this way!" He called.

Jina realized it was a zipline. Her stomach dropped. This wasn't going to be good. She hated rides and flying.

"You gotta be kidding me." Frypan protested.

"I'm with Fry on this one." Jina said, slowly backing up.

"Plan B, hermano."

"You mean C." Jina corrected, her mouth had gone dry and her arms felt weak.

Jorge winked. "You kids wanna get to the Right Arm? This is the only way outta here right now. We're surrounded."

He pulled a cloth handle from the zipline and wrapped it around his wrist. Held on with both hands and pushed out the window. Brenda was there ushering everyone through. "All right! Let's go!"

"Come on!" Thomas was also waving people through. Frypan. Newt.

"Go! Come on. Minho! Go."

Minho hesitated as he looked at Jina.

"I might throw up, or pass out. But I'm right behind you." She squealed.

Minho nodded looked at Thomas for a split second.

"I'll get her through." Thomas reassured him.

"Fine."

"I can look after myself!" Jina huffed, she was terrified and shaking, but she was annoyed the guys thought she needed looking after. She had been looking after herself for a long time. Minho pushed out the window and was gone.

"Ji. Come on."

There was another handle ready for her. Jina couldn't do this. She got sick on Berg rides and elevators if they were too long. Her mind was spinning into panic.

"Tommy...I can't." She whispered. Her hands were shaking and sweaty. Thomas looped an arm around Jina's back before she could take a step backwards. He pulled her closer with one hand.

"You can. And you will. Come on Boss Lady. I believe in you. Minho will catch you at the bottom."

Jina slowly nodded. Thomas took her hands and placed it on the zipline handle. And made sure she was holding on.

"I love you." He whispered into her ear. He kissed her temple and shoved her out the window.

Her scream was ripped from her mouth. Cold air ripped at her clothes. Her tangled hair blew everywhere. She was picking up speed as she flew through the air. Jina held on so tightly her hands were cramping. She saw a huge building looming out of the darkness. The zipline made straight for a blasted hole in the side of the wall. The cords slowly leveled out she slowed down, but only slightly. She had a horrible thought; what if she didn't fit through the hole? Or didn't stop in time and crashed into the solid wall?

The zipline came to a sudden arm jerking stop. She crashing to the ground. Rolled to a stop, slamming into the back wall. Jina was lifted to her feet and into a bone crushing hug.

"Ow! Ow! Stop! Please!" She pushed Minho off trying to keep the tears of pain inside. He was squeezing some of her burns.

"I'm fine. But I will not be doing that again. Ever."

There was a yelp and Aris came crashing into the room. Jina ran over and pulled him into a hug.

"I'm okay Ji. I'm fine." He reassured her, gently patting her back.

A moment later Teresa came screaming into the room. Jina looked around, counting them off. Jorge, Frypan, Newt, Minho, Aris, Teresa...her.

She turned back to the window. The spot light from the helicopter was now on the zipline. Another one was circling around. Clint whizzed passed them and stumbled into the room.

There was the sound of an explosion. The building they came from exploded. Jina watched horrified. The corner of the building was blown away. And then in rapid succession there were many smaller explosions. The building swayed and teetered. Chunks of cement and bricks and building started to fall.

Something inside Jina snapped. She screamed and lunged for the wide open hole. Someone caught her and held her back. She didn't care about ripping her burns open or how much she scratched and clawed at the arms holding her. She was in hysterics right now.

"Tommy! No! Please! Thomas!"

She sobbed and kicked and fought. She watched horrified as the building came crashing down in a rain of dust, fire, smoke and chunks of building. A chunk of the building hit a helicopter and it went spinning into the ground in a firery explosion. But Thomas wasn't there. Thomas didn't make it out. A hand was slapped over her mouth keeping her quiet.

She tried calling Thomas with her mind as she continued to kick and scream and cry. But she felt nothing. She was cold and empty inside her mind. He wasn't there.

She lost all the fight and she sunk to the ground. Minho pulled her into a careful tight hug. Jina had silent tears falling now. She didn't have the energy anymore to do anything. She wanted to sink to the ground and die.

"Come on...we...we gotta keep going. WICKED will come search this building." Jorge's voice sounded rough and broken but...he kept going. He just watched the building collapse on top of his only remaining family.

Jina was pulled her her feet and pulled after everyone. She didn't really remember running down flights of stares into the basement or crawling through a hidden tunnel that looked like it was dug out with shovels. Her mind sort of registered running through back allies to another building a few blocks away.

She sat now, in the corner of a room crammed with extra supplies. It was a safe house- if Jorge and Brenda or any of the WICKED defectors ever needed a place to run to and lay low.

She huddled in the corner. Knees pulled up and her eyes blank and staring. Someone had wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

She had watched a building collapse onto Thomas, the young man she had given everything to.

< • >