Magnus led the Immune civilians out. And down the hall, we had tried to put them in groups and told them to watch out for each other. The older ones watching the you get ones. Jasmine was leading the second half of the civilians. The rest of us ushered everyone out, making sure everyone was together.

I refused to succumb to the fatigue. I had been in high drive for a few straight hours already. My body was running on pure adrenaline at this point, and pure stubbornness. We chased the group up the stairs from the basement, one flight, two flights, three, four. I stopped on a landing, trying to catch my breath. If I was breathing hard, Gally was having a harder time, he only had one working lung. I straightened up, a stitch in my side. I tried to give him an encouraging smile, but it probably looked more like a wince.

"Come on! Almost there guys!" I called, my voice was pretty horse.

Down a hall and up another flight of stairs. An explosion sounded somewhere above us, jolting the whole building and throwing me to the floor. Dust choked the air and small pieces of the ceiling tiles landed on the floor around us. Sounds of of things creaking and breaking filled the air. Finally after several seconds of shaking, everything grew quiet and still again.

"Everyone okay?" Thomas called.

"Yeah, were okay up here!" Someone yelled back.

"Keep going! We're almost out!" I screamed.

"The building is gonna come down! MOVE!" Brenda yelled.

I got to my feet and pulled Sophie and Gally to their feet, the stitch in my side was making moving extremally difficult. Every time I tried to take a breath in, it sent a sharp pain through my side into my lungs. But I pushed it down and continued on.

We broke through the door and into the main floor lobby. The floor shook again.

"GO! IT'S GOING TO COME DOWN!" Minho screamed.

We had stopped at the doors, ushering the people through, a small child tripped and landed hard, I dove through the storming people and but Sophie got there first scooped him up and onto his feet.

"Hey!" I called and grabbed a woman's arm. She stopped and turned, panic in her eyes.

"Please help him, he can't run alone." Sophie yelled over the noise. Her eyes turned onto the little boy. Her face softened and she nodded. She took hold of his hand and together they left through the door, and out into the street, following the mass exit of immune people.

"Help!" cried a small voice.

I cursed and turned around, coming towards us was another small child who somehow was left behind. She was still on the other side of the lobby. With a frustrated growl I sprinted towards her. Skidding to a halt I grabbed her hand and pushed her ahead of me, the ceiling was caving.

"Well well well. What do we have here?"

My head jerked backwards with a loud cry of pain escaping my mouth. The girl looked back and screamed in fear.

"Go! GO! KEEP GOING!" I screamed back at her. She listened.

The Gladers all turned around at my wild cry of pain. Janson had somehow snuck his way through the door and I didn't see him. He had a huge handful of my hair, holding me tight. He wasn't alone. Janson was surrounded by WICKED security guards. I counted seven total, on of them had Teresa in a similar situation.

I heard Gally and Thomas curse. Minho, I saw lost some colour in his sweaty face. Janson stopped and cupped his hands to shout over the rumble of another explosion.

"Strange place to find you all when everything's about to come down!" Pieces of metal fell from the ceiling, clattering to the ground, wires sparked and a fire still raged in another room.

"Your too late! All the Munnies are gone!" Minho called.

"Oh But I got my favorite ones right here." He grinned down at me.

My eyes automatically filled with tears, and just hearing his voice my body started to shut down, my chest hurt and I couldn't breath. All my limbs went numb. And a small whimper left my mouth.

"Please..." I whimpered.

He just grinned with that twisted evil smile. He slowly pulled out a long thin sharp knife, it glinted in the dusty, smokey sparking light. A sob escaped my lips. Tears slid over my lashes and down my dirty face.

"Please.. no...don't hurt me please..." my body wouldn't stop shaking.

"Hurt you? No my dear. We need to finish your testing! You were the best candidate...you and your brother." He glanced up at the others.

The WICKED guards all pulled out similar weapons as Janson. Out of the corner of my eye I saw everyone spreading out and slowly creeping forwards making a line between the dwindling crowd of prisoners and the guards. The others in Thomas's group were searching the floor for anything they could find to use as a weapon-pipes, long screws, the jagged edge of a metal grid. I saw Thomas grab a warped piece of thick cabling that ended in a spike of rigid wires, as deadly-looking as a spear. They all grabbed something deadly to defended themselves as another explosion rocked the lobby, sending a huge fancy glass chandelier light crashing to the floor.

"I've never seen such a menacing bunch of thugs!" the Rat Man yelled, but his face was crazed, his mouth contorted into a wild sneer. "I have to admit I'm terrified! What do you think my sweet? Do you think they look menacing? Maybe not as scared as you are of me?"

With a wild laugh he ran the knife tip down my cheek and neck. I gulped, trying not to move, I could feel the sharp sting of the knife tip.

"Just shut your shuck mouth and let's get this over with!" Minho shouted back at him.

Janson's head snapped up and he focused his cold, mad gaze on the teenagers facing him.

"Gladly," he said, "Starting with these two!"

He raised his arm raising the knife over his head. And brought it down with a wild scream. Something solid knocked me to the floor, a handful of hair ripped out and there was a wild scream riddled with pain. Teresa had wiggled out of the guards hand and shoved me out of the way, taking the knife in the back herself.

She collapsed on top of me, warm stick blood seeped out of the stab wound. Janson screamed in a crazed frustration, just as the two groups charged each other, their yells of battle drowned out by the sudden concussion of detonating explosives that shook the building around them.

I felt it vibrating underneath me. I watched as my group crashed into the others like the first line of soldiers in an ancient foot battle. Thomas met the Rat Man himself, who was at least half a foot taller than him, wielding his blade; it came down in an arc toward Thomas's shoulder, but Thomas thrust upward with his stiff cable and connected with the man's armpit. Janson screamed and dropped his weapon as a stream of blood gushed from the wound; he clamped his other hand over it and backed away, glaring at Thomas with hate-filled eyes, which flickered over to me. I had Teresa in my arms, she was starting to shake and convulse.

I dragged he away from the wild screaming and battle.

"Teresa! Teresa!" I cried, ripping my eyes away from the bloody fight.

The girl in my arms coughed, spitting blood. More tears slid down my dirty cheeks.

"Why? Why would you do that?" I cried.

"Be...cause...I...I'm...sorry." She choked on her own blood.

I held her up a little, wiping the blood off her chin. Her bright electric blue eyes rolled back. Her warm blood was soaking my pants as I cradled her in my arms. Her breathing was shallow and ragged.

"No no no no! Tess!" I cried.

I heard a wild inhale. I looked back her blue eyes met mine.

"I'm sorry Charlie...live...live free...for...me. I'm sor-"

Her eyes rolled back and her chest stopped moving.

"NO!" I screamed. I shook her shoulders, but her head just flipped. She was still, her heart had stopped.

I looked up, tears in my eyes, everyone was fighting. My head was full of the sounds of metal against metal, screams and shouts and grunts. Some had matched up two-on-one; Minho ended up fighting a woman who seemed twice as strong as any of the men. Brenda was on the ground, wrestling a skinny man, trying to knock a machete out of his hand. I saw all this with a quick glance but then returned my attention to Janson. He was facing off with Thomas. Everyone had seem to forget about Teresa and me.

"I don't care if I bleed to death," Janson was saying with a grimace. "As long as I die after I get you back up there."

I scrambled to my feet, laying Teresa's body on the ground and with a wild savage scream I ached to lash out for all the fear and pain and suffering that had defined my life for so long. I wanted to hurt him, I wanted to end him. With another explosion that made the building shack and sway, I slammed into his chest. We crashed to the ground, with one hand I swung as hard as I could. I smashed Janson's left cheek with my balled fist and watched as the Rat Man's head snapped to the side, blood spraying from his mouth. I reached back to swing again, but the man arched his body violently, throwing me off; I landed on my back.

Before I could move Janson had jumped on top of me and gotten his legs wrapped around my torso, pinning my arms with his knees. I squirmed to get loose as Janson hit with his fists. Pain flooded my body. Then adrenaline surged through my body. I wouldn't die here, I was going to live. And I was going to be free from him, and the pain and the fear he caused me. I pushed my feet against the floor and thrust my stomach and hips toward the ceiling and rolled.

It was enough to free my arms from the man's knees. I blocked the next punch with both of my forearms, then threw both fists up and at Janson's face, connected with his face. The Rat Man lost his balance; I pushed him off, then kicked him by coiling both legs and slamming the bottoms of my feet into Janson's side, again, and again, and again. The man's body inched away with each kick.

I scrambled and twisted as Janson tried to dive back on top of me. I managed to twist and slammed my elbow into Janson's nose; it stunned the man, and both of his hands flew to his face. A burst of energy shot through me; I jumped on top of Janson, both my hands around the man's neck, began to squeeze. Janson kicked out, flailed his arms, but I held on with feral rage, and funneling all my rage, fear, desperation, hopelessness, and all my sorrow, using everything to hold onto his neck; clutching, leaning forward with all my weight to crush as I constricted my hands tighter and tighter. I felt things snapping and pulling and breaking. Janson's eyes bulged; his tongue jutted from his mouth.

As I held on, I screamed; fueling my strength. The scream ripped through my body, shredding my vocal cords. The hot tears poured down my face.

Something was pulling me. I held on tighter. Something grabbed my face; something warm, soft and callased, it held my face firmly.

"Charlie! He's dead! He's dead! Charlie!"

Gally was yelling over the crumbling building.

I left go likebivwas burnt and scrambled off as fast as I could. I was breathing hard, tears streamed down my face, with wild sobs. Gally pulled me close into his chest.

"Your okay now. You're okay. I have you." He soothed, stracking my hair.

"Shuck it Charlie!" Thomas muttered, squatting down beside us.

I wiped my eyes with the heels of my hands, lifting my head from Gally's shoulder and turned my head, focusing again on Janson's face. The man was long gone, still and pale and battered. I could see the bloody hand prints in his neck; Teresa's blood.

My stomach twisted. I pushed away from Gally and my stomach heaved. I felt a hand on my back.

"We need to go!"

Gally and Thomas helped me to my feet. I glanced around, all the guards lay in the ground, unmoving.

"We put 'em all out if commission." Minho yelled.

"Careful there hot stuff! You're luck I was around to help you!" Sophie nudged him

"Whatever Blondie! I was tortured for the last...how long? I have an excuse!" He rolled his eyes.

They all looked a little worse for wear, a few bruised and scraps, Sophie had a nasty cut in her forehead. Minho had already ripped his shirt to wrap a strip of cloth around her head. Brenda was limping a little, leaning on Zayn. Frypan looked alright. He lead out group towards the door.

"Wait! Teresa?" Thomas called, scrambling to a stop.

My eyes filled with tears again. I looked over at her unmoving lifeless body. Blinked a few more times and shook my head. Thomas's body sagged, his head dropping.

"We gotta go! Go! Go!" Zayn yelled, watching the ceiling.

There was a loud crack, and it caved. We sprinted towards the door. We made it out into the courtyard.

"That ally!" Thomas screamed, pointing towards the thin ally in front of us.

We sprinted as best we could towards it. Half way down the alley the building finally collapsed. We all five for cover. I was squished between Thomas and Gally. It felt like the whole world shook. Dust rubble and debris rained down. I curled up waiting for everything to settle. It took a few minutes.

I was hulled to my feet and pushed forwards. Before my brain could catch up to my feet I was running again. U was following Thomas, Gally beside me.

We took a corner and Thomas and I slid to dead stop. A crowd of about twenty people were fighting over a big pile of something I couldn't quite make out, tossing debris and pushing and shoving, throwing punches.

Maybe a hundred feet past them were the cars-swerving and spinning out and crashing into each other. It was a miracle no one on the road had been hit yet.The Cranks were ripping apart huge sacks of garbage-pulling out old packages of food and half-rotten meat and scraps of leftovers-but no one was able to hold one thing in their hand before someone tried to steal it. Punches flew and fingers clawed and scratched. One young man had a huge gash under his eye, a smear of blood dripping down his face like red tears.

It took me a second to register that the Crank was my friend.

Newt.