the death cure
chapter five

❛❛ i think we're being followed ❜❜

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They stopped at the outskirts of the city before they entered the ruins of a city that stood outside of the walls, there were people still living outside of the walls, like it was a small town with maybe within a thousand of population, or more, as if they're the poorest people in the city and forced to live in the poorest condition. Being left to die.

Jorge left the truck in an abandoned warehouse, they might need it again when they go back. Thomas leads the way into town, finding the place almost crowded and over-populated as they walked in the streets. Dead bodies can be seen, wrapped in bags, being disposed out of the town by a group of masked-men.

"This place has really gone through hell" Jorge moved beside Thomas, the group of eight walked quickly straight ahead, they weren't sure where they were going but, they were aiming to the Last City, toward the giant walls.

"We just gotta stay together" Thomas glanced at Jorge and at the group behind him.

"We are the voice of the voiceless!" there was a man protesting behind them, the group's attention was drawn on the protest, they halted as they shifted their glances behind them, there was a van coming their way, a man protesting was on it, speaking through the microphone as people around them began to cheer. "They hide behind their walls thinking they can keep the cure for themselves while they watch the rest of us wither and rot! But there are more of us than there are of them—"

One of the men with a weapon riding on the van was looking down at the group as the van drove by the group, it was followed by a truck. The masked man's glance stayed on the group.

"What is going on?" Leigh murmured.

"And I say, we rise up and take back what is ours! Let's bring back a victory!"

There was a sound of machinery above them, Poe looked up and see the drones hovering around the town. The group kept going ahead and try to look for the entrance into the Last City, or the way in through the walls. They walked around the town to find the way into the city, they stayed close together as they followed Thomas.

After a long walk and searching, they walked through a small alleyway before Thomas announced, "That's it. That's our way in!"

There was a large protest happening in front of them, about hundreds of people were angrily protesting, demanding the city to be let through the walls. Poe immediately doubted that this was the way in, to find many people being in the same place in front of the entrance of the city. Ahead was the road to the gap of the walls, the gap seems to be a giant door.

"Thomas!" Jorge called as he quickly went to catch up the boy and the rest followed. "This is not what you're looking for! All these people trying to find their way in you think you're gonna find something they can't?"

"Came this far. I'm not turning back now!"

Poe was right behind Newt as they both went around and through the crowd, following Brenda and Frypan, while Nico and Leigh were behind Poe. "What the hell did we get ourselves into?" Frypan blurted.

Poe glanced around, left to right before shifting his gaze behind him, he wasn't sure if it was the same masked-man who was looking at the group back in the streets earlier, he saw the masked-man looking at the group again, another masked-man was beside him. "Hey," Poe grabbed Newt's wrist as he moved closer to him, "I think we're being followed"

"Where?"

Poe glanced back and see the masked-men moving towards the group. Newt followed his gaze and spotted the men following them. "Move fast," he told Newt who shifted his gaze to his right and spotted another two masked men whose attention were onto them. Poe turned to Nico and Leigh, "Stay close, we're being followed. Come on"

Nico expressed a perplex look as he gazed back. Newt went on to warn Brenda and Frypan, they moved forward quickly to find Thomas and Jorge to the front of the protest. Poe pushed his way through the crowd before finding Thomas, Jorge, Brenda, Frypan and Brenda.

"Hey, guys, we gotta go now" Newt urged Thomas and Jorge, "Look" he gazed back, and they saw the masked-men coming towards them. Poe shifted his glance around and saw more men coming towards them.

"They're surrounding us," Leigh said.

Jorge took out his magnum pistol as did Nico with a handgun. Then, there was a strange rumbling sound coming from the entrance to the city. Like a deep horn bellowing, everyone quieted down, and the group's attention turned to the walls. It was followed by another strange sound, like a large machinery, something on the walls stood up.

While the group were confused on what was happening, but the people around them, the protesters started screaming and ran away. "I think we should start running too" Nico uttered as he grabbed Leigh to run and Frypan followed.

"Thomas, let's go!" Frypan yelled.

"We gotta get outta here!" Poe started to run as he grabbed Newt. That's when the walls started to fire. The grounds blasted by the missiles, it was chaos. People were running and screaming for their lives as the blasts continued, blasted in their left and right and behind.

Nico was running ahead with Leigh, trailed off the road, running back into the alleyway where they came out from, Poe and Newt were behind Frypan ahead while Jorge, Brenda and Thomas were behind them. They continue to run down the alley.

Poe saw Nico and Leigh being grabbed by masked-men ahead, "Leigh! Nico!" he saw Frypan being abducted as well before Newt was grabbed. "Newt!" He was about to help him, but he was grabbed and pulled from behind. Separated from others, he was almost frantic as he yelled out Newt's name and he even heard him calling for him. He was dragged and thrown into a van where Jorge was being thrown into as well. It was happening so quickly before they drove off.

Poe saw that the masked men were driving them across the ruined city, he can see through the front window, between the two men that were sitting in front of Poe and Jorge.

"Where's Brenda?" Jorge demanded, "and where are you taking us?!"

The men didn't respond. Poe wasn't sure what to think, "What do you want from us?" He tried asking but received no answer. They merely stared at Poe and Jorge.

"You're gonna tell us where you're taking us and where Brenda is" Jorge threatened.

They said nothing again, and it only pissed Jorge off.

"Tell me where Brenda is!" Jorge yelled.

"Jorge, calm down" Poe urged.

Jorge wasn't intimidated at all by the masked-men, especially with their weapons. He eventually snapped after demanding for answers that he started to attack the men, forcing Poe to fight as well.

When the van stopped as they reached the destination, Poe had his arm wrapped around the man's neck from behind, the man tried to slam Poe against the doors to shake him off while Jorge was throwing the other guy left and right against the walls before he pushed the guy towards Poe, his eyes widened as the guy impacted onto the man he was holding and the door behind him budged open as he and the two masked guys fell out.

Poe groaned in pain by the fall. Jorge jumped out like a madman, "Where is she, you son of a bitch?!" He pinned down the same man then punched him. The guy that Poe was on him had scurried away.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Brenda came rushing along with others.

"Poe!" Newt rushed over Poe, both were instantly relieved but before they could reach each other, Poe was pulled away as the others and the men drew their weapons.

"I'm right here!" Brenda exclaimed, trying to stop Jorge, "I'm right here!"

Jorge stopped when he saw Brenda beside him, "Oh, Brenda" he got up and pulled her into a quick hug.

"Everybody, relax!" one of the masked men said, "We're all on the same side"

Poe was pushed to his friends, he went over to Newt who grabbed him closely. Thomas shook off the man's grip, turned to the masked-man, "What do you mean, same side? Who the hell are you?" He demanded.

The same masked man who has been looking at the group since they arrived in the city, this person stared momentarily at the group as the anticipation arise. Then, the man took his mask off before looking at the group.

This man was no man . . . Poe felt a pang in his chest when he saw who this guy is.

Gally.

"Hey, Greenie"

The Gladers were the only ones who were in disbelief, shocked to see Gally still alive.

"Gally?" Nico uttered.

"No way" Frypan gaped.

Then, Thomas charged forward and slammed his fist across Gally's face. The men drew their weapons while Newt and Frypan rushed forward. Weapons drew on Thomas, but Gally ordered them to stand down, "Stop! It's all right!"

"Whoa, whoa, stop!" Newt stopped Thomas, "Stop it! Stop"

Thomas's breaths were sharp and full of rage, "He killed Chuck"

"Yeah, I know," Newt said, "I remember. I was there too, all right? But I also remember that he was stung and half out of his mind"

The men around them lowered their weapons. Thomas eventually backed away, Gally slowly got up, he held and brushed his jaw where he got hit, "Kinda had that coming. Anybody else? Fry? Newt? Poe? But good seeing you again, Nico"

Nico said nothing, he didn't move at all, remained speechless and surprised.

"Gally?" Leigh whispered, her head turned to him and Poe, "Your friend? I thought Teo killed him"

Poe agape, he was just as speechless and surprised as Nico.

"You know this guy?" Jorge asked the boys.

"He was an old friend" Frypan replied.

"How?" Newt asked, "How is this possible? We watched you die"

"No, you left me to die" Gally corrected, "And if we hadn't found you when we did, you'd be dead right now . . . What the hell are you doing here?"

"Minho" Newt answered, "and Anton, WICKED has them here. We're looking for a way in"

Gally looked at the group, "I can help with that. Follow me" he turned.

"I'm not going anywhere with you" Thomas retorted.

"Suit yourself. But I can get you through those walls"

Thomas didn't respond. Poe does remember what happened in the maze, how he tried to get Thomas and Teresa killed by attempting to offering them to the Grievers, he remembers Gally killing Chuck, then Teo threw a spear into his chest. He said he can help, if Poe and others can't find the way into the city, seems like this was their best chance.

"All right," Poe said, "Lead the way then" he went around Thomas and walked to Gally. Nico followed, as did Leigh, Brenda, Jorge, Frypan and Newt. Thomas was reluctant for a moment before he finally gave in.

The building they were in looked like a large warehouse, like a garage, a parking lot, there were people, a lot of them, more of them in the second floor, peering over the railings as they were curiously watching the group following Gally.

"After the maze, I got picked up by a group headed to the city," Gally began to explain of what happened, "They realized I was immune, patched me up and they brought me here to Lawrence. This group's been at war with WICKED ever since they took control of the city. But WICKED can't hide behind those walls forever. Day's gonna come, and they're gonna pay for what they've done"

After he guided the group through few turns and corridors, he stopped in a large room and turned to the group.

"Listen, uhh . . . he doesn't get a lot of visitors. So, let me do the talking. All right?" Gally continued down the hall on their left, going towards the stairway, "And try not to stare"

He guided them down into another hall, then to the stairway. A music can be heard from the room, the music was instrumental and classic, the room was dark, large sheets covered over the windows, the room was messy, unorganized, hundreds, or maybe thousands of books stacked around the room. There were plants at the end of the room where two men were standing.

"Gally" one of the men greeted, "glad to see you made it back. Jasper told me what happened"

There was a soft whimper of an animal nearby, followed by a bark from where a man who was intending the plants, a dog, a dog came out of the shadows, walking as it limped toward Gally. The dog's tail wiggled as if it was happy to see Gally. It was a Labrador . . .

Like . . . like . . .

No, it can't be him. He's dead.

Poe could feel his chest pounding as his mouth dropped when he saw the dog, it looked the same as the dog he once had, only this one was dirty, limping. Gally pat the dog's body as he murmured softly, "Hey, Bark, told you I'd make it back"

"Bark?" Poe breathed out sharply. He had a strong urge of reaching Bark and hug him. Newt looked at Poe, Frypan was staring at Bark. Poe's breath was caught in his throat, he wanted so badly to call the dog, he remained at his tracks, he didn't want to startle the man talking. When he felt a hand grabbing his hand as a way Newt to hold Poe back. He gripped on Newt's hand, trying to contain his joy.

"There was a slaughter," Gally told Lawrence. "There's nothing we can do with those guns"

"No," Lawrence sighed, he was holding a red rose, there was an IV bag with some sort of blue liquid in it that was almost gone, "but they can only poke the hornet's nest so long before they get stung" He lifts the red rose to his face. Poe wasn't sure what he was seeing about the man, he swore that this man doesn't have a nose. "Now, who are these people? Why are they here?"

Thomas suddenly approach forward, "We need to get into WICKED"

Poe could tell Newt was cringing and sighing at Thomas's movement.

"Gally said you can get us through the walls"

Lawrence's glance shifted on Thomas, Poe still couldn't see his face, it was too dark, there was daylight beaming through the gaps of the windows above, behind Lawrence and his face was covered by shadows. "Gally should know better than to make promises he can keep" he claimed.

Poe eyed down at Bark, the dog was sniffing as if he was realizing something as if he was smelling something familiar, he turned as he continued to sniff on Gally, then on Thomas, but he walked around Thomas as he moved onto Frypan.

"Besides, that wall is only half your problem" Lawrence pulled his IV, he limped toward Thomas, "Getting inside WICKED is impossible"

"There might be a way now" Gally assured. "But it doesn't work without Thomas"

Thomas was confused, Poe raised his brows in confusion.

"Is that so?" Lawrence approached Thomas, dragging his IV, using his cane to support his walking, "Do you know what I am, Thomas?"

As Lawrence's face was exposed to the light above, Poe's thoughts were right, this man's nose was missing, not only his missing nose that startled Poe, but half of his face was covered some sort of dark, bruised and blackened roots and holes. This man is a Crank, it surprised Poe how this man hasn't gone mad yet or has he?

Poe cringed, he tried not to show how disgusted he was. His attention was suddenly dropped from Lawrence when he felt something warm touching his other hand, he glanced down to see Bark licking his hand. Poe couldn't resist smiling. He touched Bark's nose, petting his head as Bark whimpered softly and his tail wiggled. Poe pursed his lips, attempting to hide his smiling when he looked over at Lawrence and Thomas.

"I'm a businessman" Lawrence went on, "Which means I don't take unnecessary risks. Why should I trust you?"

"'Cause I can help you" Thomas replied, "You see, if you can get me through those walls, I can get what you need"

"What is it that you think I need?"

"Time" Thomas slightly nod at the almost-gone IV bag, "Every last drop"

Lawrence looked at his iv bag, he scoffed softly, "Is that what I need?"

"WICKED has something we both want"

Lawrence stared at the boy for a moment, "I'll tell you what. Three can go for now. The rest stay down here with me. Just a little insurance to make sure you find your way back"

The group exchanged glances, already wondering who should go.

"We have a deal?" Lawrence lift a hand for Thomas to shake.

Thomas looked down as he hesitated to shake the man's hand.

Lawrence softly chuckled, "Gally, show him the way"

*****

I mean, I'm sure y'all saw that coming
and y'all predicted that Bark survived with
Gally :)
My boy Poe is happy again ^_^
But it'll be a shame when he—
Well, you'll see xD