MINHO MANAGED TO PUSH TERESA
to the lever and they broke free. Newt helped Evie up when she had freed herself from the rope around her feet.

"Are you all right?" he asked anxiously. She nodded when they were suddenly blinded by a light, which slid cold and bright past the windows. They heard the sound of an approaching helicopter.

"Good evening. This is the World Chaos
Killzone Department!" said a voice over a speaker.

The ratman is in the house.

"The entire area is surrounded. You are in WCKD property through no fault of your own!" Janson said.

"Give them back to us unharmed and we'll consider this a minor misunderstanding." he continued.
In the meantime, the others freed themselves. Evie was rigid and listened to his words.

"Or you can resist. Then every single one of you will die!" said the rat man and she could literally see his usual grin.
Evie didn't understand the rest of what he said. Something about the flare and the cure to it.

Evie didn't believe in a cure.

When they had freed everyone, they wanted to run, but her dearest friend the creepy man stood in their way and pointed a gun at Thomas.

"We- we don't want to cause any trouble okay? We just want to get out of here." Thomas said to him.

"Oh is that so?" he asked with his disgusting grin showing his rotten teeth. A walkie-talkie appeared in his hand.

"Janson. I've got the kids and I'm taking them out now. Don't shoot!" he said.
He belonged to WCKD.

"Come on now." he urged them, but no one moved from the spot.

"I said go!" he shouted angrily and grabbed Evie by the arm.
She grabbed his gun and raised it in the other direction. Just in time, because he let off a shot.

Was he seriously going to shoot her? Did he have too few brain cells?
Although Evie rather thought he didn't even have a brain.

Her friends immediately intervened and pulled Evie away from him.
They wanted to run, but the guy quickly grabbed hold and pulled them back harshly. He loaded his gun and pointed it at them. They quickly backed away again.

"You little bastard!" he scolded and a shot rang out.
Evie felt the embrace of newt when he pushed his body in front of hers and looked around in panic to see who had been shot. But no one cried out. No one was bleeding anywhere.
The man suddenly fell over himself and the girl with the short hair appeared behind him. She still had her gun raised.

"Okay, come on." she said and the group followed her without questioning her intentions. After all, she had saved their lives.

They ran to the top floor and met Jorge, who seemed to be waiting impatiently for them.
Evie wondered if she was getting paranoid because she could hear music playing in the building.

♫ 'IM ALWAYS WALKIN' AFTER MIDNIGHT SEARCHING FOR YOU. ♫

"Come quickly before the song ends." Jorge said, reassuring Evie that she wasn't mad after all.
However, when she saw the record player in the corner, which was probably playing the song, she wondered if he wasn't the mad one.

"Come on, come on! This way!" said Jorge and pushed open a window. A cable car appeared.

"You've gotta be jokin'?!" Frypan called in horror.

"A pretty bad joke." Evie agreed with him.

"Plan B Hermano. You kids want to go to the right arm? I'll take you to him, but you owe me one!" he explained.

Was he serious? They owed him something?

Then he took one of the things they were supposed to ride in, took a running start and drove off.

"After me!" he shouted and Evie looked after him in shock.

"He's crazy. Is that your father?" she asked the girl. She ignored her question.

"All right then. Let's go, come on now!" she said. Minho grabbed the next ride and drove off. Newt grabbed the one after Minho and then Evie.

She took a running start and was already in the air. Adrenaline flowed through Evie's body. It was both terrifying and liberating in a way.
The wind blew through her hair and she enjoyed the moment before reality caught up with her. She was getting closer and closer to the building.

How did someone slow this thing down?

Panic gripped the girl. She drove into the building and let go. The thing thundered against the wall and Evie fell straight into Newt's arms. He staggered back and they landed on the floor.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Her face was far too close to his for her liking. She felt her cheeks burn, when she stared at him, her hands laying on his chest.

"I'm fine." she mumbled and got off him.
Newt got to his feet as well. Frypan and Aris arrived, but Thomas and the girl did not.

"Come on! Brenda knows what she's doing. We have to get out of here!" Jorge said and ran off.

They went outside. When they were far away, the song stopped playing and several explosions could be heard. The whole building collapsed and Evie's jaw dropped to the floor.

This man was a genius. A psychopathic genius.

—

They walked through the ruins of the houses, looking for a certain Marcus, who would know the way to the right arm. The ruins were a slum of people. They sat among the crumbling buildings, trying to make a home for themselves.

How could you do this to someone?

Evie was drenched in pity when she was distracted by a smell of alcohol and loud music.
They came to a building with curtains hanging over the holes that were supposed to be windows. In front of it stood a blond man. He was drunk, you could tell from a mile away.

"Marcus! Have you seen a girl and a boy their age been here asking about you?" asked Jorge, who didn't seem to like the sight of this Marcus at all.

"I don't know.. AH but I think.." he mumbled, swaying back and forth.

"Where are they?" Jorge asked a little more tense now.

"I think they're in there." Marcus said, pointing behind him to the entrance of the building which was also hung with curtains. Evie was about to go into the building to look for her brother, when Marcus stopped her.

"Da, da, da!" she got stopped by the man and he pushed her back with his index finger, which he had pressed on her collarbone. Evie looked first at his hand, then at him. His smell was unbearable, as was the sight of him.

"There's ehh.. an entrance fee!" He then said, mumbling. The girl looked at him in confusion as he held up a bottle. It looked like a liquor bottle with green liquid in it. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't cough syrup.

"Take a sip and you can go in, sweetheart."

"How stupid do you think I am?" Evie asked him, amused, but her face quickly became serious again.

"Where's Thomas?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I told you-..." he said, pointing vaguely behind him at the curtain from which the strange music came coming. It had to be something similar to a bar or a club.

"You're lying." Evie stubbornly told him. She felt a hand on her shoulder that pulled her back. She looked into Newt's brown eyes.

"I'm soweee, but I can't help you. You won't find 'em." He said and a woman with blonde hair in a bikini came up behind Marcus. She took the bottle from his hand and left Evies view.

"Marcus, you tell me where they are right now or you will be in trouble, big time!" Jorge yelled, but Marcus just laughed.

Evie felt herself being hugged from behind. For a moment she thought it was Newt and wondered what he was doing. However, she saw the blond boy in his brown leather jacket in front of her, looking intently at Marcus.

"Just a sip." A female voice whispered into her ear. Evie turned her head and recognized the blonde woman with the bikini. She held the bottle under the girl's nose and giggled. Disgusted, Evie tried to turn her head away.

No one seemed to notice. They were all focused on Jorge and Marcus, who were arguing.
Jorge became aggressive, while Marcus continued to grunt and laugh.

The boys and Teresa tried to get through the door but were stopped.
The woman behind Evie came closer to her mouth with the bottle.

"Stop." Evie mumbled, trying to open her mouth as little as possible.

She could feel the woman's bare skin against her back and she also smelled disgustingly of sweat, alcohol and whatever else these people were taking.
Evie tried to pull away, but the arm of the woman was surprisingly tight around Evie's neck and the bottle was just in front of her mouth.

"Come on sweetie." Evie's stomach turned and her heart began to race.
Before she could do anything about it, the woman lifted the bottle and the green liquid ran into Evie's mouth.
The blonde girl coughed, but it was already in her stomach. Evie felt disgusting, especially as she hadn't eaten for hours. Now the others turned to look at her and the woman finally let go of Evie.

"Hey, let her go!" Minho yelled and stepped forward.

"What is this shit?" Evie coughed, wiping her mouth.

"Marcus!" Jorge now shouted threateningly and punched the guy in the face.

"Stop, it's okay, I'll go in and find them." Evie said and walked past Marcus, who was laying on the floor and giggling.

Once she was inside, Evie could have vomited. It stank terribly and she didn't want to imagine what it was. She saw a crowd of teenagers laughing and jumping around to the music. They let their tongues hang out of their mouth, shaking their head wildly. Their eyes were ripped open as if they had all gone mad.

The whole world had been destroyed and these people had nothing better to do than get drunk and drugged? She thought.

But on the other side, somehow, Evie understood their situation.

How else were they supposed to deal with their problems? No home, hardly anything to eat and surrounded by an illness that killed people daily.

Evie pushed her way through the crowd, keeping an eye out for Thomas or Brenda.
She was starting to feel dizzy. Her stomach seemed to be churning. The smell was clouding her senses.
Someone tapped Evie on the shoulder. She turned around and spotted Newt.

"You?" he asked, amused. He looked happy and his face was clean and free from cuts and bruises.

"I thought you were waiting outside," Evie mumbled, suddenly finding it far too difficult to speak.

"I like being with you." whispered the blond. She felt his hands on her arms. His eyes moved closer to hers as he closed them. Suddenly she heard a scream and turned around.

Evie saw a group of people, a crank in their midst. They were holding him by ropes. Laughter could be heard, then a gunshot and cheers rang out. Evie saw the crank laying on the floor and a boy dancing around his body.
She felt her eyelids grow heavy. The girl turned back to Newt and jerked away from him in the next moment. His face was covered in black veins.

"Newt?" she asked as he screamed unnaturally. Jeff stood in front of her until he was grabbed by a Griever's arm.

"Take me!" he said laughing and had his arms outstretched to the monster.
Then another scream. Evie whirled around again. Winston was standing in front of her, bare-chested. The flare had affected his whole body. He screamed at the girl, who shrank back in fear.
Before she knew it, she was surrounded by her friends. They were shouting unnaturally and Evie covered her ears. Voices echoed in her head.

This is not real! This is not real! This is not real!

"EVIE!!" She flinched and looked up. Jeff had grabbed her and was looking at her desperately

"HELP ME!" He shouted desperately. Evie wanted to help him. She wanted it so badly. He cried out painfully as a Griewer pushed in front of him.
Evie breathed heavily, as if stones were lying on her chest.

This wasn't real!

"Evie." she heard a sob next to her. Slowly, she turned her head to the side. Chuck was lying on the floor. Blood was running down his face.
"You let me die?" he whispered.

"I-I.." she stuttered, unable to get a word out. She felt the blood on her hands, trying to wipe it away.

"Evelyn!" She saw a woman with brown hair. Tears ran down her cheeks.

"Mommy loves you Evelyn!" Evie knelt on the floor and looked at the pool of blood around her. The world spun around her body, pulling it onto the floor.

"I didn't let you die, I didn't.." she mumbled.

"You could have saved us all." She heard the voice of the leader, the one true leader. Evie looked up at Alby standing there. They were all standing around the girl. Surrounding her in a  threat.

"N-no! I-I tried!" She sobbed. Alby's disappointed look tore at her heart.

"Evelyn why did you do that?" she heard the voice Ava Paige asking. Her cold blue eyes bored into her iris painfully, so that she could feel her disappointment down to her core.

"After all the hope and effort I put in you."
Evelyn's head was pounding and her vision was blurred. The light bored painfully into her eyes.

She could still feel the hands on her shoulders. Newt's face. She saw his mouth open, yelling her name.
Her head felt like it was spinning in circles. The ground closed in on her and darkness enveloped her consciousness.

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