"COME ON, TELL ME WHAT DID THEY
do to you?" Newt asked, when he pushed Evie a bit away from him, so he could have a look on her. They sat down on two of the chairs that stood around a dented table, that obviously had been used as a protection against bullets from guns.

"Ava Paige and Janson offered me to work for WCKD again. They said that I don't have the whole picture because I'm missing the memories." She started talking as she kneaded her hands nervously.

"They probably would have manipulated my memories again. They said I'd refuse to safe the word and give it up instead if I didn't take their offer."

"What did you say?" Newt asked. His brown eyes worried.

"I said no. And.. I told them that I could remember everything, even in the maze. Thats when they started acting different. I thought they were gonna kill me." She said

"You think they know what's up with you? The fact you can remember, do they know something?" Newt asked. Evie shrugged her shoulders.

"At least they tried to find it out. At first I wondered why Paige was so surprised when I remembered. I mean, I got stung by a Griever of course I would be able to remember just like Thomas."

"But?" Newt asked curious. Evie stared at the floor and squinted slightly.

"I think they tampered with my
memories." she said.

„After the maze, when I was unconscious." She looked at the blond boy.

"I shouldn't have remembered that I gave Thomas the coordinates and betrayed them! The same in the maze. But I did." Newt shook his head.

"How would you know-.." he began, but she interrupted him.

"I don't know Newt." Evie said tired and drained.

"What happened after that?" Newt asked, trying not to push the girl too hard.

"They made those tests with me." Evie said as her body tensed.

"They also created scenarios with grievers or cranks and I was back in memories from my childhood it the glade-.." she broke up, as her voice broke.

"Again and again, I couldn't escape it was horrible." She shook her head.

"Why would they do that?" Newt asked shaking his head.

"It's the same like the body's in the scorch that Thomas found.. They're searching.." she didn't quite find the words.

"They were searching through my brain, I don't know what they're trying to find. Ava Paige said I am a miracle." She shook her head.

"Ava?" Newt asked, shocked as he remembered the woman.

"What did she mean by that? What did they find?" He asked further.

"I don't know Newt. I don't think they found anything." She said, her body was shaking.

"How long did they do that?" Newt asked but Evie couldn't give him an answer.

"How long was I gone?" She asked, looking at the boy.

"About 6 months." He said and the girl gasped.
She let her head sink into her hands.

"Did they do the same thing to Minho?" Newt then asked, bending down to her. Evie's body froze again.
She remembered seeing the boy in the labors.

The doctors were giving him eyedrops and sent him into the maze. She heard him scream and saw his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

"Yes." She then answered.

"And they will continue to do that if we don't stop them." She said looking at Newt again. Her eyes were full of pain.
Newt wiped a strand of hair out of the girls face and behind her ear. His finger ran gently over Evie's cheek, to her chin. He gently pushed her face up so that she had to look at him.

„Are you okay?" Evie asked. Reaching for his hand on her chin, to hold it, but he did not release his gentle grip.

„Now I am." he smiled slightly at the girl.
Then he pulled her face towards him and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.
Evie melted into it and reached for the hair at the back of his neck to pull him closer.

—

They arrived in the map room and Evie spotted Vince talking to Thomas. Thomas was pointing to a circle on a map.

"There. That's it. That's a few hundred miles. Based on the railways, everything that Aris told us it's gotta be where they're heading. That's where they're taking Minho. We'll take everyone who can fight. We'll follow roads where we can. We could make it within a week!" Thomas suggested.

"A week? It took us six months to get here!" Vince hissed, presumably pointing to their current location.

"We've got over 100 of the kids here now. We can't hang around here forever after what we just pulled!" he continued.

"You want to-... you want to march to some point on the map you don't even know what's there!" Vince got upset. Thomas seemed to be searching for words.

"I do." said Jorge, who was leaning against the doorframe. He came towards them.

"It's been a few years, but.. I was there." he said and got a lot of surprised looks. Jorge had never said anything about his past with WCKD or the whole catastrophe of the world, but Evie always knew the man had something to hide. He had been a blank slate since they had met him in the scorch with his psycho song and relations to Marcus, who now worked for WCKD.

"The last city! That's what WCKD called it. It was a whole base of operations." he looked at Thomas seriously.

"If that city's still standing, that's is the last place you wanna go, Hermano. This is the lion's den." Jorge shook his head.

"It wouldn't be the first time we've done something like this." Thomas said.

"Yes! With months of planning and reliable information AND an element of surprise, none of what we have now!" Vince said, getting angrier.

"Vint I thought this through and-" Thomas began.

"HEY! The last time we went on half-cocked, I lost everything! You remember?" Vince hissed warningly. Evie's thoughts ran back to Mary. She had so many questions that are still unanswered from the woman.

"And what if we do it the way you want it?" Evie then spoke up and all the attention was on her.

"We plan everything for months! Is there a better chance of getting Minho out of this shit?" Vince didn't answer. He shook his head slightly.

"Then they'll have already done the most horrible things to him!" Evie said with a sharp tone.

„Those people in there are psychopaths! They're torturing him!  The longer we wait, the more damage they'll do!" Evie's voice grew louder.

"You could be right but-.." Evie interrupted Vince.

"I COULD be right?! Have you forgotten where I've been the last six months?!" She yelled at him, walking forward.

"Are you going to march in there without any planning?!" Vince shot back, standing straight and making a step to her.

„Then believe me, you're gonna fail! And while you're gone, WCKD comes here and takes the other kids too, would you be happy with that Evie?!" Vince snapped at her. He had taken a few steps towards the girl with an intimidating posture.

"You were there in the scorch! You saw what they did! Mary wouldn't want you to do this and YOU KNOW THAT!" His voice grew even louder as soon as he talked about Mary.
The girl retreated, shaking her head and looking to the ground. She heard Vince sigh, before feeling a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"Listen, I hear you okay?! I know you've suffered." Vince's voice was stern, his hand resting on her shoulder as she stared past him to the wall. Then he turned to Thomas, whose eyes were burning into Evie.

"And I know it's about Minho. Okay? But I won't put these kids' lives on the line just for one man! You can't ask that of me."
They turned as they heard soft voices coming from the old radio.

"Shit! TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!" Thomas hissed and they quickly ran to all possible light switches.
The lights went out all over the harbor and Evie ran to Newt. He pulled her into an embrace and held her trembling body tight against his.

„It's okay." he whispered. Adrenaline shot through Evies veins, when she felt sweat rolling down her temple.

"They're coming for me!" she whispered, feeling her heart hammering against her ribs.

"No, I won't let them." Newt said.

—

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Newt, turning on the dim light of an old lamp. Thomas stopped in front of him in surprise with a bag in his hands.

"Newt.." he then sighed.

"Don't be like that!" he said and walked towards his best friend.

"I'm in anyway." Newt picked up his bag and walked towards the car.

"No! No, not this time man. Listen-.." Thomas ran after the blond boy.

"Even if we find Minho, we might not come back." Newt turned to him.

"You'll need all the help you can get then." Newt opened the door of the car they'd been walking towards and an excited frypan sat at the front seat, smiling at Thomas. The brunette boy shook his head in disbelief.

"We started this together. Might as well end it that way too." Newt murmured leaning against the car.

"What about Evie?" Thomas asked, eyeing Newt critically. The boys face turned sad.

"She went through enough hell." Newt said.

"Okay. Let's get him back." Thomas got into the truck. They drove off, frypan at the wheel. Newt looked back one last time and thought of the blonde girl who had been left sleeping.

He saw how she reacted to WCKD. She was terrified of the thought, to go back there. When he saw how scared she was, when she heard those voices in the radio and how she clung to him panically, he knew that he couldn't ask this of her.
Even though he knew she would be the first to jump in this car and save Minho, he refused to wake her up and take her with him.

—

Evie was awakened by tickling sunbeams that were dancing over her skin. When she remembered that she was back with her people, joy welled up inside her.

She was back with her family.

She opened her eyes and expected to see Newts sleeping face, instead, she found the place next to her empty. The girl sat up and felt something in her hand. As she looked at it, she saw a piece of paper, that was folded and put inside the palm of her hand. She looked around at the others as they were still sleeping, before she opened the note.

-

Evie,
By the time you read this, we'll be long gone. We're going to get Minho back. We'll be back soon.
Stay safe!
~Newt

-

She stared at the note in disbelief and read it again to realize the situation.

This was a joke. A bad one. She thought.

She snorted angrily, crumpled up the note and stomped over to Brenda and Jorge, who were sitting at a table talking.

"What's up with you?" Brenda asked in astonishment. Evie opened the note again and smashed it down on the table.

"THAT'S up with me!" The two of them winced a little. Brenda read through the letter and then handed it to Jorge.

"Who went with him?" she asked.

"I don't know. Probably Thomas and Frypan's bed is empty too." Evie replied, visibly calmer.

"Idiots!" Brenda groaned, annoyed.
Jorge looked at Evie seriously.

"I can tell you one thing Hermana, knowing those three, they won't last a few hours." He said and sipped his coffee

"How reassuring, Jorge!" the girl said sarcastically and then snorted again in annoyance.

"We should go after them." Brenda looked at the middle-aged man. He looked at the two of them concerned.

"We have the chance of a paradise and you want to put the rope around your necks for what? A couple of suicidal boys?" Evie crossed her arms and looked the man firmly in the eye. He returned her gaze until he tore himself away.

"All right, Hermana, all right, let's go!" He raised his hands defensively and stood up. Evie heard the man swear a little before they packed up a few things and went to talk to Vince.

After a few hours, the way they had taken ended in a tunnel. Jorge looked in the mirror with a hint of concern.

"All right," muttered Brenda and they drove into the dark tunnel. After just a few seconds, Evie saw the crowd of Cranks in front of them, clustered around something.

They knocked the creatures over from behind. Brenda grabbed her rifle and stood up. There was an opening in the roof of the car where she was now standing.

"Get in here!" she shouted and Thomas, Newt and Fry, who were the reason why the Cranks were so excited, didn't need to be told twice.
Evie also grabbed her gun and followed Brenda's example. She hit a few of the Cranks, who went screaming to the ground. Then they sat down again and Evie held on tight.

"Go, go, go!" she shouted and Jorge stumped onto the pedal. Most of the cranks got out of the way, the others landed under the tires of the truck.
They emerged from the tunnel and the boys climbed into the back seat with Evie. Newt sat down next to the girl and looked at her nervously. He was already opening his mouth to say something, when she raised her finger into his face.

"DON'T even think about it!" She hissed angrily and looked out the window, angry. An awkward silence fell onto them.

"I'm impressed. You guys almost lasted a whole day!" Jorge shouted over the rushing wind, glancing in the rearview mirror to the boys. Brenda turned back and looked at the three of them. Then she shook her head slightly.

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to get you into this guys!" Thomas said apologetically.

"You did a great job at that." The blonde girl said. His eyes met the ones of her sisters and he looked at her apologetically.

"Actually, what he wants to say is THANK YOU for saving us!" said Fry from behind with his usual humor.

"No problem." Brenda said and turned back to the front.

"Evie.." Newt tried again and put his hand on her arm.

"I told you to save it. I can't listen to your nonsense! I'm not leaving you Evie. I'm staying with you Evie." Thomas opened his mouth and probably wanted to say something, but he received a threatening look from his sister, so he closed his mouth again.

"Don't get your hopes up! The jackpot back there was the last barrier before the city. If it's been overrun, the city probably will be too!" Jorge said, wanting to change the topic urgently.

This optimism. Always inspiring anew.

"Unless they've found another way to keep the Cranks out!" said Newt, looking past Evie out of the window. The girl followed his gaze.
A huge wall surrounded a beautiful city in the middle of the scorch.
Huge skyscrapers could be seen, which made an extreme contrast, considering the ruins around it.

Evie thought of the memory with the thousands of lights of a city and trains that she had in the glade. She wondered if it was this exact city. Maybe she had been to this place.

Jorge also looked out of the window and braked abruptly. They skidded to a halt and got out of the car. There was silence in the air until Newt broke it.

"Funny.. three years we've been behind these walls trying to break out! And now we want to break back in." he said.

"Jorge, how do we get in there?" Thomas asked.

"There you're asking the wrong one Hermano! Those walls are new. I think that's WCKD's answer to everything."

"We won't find out from up here. Let's go!"
Brenda said and they got back to the car. Evie stayed for a moment and looked at the city. She searched for memories in her mind about anything related to these walls but she couldn't remember.
Newt stepped up next to Evie.

"Should I let you die, is that what you want? Don't be mad at me for worrying about you." he said, getting louder towards the end. Evie laughed.

"Minho is my friend too, forgot about that? Do you really think you could just leave me with Vince? Don't act like I'm a child!" she then threw at him angrily.

"I wanted to protect you!" Newt put his arms on his hips and Evie laughed again.

"Who just saved who's ass Newt?" She asked.

"You think I'm gonna send you back to WCKD when you just got out of there?! I saw how you acted yesterday. I couldn't live with myself if you-"

"Of course I'm scared! You think I'm not worried?!" She snapped.

"Something like that could happen to you!" Evie pointed at him.
He remained silent.

"You can't stop me from saving my friend Newt! Even if I have to go through this hell again I would never let Minho down."

"Oi, love birds! if we wanna reach the city till sundown, we gotta go now!" Frypan said and the two of them looked at the car.
The others of their small group were staring at them and had probably heard the whole conversation. Evie felt her cheeks burning and clenched her hands into fists.

"That girls got you under control, Hermano. Nothing wrong with that of course!" Jorge commented. He grinned in amusement, but quickly forced himself back into a serious expression and coughed in an artificial manner when he saw the look on Evie's face.

They got into the car and drove on.

—

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