By the time the girls got back to camp, the wait for the others became long and tiring. Piper was beginning to grow impatient, wanting to rip her hair out. It was going to be happy and weird seeing their friends again. She was excited and nervous all at once.

"Piper, will you just relax? I'm sure they're on their way back," Gwyneth assured her. "Thomas is smart...well, he is sometimes..."

"I can't help it," she admitted. "We shouldn't have left them."

"Look, I already said they'll understand. We really didn't have much of a choice. We almost died."

"Yeah, I know that," she retorted, then composed herself. "Shit. Sorry, Gwyn, I--"

"It's okay," she cut her off. "It's been a long six months of this plan and now we're about to see if it was all worth it."

"They're back!" someone shouted, making the girls head outside.

With the rippling of the water and the wind hitting against the ship, the Berg placed the cart on the ground carefully. Piper felt her heart beat faster as Thomas jumped down from the cart, along with the others that accompanied him. One of them was Aurora, who came storming Piper and Gwyneth's way.

"Thanks for leaving us behind," she snapped.

"We didn't have much of a choice with being chased by a Berg," Piper told her in a harsh tone.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, don't bitch at me when I decide to leave you behind on another rescue mission."

"Whatever." Piper walked past her, with Gwyneth right behind. She wasn't sure if they would go on another rescue mission, but hopefully, this was it.

Once they got to the Berg, Thomas and Newt were the first to go in. Piper waited outside, ready for the Glenners to be reunited again. She was annoyed with how many reunions there had been. She wanted them to stay together this time, no more separation.

Thomas and Newt came out of the Berg, looking disappointed.

"What is it?" Gwyneth asked.

Thomas shook his head. "Minho isn't here."

"What?" Piper spoke up in shock. "So WICKED still has him."

"Piper, he's not the only one," he told me.

"Who else is still with WICKED?" sje questioned, her heart sinking.

She thought it was going to stop altogether when Thomas said, "Aris and Lillie."

Her heart dropped. Piper walked around the camp for a bit, breathing heavily. She needed time to think, to process what Thomas just told her. Six months for them to develop a plan. Six months to rescue their friends and three of them were still not here. It was almost a waste of time.

Vince had the kids that were rescued all huddled around outside, getting ready to announce something, it looked like. "All right, listen up! I know you've all been through hell. I wish I could say our troubles are over. But we're not through this yet. WICKED's still out there. They're not giving up. Because you got something they want. They took you because you're immune to a plague that's wiping out the human race. They think you're worth sacrificing to find a cure. Well, I don't.

"So in two days, when we get this tub of rust seaworthy, we're getting the hell out of here. We're gonna go to a place where WICKED will never find you. A place you can start over. A place you can call home. Are you with me?" The kids cheered as he rounded them up to get working.

"Hey," Thomas came up behind Piper. "Are you ready to see your friends?"

"You mean, the ones that are here?" she asked, then regretting her choice of words. "Sorry, I--"

"I get it. We screwed up. But at least we got some of our friends back. Come on." He led her to the tent with all of their medical supplies. When she went inside, everyone was huddled around Gwyneth as she took care of the wounds on Maeve's face.

"Ow! Not so hard, Gwyn!" Maeve complained.

"Well, I'm tryin' to be gentle, after all you've been through," she retorted.

"It took you sticks long enough to bloody rescue us," she stated.

"It's good to see you, too," Piper replied, hugging Maeve, then Sonya. "You two look like shit."

"Thanks," Maeve responded, taking a sip of a drink in her hand. "That's what happens when you try to fight back."

"You're lucky you guys found us at all," Sonya said. "They had us on the move a lot. It felt like something big was happening."

"Any idea where they were heading?" Newt asked.

"All we know is they kept talking about a city," Maeve answered.

Everyone looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

"I didn't think there were any cities left," Harriet admitted.

"That's because there aren't," Brenda said from the back, her arms crossed over her chest. "Not still standing, anyway."

"There has to be one if they're moving around kids on the train," Piper spoke up.

"Okay, wait. What about Minho, Aris, and Lillie," Thomas jumped back in. "Why weren't they on the train?"

Maeve and Sonya looked at each other, just like they obviously knew something that the others didn't.

"Why weren't they on the train?" Piper repeated Thomas' question, sounding more serious.

"I'm sorry," Maeve said. "Minho and Lillie were on that train."

"What?" she said.

"They were in another cart," Sonya explained. "I don't know what your plan was, but--"

"We couldn't have known," Gwyneth cut her off. "At least we saved lives today. That's what matters."

"We can still save the others as well as Minho and Lillie," Thomas said. "We just need another plan."

"Wait, you didn't say anything about Aris," Piper pointed out. "Was he on the train, too?" Maeve and Sonya gave each other those sad looks again. "What is it? What's happened to Aris?"

Sonya shot me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, Piper..."

"He was persuaded to join WICKED's cause," Maeve interrupted bluntly.

Piper, Gwyneth, and Harriet exchanged confused looks. "Persuaded by who? Dr. Paige?"

"No." Maeve raised her eyebrows at Piper, then at Thomas. "Who else do you think would have done it?"

That was when they all knew who she was referring to. Thomas ran his fingers through his hair, a disheartening look coming over his face. "Teresa."

*******

It was later that night when Thomas decided to come up with another plan. With very little strategy, it was one that Thomas was set on doing. While he was focused on that, Piper had a hard time believing what Maeve said about Aris. Out of all of the people Teresa had to convince, she picked him. She knew he was special to WICKED, just as much as Thomas, Teresa, and Rachel were. That was the reason, most likely, because he had his memories and the brains to work with Teresa to find a cure for the Flare. Maybe he could find a cure.

Piper was in the meeting room when Thomas proposed his plan to Vince. All he had was a map of what was left of the world. At least, what was left in their part of the world. He had the map laid out on the table for everyone to hover around and see.

"There, that's it." He pointed at the spot he circled. "It's a few hundred miles. Based on the railways, everything Maeve and Sonya told us, that's gotta be where they're headed. That's where they're taking Minho and Lillie. We take everyone who can fight. Follow the roads where we can. We can make it back within a week."

Vince, not to anyone's surprise, was not all for this plan. "A week? It took us six months to get here! We got over one-hundred kids here now. We can't just hang out here forever after what we just pulled. You wanna wander off to some random point on the map. You don't even know what's there."

"I do," Jorge spoke up, strolling toward them, already knowing what Thomas and Vince were talking about. "It's been a few years, but I've been there. The Last City. That's what WICKED called it. It was their whole base of operations."

"Like their headquarters," Piper said.

Jorge nodded, then turning toward Thomas again. "If that city is still standing, then that's the last place you wanna go, hermano. That's the lion's den."

"It's nothing we haven't done before," Thomas pointed out.

"Yeah, with months of planning, reliable information, the element of surprise, none of which we have now," Vince stated.

"Vince, I've thought this through," Thomas protested. "Would you just hear me out?"

"The last time we went off half-cocked, I lost everything! You remember that?" Vince snapped.

Thomas put his head down, sighing. "I do."

"Look, I know it's your friends, okay? But you can't ask me to put those kids on the line for two people. I won't do it."

All of a sudden, there was a static on the radio, which had their attention. "Searching the grid now. A is completed. Scanning B-sector now."

A rumbling over their heads came into their ears, which meant only one thing.

"Shit. Hit the lights!" Thomas yelled.

Everyone scattered around and turned off every light there was. Jorge shut off the main source, the generator winding down and everything going dark. Piper ran outside with her friends as chattering went on, looking in the sky to see two Bergs hovering in the distance, getting farther away.

Piper sighed in relief, along with the others. "That was close."

"Yeah, really," Maeve said. "Those crackfaces could ambush us any day now."

"What do you suppose we do, then?" Sonya asked.

"Well..." Frypan started off as him and Newt came up to them. "Knowing Thomas, he's going to try and leave without us to go get our friends back."

Sonya scoffed. "Right, like that's a great idea."

"I mean, it's not the best idea," Newt admitted. "But I'll be damned if I let that shank go off by himself."

Harriet nodded her head. "Yeah, Newt's right. Minho and Lillie deserve to be here with us."

The group looked at each other with mixed emotions. Yes, they were all scared, but at the same time, they had to do something. If Vince wasn't going to do this with Thomas, then someone had to.

"You sounded like Alby for a minute there," Newt told Harriet. "He was our leader in the Glade. You two would have made a good duo."

There was a small pause until Piper spoke up again. "So are we doing this?"

"I'm in if you all are," Gwyneth said. "We gotta do somethin' while we still have another chance."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, confident in their decision.

"When do we leave?" Piper asked Newt.

"Tonight," Newt said firmly. "Tommy will try to leave as soon as possible. Pack your things and go to the trucks as soon as everyone is asleep."

"Sounds good," Harriet said. "Okay, let's get packing. See you then."

They all dispersed and got ready for tonight. It was all so sporadic, so intense. Of course, it all freaked Piper out a bit. But this time, she had to be prepared as much as possible, because this time, she wouldn't be able to retreat back to camp.

If Jorge was really right about them going into the lion's den, then most likely they would be torn to shreds by their predators.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Oh, look, another update!

I'm trying to get back into this story so I can finish it, so hopefully I'll be able to write a lot for it.

Song above is When I Go by Keaton Simons.

Comment, vote, more soon!

-A