The next morning, everyone packed up their things and went back to heading for the mountains. It was quiet, just like yesterday's journey, after Winston took his own life. Piper felt bad for the others, knowing that Winston was their friend and that he was gone. The loss of a friend was painful. Piper and her fellow Glenners knew that feeling all too well. She wished they didn't have to feel it, but this was the world that they lived in where many people die all for something that might never be found: A cure for the Flare.

The group walked a lot more today than they did yesterday, dragging their feet into the sand and covering our heads from the sun that was beating down on them. Eventually, they were surrounded by nothing but miles that led to nowhere, having shelter to hide under when they needed to. They all had our last bits of water before they chucked the water bottles onto the ground and continued walking.

Piper could feel almost every inch of her body beginning to burn from the sun as they kept going. Her throat was longing for more water, even though she had none left. She did her best to keep it from drying out, trying to swallow as much saliva as she could, but it only made it worse. Sweat was dripping down from her face, hitting her shirt, which was now almost soaking wet, sticking to her skin.

"You okay, Piper?" Lillie asked beside her.

Piper nodded her head head, coughing. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"By the time we reach the mountains, WICKED will be up there waiting for us," Maeve spat out.

"We'll get there soon, Maeve," Aris told her. "It's just gonna take us some time."

She huffed a sigh in response. "That's the problem, Aris. We don't have much time."

*******

By that night, still out in the middle of nowhere with no shelter, they crashed on the ground in a circle, using their jackets as blankets and their backpacks as pillows. The ground was uncomfortable, making Piper shift positions too often through the night. The wind was blowing against their bodies, making it a bit chilly, which felt good compared to the heat they had to endure all day.

The sound of Thomas' voice made everyone's eyes flutter open. "Hey! Hey! Guys, get up! I see something!"

Everyone got up, groaning and stretching their arms.

"What is it?" Minho asked.

"You see that? It's lights." He pointed at the shining lights in the distance.

"We made it," Minho stated.

"We sure did," Maeve mumbled in surprise.

All of a sudden, thunder crackled loudly behind the group, making them jump. Turning around, they saw flashes of lightning in the sky and hitting the ground, along with dark clouds hovering over them.

"Let's go. We gotta go. Come on," Thomas told the rest of the group as they quickly gathered their backpacks and ran toward the lights.

The lightning and dark clouds were heading their way as they ran faster, trying to get away from the storm.

"It's getting closer!" Teresa shouted.

Sure enough, the lightning was hitting the ground just behind them, followed by the dark clouds drifting more their way.

"Keep moving! Come on!" Thomas yelled.

While dodging the lightning, everyone split up, trying to make a dash for the building. Piper and Maeve were the first to get inside, followed by Lillie. They looked back to see Minho lying on the ground, not moving at all. Thomas, Newt, and Aris went back to help him, while Frypan and Teresa ran inside the building. They all yelled at them to hurry up and get inside. Once they were all inside, Frypan slammed the door shut, leaving them all in the dark.

"Put him down," Thomas said.

"Watch his head," Aris spoke up.

Everyone took out our flashlights and shined them on Minho.

"Minho!" Thomas yelled, shaking him.

"Come on, Minho!" Newt added.

After a few long seconds of no response, Minho finally groaned, making them sigh in relief that he was okay.

"Are you okay?" Thomas asked.

Minho looked at us, confused. "What happened?"

Everyone looked at each other, then back at Minho.

"I think you got struck by lightning," Thomas answered.

Still confused, Minho slightly nodded his head. "Oh."

"Come on, let's get him up," Thomas said, helping him up, along with the other boys.

"Thanks, guys," Minho said.

"Hey," Teresa spoke up, making a cringe face. "What's that smell?"

Piper, Maeve, and Lillie, took a whiff and wince, making disgusted faces, too. "It smells sticking awful in here," Piper said.

Teresa was about to walk off when a Crank came screeching her way. She screamed, backing away from it, when they noticed that it was chained up. "Thomas, behind you!" she screamed.

More Cranks that were chained up came running their way, but fell to the floor when they reached the end of the chain. The group was surrounded by tons of Cranks, the sound of their snarling overtaking the building.

"I see you've met our guard dogs!" someone shouted from afar. A light turned on, revealing a girl with a short haircut. She strutted past the Cranks, looking unfazed by their attempts to grab her.

"Stay back!" Minho shouted as the group all huddled together.

"You guys look like shit," the girl told them.

"Well, you don't look so bloody great, either," Maeve retorted.

The girl smirked, turning around. "Come on. Follow me." She began to walk away, but spun back around when none of them were following her. "Unless you wanna stay here with them." She raised her eyebrows.

So the group reluctantly followed her deeper inside the building. It almost reminded Piper of WICKED, except there were less soldiers and more open space.

"You wanna tell us your name?" Maeve asked her.

"Brenda," she replied, leading them to a staircase. "Come on, keep up! Jorge wants to meet you!"

"Who's Jorge?" Thomas asked her.

"You'll see," she replied as they walked past some rough-looking people, who kept their eyes on them. "Not many people come out of the Scorch. You've just got him curious. To be honest, I'm a little curious, too."

Everyone looked behind them to see those same people following them, making sure that the group didn't try to run off. They began to laugh among each other, which gave everyone bad vibes, as the thunder continued to roll outside and the lightning was still going off.

"Anyone else starting to get a bad feeling about this place?" Newt muttered to the others.

"I second that," Piper muttered back at him.

"Me, too," Lillie added.

Thomas turned around and faced them. "Let's just hear him out. See what he has to say."

Brenda took the group to another short flight of stairs before they arrived at where they were supposed to be. "Jorge, they're here," she said, going to sit on the couch next to a red-haired girl, who immediately began to whisper in her ear.

The man was messing with a radio as voices came on and off. "Damn!" he cursed, turning off the radio, then exhaling sharply. He turned around to face the group, placing his hands on his hips. "Do you ever get the feeling the whole world's against you?" When none of them answered the question, he went back to talking, messing with his beard as he walked their way. "Three questions: Where did you come from? Where are you going? How can I profit?" Everyone looked at each other, not sure if they should tell him the truth. "Don't all answer at once."

Thomas huffed a sigh. "We're headed for the mountains, looking for the Right Arm."

The ginger snorted, making the other laugh with her. "The Right Arm? That's hilarious."

"You're looking for ghosts, you mean," Jorge stated, fixing himself a drink. "Question number two: Where did you come from?"

"That's our business," Minho snapped.

And so Jorge signaled his men to grab them all as one took Thomas and got him down on his knees. "Get the hell off me, man!" he grunted.

"Hold him down, Aurora," Brenda ordered.

Aurora helped hold Thomas down as Brenda took some device from a table and scanned the back of his neck, making a beeping noise. "What is that?!" he asked in a panic.

"Shut up, you big baby," Brenda said.

The girls looked at the device in shock.

"What is it, girls?" Jorge asked them.

"You were right," Brenda replied, handing him the device.

"Right about what? What is she talking about?" Thomas questioned.

Jorge put on his glasses and looked at the device closely, then laughing, taking his glasses off. "I'm sorry, hermano. Looks like you're tagged, which means all of you are tagged, which means you all came from WICKED."

Piper raised her eyebrows. "And that means...?"

Jorge gave us a serious look. "That means you're very valuable."

~~~~~~~

A/N: Annnnnd we've met some new characters! Thanks to -daisyqueen for creating Aurora!

Song above is We Come Running by Youngblood Hawke, which I know is a weird choice, but I think it fits the chapter tbh.

Comment, vote, more soon (maybe).

-A