"Good plan, Alana. Just hear what the man has to say. Really working out for us." Minho says as we're now all hanging upside down with rope tied to our feet.

"Shut up, Minho." Newt tells him.

"Maybe I can reach the rope." I grunt as I pick my head up, trying to reach the rope from my feet.

"It's no use." Minho says.

"Shit, fuck!" I exclaim, putting my arm back down.

"I thought you were supposed be like the karate kid?" Frypan says.

"Not when the blood is rushing through my head. I need to be focused. As you can tell, it's kinda hard to be focused right now." I say in a strained voice.

"Enjoying the view?" Jorge speaks up and I turn my head to him walking over to us.

"What the hell do you want?" Minho says to him.

"That is the question. My men want to sell you back to WICKED. Life has taught them to think small. I'm not like that. Something tells me that you're not, either." Jorge states, walking closer to us.

"Is the blood rushing to my head or is this shank not making any sense?" Minho says in a groggy voice.

"What if you take me and let my friends go?" I say.

"Alana!" They all say.

"I used to work there. Just me, no one else. My friends were just tagged because they thought they had a cure. Just take me, let them go. I was their favorite. It's a fair deal. You get rewarded for bringing me back and WICKED gets a cure." I say.

"Alana, stop it!" Teresa and Newt shout at me.

"Tell me what you know about the Right Arm." Jorge asks, ignoring everything I had just said.

"I thought you said they were ghosts." Newt says to him.

"I happen to believe in ghosts. Especially when I hear them chattering on the airwaves." Jorge states. "You tell me what you know, and maybe we can make a deal." He says as he walks over to the lever.

"We don't know much." I tell him.

He then pulls the lever down and we start inching forward.

"Okay!" We all exclaim. "Okay, alright. They're hiding in the mountains. And they attacked WICKED. They got out a bunch of kids. That's it. That's all we know." I tell him, clenching my jaw.

"Yo, Jorge. What's going on?" A man says, interrupting Jorge.

"Me and my new friends were just getting acquainted. We're done now." He grimaces, then walks off.

"Hey, wait. You're not gonna help us?" I say.

"Don't worry, hermana. We'll get you back to where you belong. Hang tight." Jorge says and proceeds to walk away.

"Shit." I mutter, glaring at the man who's watching us.

"It's no use. You can't get out." The random man laughs at us.

"We will, you bastard. When I get my friends free, I'm gonna kill you." I grunt as I try and reach the rope again.

"Alana, he's right. It's no use." Thomas mutters and I look at him.

"Listen to your friend. Stop fighting when you've already lost." The man says.

"Oh, look, you have a tear drop tattoo. Figures." I snap back at the guy and he growls at me.

"Cuidado con tus palabras, volverán para atormentarte." The man spits at me.

"Confía en mí, lo soy. Eres tú quien tiene que tener cuidado al saber con quién estás hablando en este momento." I spit back at the man.

He gives me one more glare, then walking off.

"What the hell was that?" Minho says.

"I didn't know you speak Spanish." Newt says to me and I look over at him.

"That's the thing, I don't. But somehow I knew how to respond." I say. "Another gift from WICKED. Bastards." I mutter.

     ||

"Okay. I got it. Minho, ready?" I ask him.

"Yeah. Gotcha." Minho says as he starts spinning me around.

"Okay. One, two, here we go. Ready? Three." Thomas pants as they both push me toward the lever.

"Oh, shit." I grunt as I miss the lever by a few inches.

"C'mon, Minho and Thomas. Push her harder!" Newt says.

"Shit." I groan as they push me again, but I keep missing the lever.

"C'mon, Alana. Stay focused, remember?" Frypan says and I pant, keeping my gaze on the lever.

"This is it. One... two... three!" Minho says and him and Thomas pushes me a little harder this time.

My hands grip on the lever. I let out a pant as I look back at the group with a grin.

"Yes! Yes! Okay." Minho and Thomas says.

"I knew you could do it!" Frypan exclaims with a smile.

"Alana, hurry!" Newt says and I nod as I turn my body around.

"How does she do that?" Frypan mutters as I pull the lever down.

I land on the edge, my feet touching the floor while the boys and Teresa gasp as they inch down.

I quickly untie the rope off my feet. I then grab Newt's hand and pull him closer to me. I untie the rope off his feet and he stands up.

"Minho." I say as I hold out a piece of wood and he grabs it.

I untie him, then Thomas, then Teresa, then Frypan and then Aris. I then hear the loud sounds of a helicopter and I curse under my breath as I kick all the rope aside.

"Good evening! This is the World Catastrophe Killzone Department." I hear Janson's voice echo. "We have your compound completely surrounded. You find yourselves, through no fault of your own...in possession of WICKED property. Return them to us unharmed and we'll consider this a simple misunderstanding." Janson says.

"No, no, no!" I shout, trying to think of a plan.

"Hang on, guys. Or you can resist..." Janson trails off as I try to find my blade.

"And every last one of you will die. It won't be long before the Flare wipes out the rest of us. The hope of a cure lies in your hands. The choice is yours." Janson finally says and I curse under my breath once again.

"Alana, what do we do?" Frypan asks as the boys and Teresa crowd around me.

"Okay. Let's go, let's go." I say and I start running.

But I stop in my tracks as the same guy with the tear drop tattoo points a gun at us. But his eyes mainly stayed locked on mine.

"We're not trying to cause any trouble, okay? We just got to get out of here." I say.

"Is that so?" The man says, walking closer to us.

I then feel Thomas's hand brush mine. But I also feel the handle of the blade. I stop myself from widening my eyes.

"Janson, I got 'em for ya. I'm bringing 'em down. Don't shoot us." The man says, tearing his mouth away from his walkie talkie.

I slowly bring my hand behind my back, brushing it over Thomas's as I try and grip the blade handle.

"C'mon. Let's go." The man says, but we don't budge. "I said let's go." The man tells us again and I clench my jaw as he comes closer, pointing the gun at my chest.

"Over my dead body!" I yell and grab the blade from Thomas's hand.

I grab the man's wrist, making his gun go off in the other direction. I then hold the blade against the man's throat in my other hand. I push him back as the group calls out my name. The man and I end up struggling, so I head butt him, making him fall to the ground. He then gets up and points the gun at me once again.

"Woah." We all say as Minho and Newt hold me back.

"You little bitch!" The man says through gritted teeth, pointing the gun at my chest once again.

Another gun shot goes off and I jump, putting a hand over my chest, but there's no blood or a wound. I look back at Newt and then at Minho. The man then falls to the ground. I look to see the short haired girl slowly putting her gun down.

"Okay. C'mon." The girl tells us, but we stand there in shock. "C'mon! Let's go!" The girl says again and I twirl my blade, running after her with the group behind me.

"That was badass!" Frypan yells and I scoff as we keep up with the short haired girl.

                                          ||

"Brenda! Hurry! We don't have much time!" I hear Jorge say as we climb up the same steps from earlier.

"What?" Aris says.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go! Right this way!" Jorge says as we follow him.

"You gotta be kidding me." Frypan says a Jorge pulls out a zip line while music is playing.

"Plan B, hermana. You kids wanna get to the Right Arm? I'll lead you to them. But you gotta owe me." Jorge says

"Deal." I nod at him and he nods back at me.

"Follow me!" Jorge says as he pull down a rope and start sliding down.

"Alright! Let's go! C'mon!" Brenda says as she pulls down another rope.

"Everyone, go." I say, leading Minho.

"Go! C'mon." Brenda shouts.

"C'mon! Aris, c'mon." I say to him and he just looks  down at the floor.

"Go! Go, Aris, go." Brenda tells him again and Aris hopes on the rope.

"Teresa, you're next. C'mon." I say to her and she nods, getting closer to the rope.

I then look to see Brenda running off as Newt and Frypan start sliding down.

"Brenda! Where you going?" I yell.

"Alana." Teresa says.

"Just go. I'm right behind you." I say.

"Yeah, go. I'll right behind you." Thomas says and I look at him.

"Hurry." She says and slides down.

"Thomas, go. I'll be fine." I tell him.

"I'm not leaving you here. I'm helping. Let's go." He says and I nod as we run after Brenda.

Thomas and I then enter a room. I spot Brenda and I jog over to her.

"Brenda, c'mon. What are you doing? We gotta go!" I exclaim as she rummages through a drawer.

"I got it." She says, taking a silver box.

"C'mon." I say, grabbing her arm.

"Shit." Thomas says as he pulls us back from the guards with machine guns.

Brenda then takes out a gun and hands me one. I nod at her as we start shooting.

"Take cover!" A guard says as they all start ducking and moving back.

"Go! Go! Go!" Brenda and I shout, pushing Thomas away and we follow him seconds after.

"Shit!" I exclaim as Thomas lets us go in front of him as we dodge their bullets.

"C'mon, hurry! We're running out of time!" Brenda yells as we speed down another flight of stairs.

"On the east! Cut 'em off! I got eyes on!" Guards yell as they start loading in across from us.

" Here, follow me! C'mon!" Brenda says as she carefully walks on a ledge.

Thomas and I follow her. Me being me, I look back to see a guard pointing his gun at me.

"Stop! Stay right where you are!" The guard says, bur turn around and keep walking on the ledge. "No, we need them. You go around. I'll go after them." A guard says as I keep walking faster.

"Over here. Over here." Another guard says as I see them run across from the corner of my eye.

"Thomas, keep going." I pant and he looks back, nodding at me.

"Kid, don't move!" A guard says and I pick my head up, stopping in my tracks.

"Brenda, where are we going?" I yell to her.

"Hurry! The song's almost over!" She pants as she climbs over a little ledge.

I turn back and I suddenly hear a ping noise. Everything starts exploding and it knocks me to my feet. Causing me to hit myself on the forehead of the ledge.

"Alana!" Thomas yells as he hops back over and helps me up.

"I'm fine." I say, looking into his eyes as his hands are on my waist.

I then turn my head to see that everything is now pitch black.

"C'mon. Alana! Thomas!" Brenda shouts and we turn our heads back to her.

We hop over the ledge while everything starts to shake, even the whole building.

"Woah!" I yell as the three of us manage to stay on our feet.

We then start running. We grasp our hands on some poles and we yell, sliding down before the stuff can crush us. We hit the bottom of the shaft, panting heavily I look up to see the trash starting to fall from above us.

"Move!" I yell and we all stand up and jump, landing hardly on the ground as everything hits the shaft.

We all then start to cough as I remove my hands from my head. I then open my eyes to see Thomas on top of me. Was he protecting me?

"Are you okay?" He pants to me, staring into my eyes as his chest heaves up and down.

"Yeah. Thanks." I pant back and he nods as he gets off me.

"Brenda, are you okay?" I ask while I still cough.

"Yeah, great." She says, turning on her flashlight.

I then take out my flashlight and shine it around the room. The way out of the shaft is blocked and there seems to be no other spots to escape. I start to panic.

"No, no. How are we gonna get back to the others?" I pant as I still look around.

"Relax. I'm gonna get us out of here." She pants as she opens her bag. "Here." She says, tossing Thomas and I a flashlight, then wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

"Why are you helping us?" Thomas asks her as she zips up her bag.

"Trust me, it's not my idea. Jorge seems to think you guys are our ticket to the safe haven." Brenda tells me and I furrow my eyebrows together.

"The what?" I pant to her.

"You know, paradise. Safe from the sun, free of infection." Brenda tells me. "Supposedly, the Right Arm's been taking kids there for years. Immunes, anyway." She says, swallowing thickly as she slips her bag on her shoulder.

"And you know where that is?" I ask as we all stand up.

"No. But Jorge knows a guy. Marcus. He used to smuggle kids up into the mountains. If Jorge made it out, that's where he'll be taking your friends." Brenda says as she kicks a piece of wood to the side.

"If he made it out?" I say as she struggles to pull up the opening.

"You ask a lot of questions." She says to me. "Can you just come over here and help me with this? Please." Brenda asks, looking at me.

I nod at her. I then pat Thomas's shoulder. We kneel down to the opening and we finally pull it up from the ground. Thanks to Thomas's muscles.

We then shine our flashlights, making sure the coast is clear. But my positive thoughts are washed away due to the sound of faint screams. Damn Cranks.

"Well, that doesn't sound good." Thomas comments.

"Yeah. Down here they'll be full term." She swallows thickly once again. "Let's go." Brenda says and hops inside, landing on her feet.

I go after Brenda, easily landing on my feet, then Thomas. She then shines her light through a tunnel as Thomas and I slowly follow her.

"I think it's this way." She pants to us as we hop out of the tunnel and I raise my eyebrows while she shines her light to the right.

"You think?" I mutter as she starts walking off.

"C'mon." Thomas whispers and I nod, following Brenda's footsteps.

"Do people live down here?" I ask her.

"The Solar Storms forced people underground. Jorge says there's settlements all over these tunnels." Brenda tells me.

"So, what about Jorge? Is he your father?" I ask as we still shine our lights to lead the way.

"Close enough. Truth is, I don't really know what he is. He's just always been there. And I've always done what he's asked me to do, no matter how stupid." She says to me.

"So you don't think the Right Arm is real?" I ask.

Before she can answer, another faint scream is made. We turn our heads, shining the light from behind us. Nothing is there. Maybe they're chained up down here, too.

"I think... hope is a dangerous thing." She starts. "Hope has killed more of my friends than the Flare and the Scorch combined. Just thought Jorge was smarter than that." Brenda says as we stop in our tracks once we reach a corner.

"Well, looks like you and I are in that same boat." I mutter and she looks at me.

Thomas the shines his light on the other side and I follow his hand movement.

"Damn." Brenda says as I observe the graffiti on the walls.

We then split up for a few minutes, but I slowly hear Thomas trail behind me.

"Hey, uh, I never thanked you." I say and he looks down at me.

"For what?" He asks.

"About the blade. That was really smart. Thanks." I tell him.

"You're welcome." He nods at me.

"I'm sorry. You know, about your eye. I shouldn't of blown up at you like that." I tell him.

"It's okay. I deserved it anyway. What I did, was a dick move. I'm sorry, too." Thomas says.

"I know." I nod. "How's your eye?" I ask.

"It's fine. A little sore. But I deserved it." He shrugs at me.

"Maybe. But not that hard of a hit." I say.

"It's looks worse than it feels. I'll be fine. So, are we good?" He asks.

"Yeah, Tommy. Course we are." I grin, patting his shoulder.

"Good." He faintly chuckles and I turn back.

I then shine my light as I keep walking. I start hearing wind as I my light travels further down the path.

"Hey, I think it might be this way." I say and Thomas stands beside me.

"Brenda?" Thomas says and we get no answer.

"Brenda?" I say, starting to panic.

"I'm over here. Look at this." She softly says and Thomas and I walk back over to her.

"What? What is it?" I ask as she shines her light on the wall.

I look up to see blood and other body parts splattered onto the wall. She the shines her light in front of her, revealing roots of some sort. They stick everywhere while Thomas gives me a look.

"What the hell is this?" I ask her as her lights travels further down the path.

"I don't know." Brenda answers and I look at her.

I then hear another faint scream and we turn our head. The scream is coming from the mini tunnel beside Brenda. She shines her light to get a closer look while I stand there, ready to pull her back just in case.

A mouse then comes crawling out, making another screech and Brenda sighs in relief as we still hold up our flashlights. The mouse then drops to the ground and start crawling toward us. Brenda then kicks it while I stand back a bit.

"Jesus." Brenda huffs as the mouse finally crawls away from us.

Brenda then decides to shine her light back on the mouse. We jump as something catches it. We lean against Thomas as a Crank start eating the mouse.

Brenda then shines her light on another worm headed Crank and we flinch once again, leaning against Thomas. He pulls us back while wrapping his arms around each of our shoulders.

More Cranks start coming out as Brenda shines her light around. We turn back, but we stop as another worm headed Crank grunts and comes toward us.

I then take my blade and hit the Crank in the head, making it fall to the ground as Thomas pulls Brenda away from it. The Crank then stands back up as I move toward Thomas and Brenda. The other Cranks starts twitchy and groaning. The same Crank I had hit in the head, starts coming at me.

"Go, go, go!" I yell and we start running.

"Oh, my God!" Brenda says as I look behind me to see the Crank already had caught up to us.

"C'mon! Keep going! We're almost there. C'mon!" I yell as the three of us start running faster.

We then reach daylight and I stop in my tracks, just in time before I slip off the edge.

"Woah, woah, watch out." I say as I hold Brenda and Thomas back from falling off the edge.

"Shit." Thomas pants.

"C'mon! This way!" Brenda says and we turn to her as she starts climbing over the bricks and stone of the burned buildings.

"Thomas! C'mon!" I yell and he nods as he climbs after me.

I then look back to see a Crank push another Crank off the edge. That's odd.

"Alan, let's go!" Thomas says and I nod as I keep climbing.

We then make our way through another den and Brenda stops for a second, looking up at another mountain of brick and stone.

"Okay." Brenda nods and Thomas and I start climbing after her.

I then slip on a edge, but I grab onto a wire. I then look back to see the Cranks getting closer.

"Go, go!" I yell as I regain my balance and continue climbing.

"C'mon!" Brenda says.

"Keep going!" I yell as I finally catch up with Brenda and Thomas.

"Watch out!" Brenda yells as she throws a bin.

I gasp and quick move aside, letting it fall toward the Cranks. It ends up taking one out, glass shattering in the process and I look up at Brenda, then at Thomas. We then keep going.

I then hear Thomas grunt and Brenda and I turn back.

"Are you okay?" I ask as the block almost crushes him.

"Yeah." He says and crawls out while I nod and turn back.

"C'mon! Follow me!" Brenda says.

"Yeah, I'm behind you." Thomas yells as Brenda and I run up a flight of stairs.

"Go! Go! Go!" I yell as I hear the Cranks getting closer to us.

Thomas then yells again, falling against the wall as Crank claws at him. Brenda and I then kick the Crank, making it fall and Thomas look up at us.

"Okay, go, go!" Thomas yells as he stands up and watches it fall.

"C'mon!" Brenda says and we continue to follow her.

Brenda slides down a table, then ripping a metal pipe off of something else. She grunts and falls back from the impact.

"Brenda!" I yell as she slides back, hitting a wall of glass.

"Brenda!" I yell. "You okay?" Thomas and I say.

"Yeah." She says as my chest heaves up and down.

"Hang on, I'm gonna find a way down." I tell her while panting.

"Alana-"

"You stay here. Guard the door for the Cranks. I'll be fine. We'll both be." I say and he nods.

I then turn my head to see Brenda slowly standing up, carefully steadying her balance on the glass that's about to crack.

"No, Brenda, don't move. Don't move!" I say as I grab the door handle and start sliding down.

My hands grasps something else and I hold out my other hand to her.

"C'mon." I tell her a strained voice.

"I can't." She grunts as her hand misses mine.

"Brenda, grab my hand." I tell her and I look back to see Thomas fighting a Crank.

"Alana!" Thomas yells.

"No, no!" I yell.

The Crank then slides down, landing on top of Brenda.

"Alana!" Brenda screeches as my heart races.

She then kicks the Crank to the side and gets back up on her feet.

"Brenda!" I yell, holding my hand out again.

"I can't reach!" She shouts back and the Cranks pulls her down once again.

It claws at her, but she moves away. Easily blocking its hit. She tosses it off her, then scooting back as I grab my blade from my pocket.

"C'mon! Brenda!" I say as the Crank groans louder.

I slide down and grab her hand. I then hit the glass with my blade. The Crank falls and so does Brenda. But I grab her.

"Got you." I pant as I tightly hold her wrist.

Thank god.