20-Promise?

It's been a few days and there were still no signs of Minho. We had come across a group of bounty hunters when we came to denver, and sadly Frypan was caught along with others and brought back to WICKED. Sonya was still around, as much as I hoped she wasn't I felt horrible for anyone who had to go back to WICKED.

"I knew this was going to happen." I said as I could see the virus was spreading more and more rapidly for WICKED was so power hungry to find a cure by risking the lives of immunes. They had a backup plan that would have been a smoother process to finding a cure, but they decided to take the route that gave them the most money and resources.

"What do you mean?" Teresa asked confused.

"The spread of the virus...it blew up like this because of the bliss drug that WICKED made. People who were infected kept taking the bliss and infected others. Sooner or later this place will be over run with cranks. It's been happening all along, but on a smaller scale. Now that many immunes have escaped, the bliss is not being made as often." I said watching her confused face.

"So you're saying in order to make the bliss drug, we need immunes?" Sonya said as she walked up to us.

"Yes. WICKED makes the bliss by having you undergo the trials and collect a special liquid within your body. The moment they took me out of the maze, they collected it from my body. They kept collecting until I had no more to offer. Thus explaining why it's no use if you use a launcher on me because I grew numb to that feeling a long time ago." I said as Sonya avoided looking me in the eyes.

"Not only that, but we could have prevented all of this...WICKED could have." I said softly.

"Thomas?" I heard Teresa say as she looked behind me. If Thomas was there that means Minho was too. I turned around to see Minho walking along side with Thomas, Brenda, and Jorge. Where was Newt?

I could see Minho look our direction as Teresa had started running towards Thomas. "Minho!" Sonya yelled as she ran up to him and gave him a hug. My feet wouldn't move. As badly as I wanted to go towards him, I didn't. I did walk towards the group and could feel his stare burning every part of my body.

"What are you talking about?! You left us!" I heard Teresa shout at Thomas who looked angry. They were standing a little further from everyone else.

"Where's Newt?" I asked.

"We went to go get him...but he wouldn't come with us." Minho answered me. I looked at him to see that he was in pain. I knew exactly where Newt was thrown, all cranks were sent there as a default. Sooner or later it would be over ran by cranks as well.

I walked over to Brenda and Jorge. "Thanks a lot you guys. I appreciate all the work you have done." I said smiling and hugged the both of them.

"Weren't those the cranks that helped you through the scorch?" I heard Sonya asking Minho.

"My my muchacho. I'm no crank. I worked for WICKED, but only for the sake of protecting Ji-ho." Jorge said smiling

"Ji-ho?" Thomas asked confused as he walked towards us. I almost forgot that he didn't have all of his memories back yet.

"That's my real name. The only thing that WICKED let me keep, since I was too valuable to leave out any memory of my life." I said smiling as I went up to Thomas and gave him a long hug. It's been so long since I've seen his face as well. "I've missed you. Sorry I wasn't able to talk to you at WICKED's headquarters."

"It's all good you shank. Thought that they erased your memory that's why you wouldn't talk to me." Thomas said ruffling my hair. I chuckled and swatted away his hand.

"Ji-ho." I heard Minho's voice speak from behind me. I turned around to see him still standing side by side with Sonya. I was jealous, but the last memory we had together wasn't pleasant. As much regret I am feeling for what had happened in the maze, it was something I would also feel guilty about for the rest of my life.

"Hey." I said with a small smile. There was an awkward tension in the air, nobody said a word and silently watched the small interaction between us. I could see his body start to move towards me, but stop as Sonya touched his arm. It pained me to watch him try and decide between the both of us. This is what I deserve for throwing him away...it was better for him not to know why I did what I did in the maze.

"We have to get moving. Where are those bounty hunters that are capturing the immunes?" Thomas said breaking the tension and everyone started to plan everything. We were deciding who was to go meet the Right Arm with the bounty hunters.

"You and me!" Minho said to Thomas. They argued back and forth until I spoke.

"No." I said as they both looked at me. "Minho you stay...we need someone here to continue the plan if anything goes wrong on our trip to the Right Arm. I'll be going with Thomas. We both have something that the Right Arm wants and it's something to use against WICKED." I said as Thomas nodded in agreement. Minho's hands turned into fists and nodded.

"But you haven't even had your surgery to stop WICKED from controlling you. Thomas almost killed all of us when we tried to do the procedure on him." Minho said.

"I know it's been forever since we last seen each other, but did you forget who was the best med-jack in the glade. It wasn't a coincidence that I became a med-jack. If I remember correctly WICKED made me perform the procedure on all of you." I said as he was now frowning.

"That's right. She's the one that taught Hans everything that he knows." Jorge said slinging an arm around my neck smiling. "I even tried courting her while I was still with WICKED, but she was too busy trying to protect you." he continued and pointed at Minho.

"Jorge stop. The past is the past. Don't bring any more unnecessary information." I said and walked away towards the bounty hunters that were going to bring us to the Right Arm.

"Well let's go." Thomas said walking beside me and we got into the van and drove away.

The ride was quiet. Until Thomas decided to speak. "He knows you know...Newt and Alby told him everything. Even though I was there...I can't believe that I couldn't help you." he said with a look of pain in his eyes.

I sat back shocked. Alby had broken his promise, and he wasn't alive for me to yell at him. Newt was at the Crank Palace. "Did he say anything?" I asked with no expression whatsoever.

"He was a mess for a while...he held onto you until it was time for you to be taken by the box. Why didn't you let Teresa or I know you were doing fine after they took you?" he said gripping onto his gun.

"I couldn't...they were holding me prisoner just like they did before I went to the maze. I was weak and they took advantage of it." I said angry thinking about what happened.

FLASHBACK

Bright lights flashed my eyes. I could barely open my eyes, but then I heard voices talk. "She's waking. What should we do?" a female voice said. My sensation was slowly coming back, I could feel my back upon a cool metal table. The air smelt metallic. "Doesn't matter. If she wakes and fights back during the procedure than use the launcher. It'd bring better results for the bliss." a man's voice said.

I tried to move my leg, but I could feel that I was strapped to the table. Panic flooded my body as I tried to move out of the straps. "Subject A-0 is awake. Go get a launcher." the female voice said and I heard a door shut and open.

My eyes now fully adjusted to the light and room. I look to see one of the doctors that I used to work with looking at me. "Let me out!" I shouted and struggled against the straps.

"Moving the subject to stand vertical for better flow for bliss to be extracted." the female doctor said in a monotone voice.

"I know you're watching Ava!!! How dare you! You weren't suppose to take me out of the maze!" I yelled and I swore I could feel her smirking at me through whatever device she was watching me through.

"Oh darling. I couldn't risk losing the last person on this earth with an IQ level over 200. You're too valuable to lose that you get special treatment. Now this may hurt, but it won't kill you so sit tight and be a good girl." Ava said as she walked into the room.

"Bullshit! Let me out! This bliss drug you're making isn't helping. You know it's going to backfire one day and it'll be too late to even find a cure." I said as she glared at me.

"I don't care how many times you have to shoot her with the launcher. Just make sure she doesn't die." she said to the female doctor who nodded.

"Remember WICKED is good." Ava said smiling at me and walked out.

"You're going to regret it!" I shouted angry.

"Silence." a guard said and shot the launcher. My body was in pain. I wasn't able to move due to the straps. I was knocked out the instant it hit my body. It continued this every time I woke up. I don't know how many times I have been shot, but I was no longer able to scream due to losing my voice. My body losing all sensation. I was even unable to faint from the pain.

I couldn't even feel the tears that ran down my face. I was pretty sure it wasn't a pretty picture. I wasn't even sure how long the procedure had been going on. It seemed like days had passed until finally they were unable to take anymore without killing me. My eyes could no longer open on their own. My body limp. I could barely hear whatever it was they were saying about me, but I was soon moved and all the launcher bullets were taken off of me. They have left scars everywhere. Their marks burned into my skin as a reminder that I should have never fought back. From then on I always wore long clothing that could cover the scars.

It took about a week for me to be able to walk and use my body, but only for a limited amount of time. I still was unable to speak due to all my screaming that my throat became raw and damaged. I was force fed food most of the time while recovering. My body was still numb and I could barely feel anything.

They had me exactly where they wanted me. I knew where this was leading. They would threaten me using Minho. I had all my memories back and during the time I healed I was able to think back to the time I was in the glade. I could speak to Teresa or Thomas, but I knew WICKED was keeping a close watch on me and would know if I talked to them by looking at my brainwave with the chip installed in my head.

I was alone once again. It was as if I had come back to my life before the maze; just without Teresa and Thomas. Still, even then I was alone. Teresa and Thomas had each other while WICKED had me in the palms of their hands.

After a few more days, my voice came back in a raspy tone. Brenda and Jorge had stopped to visit me after they had finished whatever mission WICKED had sent them on. It was then I had told them to go and help Minho and the others.

"You have to help them." my raspy voice came out softly. I could see the horror and pity in their eyes as they looked at my heavily beaten body. "You two are the only ones I can trust right now."

"Anything for you muchacho." Jorge said softly holding my hand.

"But how? WICKED will be suspicious if we just leave out of nowhere." Brenda said with her arms crossed.

"I have a plan." They both looked at me waiting for me to continue. "I know Ava will be holding a meeting sometime soon. She knows that they won't be able to navigate the scorch without some friendly help. At that meeting you'll volunteer yourselves."

They both looked at me as if I was crazy, for anyone practically willing to volunteer for such a dangerous mission will be looked upon suspiciously. Especially them, since they were known to be pretty close to me.

"Ava will question the both of you, just tell her that I said I'll accept her deal."

END FLASHBACK

"What was the deal?" Thomas asked.

I was reluctant to tell him. Silence filled the van once again. "Promise me...no...swear that you won't tell anyone ever... and never to Minho." I said looking at him seriously as he was taken aback by my attitude. Thomas nodded his head.

"I'm going to die Thomas."

Before another word could be spoken, someone had jumped on top of the van. A face appearing upside down from the driver's side to look into the car. It was a crank.