The feeling of inevitability is a horrific thing. It's helplessness wrapped up with a ribbon thirty times so you can't unravel the grief. It's knowing that whatever you do, or try to do won't change the fact that there's nothing you can do to save yourself or someone else. I was more helpless than I'd ever been because I couldn't seem to undo that bloody ribbon. I was drowning, holding out a hand that nobody was going to grab.

Inevitability stripped me of every fraction of hope I had left in my miniscule body, to replace it with the want to be back in the arms of Mae. It was a dark shadow looming over my body, projecting voices in my head that triggered thoughts that hadn't even come to my mind in at least a year. Holding the launcher close to my chest as I had been doing since the moment I stepped into this building alone, I followed Tommy and Teresa through the hall, their bickering nothing but a dull echo in my head.

I was walking in slow motion, trying to keep myself from slipping through my own fingers. Instead of holding up the world, I was holding up my own, with nobody's help. That was almost worse.

"Thomas, you have to listen to me. Getting that serum won't save Newt."

Her empty words meant nothing to me as I shook my head, not wanting to believe, but already knowing. I had to keep the little white ribbon of hope that was acting as a shield strong, for if it broke, I would too.

"It might buy him some time, but..."

I rolled my eyes while taking a step forward, harshly grabbing the girl's forearm. "Just ignore her, she's tryna get inside your head..." I don't know whether I was speaking to Tommy or to myself as I used the last bit of sanity that was running out to point my gun to the other side of the hallway although there was nobody there.

"Listen," Teresa was more forceful with her words now. "I know what's going on out there. People are dying. The world is dying."

Yeah, no shit. You're just now realizing this? I asked myself as I glanced over my shoulder for anyone else who could possibly be coming our way.

"There's something about your blood I don't understand." She was practically on her knees, begging as Thomas towered over her, crossing his arms in an attempt to keep himself hidden. All trust he had for this girl was gone from what I could tell. I knew he wanted this to be over, believe me, I did too. I wanted to get as far away from Teresa and from WICKED as possible.

"Open it." Thomas muttered, not even looking at the girl as his voice lowered, partially because of the mask he continued to wear. I was beginning to sweat like a buggin' banshee in mine—not that I knew what that was. All I knew was that it was very very hot, and I was beginning to feel as though I was walking on air, my head being the only thing that weighed a million pounds on my body. The ache was starting to increase, feeling like someone shoved my brain into a large box that was growing smaller by the minute.

Teresa surprisingly obeyed, leaning forward to press her thumb to the small keypad before returning back to her previous position as though that hadn't even happened. "Just let me run some tests..."

Adjusting his mask, Thomas stepped into the lift, ready to be taken up to the medical wing. I followed, and so did Teresa as she continued to try and convince him.

"I promise I can protect you!"

I almost laughed at the sentence. Glaring at her underneath the shield that hid my expressions form the public, I furrowed my eyebrows and pursed my lips to the side, not letting myself believe anything that she was saying. She sounded like a bloody fool, asking for our permission... asking us to trust her after she betrayed us so easily. The whole reason that that nightmare of an evening happened six months ago was her. She didn't have to give us away because she thought that it was the right thing to do.

Hell, maybe it was to her.

But she should've thought about what it would do to us, her family before she threw us all into our own personal hell.

Her prodding must've torn through Thomas' last string of patience, because he then turned around, throwing off his mask. "Yeah? Like you protected Minho?"

I widened my eyes, almost choking on air as he revealed his face for nearly every security camera to see. I stepped forward, my heart plummeting to the ground as I placed a firm hand on his arm, wanting to punch him right now.

"What are you doing?" I whisper-shouted to the boy despite everyone probably already knowing who we were. In a split second, he risked our lives even more than they already were, something the boy seemed to consider his profession. It was a heat of the moment decision, his only wish to get his friend back and for Teresa to just cooperate. His brain was turned off as he glanced at me like I was just another covered up face, quickly returning his gaze to the girl as he took a step forward again.

"How many people is it gonna take? Hmm?" His blood boiling, I could practically feel the tension between the two as they argues like children while we needed to get a job done. "How many people do they have to round up, torture, kill... Huh? When the hell does it stop?"

"It stops when we find a cure." She stated, her voice strong and secure as she looked the boy in the eyes, standing her ground. But my friend was not having it.

"There is no god damn cure!" He held back from forcefully saying it to her, the wall of common sense stopping him a bit too far past the line. The boy had gone more than a year thinking that, the cranks being the stars of the nightmares he thinks that nobody notices at night. I'm convinced he hasn't gotten a good nights rest since the day before Chuck died.

His words seemed to hit Teresa right in the chest, her silence floating in the air around us. She looked right back at Thomas, her jaw clenching as she tilted her head to the side as if he had offended her. I didn't know who to believe. The fact that she might be right, and that something was behind the mystery of Brenda being fully cured from only one dose of the serum, or the fact that nothing was going to help me, and I was basically screwed.

Hell, I was screwed before I even stepped foot into the building.

"Don't waste your breath, Teresa!"

The inevitable always found a way of crashing the party, unwanted, unknowing... It always found a way back into the picture, holding the same rope as if to taunt the ones who tried to run for their lives. This was the inevitable, darling.

My head whipped up to see Jansen, the face who almost made me have a heart-attack less than five minutes ago. My heart dropped to my feet as I was pushed back into my own personal hell, the fiery lava starting to swallow me alive the longer I was in this building.

A gun was pointed towards us, but Tommy and I didn't hesitate to hold our launchers at him, my finger on the trigger and ready to fire at the man who has caused so much pain. If it were just me and him, if I was strolling around the WICKED complex for fun perhaps, I would've pulled the trigger in the elevator. Hell, if I had the chance, I would've pulled the trigger all the way back when he shot Mae's mum.

"He made his choice long ago..." Jansen spoke, creating a line of terrifying chills roll down my spine. My eyes were wide under the mask that continued to hide my identity, and the fact that I was infected with the disease everyone in the bloody world was scared of. If I took it off, they would probably be scared of me too.

"Drop it, kid!" The shout came from my right side, near Thomas. Now turning my head towards the three guards that were coming down the hall, walking slowly as though we were some kind of monsters, I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned my head down the hallway that was closest to me. Just as I thought, three more guards were advancing toward us, knees bent as though they were ready to start charging at any moment. I let out a short, overwhelmed breath before pointing my gun towards them, trying to have one eye on Jansen as well.

Thomas' sudden movement made me tear my gaze away from the other guns that were pointed toward me, only to focus on his decision of harshly grabbing Teresa by the shoulder and pulling her close to his body. With his own gun pointed to her head, I made sure mine was now facing Jansen, but still looking to my left.

"Back up. Tell 'em to back off..." He ordered, cocking his head toward the guards on his right. With every second that passed, it seemed that our presence was more known to the people in the building; for more men dressed in all black, holding launchers ran up behind Rat Man. "Tell 'em to back off!" He repeated, sounding more distressed.

"Hey, Thomas, c'mon." He started, no sympathy in his voice whatsoever. I kept my eyes on the men in front of us, darting my weapon around like a madman. "It's me."

"I've known you longer than you can remember, you're not gonna shoot her..." Jansen challenged the boy, who remained holding the gun to Teresa's head. I shot a quick glance at the girl, seeing her frightened eyes, but the rest of her body seemed almost calm. Despite her heavy breaths, I think she knew Thomas wasn't gonna shoot her either.

"You don't think so?"

Oh god, I thought, knowing he was just doing this to get a rise out of the monster in front of us. A bead of sweat fell from my forehead and slowly ran down the side of my head, taking my mind off of the scene in front of us for only a short time. The droplet felt strange against my skin, almost cold. Perspiration falling from my face, just like the tears that wanted to leap from my dry, stinging eyes was not helping my mental well-being. I was wobbling on the ledge, struggling to keep my composure.

"Okay, go on then..." A smirk pulled up his face, sending goosebumps rolling down my spine. Jansen pulled the gun away, now pointing it toward the ceiling before his arm fell limp at his side. He was relaxed on one leg, standing mockingly as he stared. "Shoot her."

Tommy took a step back, not expecting that answer. Still holding Teresa, his hand began to tremble. I clenched my jaw, wondering how we always got ourselves into these types of situations. Maybe it was just in our blood. One of the special and unique things about us...

"Prove me wrong..." He continued to ram himself into Thomas' head, being the center of the conflicting thoughts that have been eating at him since yesterday. Actually, probably since Minho was captured. My eyes darted toward him, and I wish that he would look at me and see through my mask that I was screaming at him not to kill the girl. No matter how much we all hated her, she didn't deserve to die. Jansen was just trying to beat him up mentally.

A few seconds of silence passed, the screaming voices in my head being the only thing that kept me aware. The footsteps of the man in front of us were echoes as the guards slowly advanced toward us, their guns still pointed at us and mine still pointed at Jansen. I never noticed how heavy this launcher was before...my arms were starting to become really tired.

But the two stared at each other, good verses evil in the flesh.

"Shoot. Her."

I found myself taking a small step back at his tone of voice, watching as Thomas flinched and moved the gun towards Teresa's head, but didn't shoot. He wasn't going to. We all knew it. A few more seconds and Jansen was going to have his minions shoot us instead of Teresa. And all this will be for nothing. I'll never get to see Mae again...never tell her I love her. God damnit. I should've just told her when we

were—

Before I could form the next sentence in my head, I was being shoved backwards into the fire escape, and a glass door was shut in front of me. To my right, Thomas stood by me, his face whiter than I'd ever seen it before. I couldn't even comprehend what happened before shots were fired at us, and I raised my launcher to fight back. Thinking that the bullets were going to cut through the glass, I flinched, surprised when I felt nothing but relief that we were behind a bullet proof door.

Teresa stood outside, busy jumping out of the way of the shots that flew by her. Jansen sprinted towards the door, throwing himself into it and cursing loudly when it didn't break. So close, yet so far.

Turns out, Maisy, that sometimes, the inevitable can be avoided.

We both looked at Teresa, and she looked back at the two of us. She delayed the inevitable.

Now knowing that we were temporarily safe from the people just outside the glass, I reached my hand up and tore the black mask off my face, wanting to stick my tongue out at Jansen. Mae probably would. Actually, she would flip him off.

So that's exactly what I did.

Sitting in one of the seats of the long bus while Brenda drove hastily, trying to get us to the WICKED complex without anyone important noticing, it was a time to let the endless hole of anticipation I had start to eat me alive. I was tapping my foot on the metal ground, my eyes darting around the city outside the window as I thought how I was so close to reuniting with my best friend.

Six months was too long for us to be away from each other. After seeing him every day for about a month and a half and getting to know who he was—a stubborn, sarcastic son of a bitch—I've grown to kinda like the boy. As I sat there, I remembered when we used to gossip and make fun of all of the boys we hated or thought were just a nuisance.

There were times in the Glade where I wanted to punch him in the face, and there were other times where I wanted to just keep him close. That was mostly while we were fugitives with no place to go, looking for the Right Arm while everything fell down around us. I mean, that was still happening, but we had a plan. A solid plan that could work if Brenda actually put her foot on the gas and drove.

"Brenda, we're never gonna get there if you keep driving slower than Thomas' brain works..." I leaned forward, my left arm hanging over the back of the seat in front of me.

The girl chuckled, nodding her head once before lowering her foot onto the gas so I could feel the vehicle move faster. "Happy now?"

I raised my eyebrows, leaning back once again and returning my gaze to the window. "I'll be happy when everyone's safe."

"You're such a mom...I hope you know that."

I darted my head toward her back. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you're always the one that makes sure nobody gets hurt or anything. You know... always take care of others before you take care of yourself? Doesn't that sound like you?" She looked at me through the giant rearview mirror above her head.

"Dunno." I shrugged, not knowing that a mother really did that. The only experience that I've had with one of those lasted for about an hour before she died. "If that's what a mother is then Newt's the closest thing to that that I can think of."

Brenda didn't respond, and I was partially grateful for that. Truth is, I didn't really want to be a mother to people. It's not because I didn't want the responsibility, or that I didn't want to be on the watch every second. I think that the reason had a much more of a deeper meaning than just not wanting to be responsible.

We drove for a few more minutes, hearts racing at the fear of being caught by one of the many patrol cars that were rushing towards where we needed to go. I kept my head down, praying to whomever was listening that nobody would recognize us and pull us over. We couldn't risk a set back.

The night was beginning to become quiet around us, the crowds of people all wearing masks had disappeared, making this place almost unrecognizable from yesterday. The streets were just about empty with the exception of the large bus that we were traveling in, and the police cars that zoomed past us, causing Brenda to step on the gas more. I licked my lips, trying to divert my mind by looking up at the black sky, searching for any trace of the stars.

There wasn't a single star in the sky, not when we were in the heart of the city. Even squinting my eyes as hard as I could, I couldn't see any. I couldn't seem to remember the last time I had seen the stars. Stars seemed to be such a conventional thing, yet I couldn't seem to remember the last time I looked up and noticed one. I've seen the moon—I've always seen the moon—just never the stars.

"Where are the stars?" I murmured to myself, head tossed back as I squinted through the window.

"What'd you say?" Brenda's voice interrupted my thoughts, and I shook my head, eyes never leaving the sky so I beheld an ache in my neck.

"Nothing, I'm just looking for the stars..." I told her.

I remembered the first time I ever really noticed the moon. The moon was always an easy thing for me to notice. It was the center of attention when you looked up at the sky, the first thing your eyes move toward is the giant ball of white light that always lights up the darkness that shadowed the rest of the world. But you never really noticed the stars. They came after the moon. Stars were beautiful too. I wish I paid more attention to them.

"We're almost there, Mae. Just a few more minutes."

I blinked, my head falling from its previous position to look at the floor, my hands fiddling with themselves in my lap.

Just a few more minutes. That's it.

I nodded, finding myself agreeing with the words that she spoke despite the uneasy feeling in my chest. I could almost feel myself becoming sick, the bus was hot, and my thumping heart wasn't helping the queasiness. My brain was yelling at me, saying to hurry the hell up or we were going to be late. My heart was trying to calm down, telling my brain that everything was going to be okay and that everyone was going to be happy and safe once we retrieved Minho and the serum. But for once, my brain was winning. The feeling inside of me began to fester, a swirling storm that started to choke me out.

Feeling my pocket for my inhaler, I sighed, remembering that I hadn't forgotten that. I tightened Newt's jacket around me, clinging onto anything of his that I had. Pushing the hair behind my ear, I turned my head back to the window, immediately jumping to my feet when I noticed Brenda pulling into the parking garage of WICKED.

I jogged toward the front of the bus, keeping my hands firm around the seat to my left, and the headrest that she wasn't using so that I didn't fall to the ground the second she made a sharp turn, pressing the gas more.

"Brenda, where are you? We're here." Gally's winded voice spoke through the walkie just as Brenda slammed on the brake, shifting the gear to park, and I moved to open the doors, wasting no time.

"Alright, let's go, let's go!" Gally guided the kids toward the door just as I got it open, stepping to the side to allow the kids to be seated. "Front and back, front and back!"