|Can I clear my conscience, if I'm different from the rest. Do I have to run and hide?

|Song: Monster, Imagine Dragons

|||

Lisa's P.O.V.

Getting out of the city turned out to be a lot easier than getting in. After half an hour of walking we had reached the huge wall. The woman behind the glass seemed almost relieved to open the gates for us and watch us leave.
I found it weird and a bit unsettling but didn't say a word. It wasn't important right now.

It was getting dark and I didn't feel like spending the night outside. So we quickly made our way across the huge parking lot towards the Berg.
It still stood there, like a big black guardian. And as soon as we reached it I could sense something was wrong.
The door remained closed, no happy Dawn or Newt to greet us. I felt my hands getting sweaty and noticed Minho getting nervous next to me.
Jorge didn't need a word from us to take his keys and open the cargo door with one simple push on a button. The few seconds it took for the door to open completely were almost unbearable.
Once the thing was fully opened Minho ran inside.
I cursed under my breath before following him with the others behind me.

'Let me power her up or we'll all sweat till we're nothing but a pile of bones and skin,' Jorge said and he moved into the direction of the cockpit.

I stood next to Thomas and Brenda as I looked around the ship. Something was off, really off and it left an unsettling feeling crawling through my stomach.

'I'll go left,' Thomas said, pointing to a small hallway. 'Why don't you two follow Jorge and search there. This isn't good, they would've been here to welcome us if everything was okay.'
'Not to mention the light and the air would be on,' Brenda added. She gave us a grim look before heading after Jorge.

I took a shaky breath, ready to find my sister when Thomas put his hand on my shoulder. 'I'm sure she's okay,' he whispered, looking me in my eyes.
I nodded, not responding as the most horrible scenarios plagued my mind. Quickly I shook my head and headed into a hallway leading the right side of the ship.
I called out her name, my voice echoeing in the silence of the ship, leaving a thick silence behind.
'Dawn!' Nothing but silence greeted me. I bit my lip and started to run, my heart beat speeding up.
Suddenly I heard something that made me stop in my tracks. Frowning I turned in a circle, searching for the noise. It sounded like someone hitting a door.

My eyes fell a broomcloset on my left hand. The sound seemed to come from there. Quickly I scanned the room and saw a chair. I took it, steady in my hand. There was something I needed as a weapon and I didn't have my gun with me. With the chair raised I walked towards the closet.
Taking a deep breath I braced myself. 'Get back from the door,' I yelled.
I didn't wait for a response as I ran towards the door and kicked it in. With a lot more force than actually necessary, because the door easily gave in, making me land on the ground with the chair still in my hands.
Groaning in pain, I tried to sit up, putting the chair down.

'Lisa?' A small voice whispered.

Immediately I turned around, my eyes searching the dark.
There she was, eyes red and dark circles under her eyes, her knuckles were bleeding and she looked like she hadn't slept in days. My eyes widened and I stood up, hugging her tightly. 'Dawn, holy klunk, what happened?' She coughed and looked so broken, it snapped my heart in two.
'Where is Newt?' She whispered, her voice hoarse.
An icy feeling spread through my stomach. 'What are you talking about?' I slowly asked.
She didn't respond, just broke herself free of my arms and made her way out of the closet, through the halls.
I followed her, ready to catch her if she fell because her legs didn't seem all that steady.

Suddenly I felt anger flare up in me. I should never have left her here, who knows how long she had been locked in that broomcloset. We had only been gone for three days but that was an awful long time to spend in a little dark closet.
I should have been smarter and took her with us, that way I at least could have protected her.

For a weakened girl, she walked very fast and only lost her balance once.
Finally we reached the room beyond the cargo door.
Minho, Thomas, Brenda and Jorge all stood there, gathered around Minho who seemed to be holding some sort of paper in his hands.
'Dawn!' Thomas gasped at the sight of her. 'What happened?'
She shook her head and headed for Minho, who stood still as a statue, staring at the paper in his hand.
'He's gone,' the asian boy whispered.

Dawn took the paper out of his hand and made a sobbing sound. Then her knees gave out and she dropped on the floor, her head in her hands.
Quickly I ran to her, sitting down next to her and taking the crumbled paper out of her hand. My breath caught in my throat as I read it.

They got inside somehow. They're taking me to live with the other Cranks. It's for the best. Thanks for being my friends. Take care of Dawn. 
Goodbye.

A small gasp left my trembling lips and the paper slipped out of my hands. It felt like a sudden hole had appeared in my heart, a hole where our friend used to be. We had been together since the start of this, he couldn't just be gone now. This couldn't be the end of the story.

Minho sat down on the couch, seeming on the verge of tears.
Thomas just stood there like a lost puppy.
I took a shaky breath. 'Guys, what are we gonna do?'

We really should discuss what to do next but no words came, it was like everyone was somehow paralysed by Newt his sudden disappearence.
Even Minho and Thomas seemed too lost to say anything and to be honest I had no idea what to say as well.
It was like this dark void had taken a place within our little circle. We had known Newt couldn't be saved but to have him ripped away so suddenly was something else entirely.

'What happened?' Thomas finally whispered quietly, seeming scared to even ask it.

Dawn swallowed and for a second I thought she wasn't going to answer. But then her eyes hardened and she spoke. 'They told us they were the Denver police and that they had to come inside. We didn't let them and they tried breaking down the door. Newt...' she fell silent and bit her lip, then took a deep breath and continued. 'He locked me in that broomcloset to protect me. And I had to listen how they tested him, found out he was infected and took him. I-I couldn't-' Tears appeared in her eyes but before I could reach out to her she had already wiped them away. She let out a shaky breath and seemed on the verge of falling apart.

'Why would they take him?' Thomas asked, turning to Brenda and Jorge.
'The Denver police are a joke, they would never go outside the walls,' Brenda said, frowning slightly, 'they must have been bounty hunters. They collect Cranks and get paid if they deliver them to the Crank Palace.'
'What is a Crank Palace?' I asked, slightly afraid of the answer. Even in my newly returned memories I couldn't recall ever hearing about such a place.
Brenda threw me a glare, seeming a bit uncomfortable and so Jorge answered in her place. 'Every major city has a Crank Palace. A place where they send the infected and try to make it bearable for them until they reach the Gone. I don't know what they do to them then but it's not a pretty place to be, hermano. Immunes run the place, get paid for it a lot. I don't think any non-Immune would risk going near there.'

That was it, that was where Newt was right now. In a place surrounded with Cranks, maybe even ones who were just as gone as the group we ran into in the tunnels, back in the Scorch.
A shiver went down my spine by the very thought of it.

Suddenly it was Minho who broke the silence, taking me out of my thoughts. 'I want you all to listen,' he took a moment to look at all of us before he continued. 'Ever since we broke out of Wicked, I've basically gone along with whatever you slintheads ended up saying we should do. And I haven't complained. Much. But right here, right now, I'm making a decision and you're going to do what I say. And if anyone pushes back, to hell with you.'

I stared at the asian boy and was thankful for his words, for it was completely clear to me what he was going to say. And it was the only right thing to do.

'I know we have bigger goals in mind,' Minho continued. 'We need to connect with the Right Arm, figure out what to do about Wicked, all that safe the world klunk. But first we're going to find Newt. This isn't open for discussion. We are flying to wherever we need to go and we're getting Newt out of there.'

Silence filled the room but no one dared to complain, it wasn't even necessary.

'You know where the closest Crank Palace is?' Minho asked, turning to Jorge.
'Yeah,' the hispanic man answered. 'We passed over it on the way here. It's just on the far side of the valley, right up against the mountains to the west. I'll be glad for a little adventure, muchacho. We'll be there in twenty minutes.'

The plan to safe Newt seemed to have blown back some life into all of us. And we all stood up to make ourselves ready for yet a new danger we had to face.

I stood up from my position on the ground and turned back to look at my little sister. 'Dawn?' I asked, making her red and empty eyes look up at me. 'Are you alright?' My voice was low and filled with worry.
'I'll be alright once we have Newt back,' she said, her teeth gritted and a sudden determination flashed through her eyes. I gave her a slight smile and then stuck out my hand.
She took it and I helped her stand. She stumbled a bit on her feet before giving me a firm nod to confirm she really was okay. Then she let go of my hand and walked away to prepare herself.

I turned around to get ready as well when I suddenly stood face to face with Minho. My stomach shrinked at the sight of the deep sadness in his eyes.
I wanted to reach out and take his hand but something held me back. 'I'm sure he's alright,' I whispered instead.
'I have to find him,' he spoke, his voice filled with a heavy burden. Responsible, I knew he felt responsible for what had happened to Newt, even though there was honestly nothing he could have done. 'I can't loose him.'

I nodded. 'I know.'

He looked up at me and his pained eyes burned holes in my heart.
I knew that the emptiness I felt was nothing compared to his.
Newt and Minho had been in the Maze for two years and went through so much pain. And it was all Wicked's fault. And now that we finally had a shot at earning back our freedom and bringing Wicked down, Newt turned to have a death sentence written on his very forehead.
I could not even start to imagine what that must feel like to him.
Wicked had managed to take yet another thing from him and there was nothing he could do about it.
'We'll find him,' I whispered but knew it was useless because even if we did find him, he would die anyway.
Minho gave me a small nod before turning around and disappearing into the Berg. And suddenly I wished I would have taken his hand after all.