|Your guns are loaded and your lies are the bullets

|Song: Traitor, Daughtry

|||

Lisa's P.O.V.

The next two days we spend on the Berg were quiet. We didn't talk much and if we did, it was about Gally and the Right Arm. We all carefully avoided talking about Newt.
Dawn didn't bring it up either, never even dropped a hint at his very existence.
On the morning of the third day after our adventure in the Crank Palace, we all started living again. After we ate a quick meal we started talking about a plan. It was a simple one really. We'd go to Gally's apartment and start from there.

We had gathered at the backdoor.
I gave Dawn a reassuring smile, since she looked a bit tense. She gave me a small smile in return.
'Let me do the talking again,' Jorge said.
Brenda nodded. 'And when we get in, we'll get a cab.'
'Fine,' Minho muttered, his voice sending a sting of pain through my heart. 'Let's quit this shuck yapping and go.'
Jorge pressed a button and the huge ramp of the cargo door slowly started opening.
I took a shaky breath, somehow I was even more nervous than the first time we went inside the city. Then I frowned.

As soon as the cargo door had opened far enough I noticed a group of people standing there, and they didn't look friendly. Two male, one female. The men had guns in their hands and the woman had a Launcher. They looked dirty and bruised, their clothes torn and filthy.

'What is this?' Jorge asked.

'Shut your mouth, Munie,' one of the guys said, his voice croaked and cold, making me shiver. 'Now step down here nice and easy. Don't. Try. Anything.'

I shared a glare with Dawn, her eyes narrowed and her hands trembling. I had no idea what was going on, but wasn't planning on getting taken prisoner.

'Now!' The man snapped and he pointed his gun at Jorge's face.
Knowing there was nothing we could do, since Dawn was the only one of us armed, we all stepped forward with our hands in the air. We were lead around the back of the Berg, where an old and dirty van was waiting for us.
I felt myself growing nervous, the thought of being unarmed scared me. I felt safe with the weight of a gun in my belt, now I felt almost naked. I couldn't protect the people I cared about if I was unarmed.

One other woman sat behind the wheel with two armed men next to her. The other two men opened the door of the little van and gestured for us to climb inside. 'In you go. One wrong move and bullets start flying. We've got nothing to lose. And I can think of a lot worse things than the world with one or two less Munies in it.'

I chewed on my lip as I stepped inside, feeling like an animal in a cage.

'Who's paying you to steal Immunes?' Thomas asked, as the others were shoved in as well.
No one responded.
Minho came sitting next to me, his leg pressing against mine. It made a shiver run down my spine.

The two men who had greeted us at the Berg stepped in last and closed the doors behind them. One gestured with his gun towards the back. 'There's a pile of black hoods in the corner, put them on. And it won't be good for you if I catch you peeking. We like to keep our secrets nice and safe.'

I gave the man a long glare but knew there was no point in arguing and so I took one of the hoods and put it over my head. It smelled like dust and mold but I didn't dare protest.

The darkness was closing in on me as we drove on and on. The ride seemed never ending. I felt myself starting to get sick with nerves, especially because I had no idea what we just gotten ourselves into.

Finally the van stopped and I heard the sound of a door being opened.
'Don't take of the hoods,' one of the men snapped. 'Don't you dare take them off until we tell you so. Do us a favor and keep yourselves alive.'

'You are one tough shank,' Minho groaned from beside me. 'Easy to do when you've got six people with guns. Why don't you-'
He was cut off by the sound of a fist connecting with flesh, then a loud grunt.

I clenched my hands, my heart crumbling but there was nothing I could do.
Hands grabbed me and I was pulled out of the van. A groan escaped my lips as my knees hit the pavement. A firm hand took me up and forced me to walk. I had no idea where we were going but from the change of air I felt I could tell we were inside a building.
It smelled like wet paper and fire. The sound of a key unlocking a door echoed through the room and the next moment we were pushed inside.

I screamed in anger as I was pushed on the ground once again.
Voices sounded, like a big crowd muttering.
Slowly I forced myself to stand up, my knees bruised and painful. I reached for the hood which was still covering my face and when none of the men stopped me I pulled it off.

We stood in a huge room filled with people, most of them sitting on the floor. It was poorly lit and dirty.

Standing up I took a few steps backwards, walking straight into Dawn.
She had removed her hood as well and frowned at the sight around her.

A woman came stumbling forwards, weariness written on her face. 'What's it like out there?' She asked. 'We've been here for a few hours and things were falling apart. Has it gotten worse?'

A feeling of dread crawled its way up in my stomach and I looked hopelessly at Thomas for guidence.
He looked just as startled as me.
Then I noticed a lot of people moving closer to our little group.
'We were outside the city,' Thomas said. 'They got us at the gates. What do you mean things were falling apart? What happened?'
Her eyes fell the floor, her body slightly trembling. 'The government declared a state of emergency without any kind of warning. Then the police, the cop machines, the Flare testers, they all disappeared. We got snagged by these people trying to work at the city building. There wasn't even time to figure out what was happening or why.'

'We were guards over at the Crank Palace,' another man said, his eyes tired and voice drained from all energy. 'Others like us had been disappearing left and right, so we finally gave up and came to Denver a few days ago. We got nabbed at the airport too.'

'How'd everything get so bad, suddenly?' Brenda asked. 'We were there three days ago!'

The man let out a bitter laugh. 'The whole city is full of idiots thinking they've been containing the virus. It's been a long and slow rumble but it finally exploded in our faces. The world has no chance, the virus is too strong. Some of us have seen this coming for a long time.'

I had nothing to say, with my memories back I knew how bad the world was. And there was nothing I could say to make it better.

Suddenly Thomas gave me a nudge and nodded towards a group of girls making their way over toward us.
I frowned and then regonized them.

They were from Group B.

I took a shaky breath and then noticed Teresa. A sudden anger flared up inside of me. Quickly I turned to Dawn. 'Are my eyes red?' I asked.
She frowned at me and shook her head.
I nodded. 'Good, that means I can kill her.'
Dawn still looked at me confused then her gaze wandered over to Teresa and her eyes widened. She looked as if she were about to reach out and take my arm, but stopped herself at the last second.

'Hey Tom,' I heard Teresa say.
Her very voice made me want to hurt her so badly. I stepped forwards, interrupting their little reunion.
Teresa turned to me, her eyebrows slightly raised. Maybe it was something in my face or eyes that was different but I knew she realised I had my memories back. 'Lisa,' she spoke carefully.
'Don't pretend like all is fine and pretty,' I groaned, my fists clenched.
'Fine,' she said, standing up straight. 'I won't. How long have you had your memories back?'
'Long enough to know you have given me multiple reasons to be really pissed off.' I felt Thomas his hand on my shoulder but I shook him off. This was not the right moment to tell me to back off.
'All I ever wanted was to find a cure,' Teresa said through gritted teeth.
'When are you going to stop hiding behind that shuck excuse!' I suddenly yelled, making everyone turn to me. I took a step forwards, anger building up inside of me with every passing second. It felt good to be angry because I wanted to, not because I was forced to. 'You betrayed us all, on more than one level!'

'I had to find a cure!'

'We all lost someone, you losing your family doesn't make it right to throw us all in a shucking Maze!' I yelled back, gesturing at the people around us.

'Do I have to remind you that you helped create the Trials just as much as I did?' She threw back at me.

I clenched my jaw. 'That may have been what it looked like, but I never agreed with Wicked its methods.'

'You did agree with them on making mind implants,' Teresa spoke, her voice cold as ice and her hands on her hips.

'I had to survive,' I snapped at her, 'but while you really believed in all the crap Wicked fed you, I was busy creating a shucking army to take them down!'

Her eyes impaled mine, her body standing still as a statue. 'And look what that got you.'

It happened in a flash. I raised my hand and hit her, right in her pretty face.
Shocked she stumbled backwards, staring at me with wide eyes.

'Hey!' Thomas yelled and pushed me back.

'It was your fault, if you hadn't taken our memories in that elevator we could have taken everyone out of there in time. Then Chuck, Alby even Leon would have been alive!' I screamed.
It was her fault, all her fault. She was the reason everything I had worked so hard for had failed. She was reason I hadn't been able to safe everyone. That was the plan and I couldn't deny my memories anymore. It had been my job to safe everyone, but I hadn't. Because of Teresa. She was the reason all those kids had died.

Teresa stood there, frozen, staring at me. I pointed at her.

'You killed them, you sold me out to Wicked and if you hadn't...they would be alive.'

Her face had gone pale and finally I had gotten her quiet.
Thomas put his hand on my chest and pushed me away from the group. I let him, I had said everything I wanted to say.
All eyes were on me but I only saw Minho. He looked at me as if he saw me clearly for the first time.
I shook my head at him and turned away. I stood face to face with Dawn.
She let out a shaky breath before taking me in her arms and walking away from the group.

In the distance I could hear Teresa explaining to Thomas.
I sat down on the ground against the wall, with Dawn her arm around my shoulders, closing my eyes and leaned my head back against the wall. I didn't want to listen to her voice anymore but it was like their conversation was all I could hear.
'Where did you guys go?' Teresa asked. 'How did you get all the way to Denver?'
'What do you mean, where did we go?' Thomas asked, confused.
I opened my eyes and shared a puzzled look with Dawn.
'We've got a lot to talk about,' Teresa said.
'What're you up to now?' Thomas asked and I felt satisfaction by his doubt.
'I'm not up to...' She stopped herself, sighing.

Dawn hit my arm, taking my attention away from the conversation. 'Stop enjoying this so much,' she hissed.

I gave her an innocent smile. 'I'm not enjoying anything, I'm merely observing the fruits of my work.'

Dawn stared at me and seemed to doubt whether to laugh or get mad at me. She decided both were useless and so she sat down beside me and leaned against the wall.

'There's obviously been some miscommunication,' Teresa went on. 'Look most of our group was captured by different bounty hunters yesterday. They've probably already been taken back to Wicked. Including Frypan, I'm sorry.'

'She doesn't sound very sorry,' Dawn spoke through clenched teeth.
I raised an eyebrow at her.
My younger sister shrugged and sighed then. 'I liked that cook okay, and she didn't even fought for him, not like...' She cut herself off but I knew what she was going to say. Newt would have done anything to get those lost Gladers back.

My attention was taken back to the conversation when Minho joined in. I didn't want to look at him but my eyes were drawn to him like a fly to the light. I just couldn't help it.
'I can see you're as cheerful as always. So glad to be back in your sunshiny presence,' Minho spoke, his voice stonecold.
A slight smile appeared on my face. His talent to piss people off was truly remarkable.

Teresa completely ignored him though. 'Tom, they'll be moving us soon. Please come talk to me. In private. Now.'

'The Ratman already gave me his big speech. Please tell me you don't agree with him and think I should go back to Wicked,' Thomas said, his voice tired.
'Like we would let him,' I groaned.
'I don't even know what you're talking about,' Teresa simply said. 'Please.'
It took Thomas a long moment to answer. I studied Brenda's reaction, she didn't seem all too happy to be reunited with Teresa.
'Well?' The pretty girl asked and she mentioned around. 'Got anything better to do?'
Thomas sighed and nodded towards a few empty chairs in the corner. 'Make it quick.'

After the two lovebirds had walked away, Minho, Brenda and Jorge sat down next to us, forming a little circle. Silence grew between us until I let out a shaky breath and gave them all a steady glare. 'Come on, ask what you want to ask me.'

Still no one spoke for a while until Minho decided to open his mouth. 'What was the plan you had to safe us?'

I sighed, running my hand through my hair. 'Listen, I remember...a lot and it took me a while to get used to having so much information in my head. But everything is clear now. I know I created those mind implants but only because they treatened to kill Dawn. Also, I only let them put those implants in my head because if I did, Dawn wouldn't be sent in the Maze.' I looked at my sister and saw her eyes fill with shock. 'That's right, the test you had to do was fake. We only told you everyone had to do one because we knew you'd never want to stay out of the project for your own safety. The real deal...was me putting that device in my head, while I knew what it could do. I knew I wouldn't be able to contact the Right Arm anymore because Wicked would know if I did. And so I had to give all of that up, only so you wouldn't have to go into the Maze.'

Dawn her eyes were glassy and she exhaled deeply as I went on.

'Then Teresa found out what I had been up to. We had a fight and I begged her not to tell anyone. The Right Arm had a plan, ready to go. I would go into the Elevator, take everyone out of the Maze and the Right Arm would be waiting to take us away outside the building,' I took a shaky breath, my heart suddenly aching.

'Teresa promised me she wouldn't tell anyone. But when she didn't show up that evening for dinner I knew she betrayed me. And so I went to Dawn and took her with me towards the elevator. I still believed the plan could work. But when we got into the Box...Teresa was still awake and her memories were intact. Otherwise she would never have known what to do. She injected us with a serum called "Speed-Erasing". It was part of a project called Memoriam. The serum was designed to take memories away but the side effects were too strong and unpredictable, which is why it was never used on any of the other Subjects. Only in cases of emergency, like with us in that Box. That serum is the reason Dawn got so violent her first night in the Glade and didn't remember it. The reason why I had those dreams and why we both still felt old emotions when we looked at something or someone. The serum can't completely erase your emotions.' I was done talking, and out of breath.

'And what happened to the people of the Right Arm who were waiting for you outside the Wicked facility?' Brenda asked, her voice small.

It felt like answers before I felt ready enough to open my mouth and even then it felt like I could throw up any second. 'I just hope it was a quick death, because if not...I will never forgive myself,' I whispered, clenching and unclenching my hands.