|To the soldier, the civilian, the martyr, the victim. This is war

|This is war, Thirty seconds to Mars

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Dawn's P.O.V.

We followed the map and ran down hallway after hallway until we reached a long set of stairs that led us into the basement. The path took us through empty rooms and finally to a small door that opened to a tunnel.

Thomas threw a glare over his shoulder at me and I gave a curt nod.

Stepping inside the tunnel, I noticed it a few lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling to light the way. We ran through the tunnel until we reached a ladder that had been marked on the map. Thomas mentioned for me to go first and I did, seeing a round metal rood with a wheel handle.

Taking a deep breath I took the handle and pushed it with all my strength. A dim light came through the opening as I threw the door open all the way. I stepped outside, a cold gust of wind ripping at my clothes. Wrapping my arms around my waist I turned to see Thomas had climbed outside as well and now closed the door behind him.

'Where do you think the Right Arm made their "enterance"?' Thomas whispered, slightly shivering in the winter wind.

Frowning I looked towards the cluster of buildings before us, trying to remember their walls and corners. I tried to make a map in my head of which wall was easily breachable and then I nodded at Thomas. 'I think I might know where they are.'

Without asking any questions we started running along the walls, sprinting towards the closest building. Crouching as we ran, trying to stay as low as possible, we reached the first building.
I gestured for Thomas to stop when we reached the first corner, voices and quiet mutters echoed through the air. We couldn't risk being seen by any of the Wicked guards that weren't on Ava Paige her side and so I carefully peeked around the corner.

Rubble lay scattered across the grass and behind them a massive hole had been blasted in the side of the building. Leaning against the wall beside the hole were two people in civilian clothes. The Right Arm.

I turned back to Thomas, nodding at him. Both of us stood up straight and walk around the corner. Upon seeing us the man and the woman reached for their weapons. Thomas put his hands in the air and a small sigh left my lips as I did the same, we had no time for this. 'I'm Thomas!' He yelled. 'This is Dawn. We're on your side!'

The man narrowed at us but nodded then, letting go of his weapon. 'They've been looking all over for you two,' he said and then pointed at the hole in the wall over his shoulder, 'you're suppose to be in there.'

'Where's Vince?' I asked, wanting to get back to the others as soon as possible. I wanted this to end.

The man and woman looked at each other and there was something in their gaze that made a shiver crawl down my spine.

'What's wrong?' Thomas immediately asked, noticing it as well. 'Where's Vince. Where are our friends?'

'Calm down there kid,' the man responded. 'Things are kind of quiet right now. People getting position, planting, that sort of thing.'

'Planting?' I asked, my voice shaking as my stomach tightened painfully.

'Planting,' the man repeated.

'What does that mean?' Thomas asked, frustration on the edge of his voice.

'Explosives, you idiot. We're about to bring this whole building down. Show old Wicked that we mean serious business.'

I forced myself to take a deep breath and then turned to look at Thomas, who was biting his lip in thought. Clearly we hadn't been on the same page as the Right Arm. They didn't mean to take over, they meant to destroy and we couldn't let them as long as those Immunes were still trapped in the Maze. But we had to be careful, showing that we didn't agree with this now would mean we wouldn't just have to look out for Wicked's soldiers anymore.

'You two are doing a lot of heavy thinking in that noggin of yours,' the woman said, taking me out of my thoughts.

'Yeah,' Thomas mumbled, 'sorry. When do you think they're going to set off the explosives?'

'Pretty soon, I suppose. They've been planting for hours. They want them all to detonate at the same time, but I guess we aren't quite that skilled.'

'What about the people inside?' I asked, not able to keep my anger at bay any longer. 'The people we came to rescue?'

The two of them looked at each other, then shrugged. 'Vince hopes to get everyone out.'

'He hopes,' Thomas mumbled and I knew in that very moment that Vince didn't give a single klunk of who would make it out alive. 'I need to talk to him.'

The woman pointed at the hole. 'Just through there is an area they've pretty much taken over. You'll probably find Vince there. Careful, though. Wicked's got guards hiding all over the place. And they're vicious little buggers.'

'Thanks for the warning,' Thomas said and then turned to step inside.

I followed without giving the two as much as a last glance. All that mattered now was getting the Immunes out of here, safe everyone, otherwise this whole mission would have been for nothing. I would have killed three people over nothing...

We walked on in silence, careful looking around each corner before stepping through. Finally we spotted a door at the end of the hallway that had been propped open.

I took an arrow from my quiver and placed it steadily on my bow. The movement made Thomas look at me. 'Just in case,' I whispered.

We jogged to the door and looked through the small gap to see a large room with tables scattered across the floor, set on their sides to form a barricade. Several people were crouched behind them. They were watching a large set of double doors on the other side of the room and no one noticed us as we made our way inside.
Then Thomas gave me a small tap on my shoulder and I turned to him. He pointed at the end of the room, making me turn to look and my eyes slightly widened.

Gally and Vince were crouched behind one of the tables.

'Hey!' Thomas whispered, making me wince. 'Hey! Gally!'

The former builder turned immediately, squinting as he spotted us, almost as if he thought his eyes were deceiving him. Then he motioned for us to come over.

We ran as quickly as we could across the room, the arrow still placed on my bow string. Reaching Gally, we sat down next to him on the ground.

'What happened?' He asked us. 'Did they take your brain?'

I threw him a glare. 'We wouldn't exactly be sitting here now if they had, don't you think?'

Gally narrowed at me, probably noticing the unusual sharp tone in my voice. And I looked away from his gaze, knowing I had to get a grip on my raging emotions if I wanted to make it out of here alive.

'We found out where they're keeping the Immunes,' Thomas said, immediately cutting to the case. 'You can't blow this place up until we get them out.'

'Then go get 'em,' Vince said, not even looking at us. 'We've got a one-shot deal here, and I'm not going to waste it.'

'You brought some of those people here!' Thomas said, frustration rising in his whispered tones but he only got a shrug in response. 'Where's Brenda, Minho, Lisa, everyone else?'

Gally nodded towards the other side of the room, where another door led to new room. 'Those guys are all in there, said they wouldn't do anything until you came back.'

I was about to stand up and walk towards the door but Thomas turned his attention to the Glader instead, making me turn to him and stay where I was.

'Come with us, Gally,' he said, 'let these guys do whatever they want, but come help us. Don't you wish someone had done the same for us when we were in the Maze?'

Vince turned around sharply to look at us with poison in his eyes. 'Don't even think about it!' He barked. 'Thomas, Dawn, you knew coming in here what our goals were. If you abandon us now I'll consider the two of you turncoats. You'll be a target.'

I kept my gaze focused on Gally, not even in the slightest interested in what Vince had to say. And I was surprised to find sadness in Gally his eyes but there was also something I never thought I would have seen from him as he looked back at Thomas. There was trust, genuine trust.

'Come with us,' Thomas said.

A smile formed on Gally his face. 'Okay.'

I didn't wait for Vince to react, I put the arrow back in my quiver, took Gally his arm and ran towards the office on the other side of the room, hearing Thomas his hurried footsteps behind me. I almost kicked in the door as I made my way inside. My eyes widened as they quickly scanned all the faces inside, but I barely had time to see anyone but Minho, Brenda, Jorge and Aris when suddenly someone swung her arms around my neck and pulled me into a tight hug.

'Hey, little sis,' Lisa breathed, relief floating through her voice. Then she let me go, examing my face and smiled. 'Glad to see you still got your brain.'

I nodded, not feeling myself able to smile back and it didn't go unnoticed by her as her smile turned into a frown. She had no time to ask about it, though, as the others came forwards to hug me and Thomas as well.

Finally Thomas managed to get everyone quiet. 'We can't explain everything right now. We have to go find the Immunes Wicked took, then find this back-door Flat Trans Dawn and I learned about. And we need to hurry before the Right Arm blows this place up.'

'Where are the Immunes?' Brenda asked.

'Yeah, what did you learn?' Minho added.

Thomas took a deep breath and I knew the next words would sound insane. And I honestly didn't even want to hear them, but they came anyway.

'We need to go back to the Maze.'

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Sorry I didn't update yesterday guys! But I was on vacation with a few friends of mine and when I came back I wanted to update but I was so tired that I fell asleep :) So here's the update anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it!

I'm really excited to share the next few chapters with you as they will enter the Maze again. It's going to be a hell of a ride and I can't wait to hear your opinions.

See you all wednesday!

xXx

UYM