???????, thomas (tmr)

"You're lucky we didn't shoot your damn ass."

Aris laughed in surprise, eyes shining in relief at his friends.

"What's going on?" Minho asked, his hands still in the air.

"They're from my Maze." Aris explained, beaming from ear to ear.

"We're clear, come on out!" Harriet called out, presumably to the people scattered around and previously shooting at them.

A distant voice responded and confirmed their understanding, drawing Clara's attention up to the top of the surrounding hills, where she could now see a number of people with guns slung over their shoulders or held comfortably in their grasps. Distracted by them, Frypan had to nudge her into following Harriet and her blonde friend Sonya as they led them through the tunnel on the road ahead.

Several trucks were parked up on the side of the road, with dozens of people - all armed - milling about the area. Some were positioned in ways so particular that Clara could only guess they were on guard for intruders, whilst others were stood chatting beside the cars, as though they were waiting for newcomers like them.

"How did you guys get here?" Aris questioned his friends as they led the group over to two trucks.

"The Right Arm rescued us."

"You know where they are?" Thomas interjected eagerly.

Harriet's face stretched into a smirk, and she nodded to the trucks' now open doors. "Get in."

It wasn't long until they arrived at the camp. The Right Arm was a community the Gladers could've only dreamed of. Brimming with tents, crates of foods and clothes and supplies, and so many people.

"You're lucky you found us now. We're moving at first light."

The two girls walked them over to the camp, bustling and bright, and filled with hope that the Gladers could finally revel in.

"We gotta find Vince." Sonya thought aloud, her eyes scouring across the camp.

"Who's Vince?"

"He decides if you stay."

There's always a catch.

"I thought the Right Arm was an army." Minho wondered, obviously having pictured hundreds upon hundreds of identical determined soldiers, instead of the kids running wild around the every-day looking people of the camp.

"We used to be. This is all we are now. A lot of people died to get us here."

The man who spoke was clearly Vince. His hair shagged to his shoulder, and greying strands were creeping into his beard and moustache. He towered over them all, inquisitorial about their presence, gun slung over his back.

He turned to Harriet and Sonya. "Who are these people?"

"Immunes. They were coming up the mountain." Harriet answered in a way that reminded her of Gally's Builders reporting back to him in the Glade.

"You check 'um?"

"I know him." She nodded to Aris who straightened up upon Vince's stare. "I trust him."

"I don't." Vince replied with a simple shrug. "Get them checked."

Two men stepped forward then, and the Gladers moved forward to comply. Clara felt a stagger beside her, and put out a hand instinctively before she could see what was happening.

Brenda's eyes were fluttering and she didn't look stable. Suddenly, her legs had given way and she had collapsed to the ground. Clara went to move to her side but Thomas's hand had found her shoulder, and she was compelled to stop.