Chapter 16:
>Are you dead?<
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Darcy sat own her own on top of the large rocks. She wasn't too far away from where Thomas, Newt, Fry and Minho sat, talking. She could also see Sonya, Harriet and Aris talking and laughing whilst sitting around a fire. But she wanted to be alone.
She lay down on her back to look at the sky. She was worried about her arm. Whenever she thought about the bite, it started to hurt. But could it just be in her head?
Th truth was, Darcy was scared. Terrified, actually. But she felt like she had to put on a brave face. She was the baby of the group and she couldn't afford to let the others feel like they had to babysit her. Whenever she made jokes or puns, she was just covering up the fact that she was scared.
Her thoughts strayed to the two times she ran in front of a gun to protect someone. First it was to protect Thomas, then Brenda. Even now, Darcy didn't know why she did it. She barely knew these people, barely even liked them, but she was still about to lay down her life for them. Deep down, she had a suspicion that perhaps she wanted to die. She didn't want to go through the Scorch, hear the name W.I.C.K.E.D, or have the nightmares anymore. She wanted to rest.
But she knew she had to keep going. If she was going to die, she wanted to die bravely, by sacrificing herself or dying whilst fighting someone else. She wouldn't just die for no reason.
She wondered what was in store for the future. If she did survive, would they ever find a home? Or would W.I.C.K.E.D eventually find them again? Maybe wipe their memories for the second time, before putting them back in a maze.
No. No matter what happens, I'm not going back there.
"Are you dead?"
She turned her head to see Minho walking towards her.
"On the inside." She sighed.
He sat down next to her as her eyes remained on the sky.
"Can I help you with something?" she asked. "I was kinda enjoying the peace and quiet."
He glanced at her before looking back out at everyone again. "I thought you were dead and I wanted to throw you off the cliff."
"Lovely."
"I thought you of all people would get a joke."
"I did get it, I just didn't laugh because my jokes are too funny, so my standards are very high. You didn't come anywhere close to meeting those standards."
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a pleasant person to be around?"
"Yes."
"They were lying."
"What are you, a lie detector--"
"What are you two up to?" Newt was making his way up to them.
"Minho was just complimenting me."
"That doesn't sound like him. But anyway, there's food being made, so you should come down."
"I'm not hungry."
"You should still eat. We don't want you to starve."
The memory striking her, Darcy shot up into a sitting position, looking at Newt. "What?"
He looked confused but repeated himself. "I said we don't want you to starve--"
"Don't say that!"
The two boys shared a confused glance before looking at her once again.
"Don't ever say that again!"
She got up and walked away. "Don't even bother trying to follow me." She shouted over her shoulder. She knew her reaction was over dramatic, but after her most recent memory about Amelia, she didn't care.
She kept walking. She didn't know where she was going, but her legs still moved, bringing her in a random direction. As she walked, she could soon make out voices in the direction that she was going in. As she grew nearer, the voices became louder and clearer. She could easily identify the owners of the voices as Thomas and Teresa.
Darcy stopped to listen. Teresa was currently speaking, but something was wrong. Her voice sounded shaky, almost as if she was crying.
"--millions of people suffering out there. Millions of stories just like mine. We can't turn our backs on them. I won't."
"W-what are you saying?" Thomas asked slowly.
"I'm saying I want you to understand."
"Understand what?"
"Why I did it."
Then, there were lights in the distance. The sound of helicopters.
"Teresa..."
"Please don't fight them, Thomas."
Thomas muttered something else, but Darcy missed it. She was already running back to the camp. W.I.C.K.E.D were here. This wasn't good. She had to warn the others, maybe give them a quick head start before the helicopters got closer.
Thomas was soon catching up to her. They both ran as quickly as they could.
But they didn't get to the camp in time. One of the helicopters reached it first, sending an explosion at the camp. When it erupted, flames shot up into the night.
They were setting the camp on fire.
Thomas screamed and Darcy gasped. They stopped in their tracks, Thomas sending out an arm to keep Darcy from falling over the hill that would send her right down into a firey death.
They looked upon the scene with horror. Flames were erupting everywhere, shooting up and piercing the darkness of the night. People screamed as they ran, not knowing what to do or where to go. No one had been expecting this.
"Thomas..." breathed Darcy.
"Don't worry, it'll be okay," Thomas said. He didn't sound convincing.
One of the helicopters lowered four people down. They held massive guns, pointing them at the people that ran by. The ammunition seemed to be electric; when it struck someone, they convulsed before they fell. It did not look pleasant.
Darcy saw Thomas run. But not which direction he ran in. She took a deep breath before she bolted into the battle area, picking up a large stick she found as she did so. Not having any proper weapons wasn't a good idea was what she concluded.
The fire was making her sweat profusely, and the sprinting all over wasn't helping. She barely missed bullets as she ran. She couldn't even tell who was friend and who was enemy in the midst of the chaos.
As she ran, she hit anyone she saw with the electric guns. One guy was hit in the gut, another in the back. Luckily, they never hit her back, unluckily, it didn't do them much damage. She desperately searched, looking for a familiar face.
"Darcy!" she heard someone shout.
She turned, finding the source of the voice. It was Fry. But along with him, was Newt, Minho, Harriet and Vince.
Darcy ran to them. When she got there, she quickly ducked behind Fry, glad to finally have cover.
At least they have guns, she thought to herself.
"Were you really running around out there with a stick!?" Exclaimed Fry.
"Yep. But, hey, I didn't get hit." She then turned to Vince, who stood on top of a truck. "Got any more guns?"
He turned to her, still aiming at oncoming guards. "You know how to shoot?"
"Kinda."
"Good enough."
He picked up a gun, tossing it to her. Darcy never liked guns. She didn't like the fact that she was holding something that could take someone's life with the click of a button. But desperate times called for desperate measures.
There were cries from those around her, but Darcy was focused on shooting. But that led her to miss the explosive device thrown at them. It wasn't until it was too late that she saw it.
It burst, electricity hitting her aswell as those around her. She crumpled to the ground, but that was nothing. The pain the electricity sent through her was awful. It burned and she couldn't see straight. She could barely see anything. She was right, it wasn't pleasant. Darcy had never felt anything like it. This was pure torture.
And then, after what could've been five seconds or five hours, Darcy couldn't tell, she was picked up by guards. Still disoriented from the shock, she couldn't tell what they looked like, but could only assume they were from W.I.C.K.E.D.
The guards brought them all into a line, down on their knees. Darcy didn't have the energy to fight.
A guard made their way down the line, pressing a device to everyone's necks, calling out a number and letter as he did so.
Darcy could now see Janson. Pure hatred filled her when she saw his face. She wanted nothing more than to walk up to him and punch him, but she remained calm.
"How many did we get?" he asked.
"All of them. Give or take."
"Give or take what?"
"Well, we lost a few."
"A4," shouted the guard who was checking the row of people. "A6, B12, B3."
"Where's Thomas?" asked Janson.
"Right here."
Heads snapped to the side. Thomas was standing there, his arms raised in surrender.
How stupid is he?
A guard pushed him forward and he went stumbling. Janson smirked as he got closer.
"Thomas," Janson began, followed by a punch. Thomas crumpled as gasps filled the air. "Get him in line."
A guard pushed him into the already large line of captives.
"Just so you know," shouted Darcy to Janson, "you suck!"
She heard a few groans from those beside her, aswell as Minho telling her to shut up.
Janson turned around to face her, a cold smile on his face. "Is that so?"
"Yeah. And no one likes you. You should really get a life."
He kneeled down in front of her, a cruel smirk on his face. "Well, I guess we're not so different, then."
She spat in his face. He slapped her.
"You're a disgusting creature," murmured Janson as he wiped his face.
"Guess you're right then, we aren't so different." Darcy responded, ignoring the pain in her cheek.
"Are you alright?" asked Newt, who sat beside her.
"Peachy."
When Janson was back up again, he told a guard, "Bring her in."
Darcy didn't have to guess who 'her' was.
*A/N: wow, look at me actually writing a bunch. The amount of times I write 'Carter' instead of 'Darcy' is hilarious to me when I'm editing (shameless plug: I have an avengers fan fiction if anyone is interested;)) anyways, for the next chapter, get ready for more of Darcy shouting at W.I.C.K.E.D people. Also, just a disclaimer: just because I've uploaded this about 2 days after the last chapter, doesn't mean uploads will be fast. I'm pre writing a bunch before I go back to school (next week) as I'm gonna have a very busy year. So yeah, I'm just gonna pre write a bunch and then upload slowly again. Oh, and I've finished with the scorch trials, there's 2 chapters left!
Welp, that was a long one
edit: chunky author's note omg we love to see it. also aw throwback to when void was still in the works <3 since then i've started harry potter, james potter, peter parker and hunger games fics so that's fun*