The Reason

The Last City

If Newt hadn't come for her, she would have stayed with Wicked. Part of her believed she deserved it, part of her didn't see the point in fighting anymore. She blamed herself for it, for Gally and for Chuck. She had been so close. She had been right there, close enough to have taken the gun and stopped it all from happening. So, she changed.

The others worried about her, she was determined and reckless at times. Whatever mission they were on or problem they faced, she tackled it head on, sometimes seeming as though she didn't care if she lived or died. She wouldn't have cared if not for the burden she carried and the thought that she had to at least try to redeem herself before Wicked inevitably got her too, just like they'd gotten Minho.

She stood in the corner with Thomas, Newt, and Frypan, her hand tracing the scar on her left shoulder from where the spear had grazed her before embedding itself in Gally's chest. It was her brand as a useless coward. Even though she had been right there with Thomas, Newt and Brenda, getting shot at on the train that day she still believed she was the most spineless person in the world for not having done anything for Gally and Chuck. She cried everyday still when she thought they couldn't see, but they knew.

Only Frypan knew the true depth of it, though, hearing her teary confession when they were keeping watch together on one of their first nights out in the scorch. She thought for sure the cranks would get her and felt like she needed to spill her guts before she died. She told him how she'd kissed Gally the night she'd planned to basically banish herself. She told him how she was afraid that Gally had hated her for what she did because he locked her up and avoided her, but how she still loved him despite everything he'd done. She couldn't blame him because she'd understood his fear and his desire for safety and order. She confessed she blamed herself for his and Chuck's deaths which prompted the former cook to pull her into a bear hug while she cried, assuring her over and over that it wasn't her fault.

He watched her as her fingers moved under the collar of her shirt, tracing the scar, and knew who she was thinking of. The train they'd hijacked that day didn't have Minho aboard, but it did have a short pudgy boy with brown curls. Fry had seen the look cross her face when she saw the kid, a brightness return to her eyes before they clouded over darker than before when she realized it wasn't her little friend. She'd had to turn away from them to get a grip and keep herself from breaking down in sobs right there.

Thomas had a map laid out on the table and was already making a plan to go back for Minho. Vince and Jorge were trying to talk him out of it, talking about the last city and how it was too dangerous. They had a point, there were over 100 munies taking shelter there with them now and they couldn't risk those lives, so if they put their foot down about it she'd understand. But if Thomas asked her to go anyway she would. The only thing she wouldn't do was nothing.

That's why she was there waiting for him with Newt and Fry when he snuck away in the middle of the night. She didn't know how happy Thomas would be to see her, she always feared he hated her for what happened, but at least that would make her expendable in his eyes. At least she was good at driving, but that almost wasn't good enough. They'd gotten into a tough spot with some cranks in an old tunnel and even her driving skills weren't enough to get them out. Death by cranks was not how she wanted to go, so she never gave up, thanking her lucky stars when Brenda and Jorge showed up to help pave the way out for them. That's when they got their first look at the last city. Shining towers stood out in a sea of desolation and ruin, kept at bay by enormous walls.

"Blimey," Newt sighed. "I spent three years trapped behind walls, trying to break out, and now we want to break...back in."

"Yeah, it's hilarious," Fry scoffed.

The walls did put a dent in their plans. According to Jorge, the walls were new since the last time he'd been there, meaning he didn't know how to get past them. Nikola didn't despair overmuch, she knew Thomas would figure it out. He always found a way to get things done, even if it meant doing something incredibly stupid. At least he was doing something, if he put things in motion Nikola could usually steer it.

The closer to the city they got, the more tired Nikola felt. The people were loud, dirty, and angry, rightly so, but it still gave her a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. She'd hold out for as long as they needed her to, but she prayed it wouldn't be much longer.

An angry voice shouted from a loud speaker behind them but she didn't turn to look. Newt had to pull her to the side as the vehicle drove by them, men with guns and dark gas masks riding atop it. Her eyes followed them lazily, almost disinterested, completely missing the man who stared through his mask at them. Drones buzzed above the shouts and cries of the people around them, all of it fading into a white noise in her ears. It reminded her of the day Gally died and how she didn't hear anything for more than 24 hours. Newt led her by the hand as they followed Thomas through the crowds.

She felt Newt slip his hand from hers before his arm went around her waist. She was used to him trying to show her affection, something she just couldn't bring herself to return or put a stop to, but this felt different. She looked up and saw his eyes darting around, prompting her to take more than just a casual glance as well. There was one man in a gas mask keeping pace with them a few yards to their right. She couldn't see his eyes but she knew he was watching them.

"Wicked?" She asked Newt simply.

"I don't know," he replied with a shake of his head. "I don't know, and I don't like it."

He pushed her along faster till they caught up to Thomas and the others as they stood at the front of the crowd, closest to the city.

"Thomas, we have to go now!" Newt said as the crowd pressed him and Nikola into Thomas's back. "Look!"

Behind them, the men in the gas masks were pressing through the crowd straight for them. They looked to their sides and saw more coming from each direction. Jorge drew his gun as Newt pushed Nikola behind him, putting her back against Thomas. But something drew their attention away from their unknown pursuers. A loud noise, loud enough for even Nikola to hear clearly, silence the chants of the crowd. All attention was turned back toward the city and its walls, to what was moving along the tops of them.

The shouting that had turned to silence now turned to screams as people ran for their lives. Nikola held on to Newt and Fry as they ran to escape the bullets or bombs or whatever was being shot at them. They ducked down an alley way and ran straight into the hands of the masked men. One by one they were grabbed and thrown into their vehicles. Everyone screamed and shouted but Nikola. As soon as they had captured Newt she knew she had to let them take her as well, she couldn't make it on her own without him or Fry, or even Thomas. If one was captured than they all might as well be. She was stuffed into a car with Jorge and Frypan, all the while trying to cooperate and telling them to just keep their hands off her. Thomas, Brenda and Newt were in the other van. Their captors didn't say a word to them, just stared at them through their blacked out masks.

"I do love our little road trips, Fry," Nikola piped up when she couldn't take the silence anymore. It was nice to know she hadn't lost her sense of humor entirely.

Fry laughed next to her. "There's the old glader girl."