The Reason

The War

Gally and the others slid under the cover of some trees as a helicopter buzzed overhead. He prayed that Brenda had made Nikola go, he hoped they were outside of the city and not waiting for them, or worse, recaptured.

"How far are the tunnels from here?" Thomas asked him, panting.

"Uh, maybe twelve blocks from here," Gally answered before they heard Newt coughing. Gally turned back to Thomas. "We can make it," he assured him, not just meaning the tunnels.

"How long has he been like this?" Minho asked as he slid over to them, concern lacing his voice.

Thomas licked his lips and avoided Minho's tired eyes. It was hard for him to admit that Newt had kept this from him for God knows how long. Minho had needed help and that was something Newt could do something about, he couldn't do anything about having the flare. That's why Thomas only found out about it a little over a day ago, and was sworn to secrecy.

"We just have to get to Brenda," Thomas said as he stripped off his cold, wet jacket. "She's got the serum."

Gally was left with Minho as Thomas went to help Newt up, looking around for any guards coming their way.

"Why are you helping us, Gally?" Minho asked him, getting his attention. The runner was pale with bags under his eyes, not how Gally remembered him at all. But he did have a sheepishness about him now as he looked at the boy- the old friend he believed he killed. "I put a spear through your chest."

Gally had no idea how to respond to that. He knew Minho must have felt he had no other choice, and if he were honest, it was a pretty good call. Gally was out of his mind and had a gun, he could have killed or hurt more of them, he could have hurt Nikola. The thought made him want to shudder. Sure it was weird to look your killer in the eyes again, but this was Minho and they were in the middle of something a lot bigger than that right now.

"Yeah," Gally sighed before giving a shrug. "Nobody's perfect, man." He patted Minho on the shoulder as though all were forgiven, on his end at least, and got up to follow after Thomas and Newt.

They raced as fast as they could with Newt deteriorating every second, Minho and Thomas trying to carry him along as Gally watched for guards with his rifle at the ready. They were getting closer to the wall when a massive explosion rippled through the city. The wall was crumbling. Gally felt a wave of apprehension ripple through him, his bad lung twinging. He knew Lawrence was planning to take down Wicked, something Gally was behind one hundred percent. They had succeeded in hacking into their computers, they were destroying them from the inside. The kids were free, they had the serum, and Wicked was ruined... so why was he coming into the city? Not everyone here was with Wicked. Some of these people- most of these people were just trying to survive a pandemic for as long as possible and live their lives as normally as they could before it got to them.

"Th-they were supposed to take down Wicked..." Gally murmured, confused by what he was seeing. "Not the whole damn city," he swallowed as he realized he may have chosen the wrong side yet again.

It was shocking but they didn't have much time to begin with. Thomas and Minho pressed on with Newt, not exactly waiting for Gally to catch up with them. He felt his heart drop as he heard the far off sounds of gun fire beginning. Just when he'd been reunited with his friends, with Nikola, and had a shot of living in a world without Wicked, something had to go and make him think he wasn't going to make it out of this after all. He caught up easily with the others and tried to make it to the tunnels, but there was a massive road block ahead of them. They hid behind a low wall and cursed, bhe guards didn't seem to notice them, they just stood around with their guns aimed down the street in the direction they'd just come from.

"What are they waiting for?" Minho asked, receiving a quick answer as another explosion hit a building caddy corner from them, shouts of people from the outside filling their ears as they came running down the street.

Gally cursed again. They were stuck in the middle of a full on war now. Stuck and shucked, especially Newt. "We gotta go!" Gally said as gunfire rang out and shrapnel from more explosions rained over them. "We gotta go!"

They found an alley way where they could take shelter and Thomas got Brenda on the walkie, trying to tell her to forget about them and get out while they could. Gally felt Newt grab his jacket and pull him in closer.

"Gally," he wheezed, his face pale and slick with sweat. "You have to get out. Promise... promise me."

"What?" Gally asked, grabbing his wrist to let him know he was there, he was listening. A lump formed in his throat thinking of the years he'd spent in the glade with Newt, how they had been friends. It was hard to see him like this.

"Promise me you'll take care... of Nikola," Newt finally said.

"Come on, Newt, don't talk like that," Gally almost pleaded. "You know she's a handful, it'll take both of us, just like it did in the glade."

"Don't let her cry over me as long as she cried over you," Newt went on, not listening to him. "Make her happy."

"She's not going to be happy without you, alright? So just slim it. I'm getting you out of here and you're going to be fine," Gally said as Thomas came over, with a bit of good news.

"They're coming back for us," Thomas told them as he tried to get Newt up again.

"What? How?" Gally asked with furrowed brows. It wasn't that he didn't want to get out of there, but he didn't want Nikola to come back into the city war zone.

"I don't know," Thomas shook his head. "Brenda didn't say, so I guess we'll know it when we see it."

Thomas and Minho grabbed up Newt as Gally defended them, making their way through alleys and side streets. "We're almost there, Newt," Gally called over his shoulder.

A car went flying down the road they had come to and Gally almost fell backwards, ushering the other boys to get back as more gunfire and fighting now blocked their way. Why couldn't they catch a shucking break? They hunkered down and waited for the smoke to clear, people filling the street in front of them, making it harder to get across. Then they heard it, the berg flying over them, search lights roaming the streets. Newt even became more lucid, wondering if he really would get one final glance of Nikola, though he'd hate her to see him like this.

"That's them," Thomas said. "We gotta go."

"Go without me," Newt said as he coughed up black phlegm, resisting when Thomas tried to get him to his feet once more. The others just crouched around him as he drew ragged and frightened breaths.

"Minho," Thomas said softly. "You gotta run ahead and grab the serum, and get back to us as soon as you can."

Minho gave Thomas a look. He didn't want to leave his friend behind either, but what Thomas was asking for was a miracle.

"Minho," Thomas repeated desperately.

"He's right," Gally piped up, not ready to give up on things just yet. "I can cover." He got up, not ready to hear anything else that sounded like a goodbye and checked to see if the street had cleared. A moment later Minho was at his side and they were off.