The Destroyed Girl

Chapter 4: Escape

RHEA'S POV
I can't take it if WICKED caught all of us and ran the others through the simulations they put us through. Hearing Minho's screams was bad enough. If I had to hear Sonya's, Quill's, Thomas's and Newt's, I wouldn't be able to take it.

"Go, guys. You can still get out," I say, breathing heavily.

Newt shakes his head stubbornly. "I'll swing you down."

"It's the best chance we got," Thomas agrees.

I go to edge of the window, the pounding of the doors behind filling my ears. The sight of how high up we are from the ground makes my head blur, and I tighten my grip on Newt's hand.

Newt gives me a nod, and in his eyes I can see his determination and stubbornness. He won't back down from this, I know. He won't rest until Minho and I are out. That realisation does something to me.

I nod back at him, and I jump. He holds onto me. I don't weigh much, anyway. We've been underfed for three weeks, put through strenuous testing and exercises.

Newt swings me towards the balcony and Sonya grabs me before I fall. Minho's next. Thomas and Newt both have to swing him down together. He tumbles towards us and I grab his arm before he falls and pull him towards us. Newt comes down gracefully, then Thomas.

A wave of dizziness passes over me, one that makes spots cloud my vision. I squeeze my eyes shut, and it's the hand on my back that brings me back. Blinking, I look up to see Newt standing over me, brows furrowed and concern filling his brown eyes.

"Let's go!" Sonya says, and jumps off the balcony.

Quill follows and Newt takes my hand.

"Together," He says determinedly.

I lace my fingers with his, feeling more confident with him near me. We go to the edge of the first storey balcony and jump. He doesn't let go of my hand as we land. I tumble forward but he pulls me towards him and holds me against him.

I can feel his fast heart rate, matching mine, and I can feel the slight tremors that rack his body-or maybe that's me-before I pull away. Newt pulls me to the side as Minho and Thomas jump together. My head throbs with pain and my legs feel weak.

"How are we gonna escape?" Minho asks.

There's a honking sound and a car speeds up to us, it's headlights off. From inside the car, Jorge pokes his head out and grins.

"Hop in, hermanos," He says.

Sonya scrambles into the passenger seat and Thomas and Minho get into the front seats. Newt pulls me into the back, leaving Quill with no choice but to sit in front with the other two guys. I'm pretty sure she wants the seat that I'm in right now.

My head throbs with the starting of a migraine, and Newt draws an arm around me, breathing heavily. I rest my head against his shoulder, willing my body to stop shivering. Minho rests his head on the closed door next to him, groaning. I take a pill from my pocket and eat it up.

Jorge speeds off and the last thing I hear is the sound of shouting from behind before my eyes shut and darkness engulfs me.

~

When I wake up, sunlight fills my eyes, and I squint. I really wish I had my damn jacket. I slowly look around and realise that we're still in the car. My head lies on Newt's shoulder. I sit upright and groan, feeling the blood rush to my head.

Newt tightens his grip on me with his arm around my shoulder. "You okay?" He asks softly.

I nod, swallowing thickly. "What time is it?"

"About seven in the morning. We'll be arriving soon," Jorge cuts in.

Jorge seems to have changed. He's less wary of us, and he seems to be on our side. But I still can't look at him without thinking of my scar and remembering him throwing that knife at my face.

"Rhea? You alright?" Minho says, sitting up and rubbing the sleep away from his eyes.

I shift forward, closer to Minho's seat. "Yeah. You?"

I see Minho swallow, and he nods eventually, looking away. "Yeah. Just a small headache. I'm fine."

"What did they do to you?" Newt asks, his jaw clenching as he looks from me to Minho, as if he wants to murder whoever had done this to us.

"Nothing," I try to reassure him, and when he gives me a clearly unconvinced look, I shift uncomfortably in my seat.

Minho sighs, glancing back at us. "They just put us through some simulations. It's- it's nothing worth talking about."

Newt clenches his fists. "Did they hurt you?"

"Newt," I gently lay a hand on his clenched fists, and his brown eyes meet mine, his hatred diffusing.

"We're arriving!" Sonya calls out to us from the front.

I look out of the window and see about seven people in the distance. Harriet, Maria, June, Frypan, Brenda, Vince and Aris. They're in a cave at the mountains, somewhere near where the Right Arm used to be.

"I think I'm hallucinating," Minho says, sounding unsure.

"Does anyone have a jacket I can use?" I ask, not at all joking, the thought of having all of them staring at me making me incredibly uneasy.

Newt chuckles, turning his hand over and taking mine in his own. My heart jumps, and I wonder if he realises what he's doing. "Yeah, we actually got your one out."

"What?" I blink in surprise.

Sonya throws me the new jacket that WICKED had passed me. Before I wear it though, I check for trackers. I find none.

I slip the jacket on and put on my hood.

Newt leans back in his seat and looks at me.

"You know, you look better without the jacket," He says to me softly.

I fight the wildest urge growing in me to smile, and instead say, "Don't worry. I'm putting in effort under this hood to look good still."

~

The car comes to a stop and Newt and I get out. Quill somehow immediately appears next to Newt, so I leave them together, going towards Minho. We've been all each other had for the past two weeks, and I don't think we can just stop the routine. It feels embedded in me now. Natural.

"Minho?" I ask.

"I'll survive. You?" Minho asks.

"Ditto," I let out a shaky breath. "Can you believe we're out?"

"I feel like after what they did to us, we can never be out," Minho says.

I couldn't agree more.

"Rhea!"

I whirl around just in time to receive a hug from Aris. Aris hugs me and I hold on to him. He looks normal. Hair in a mess, eyes sunken and face pale.

I pull away before the hug can last for too long.

"What happened?" Aris asks, gripping my shoulders.

"Nothing nice," I reply.

I turn to the other girls, unable to help my relief that they're all here and safe.

"Jeez, Rhea we though we'd lost you!" Maria exclaims.

I clench my fists, jaw tightening. "Yeah, me too."