Born Again

Chapter fifty seven

"Are we there yet?" Minho complained for the hundredth time.

They were driving to Vince's house after Teresa found out where he lived. It ended up being in the middle of nowhere, half an hour away.

Brenda had also convinced Jorge to let them use his car (Bertha) so Frypan, being the only one who could drive, drove them all the way out there.

Minho apparently didn't like being in the car for so long.

"Will you just shut up?" Thomas asked for the hundredth time. "We're almost there."

"How can you tell?" Teresa asked, turning around to look at him from the passenger seat. "I'm the only one with the GPS."

"Um, I dunno," he said. But he recognized the area as The Right Arm's base in his dreams. Thomas couldn't tell her that though. "Probably just because we've been driving for so long. We have to be almost there."

Teresa shrugged, turning around again. "Well, you're right, Tom. That's his house right up there." She pointed at the small house at the base of a cliff.

The same cliff where Teresa was when she betrayed Thomas.

Not that Thomas held anything against her. That didn't happen in real life.

"Frypan, you can pull over up ahead," Teresa told him.

"Will do," Fry answered.

"Do you know what you're doing when we get in there?" Minho asked.

"Oh, come on," Thomas said, whacking his friend playfully. "Don't I always know what I'm doing?"

"No," Newt answered, the same time Minho said, "absolutely not."

Thomas glared at the blonde. "You know, I expected that from Minho. Not you, Newt."

Newt just shrugged, giving him a teasing smirk.

Thomas rolled his eyes.

"But to answer your question," he continued, turning back to Minho. "Yes, I actually know what I'm doing."

Minho looked like he wanted to roll his eyes but just sighed instead, nodding. "Alright," he stated, opening the door before the car came to a full stop. "Let's do this then."

The Gladers all piled out of the car and walked up the long path to Vince's house.

Newt looked up, squinting against the sun. "Pretty sure we just arrived in bloody hell." He looked back at Minho. "Always thought you'd end up here, Minho. Not me."

Minho shoved him from behind, making Thomas chuckled. There were only a few moments in his dreams he actually enjoyed.

That was one of them.

Newt stumbled but caught himself, shooting a glare at Minho but no real anger was behind it.

Minho gave him a bright smile in response.

Thankfully, they arrived at the door before the two could start arguing any more.

"Alright," Thomas said, turning around to face everybody. "Just let me do the talking."

They all gave him small nods.

"Okay." Thomas took in a breath before ringing the doorbell.

The Gladers shuffled as they waited.

Just before Thomas was going to ring again, a voice from inside called, "I'm coming!"

A few seconds later, Vince opened the door with a smile.

"Kids," he said happily, though he was clearly confused. "What are you all doing here?"

Thomas opened his mouth to answer, but then everybody spoke up at once.

"Vince!"

"We missed you!"

"We missed The Right Arm!"

"We're putting it back together."

"You'll join us right?"

"Minho, you're stepping on my foot!"

"Please, Vince!"

Vince held up his hands, chuckling. "Alright, calm down." He opened the door wider and stepped back. "Why don't you all come inside, then we'll talk."

Thomas put his face in his hand, sighing but following his friends inside. So much for letting him do all the talking.

Minho chuckled, patting Thomas on the back. "Sorry about them."

"You were the loudest of everybody here," Thomas noted.

Minho looked confused. "I know. I was apologizing for everybody else. Not me. I didn't do anything wrong."

Thomas rolled his eyes so hard it hurt.

"Please sit," Vince said, gesturing to his old sofas in the small living room.

He sat on the edge of a chair and leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "So what brings you all here? I wasn't able to pick out anything from what you said earlier."

Thomas opened his mouth again but Harriet interrupted.

"We're getting The Right Arm back together," she said. "We came to ask if you'd help."

Vince looked at all of them in turn, the small traces of a smile barely visible on his face. "Who's idea was this?"

"Tommy's," Newt answered before anybody else had time to speak up. "He woke me up at six in the bloody morning to tell me."

The Gladers laughed and Thomas blushed, elbowing Newt in the side. He was never going to live that down.

Even Vince cracked a smile. "Alright, Thomas. What do you have to say about this?"

Thomas looked up and smiled, glad he could finally talk.

"It's like what Harriet said," he told their old leader. "We want to get The Right Arm back together."

He went on to tell Vince practically the same thing he'd told the other Gladers in the library earlier that day.

"Okay," Vince said, standing up. "I'm in."

Cheers went up from all the Gladers.

Thomas couldn't help but smile. They'd done it. They picked The Right Arm up again after WICKED shot them down.

When they quieted down, Vince told them they should all get going now, and that he would follow in his car.

"So what do we do now?" Frypan asked.

"Well we pick up what's left of us," Vince answered. "Stick to the plan and take care of those cranks. And we start over, I guess."

That's when Thomas was supposed to speak up and say he wasn't going with them. But nothing had sounded better than continuing it with his friends.

Plus, Minho hadn't been taken so there wasn't a reason to say no.

At least, he hadn't been taken yet.