The Priceless Variable

An Uphill Battle

Thomas woke up to a sound nearby. He opened his eyes and saw a bird trying to get into Teresa's backpack.

"Hey, hey! Get out of here." Thomas said, shoeing the bird away.

Newt, Minho, and Teresa started to wake up as well.

"Are they gone?" Newt asked, referring to the zombies.

"Yeah. I think we're safe for now." Thomas answered.

"Let's pack it up. Come on, Fry, Aris. Let's go." Thomas said.

"Hey, Mallory. Come on, love. You gotta wake up." Newt whispered to her.

Mallory slowly came out of her slumber. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and heard Winston groan in pain.

"Hey, man. Are you okay?" Frypan asked him.

He offered his hand to help their wounded soldier. Mallory went over to help as well.

Once they got Winston on his feet, everyone grabbed their backpacks and started to walk away from the big pieces of concrete that was their shelter for the night.

Thomas led the group out into what seemed to be a city, but it was all in ruins. It must've been what Janson meant by "The Scorch."

The group was walking down a sandy pathway. Everyone was looking around and wondering what happened to the landscape.

"What happened to this place?" Frypan asked.

"I don't know. But, it's like nobody's been here in a long time." Newt answered.

"I hope the whole world's not like this." Aris said.

Thomas suddenly stopped the group from going any further.

"Whoa! Whoa! Hang on, stop!" he said.

The others looked back at him.

"Do you hear that?" Thomas asked.

At first, they couldn't hear anything, but there was a sound. When it got a little louder, Thomas realized what it was.

"Get down! Everybody, hide! Hide! Hide! In here! In here!" he said.

The group ran underneath some concrete to hide. There was a long piece that was separated into two sides. Thomas, Mallory, Aris, and Winston were on one side. Newt, Minho, Frypan, and Teresa were on the other side.

They hid just in time because a berg and two helicopters flew overhead.

"They're never gonna stop looking for us, are they?" Minho asked.

When the coast was clear, the group came out of hiding and they continued their journey to the mountains.

  ~~~~~~~~~~

They were making their way up a hill that made out of a building's remaining structure.

"Everyone good?" Thomas asked.

Winston was taking it slow; one step at a time. He was breathing heavily and held his stomach. Luckily, Mallory stayed close to him if he needed medical assistance.

They made it past that pile of rubble and was walking on a patch of sand. Thomas led them up a sand dune.

"Just a little further, guys." he said.

With a few more pushes, the group made it to the top of the sand dune. They were looking out onto the Scorch, while taking a moment to catch their breath.

Thomas pointed out the mountains in the distance.

"That's the mountains. That's gotta be it, that's where we're going." he said.