I Promise | The Maze Runner

Chapter 24: Walls ✔️

I reach back, looking for my jacket. I find something that's...not a jacket.

"Fry. Stop the truck." I say, clearly sounding mad. Fry brings the truck to a stop and I jump out, slamming the door shut after me.

"Spence? What's going on?" Newt asks confused, as he also gets out of the truck.

I throw the door open to the truck of the truck. "Get out, now." I say, now sounding even madder.

Pip comes out from under my jacket and gets out of the trunk. "Spencer, please don't-"

"What were you thinking?!" I yell. "I'm trying to protect you and you decide to come with me?!"

"I want Kat back just as much as you do!" Pip yells.

I sigh in frustration. "It's too late to turn back now." Newt says quietly.

"I hope you thought this through." I say to Pip before grabbing my jacket and getting back in the truck.

-----

Fry stops the truck and we all get out, looking at the tunnel.

"You want us to go in there?" I ask, looking at Thomas.

"I don't wanna come off too negative, but if I was a crank, that's exactly where I'd want to be." Newt says, glancing at Thomas before me.

"I don't think we have much of a choice." Thomas says, looking down at the map.

"Then I get shotgun." Newt says, turning back towards the truck.

We all get in and Fry starts it up, slowly driving into the tunnel. "Just take it nice and slow." Newt says as we turn on all the lights on the truck. Fry starts the truck back up and slowly rolls into the tunnel.

"Whoa, whoa." Thomas says and Fry stops the car. A crank comes out from behind a car, standing in the middle of the tunnel. "Just go around him."

Fry nods as Thomas leans back in his seat, turning towards the window. He jumps back. "Help me." I turn to see a woman leaning against the truck, her face on the window. "Please, help me." She pleads.

There's a thud from the other side of the truck and we spin around seeing another crank on this side. "Go! Go! Just floor it!" Thomas yells.

"Hold on!" Fry yells, putting the pedal to the metal. The truck starts driving down the tunnel and Fry tries to avoid the abandoned cars and cranks. A crank jumps onto the hood of the car before punching the windshield, putting a huge crack in it. "Hold on!" Fry yells, trying to get the crank off. It falls off the side.

"Fry!" Thomas yells as Fry runs over a barrel, flipping the truck.

"Everybody okay?!" Thomas yells, kicking his door open.

"Yeah, I think." I say with a cough, kicking my own door open. I stumble out before turning and helping Pip out. "You guys okay?"

"I think so." Toby replies as I help her out.

Thomas, Fry, Jesse, and Newt get out and look around. We're halfway through the tunnel. There's a scream from behind Thomas and Newt. They whip around as a crank comes running towards them. Newt reaches down, grabbing his gun from his holster. "No, no, no." He mumbles, his gun missing.

I grab my own gun out of my holster and shoot the crank. "Nice aim." Thomas says as the crank falls to the ground.

There's more yelling and we look up, more cranks are running towards us. "Fry, come on!" Thomas yells as we start running towards the exit. We all stop, more cranks are running from this side. Fry, with his gun, starts shooting the cranks behind us as I start shooting the ones in front of us.

"I'm out!" Fry yells from behind me.

There's a roar of an engine. I turn around in time to see a truck pull up next to us. Brenda pops out the sun roof. "Get in!" She yells, starting to shoot the cranks. We all run to the truck, getting in. I lift Pip in before getting in myself. "Go!" Brenda yells, getting back in her seat. Jorge, who's in the driver seat, revs the engine and drives, hitting cranks while he gets out.

"Didn't think we'd let you have all the fun, did you?" Ed asks from the front seat.

"I'm impressed." Jorge says. "You almost lasted an entire day."

Brenda swivels around from her seat next to Ed and looks at us disapprovingly, slightly shaking her head. "I didn't want to bring you guys into this, okay?" Thomas asks.

"Hey, I think what he's trying to say is, thanks for saving us." Fry says with a light laugh.

"You're welcome." She says with a small smile, turning back to the front.

"Don't get your hopes up. That check point back there? That was the city's last defense. If that was overrun, the city probably is too." Jorge says as we drive on.

"Yeah, unless they've found another way to keep the cranks out." Newt says, looking out the window.

Jorge brings the truck to a stop and we all get out. A city is standing, surrounded by hundred foot walls. The city outside the walls is destroyed, all the buildings collapsing.

"Funny, I spent three years trapped behind walls and now we're trying to break back in." Newt says, looking at the walls.

"Yeah, it's hilarious." I say quietly.

"How do we get in, Jorge?" Thomas asks, turning to Jorge.

"Don't look at me, hermano. Those walls are new." Jorge replies, pointing to the walls. "I guess that's WICKED's answer for everything."

"Well, we're aren't gonna figure it out from up here." Ed says, walking towards the truck. 

"Let's go!" Brenda yells, hopping in the front seat. Jorge, Fry, Jesse, Toby, and Pip follow, leaving Thomas, Newt, and I.

"Do you really think they're gonna be there?" Newt asks, glancing at Thomas.

"I guess we'll find out." Thomas replies, still looking at the city.

"You know," Newt says. "she'll be there too."