𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓-𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙨

XXVII-RUN!

It was bright when I woke up, Thomas was awake-I don't think he fell asleep-Fry was still driving. We passed a sign that said a mandatory infection check was two miles ahead. Fry continued on.

I felt Thomas's arm move against mine. He was fidgeting with his fingers, something I've never seen him do before. I wove my finger through his, squeezing enough to get his attention. "Hey, it's gonna be fine."

He nodded but said nothing. He was staring at the front of the car, Newt staring back at him in the rearview mirror. I frowned and realized his hand wasn't moving anymore. He only showed he was nervous in front of me. To everyone else he was steady, but he decided to show me this vulnerability.

I sighed and leaned against him again.

Fry slowed down, coming to a stop. He got out. The rest of us following. Thomas pulled out his map, checking it. I don't think he predicted there being a checkpoint like this.

It was a dark tunnel, water trails leading up to it. There were some cars at the entrance, but it looked like they never made it that far. Jorge told me about the day the solar flares destroyed the world. Everyone was dying and the ones who lived panicked.

There wasn't a lot of humanity left, but there was enough that someone had to come up with a disease to take out half of what was left. No one predicted it would be airborne. It wasn't long until everyone was going crazy. Apparently it has calmed down since then.

"I don't want to come across as negative, but if I was a crack, that's exactly where I would be."

"That sounds very negative, Newt." I put my hands on my hips, imitating his stance. He flicked my forehead. "Hey!" I rubbed my head. "Is there another way through?"

"I don't think we have much of a choice." Thomas put his map away, staring at the dark tunnel. Newt walked back to the car, climbing into the passenger seat. "Alright."

We piled back into the car and Fry entered the tunnel, going slower than we were earlier. As we got deeper, he turned all of the external lights on. We turned on our flashlights too, pointing to the spots that the car lights didn't quite reach.

Fry drove for a couple minutes and then came to a complete stop. I was turned to the back, making sure nothing was following us. I would have flown off of my seat and into Fry's seat if Thomas didn't hold me back.

"What the heck?" I looked at Fry, who was looking back at us, unsure. I saw why. There was a crank. It didn't move towards us, only jerked its body.

"It's ok." Thomas reassured. "It's just one. Just take it nice and slow. Go around him." Newt turned off his light and rolled up his window.

I leaned back in my seat but something moved in my peripheral. I turned my head and was met with a crank on the other side of the window. She didn't look that far gone yet-something the older people used to describe the cranks that were past reasoning. Most of them we encountered in the scorch.

She didn't have peeling skin or missing hair, but she was dirty and had a crazy look in her eyes. She had just started losing her mind.

I screamed and jumped back. Thomas pulled me against him when she pulled on the door handle, begging for us to help her. When she turned her head I saw blue veins reaching up from her neck to her face. It cradled her jaw. "My god..."

There was banging on Thomas's side. It was another crank, but worse than the lady. He didn't speak, only inhaled loudly, almost sounding like croaking.

"Okay, Fry we gotta go." Now there were cranks at every window. "Floor it Fry!"

The car took off, jolting my body forward and back. I hit my head on the window and groaned. That was gonna hurt later on.

A crank jumped on the hood of the car, banging on the window and cracking it.

"Get rid of it, Fry!" I shrieked. Since being at the hiding spot with the Right Arm, I have forgotten the danger of cranks. They were as scary as they were before.

"I'm trying." The car was swerving now, knocking Thomas and I into each other. "Hang on!" He jerked the car to the left, hitting the crank against something that stuck out of the wall. I thought we were out of the clear until Thomas yelled for Frypan to watch out.

There was a loud bang, the sound of glass breaking, and then I was falling to the side. I landed on the roof of the car with a hiss. My head spun and pounded and I couldn't see straight for a second. My arm burned and when everything settled I saw that we were upside down.

There was another pounding, but this time Thomas was kicking against the door. He got the door open and climbed out, pulling me with him. I stood up and a sharp pain raced up my leg when I put weight on my left ankle. "Ah." I fell against Thomas, who held me up right.

"Are you okay?" Because I didn't want to seem like a burden, I just nodded, standing but careful to put barely any weight on my ankle.

We walked around the side of the car, Fry yelling that he couldn't get his door open. "Go to the other side." Thomas said. Newt rolled out of the car, getting up and patting himself.

"You okay?" I helped with getting the dust off of Newt.

"Yeah, I think so." A scream came from down the tunnel, reaching all the way to us. I stood straight, blood ran cold and veins seizing. Newt reached for the gun he had at his hip, but the holster was empty. "Shit."

"Fry, come on."

"Wait a minute." He went back into the car, trying to pull something out. We yelled for him to hurry. He kept tugging, the crank got closer, screeching as it did so.

"Fry!"

He cocked something and stood up, pumping two shots into the crank. It fell to the floor, two holes in its chest.

"Nice shot, Fry."

"Thanks."

More screeches came down the tunnel, which was our cue to start running. I was behind them, my ankle burning. I cursed under my breath, pushing myself faster.

"Aesara!" I felt a hand grab my arm, pulling me back. I screamed and landed on my back. Almost immediately a crank was on top of me, I held it away from me, its hands against its chest. It pushed against me, its neck stretching to take a bite. Tears burned my eyes. I screamed against my teeth, pushing it off. I felt something stab into my thigh.

Quickly I grabbed my knife, pushing it into the head of the crank when it came to attack me again. Its eyes rolled up into its head, falling to the floor. I pulled my knife out and wiped it against my leg.

There were more gunshots and someone grabbed me. I swung my knife at them but they ducked it. It was just Thomas. He pulled back to the group as the cranks got closer to us on both sides. Fry wasn't shooting anymore. He ran out of ammo. I sheathed my knife.

"Shit."

Something revved and ran over the cranks. The lights blinded me as it drove by. Brenda came out of the top and shot at both sides. "Get in." They yelled, coming back into the car when we ran toward them. Thomas made sure I was in first and then climbed in himself. Newt and Fry got in after.

It wasn't long before we were out of the tunnel and back out into the bright light.