T R U S T [The Maze Runner || Newt || Book 2]

Chapter 7

The group stood in silence at Clara's revelation, all of them staring at the siblings, probably trying to find a similarity between them. They'd never really looked alike, he had much lighter hair and blue eyes whereas Clara had dark brown hair and eyes, they didn't look like siblings at all.

"Ya'll can call me Teddy." The boy smiled, his country accent shining through – Clara never understood how he'd developed it.

"Brother?" Newt questioned, raising an eyebrow at the pair,

"Yes sir." Theodore answered him, slinging his shotgun over his shoulder, and tightening the strap. Clara's suspicions were still high as she looked her brother up and down, she had just about as many questions as the rest of the group, but before she got a chance to ask one, Winston called them from a few feet away

"Hey guys, check this out." He was kneeling down and looking at something on the ground, "Minho give me a light."

The group walked over to him as Minho shone the torch down on whatever he was looking at. In the sand were large footsteps, leading towards the center of the room.

"Someone else has been down here, those ain't mine." Teddy said as everyone looked around the room, the tension and fear in the air growing thicker. Slowly, everyone started to move forward, with Minho leading the way since he had the only light. Huddling closely together they explored the abandoned building, all of them hoping against all hope that whoever was in there first had decided to leave. They came to a dirty glass door and Minho shone the light through the glass,

"Come on, open it up." He said, leaning down and pulling the door upwards, Thomas crouching down to help him. Everyone split up, exploring the small room behind the door. Clara noticed some old flashlights resting on a container, she leaned forward, blowing the dust off of it before picking up one of the lights and clicking it on.

"Looks like people lived here." Aris mumbled,

"Where are they now?" Newt said, asking the question that was on everybody's minds. He turned to Thomas who put on an old jacket, dusting it off before he spoke,

"Let's pack some of this stuff up. Anything you think you might need. We'll split up and see what else we can find. We'll meet back here."

"Wait, Tommy." Newt called out before tossing one of the flashlights at him.

"Minho, you're with me. Let's go."

The two of them walked back out the way they all came in as everyone else kept exploring, looking for anything important they could bring with them. Clara found an old bag in the corner, she shook it off and carried it over to where Frypan and Newt were crouching down. Teresa gasped a few feet away from them and Newt looked up at her,

"You alright?" He shouted,

"I'm fine."

Clara kneeled on one knee, picking up the rest of the flashlights and shoving them into the bag, along with some empty water bottles, checking them to make sure they were clean before putting them inside. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Frypan looking off to the side, when she turned her head to see what he was looking at she rolled her eyes, seeing Teresa, who was lifting off her shirt. Newt saw Clara looking up and turned to see what the pair was looking at and once he realized, he reached his hand up, using two fingers to turn Frypan's head away from Teresa, chuckling softly.

"What?" Frypan asked innocently before going back to packing his backpack while Clara just grinned at him. Standing back up Newt looked around the room for anything else he could pack and Clara watched as he wrapped a red scarf around his neck before moving off to another table to grab some bandages. As he stuffed them into his bag the lights in the room flickered on around them. Clara heard a screech in the distance and a shiver ran up her spine as she wondered what it was, she looked at Teresa who'd obviously heard it as well, fear growing on her face. They walked out of the room, meeting up with Winston and Aris, who'd explored a different room to them

"What's going on?" Winston asked, looking around them.

"I don't know."

Suddenly a yell came from behind them and they whipped around, seeing Thomas and Minho sprinting around the corner.

"RUN!"

Clara squinted to see what they were running from and felt her stomach jump to her throat as she saw multiple cranks running behind them, releasing horrible screeches as they lumbered forward at a terrifying pace.

"Oh shit!" Newt shouted as he pulled his backpack onto his shoulders. Clara did the same before quickly turning around and running with the others. They sprinted forward and up an escalator, the shrieks of the cranks echoing through the building.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE THINGS?"

"I DON'T KNOW JUST KEEP GOING!"

"MOVE! MOVE!"

The group turned a corner, running as fast as they possibly could away from the cranks. But Thomas scrambled to a stop as one of them appeared in front of the group, releasing a horrifying roar before it ran at them. Aris picked up a metal bar at his feet, lunging forward before ducking down and swiping the bar at the crank's feet, sending it sprawling in front of the rest of the group, separating them. Clara quickly jumped away from the crank on the floor and noticed Thomas and Teresa on the escalators,

"GO AROUND!" Thomas yelled at them and they quickly turned and sprinted the other way towards another set of stairs as more of the things began to appear behind them. They reached the top of the stairs and turned to the left, meeting back up with Thomas and Teresa. The group continued to run as fast as they possibly could,

"WE GOTTA FIND A WAY OUT OF HERE" Frypan yelled as they kept moving down a long hallway. Clara ran up ahead of the group but stopped when she heard glass breaking behind her, she whipped her head around and froze as a crank tackled Newt to the ground. He rolled over onto his back as it crawled on top of him, snapping its teeth at his face. He lifted his arm up, pressing it against the crank's throat, pushing it back as it kept biting at him, only stopping to release a roar

"Oh, god." Newt groaned in disgust, trying desperately to shove the crank off him. Thomas quickly ran next to him, shoving his foot into it and sending it flying off the balcony. Sticking his hand out to Newt and lifting him off the ground,

"Thanks, Tommy."

"Come on, we gotta go! This way!" Teddy yelled at them, leading them towards a narrow hallway, all of them squeezing through the opening. They raced down the hallway, Teddy leading the way,

"Where are we going?" Newt yelled at the boy,

"Just keep running, trust me!" He shouted back, continuing down the narrow path. They came to the end of the hall, a tiny room with 3 doors on one side. Thomas tried pushing open the first door but it didn't budge, Clara felt her panic growing as she realized they were trapped. Teddy tried the next door and it opened slightly more, but not all the way. He slammed his body into the door, trying to push it open as Winston and Clara stood at the opening of the hall, using a gun to hold back the army of cranks approaching them.

"GET THAT DOOR OPEN!" Winston yelled, continuing to shoot at them. Newt kicked the door again, stumbling backward when it didn't move but Frypan shoved him out of the way, running straight towards the door and slamming his body into it. The door flew open and the group ran through it quickly, but just as Winston ran through he fell to the ground, the cranks grabbing at him and pulling him back. Clara grabbed one of his hands and pulled him with as much strength as she could muster, wincing slightly when Winston screamed, the cranks were scratching at the flesh on his stomach, almost tearing through it. 

Finally, they pulled him away from the door, lifting him up and running as Thomas and Minho tried to contain the cranks. Clara sprinted forward, one hand on Winston's back to make sure he didn't fall over as they moved through the building. Teddy was running ahead, searching for a place to hide away, he suddenly took a sharp left turn, disappearing behind a column. The group followed him and spotted where he was headed, a large sand dune in the middle of the building that had a piece of concrete sticking out of it. Teddy slid down the dune, shuffling underneath the concrete, and everyone else piled behind him, hiding themselves as best as they could. Newt quickly scrambled to turn off the flashlight he was holding, and Clara's heart raced as the screeching sounds of the cranks echoed throughout the building. She was only able to fall asleep a few hours later, once the screams had finally died down.