Chapter song: Why am I like this?- Orla Gartland
We had travelled far, I don't know exactly but it had to have been about 100 miles or so. I had been sat on the short edge of the container, my legs hanging off the side. Nobody sat with me, I think they must've been scared to fall as they were all sat carefully in the middle, some even holding onto the rope which hung from the berg below us. I don't know why the others were scared, it was so freeing in a way, feeling the wind in my hair and on my face. I watched from above as we passed all sorts of things: cranks, tumbleweed and even a crashed plane at one point, I don't think anyone else saw it. Despite our recent victory, I had this sinking feeling deep down, you might think it's stupid of me, but my gut is usually right when it comes to things like bad feelings. I brushed it off as the container started descending and as I turned around, I saw a beautiful sight: the ocean. It reminded me of my childhood. I hadn't always been a city girl, I had only moved to the city a year and a half before the virus, I had lived in a rural oceanside village my whole life, surfing the waves which washed upon the beaches and sailing the deep ocean on a small sailboat my father had built for me and Eric.
I stood up as we hit the floor, pulling myself up with the rope on the berg before dethatching it from the hook, jumping down, landing firmly on the ground below. I looked around briefly as I waited for the berg to land with the tools to open the container, taking in a deep breath of air. It felt fresh and light, compared to the polluted air of the city.
"Good job down there" Brenda told me, approaching me as I looked out over the sea,
"Good job up there" I smiled, nodding at her to greet her,
"They're about to open up the container, I thought you'd want to be there" She informed me and I smiled at her thankfully, turning on my heels, reaching the metal box as Vince began sawing through it.
Harriet and Thomas were the first in, I followed shortly behind. My eyes landed on Aris and Sonya, who sat together, their faces bruised and worn out,
"Aris! Sonya..!" Harriet gasped, rushing to the two, hugging them tightly,
"Hey can we get the bolt cutters in here?" I asked, making my way out the container to free some of the kids whilst Thomas tried to calm them. I started at the front, cutting each kid out, directing them to Vince who separated them into groups who needed first aid and who were okay.
"He's not here." Newt deadpanned to me as I continued to cut one of the kids free, motioning to the door of the container for him to leave. He looked at me worryingly before stepping out, pulling his hand up to shield his eyes from the sun. I turned back to newt, guilt and pain covering his face. I didn't reply, I stared at him for a second before returning to the kids, cutting the chains which held them up. I have this habit where if I don't know what to say or do, I won't say or do anything, that way, I can't say anything wrong. I heard Newt sigh before walking out, brushing past my shoulder, pushing me gently.
I wasn't really listening to Vince speech, it's not like it was for me anyway. I suppose this was his way of comforting the kids, making them feel safe after everything Wicked put them through. I walked off, sitting down by a table in the corner of a room, Aris and Sonya were cleaning themselves up, explaining to Newt, Thomas and Harriet what went down. Again, I wasn't really paying attention. I pulled my map from my bag along with a pen, drawing out a large circle, pointing out where we were. A slight change in conversation caught my attention,
"And Minho? Why wasn't he on the train?" I heard Newt ask. I knew I had to get him back, but looking at Thomas' facial expressions, I wasn't the only person thinking that.
"I'm sorry guys, but he was" I knew something was going to go wrong, I just didn't expect it to be something so bad. I leaned my head on the back of the chair I sat on, rubbing my hands on my face whilst sighing deeply. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I had never felt this way towards someone before, not even Hailey or Eric. I mean I barely knew Minho yet I was willing to sacrifice everything just to get him back to his friends. I snapped out of my thoughts when the others began crowding my table. Thomas rotated my map so it was facing him and Vince,
"There. That's it," He started, jabbing two of his fingers onto a spot on my map, fairly far away from where we were now, "It's a few hundred miles. Based on the railways, everything Aris told us, that's gotta be where they're heading. That's where they're taking Minho." Vince's face didn't looked impressed, just pissed off, "We take everyone who can fight, follow the roads, we can make it back within a week." I looked at Vince, hoping he would agree, even though I already knew the answer,
"A week?" He repeated, fury within his voice, "It took us six months to get here!" He pointed to another location on the map, "We got over 100 kids here now, we can't just hang out here forever after what we just pulled. You can't just wonder off to some random place, you don't even know what's there." Vince pointed out. Thomas looked disappointed but I knew him well enough to know he wouldn't quit here,
"I do." Jorge spoke from behind us, making us all glance up at him. He stood at the top of some steps, quickly bouncing down them, approaching us, "Its been a few years, but I've been there. the last city. That's what wicked called it" He explained, pointing back to the location Thomas had previously shown us, "If that city is still standing, it's the last place you wanna go, hermano. That's the lion's den." He directed the last bit at Thomas, shooting me an inclusive look, as if he knew what I was thinking,
"It's nothing we haven't done before" Thomas dismissed,
"Yeah with months of planning, reliable information, the element of surprise. None of which we have now. It's a stupid idea" Vince shut Thomas down once again,
"Yeah it's so stupid it might just work" I stepped in. I don't think anyone had really clocked that I was there yet as I was just sort of silently sat in the corner,
"Listen. last time we went off half-cocked, I lost everything. You remember that?" Vince asked, clearly getting a little too emotional,
"You aren't the only one" I informed him but he seemed to ignore me, turning back to Thomas instead. I glanced at Newt, who ever so slightly shook his head at me, I cocked mine back, confused as to what I did or said.
"Look, I know it's Minho, okay? But you can't ask me to put those kids on the line for one man. I won't do it" Vince stormed out the room and Thomas followed him leaving Jorge, me, Fry and Newt,
"You really don't grasp other peoples emotions, do you?" Newt asked, turning to me, he almost looked angry,
"What?" I asked, "Did I say something wrong?" Newt looked at me like I was an idiot, like I had done something completely out of line but was completely oblivious. I was cut off by Thomas, rushing over to the main power supply, pulling the lever to turn it off completely, hushing us as helicopters scanned the ground below us,
"Oh shit.." I muttered, looking outside, watching as the spotlights missed us by a few mere miles, they were getting a little too close for comfort.
word count: 1351
total word count: 12, 830
YOU ARE READING
the scorch runner
FanfictionY/n L/n is only 18 but lives each day as if it's her last... and that's because by all means it could be. She managed to escape Wicked once, but will she be able to do it again? An organisation built to destroy her generation to find themselves a cu...
