Chapter 12.

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Chapter song: Hypnotize (2014 remastered)- the notorious B.I.G


The faint sound of a hoarse voiced man's singing was the first thing I heard. I'm not sure if I can actually call it singing, but it's close enough. The room was dimly lit but it smelt nice, I suppose it was due to the array of flowers, blooming at the back of the room. Scanning my eyes over the flowers is when I clocked the guy, Lawrence is what he was called. His right hand firmly gripped a drip stand, inside the bag a liquid of some kind. It was bright blue yet still see through, I furrowed my brow, it must be something Wicked had conjured up, but by the missing nose and black veins which littered Lawrence's face, it wasn't curing him.

"Gally." He said, his voice deep and husky. He began walking over to us, scanning his eyes over each and every one of us, "Glad to see you made it back. Jasper told me what happened" His eyes briefly shot over to another man, who stood at the top of the room, clutching onto a gun.
"It was a slaughter. There's nothing we can do against those guns" Gally tightened his grip on his gun, almost like he was nervous for the conversation to switch onto us.
"No. But you can only poke the hornets nest so long before they get stung." He placed a rose he was previously holding into a vase, walking over to us, dragging his drip stand as he did, the back wheel slightly broken.
"Who are these people? Why are they here?" He encouraged, standing in front of us,
"We need to get into Wicked. Gally said you can get us through those walls." It was Thomas who said it. Gally looked like he wanted to interrupt, tell Thomas to stop but he didn't, he just looked at Lawrence with the same anticipation as the rest of us.
"Not to steal our supplies then no?" He asked, standing in front of me, a teasing smile upon his face. I went to say something, defend my name which had clearly been trampled all over but the man put his hand out, chuckling slightly,
"Not that it matters to me. But Gally should know better than to make promises he can't keep. Besides, that wall is only half your problem. Getting inside Wicked is impossible" Lawrence informed us. I looked back at Newt with a confused expression, he shared the same one. Gally stepped forward, gesturing between himself and Thomas,
"There might be a way now. But it doesn't work without Thomas" Everyone in the room stopped, looking over at the boy who had a very distinct, "what the fuck did you say" expression on his face, not that I blame him.
"Is that so?" Lawrence asked, talking directly to Thomas now, "Do you know what I am, Thomas?" I wanted to interrupt. That question was so open ended and I could list so many answers straight off the top of my head.  I didn't though, mainly because I could see Newt staring me down out the corner of my eye, he knew me too well.
"I'm a businessman. Which means I don't take unnecessary risks. Why should I trust you?" He asked. Thomas froze for a second, like he was lost for words or maybe he was just planning what to say now. The pressure was massively on him, because without these guys, we were straight back to square one.
"Cause we can help you. If you get us through those walls..." He paused, looking back at the bag of blue liquid, a small smile pressed on his lips, "I can get you what you need" He gestured at the liquid at Lawrence looked down at it too. There wasn't much left, maybe a day at a push and he would be out, then there would be nothing to stop him from becoming a full crank.
"What is it, you think I need?" The man replied. He spoke like this was a game to him, he knew we needed him and he was loving it, although I feel like the liquid wasn't quite the only thing he wanted out of this.
"Time. Every last drop"
"Is that what I need?" The man sneered, "I'll tell you what. Two can go for now. The rest can stay with me, just a little insurance to make sure you find your way back" Thomas looked back at Newt, it was clear it would be those two,
"How bout three?" I asked,  stepping forward, not really scared of the man,
"What?" He asked, retracting his hand from Thomas' before they shook,
"I- I wanna go too so.." I shrugged and the man paused, looking at me before shaking his head,
"Sure, three go, the rest stay. Deal?" If I were Thomas, I wouldn't have physically shaken his hand, a verbal agreement would've been enough, I don't know but it looks like you can catch a whole ass new virus from that hand. But Thomas isn't me and their hands connected, shaking the deal as Gally walked over to a manhole cover in the floor, pulling it off and throwing down a ladder. Gally made his way down, Thomas following shortly after. 
"You ready Newt?" I asked. I stopped as I saw the boy, trying to tie his lace and almost failing, staring at his forearm with an empty, yet terrified expression. Our eyes connected and I could feel my mouth open, as if I was going to say something but no words came out,
"Let's go" He said, standing up, pulling my arm and walking towards the hole, climbing down the ladder. I stood still for a second longer, shaking the horrible feeling off, pushing it deep down until I could no longer feel it, there was no way, right?

"This is so gross" I mumbled, trying my best not to walk in the water at the bottom of the sewer. Gally flipped a switch and a line of bulbs, hung neatly across the roof of the sewer lit up the way. I could've sworn I saw a rat but I shook it off, we had bigger problems on our hands,
"You were the one who said they wanted to come" Newt reminded me,
"That was before I knew we would be trekking through a sewer" I shook my head, giving myself a run up and jumping over a larger puddle which covered the whole path, luckily making the jump.
"Oh ew that's gross!" I heard Thomas moan, at the same time the splashing sound of someone hitting water echoed through the sewer. I turned around to see Thomas holding onto the wall for balance, lifting up his left shoe which was dripping with water. I felt myself laugh out loud,
"No you didn't!" I shouted in between laughs, making it almost incomprehensible, the other two found it just as amusing.
"you're such an idiot" I added as the boy tried his best not to laugh at the situation, continuing walking, his boot making a small squeak every step he took, giving me continuous amusement as we walked on,
"Keep it up, we got a ways to go" Gally told us, making me walk a little faster than before, still being careful not to step in any of the gross water and dead rats which littered the sides. 

word count: 1208
total word count: 16, 718

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