The Scorching Heat

10

That night you set up camp in an abandoned office building. It reminded you of your original refuge in some ways. And you couldn't believe you were thinking this, but you were starting to get homesick.

Whilst the others organised their beds and finished some of the rations, you took it upon yourself to scan the building for any signs of food.

The old staircases creaked with every step and the floorboards were almost completely worn down. The building was in one of the worst conditions you'd seen, with gaping holes in the structure. On the 3rd floor, there was a wall that was completely missing, meaning that you could easily step off the building for a suicide drop.

You shivered as you stood at the ledge, wondering if any cranks decided that falling would've been the easy way out.

Creeaaakkk

You snapped your head back around, with your gun ready. Could it be another crank?

"Woah there, don't kill me yet."

It was just Newt. Of course it was.

He gave you a slight smile, then glanced down at your feet resting so close to the edge. He frowned then looked up at you, his eyes sparkling with concern.

"You aren't thinking of jumping, are you?" He gulped, looking away all of a sudden.

You laughed uneasily, "No, course not."

"Oh," He slowly shuffled over until he was stood beside you, "Good that."

He had his feet over the ledge too now, and by the way he was looking down you wondered if he'd ever contemplated the drop.

It was quiet up this high. You couldn't hear the rustle of the gladers below anymore, only the gentle whistle of the wind.

It would've felt lonely if Newt wasn't stood next to you, but he was.

You shuffled slightly, knocking a pebble from the ledge. The two of you watched as it made its way down onto the sand below.

"Guessing you haven't found any food then?" Newt started the conversation again.

You shook your head. "This buildings empty, I'm sure of it."

"I don't know." Newt shrugged, "It doesn't really feel it."

"What do you mean?" You asked, confused.

"Like, it sort of feels lived in, you know?" He continued.

"That's just cuz we're here." You looked up towards him.

He bit his lip and looked away, contemplating what you'd just said. He shook his head again, looking down.

"Maybe some people have recently looted it?" You guessed, "If cranks were here, wouldn't we have heard them?"

"But we're so high up." Newt answered seriously.

Suddenly, there was a shouting noise coming from down below. You and Newt peered down to see a familiar group of boys rushing out of the building, clamouring and pushing.

You couldn't really hear what they were yelling about since you were so high up. You couldn't fully see their faces either.

"What's happening?" Newt shouted down to them.

One of the boys who you were guessing was Minho looked up to you and cursed loudly. He had a knife in his hands, this meant whatever was happening was serious.

"Minho!?" Newt yelled again, trying to get a response.

Minho cupped his hands around his mouth to tell something back, but his words got lost in the wind.

"What!?" You screamed urgently, starting to feel quite nervous.

"Cranks! Loads of them! Get out of there quickly!"

You heard what Minho said that time. You turned to Newt and grabbed his shirt sleeve, ready to pull him out of there. He looked as frightened as you were. You had no idea how many you were facing, and you only had limited bullets.

You would've started running out of the room, straight to the staircase. But before you could move you were hit with a daunting noise.

That creakkkkkk of the floorboards...

And the familiar haunting groans of the dreaded cranks...