𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 ➁ - The Scorch Trials, Newt

Chapter 11 - Cranks

'Tell me what's going on.' Teresa said once we arrived in the dark building.

'It's WICKED. They lied to us. We never escaped. Me and Aris, we found bodies. Too many to count.' Thomas explained.

What do you mean? Dead bodies?' I wondered, kind of confused about everything.

'No, but they weren't alive either. They had them strung up. With tubes coming out of them. They were being drained. There's something inside of us that WICKED wants. Something in our blood.
So we have to get as far away from them as possible.'

A shiver went down my spine when Thomas told the story. It was awful.

'Okay. So, what's the plan? You do have a plan, right?' Newt questioned.

'Yeah. I don't know.' Thomas mumbled.

'Well, we followed you out here, Thomas. And now you're saying that you have no idea where we're going or what we're doing?' Newt raised his voice.

'Wait. Janson said something about people hiding in the mountains.' Thomas realized.

'Rat Man.' Me and Minho corrected in unison.

'Some kind of resistance or army. The Right Arm... If they're really against WICKED, maybe they can help us.' Thomas ignored our comment.

'People. In the mountains...' Newt started, frowning. 'Mountain people. That's your plan?'

'It's the only chance we have.' Thomas shrugged. 'Now let's just look around. Get yourself some clothes or food. Whatever.'

'I think people lived here.' Minho shined his flashlight through the building, revealing couches, clothes, lamps, and more.

We all started searching through the stuff. 'Hey, Dora!' Minho shouted from a distance.

'What?' I sighed at the nickname, but also thought it was kind of funny.

'This somethin' for you?' Minho held up a small, pink dress.

'Very funny, mean hoe!' I rolled my eyes as Minho chuckled and put the dress down. My eyes caught a red top and a black, leather jacket. I grabbed the clothes, walked to a corner, and started undressing. I saw Newt glancing at me, or rather, my chest. So did Minho and Logan.

'Hey!' I shouted. 'Stop looking, you perverts!'

Quickly they looked down again. I almost smiled at their reaction and put on the clothes. When I walked back to them, Minho and Thomas were gone.

'They went further into the building.' Newt explained when he saw my face. I nodded in response and started searching through some other stuff. I picked up a knife and inspected it. It seemed perfect to defend myself.

Just when I was about to put it in my pocket, Newt interrupted me. 'Love, I don't think it's a good idea for you to carry a knife with you.'

'What?' I asked, offended. 'I need to defend myself with something.'
Then I realized what Newt was talking about. 'Oh.' I muttered. 'I'm going to take it anyways.'
Newt raised his eyebrows.
'I won't harm myself, Newt.' I promised. 'Just to defend myself.' I assured again.

Newt didn't seem satisfied, but eventually, he nodded.

After about ten minutes, I heard some shouts and screams coming from further away. 'What's going on?' Newt frowned and looked closer, just to see Minho and Thomas running around the corner.

'Hey!' Thomas screamed. 'Run! Go! Get the hell out of here!'

Then I saw people running after them. They made weird movements and odd sounds escaped their mouths. I realized they were Cranks. Horrified I looked at them, frozen in my place.

'For god's sake, Nora! Run!' Minho screamed.

I shook out of my trance and followed Newt and the others. We ran through the whole building and climbed up some stairs until one of the Cranks grabbed my leg. I let out a yelp and kicked with my feet. Then I felt the knife in my pocket. Quickly I grabbed it and sliced the Crank's arm. It let out a horrible scream and loosened its grip. I shook it off me and started running again.

'Holy shit!' I screamed when I saw more Cranks appearing.

'Come on, Nora!' Logan grabbed my arm and pulled me with him. We all ran over a balcony when suddenly a Crank ran through a glass window and jumped right on top of Newt.

'Newt!' I screamed. Newt let out some yells too. We tried to get the Crank off him and finally, Thomas managed to do it. Newt crawled on his feet again.

'Newt, you good?' Thomas yelled.

'Yeah. Thanks, Tommy!'

My heart melted at the nickname, but I didn't have much time to think about it. Cranks got closer to us and I had to quicken my pace.

'Through here!' Winston yelled. We ran through a tight and small hallway, almost squeezing us. It gave me a bit of an uncomfortable feeling. When we arrived at the end, there was one single door. Thomas tried to open it, but it didn't.

'Shit!'

'It's a dead end!'

'I'll hold them back!' Winston screamed. He grabbed a gun out of his pocket and I wondered where he even got it. Winston started shooting the Cranks, who moved closer to us.

'Hurry!' Winston shouted when the Cranks almost reached us. Thomas kept banging against the door and when Frypan helped, the door opened.

'Come on!' We all ran through. 'Winston! Let's go!'

Winston shot a few more times, before running back to us. I wanted to grab his arm, but a Crank pulled him away.

'No!' I screamed. 'Winston!'

We tried to reach for the boy. Dozens of Cranks grabbed his legs and tried to pull him back. Horrible sounds echoed through the building.

'Help!' Winston shouted. Finally, we managed to pull him away from the creatures. I noticed one of them slicing Winston's stomach, but I didn't have much time to think about it.

'Come on! Let's go!' Thomas screamed. We started running again.

~

We hid under a big piece of stone, outside. 'Are they gone?' Teresa whispered.

'Yeah, I think so.' Thomas replied. 'Let's catch some sleep.'