𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 ➁ - The Scorch Trials, Newt

Chapter 18 - Lake

'We're almost at the top.' Newt sighed.

'What if no one's there?' I worried.

'We'll see.' Logan replied. 'How much food do we have left?'

Newt looked in his backpack. 'I have none.'

'Let's just tuck it in for the night.' Logan decided. It was already getting dark and we had been walking the whole day, so I was quite tired. We walked over to a big piece of stone. I used my backpack as a pillow and lay down.

~

I woke up to a small sound coming from a bush. My eyes shot open. As quietly as possible, trying not to wake the other boys up, I followed the sound. I could barely see anything because of the darkness.

'Hello?' I carefully asked. 'Who's there?'

Some muffled noise came out of the bush. A little afraid, I moved the leaves to the side. I gasped at the vision. There was a Crank lying on the ground, making weird movements. Black liquid streamed out of its mouth. It was inhuman. When the Crank moved its nails toward their eyes, I let out a yelp. The Crank screamed when it started scratching its own eyes out. Frightened I stood there, not knowing what to do.

The Crank let out some more horrifying screams, before turning to me. Black mixed with red blood came out of its eyes. I gasped and took a few steps back. The Crank followed me, crawling over the floor. A cry escaped from my mouth.

When the Crank got even closer to me, I started running. The Crank did too. I could hear its heavy breaths behind me, almost touching my neck. I tried to run faster, but it felt like my legs were made out of clay. I stumbled over and the Crank jumped on top of me.

The Crank pinned me onto the floor and looked at me with its horrible eyes. I let out a loud scream, hoping the two boys would hear me and get help. The Crank was stronger than me, I couldn't fight back. Another scream of mine echoed through the woods.

~

'Nora!'

My eyes shot open and I looked right into Newt's. Panicked I looked around, searching for the Crank.

'Nora, you're okay.' Newt cupped my face, forcing me to look at him. 'It was just a dream.'
My chest started moving up and down slower and steadier. 'You're alright.' Newt comforted me and wiped some tears off my cheeks I hadn't even noticed falling.

'Sorry.' I muttered.

'Don't be.' Newt replied. 'Are you okay?'

'I think so. Thank you.' I bit my lip.

'We need to go again.' Newt got up and looked at the orange sky. I nodded and got up too.

~

'Hey, guys! Look at this!' I ran over to a lake. The water was very clear and it looked beautiful. 'Grab your bottles. We can get some water.'

Newt and Logan bend down at the water too. I grabbed my water bottle and wanted to fill it with water, but a sudden movement interrupted me. 'Aah!' I screamed and jumped away from the lake.

'It's just a fish, Nora.' Logan laughed.
Embarrassed I looked at the fish. It was an orange, big one.
'We can catch it.' Logan suggested. 'Then we have food.'

'I'm not eating that.' I was disgusted.

'You have to eat something, love. It's better than nothing and I'm sure it'll taste fine.' Newt added.

'How do you even want to catch it?' I questioned, wiping some sweat off my dirty forehead. Then an idea popped up in my mind. All of us were sweating, dehydrated, and dirty. Taking a swim seemed like the perfect opportunity to clean ourselves up.

'What are you thinkin' about?' Newt noticed I had an idea.

'I'm taking a swim.'

'What?' Both of the boys asked.

'Look. All of us are dirty, it's hot outside, and we're dehydrated. Don't you think it's a good idea?'

'Well, yeah, but-.'

Newt got interrupted by me putting out my shoes. 'You're clothes are gonna get wet.' Newt reminded me. Then his eyebrows furrowed.
'Nora. You're not going naked in front of Logan-.'

'I'm not going naked, Newt.' I chuckled. 'Now come on.' I pulled out my shirt and pants, not caring about the boys. I trusted both of them and didn't mind them seeing me like that.

Hesitantly they got rid of their shoes, pants, and shirt. Slowly I put my foot in the water. To my surprise, the water was warm. Probably because of the sun shining on it.

'Alright.' I started walking on the sand floor, deeper into the water. The two boys followed.
'I can't remember swimming. Hopefully I won't drown.' I smiled lightly.
'The wound is healing, Logan.' I commented when I saw his back.

'I guess.' Logan suddenly dived into the water. When he got out his hair was completely wet and he had to move it out of his eyes. 'Come on.'

'Newt, what are you-.' I got interrupted by Newt pushing me underwater. 'Hey!' I gasped for air when I got up again. 'You're going to pay for that!' I pushed him underwater too.

'Oh my-.' Logan gasped.

I spun around. 'What?'

'There's a shark.'

I screamed and jumped right into Newt's arms, who caught me perfectly.
'Where is it?! Help!' I panicked, until I saw Logan's face. His eyes were playful and the grin made me realize it was a joke. 'That's not funny, Logan!'

Newt put me down before bursting out laughing. 'Your face!' He laughed.
I pushed Newt underwater again before he could make another comment.

'I'm going to catch the fish.' Logan decided.

'How?' I wondered.

Logan slowly walked over to a fish. Suddenly he literally jumped on top of it. I let out a scream.

'Got it.' Logan held the fish in his hands.

'Ew.' I was disgusted by the sight. After a while, the fish stopped moving and I assumed it was dead. 'Now let's see if you boys have any cooking skills.' I grinned.

~

We had made a small fire with a big branch above it. Logan had put some fish on the branch and we waited for them to be done. 

'How is that supposed to taste good?' I mocked.

'Well, well. Not so ungrateful. I caught this for you guys.' Logan joked.

I chuckled. 'Where's Frypan when you need him?'

Soon we turned serious again. 'I hope we'll find them.' Newt looked at the ground.

'We will.' I replied. 'We'll just see at the top if anyone is there.'