EUNEIROPHRENIA:
•the peaceful state of mind that comes after waking up from a pleasant dream.
after they finally found their way out, they were met with yet another danger: the scorch. will they survive and get to the safe place?
TMR, MINHO
-STATU...
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"JORGE, WE HAVE BEEN WALKING FOR HOURS and there's still no sign of your city. I am starting to believe that all of this was just in your head," Rosa said when she jogged forward to pester Jorge at the front, her voice glistening with annoyance.
She wasn't wrong. We had been trekking for what felt like an eternity. Long since passing the mountains, we were currently combing the wasteland in search of the city where the rest of our group was supposed to be. But there was absolutely no sign of it in view.
"Just wait, hermana. Not much longer," Jorge replied with a grin that felt far too easy for our situation.
I rolled my eyes. He'd been saying that for at least the past hour, and we were still nowhere close. I quickened my pace to catch up to Minho, walking a little ahead and just as tired but not showing quite as much.
He noticed me approach and gave a quick smile. "So, you think how much longer this time?" he asked.
I shrugged and fell into step with him. "I doubt it's less than an hour. Honestly, I'm starting to think the Maze wasn't so bad after all. At least we didn't have to deal with this frying pan of a desert."
Frypan, walking just ahead of us, cast us a look. He probably thought we were talking about him.
"Yeah, right? The Maze is looking like a five-star vacation spot now," Minho replied, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "But we can't stop. We've got to find them."
"True," I muttered, nodding ahead at Jorge. "But can we really trust Brenda and Jorge? I mean, they do know about the Scorch, but I'm not sure what the endgame is.«
Minho snorted. "Oh, totally. No secrets with those two. Just two perfect strangers we met while surrounded by Cranks. Completely trustworthy."
I snorted, continuing to play along. "Yeah, because saving us from WICKED doesn't at all scream ulterior motives."
"Exactly," he laughed. "Though, to be fair, they did get us out of there. Could've just left us behind.«
I nodded. "True. Speaking of WICKED, what do you think is meant by 'WICKED is good'? I mean, experimenting on teenagers and throwing us into death traps seems like a foolproof way to save humanity. Nobel Prize material right there.«
Minho shook his head, smirking. "Throwing us into a death maze, then running after us in a sun-scorched wasteland crawling with Cranks? Real humanitarian work, WICKED. Truly.«
We both laughed. It was only lately that we'd picked up the proper name for the creeps we'd been running from. Cranks. Not that it made them any less terrifying. Apparently, there were stages to their madness, but at this point, I didn't care to meet any more of them.
I shook my head. "The next step in this genius plan of WICKED's will be to throw us into a volcano and say it's all 'for the greater good.' Can't wait."
