Antidote | A3

c h a p t e r . e i g h t e e n

A misshapen arm hung over the edge of the pod.

Four stubby fingers protruded from the end of the sickly, beige limb covered in wrinkles and lumps, wriggling and grasping at the air. As the arm extended further out of the pod, it revealed a perfectly round growth attached to the elbow, glowing bright orange, as if a lightbulb was fused to its skin.

A leg flopped out next, that same fleshy mass, with another of those impossible orange spheres of light growing out of its knee. My eyes scanned the rest of the pods, where more of the creatures were starting to emerge.

"What are those things?" Minho yelled.

Well, they certainly weren't Grievers, but I could hazard a pretty good guess at who was responsible for creating these abominations. The one nearest to me gained purchase on the edge of the pod with its stubby fingers, pulling the rest of its body out. It lurched over the edge and stumbled to the ground.

It was roughly human-shaped, at least half a metre taller than any of us, its body naked and wrinkled and covered in those glowing bulbous growths. It had at least two dozen in total, scattered across its chest and back with one on each elbow and knee. There were several sticking out of the lump that had to be its head, though it had no eyes, nose, mouth or hair.

I glanced around to see each pod had now delivered its creature, all of them on their feet, surrounding us. In unison, they raised their arms to the sky, and thin blades shot out of their stubby fingers, all at once.

Maybe Grievers would have been better, Leo said grimly.

Minho turned quickly and faced the crowd of gaping Gladers. "There's about one for each of us! Grab whatever you got for a weapon!"

Almost as if they'd heard the challenge, the light-bulb monsters started moving, walking forward. Their first couple of steps were lumbering, but they quickly grew steady, more agile. Coming closer with every step.

Teresa was suddenly at my side, and I jumped a little when I noticed her.

"Hey," I breathed, the simple word charged with so much still unsaid.

"Hey," she replied quickly, drawing a dagger out from somewhere concealed in her clothing and thrusting it into Thomas' hand.

I pulled out my own knife, and watched as the Group B girls produced even more weapons, that some of them quickly passed to the other unarmed members of our group. I wondered where on earth they could have collected enough to have spares, but in this moment I was grateful for them.

Minho and Harriet were barking orders to their respective groups, trying to be heard over the wind as they moved people around, positioning them. When Minho pointed at me I obeyed immediately, stepping into a space beside Teresa and realising they'd gotten us rather successfully into an almost-perfect circle, facing outwards.

The creatures were close now, less than ten metres away. I locked onto the one straight ahead of me, and even though the monster was faceless, I could feel it staring straight back.

"Now!" Minho ordered, yelling at the top of his lungs to be heard over the violent wind. "Charge them!"

It all came down to this. One last battle against a biotech army sent by WICKED. This hideous creature was the last thing standing in the way of us passing the Scorch Trial, and getting that promised cure. I'd killed a Griever in the Maze. I'd killed three Cranks in that cave. Whatever it took, this thing was going down.

Emitting a guttural cry, I rushed towards my monster, a white-knuckled grip on the handle of my knife as I raised it high. The others to my left and right charged forwards too, but I forced myself to ignore them. It was just me and my opponent now as I sprinted for it, closing the gap.