The Escape ~ Gally TMR

Chapter Ten

Minho's POV:

We made it to the town about an hour ago. It's about dusk, and we've spent most of the time searching the buildings for psychotic Cranks. We only saw a few, they weren't too hard to kill. Saw one larger group, but they looked more void of life and half dead, rather than violent and blood thirsty. Nothing else so far. We set up our stuff inside an abandoned building, a big open space, not too many walls, so no Cranks could sneak up on us in the night. The roof looked solid enough, so if another storm came, we would be safe for the most part. We had planned on splitting up for food, but with the Cranks in larger numbers than anticipated, we couldn't be sure if there was more, and we didn't want to risk it. We took the weapons we were given, but everything else we left in the building.

"Aye, shuckfaces, let's check out this building up here, yeah? It looks like it has potential for food." Newt pointed towards a large building ahead of us. I nodded in approval.

"Sounds good. We'll split up, half take the first floor, other half take the second. If there's nothing on the second, come back down to the first floor. Sound good?" I directed. Newt nodded.

"Right, Oi! Slintheads! Split up, two groups, one goes with me, one goes with Min-Min! Guns ready, and stay quiet, got it?" Newt spoke.The guys nodded, separating and making two groups as I waved towards me.

"Alright, we'll take the first floor. Newt, you take the second floor." Newt nodded, as we entered the front entrance as stealthily as possible. We spread out, guns and spears at the ready as we flooded the first floor, Newt taking his group towards the staircase.I saw a few shelves near the back, filled with canned goods. I motioned for the group to follow me. I heard slight rustling from above, before Newt and the group headed back down the stairway.

"Nothing. Just a big open space, not so much as a box up there."I nodded, as we opened the satchels we brought to carry the food in,tossing the canned goods into them hurriedly. I wasn't even reading most of the labels, a few cans of beans, some corn, vegetables, I think some spaghetti, who knows. We'd been tossing cans into the satchels for a few minutes, when I heard a shuffle from behind us. I turned, but there was nothing there. I raised an eyebrow, before turning back to the canned goods. We had just adjusted the bulging satchels around our shoulders, when he heard the clicking into place of guns. We spun around, weapons aimed and at the ready. I assumed i'd be turning to face maddened Cranks, but what I came to see looked far more dangerous. Because what we had turned to face- was a hoard of angry, teenage girls.

"Step away from the food. Right. Shucking. Now." A girl, who seemed to be leading the group, spoke out. Her skin was slightly sun kissed, her gray eyes piercing and harsh, her eye brows arched and her slightly chapping lips pursed. There was probably 15 or 16 of them, outnumbering us. Shit. They all looked to be around the same age as us, only far more violent. Could they be early stage Cranks? It was hard to tell. The girl who had spoken held a gun to our faces, as did the others. She had a strange colored hair, like a graying violet, tied into ponytail behind her. For cranks, they looked fairly healthy.

"Who the hell are you?" I spoke, keeping my hands above my head for safety reasons. The other boys did too. We had weapons, but something told me if we picked them up now, we wouldn't have enough time to shoot them before they attacked. The girl with the violet hair raised an eyebrow.

"Last I checked, we have the guns pointed at your heads, so I don't think we have to answer to you. Now drop the food, before we stick holes in your head." I was furious. I was not going to get stolen from by a bunch of shucking girls.

"Oh yeah!? Br-" I started to move forward, when Thomas grabbed my arm, stepping between the two of us before it got ugly.

"Hey, hey hey. Stop it." The girls continued to aim guns at us.

"Who are you? Are you Cranks?" Another girl asked. She was shorter. Standing beside the violet haired girl. Her skin was darker,Her shoulder blade length dark chocolate hair tied into two braids.They were all dressed similarly to Lilli and Shai, sweat resistant exercise tank tops, jackets, running pants and combat boots. Newt stepped forward, far calmer than I was at the moment. All of them.They looked like them. They looked like her.

"No. Ok, we're not Cranks. Promise. We just got to this place an hour or so ago. We're just trying to get some food and rest before we go on our way. We don't mean any harm, promise." His voice was much more believable at the moment. The violet haired girl raised an eyebrow, but loosened her grip on the gun slightly.

"Alice. Come here." She called back towards the back of the group. A girl stepped forward, medium height, wavy, dirty blonde locks that came to her collar bone. Her face looked hardened and worn from time, but strong never the less.

"Are they Cranks?" The violet hair girl paused, lowering her voice as she spoke softly.

"You would know better than anyone." Alice nodded, stepping forward towards Newt.

"Give me your arm." She extended hand, but Newt looked reluctant.

"I'm not going to bite it off. Don't worry, I've seen enough of that for life times. Now hand me your arm." Newt glanced toward me,as though searching for my better judgment. I sighed, nodding. If this was the way we would gain their trust, it had to be done. He extended his arm, as she took his wrist, holding it tight. He flinched slightly at the pressure she applied, but he didn't say anything. I had almost forgotten completely...about those times. She leaned forward, tracing the lines of his veins as she closed her eyes. She looked psychotic. She pressed her nose against his skin,before letting go of his arm. She stepped back, turning towards the violet haired girl.

"He's clean. And I don't see why a bunch of Cranks would spare him...so my guess is the rest are clean too. I can check them if you want." The violet hair pursed her lips, shaking her head as she lowered her gun reluctantly.

"No, it's fine. They don't look like Cranks anyway." She nodded towards the Alice girl, who nodded in response. Then, the violet haired girl turned back to face us.

"So if you're not Cranks, what are you?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

"We're human beings, Slinthead! What else would we be? Look, name's Minho. We don't want to pick a fight." I sighed, extending my hand.Reluctantly, the violet haired girl shook it.

"My name's Margaret. We're not Cranks either." I nodded, letting go of her hand as the other girls dropped their guns. Thomas stepped forward.

"So, if you're not Cranks...how did you get here?" He asked. At all, thin girl with ivory skin and white blonde hair stepped forward. Her eyes were thin, her nose slender and her arms folded.

"Where did you come from?" She retorted. Frypan piped up.

"Girl! We asked you first!" Margaret sighed, nodding.

"Fine. We- we're on a mission, of sorts. Sent here." I raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Who sent you here?" She was quiet a moment.

"Have you heard of WICKED? They sent us, told us about some safe haven, 100 miles or so from here. It's a trial of sorts. They called it "Phase Two"."