Surviving the Scorch // Twins Series {Book Two}

one

Thomas' POV

Clara smiles softly at me as she reaches for my hand but then things suddenly change. Tears are streaming down her face and she's pointing at something but she won't talk, or can't talk to me because she's crying too hard. I wrap my arms around her to try to calm her down but she keeps fighting me. What happened to make her so sad? Why does she look so broken? I finally turn to where she's pointing and see why she's crying. Chuck's body is lying on the ground in a puddle of blood, his blood. It all comes back to me and I'm losing control of my own emotions. We were supposed to save him. I turn back to Clara and she's wrapping her arms around herself like she's trying to hold herself together. I can't take this. I can't stand this pain and I can't stand seeing her like this. I start screaming with her when I hear someone saying my name.

"Tommy!"

I jolt awake, my heart pounding in my chest and my breathing erratic, and then I realize who it is. Clara's grasping my arms tightly as she looks at me with tears in her eyes.

"What?" I manage to get out.

She wipes a tear from my cheek and moves her hand to my back. "You were screaming in your sleep." Her voice is quiet, uncharacteristically quiet, but it matches the pained look on her face.

I nod in reply, not really wanting to talk to anyone. Even if it is her.

She clearly understands how I feel as she rests her head on my shoulder and doesn't say another word. I look up at everyone else in the helicopter for the first time since I've been in here and see they're all staring at nothing. Teresa, Minho, and Fry Pan are all staring out the window and Newt is watching Clara. I can hear Clara's quiet cries as she grasps my arm tightly, grasping on to the one person who feels her pain.

I'm not saying everyone else didn't love Chuck too but Clara and I had made a pact to save him. And we failed. To be honest I'm not entirely sure how we're supposed to get past this.

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Clara's POV

Hearing Thomas scream Chuck's name in his sleep really got me rattled. I can't seem to get the image of him lying on the ground, the light having already left his eyes, out of my head.

I'm shaken from my thoughts as the helicopter starts to descend and our rescuer turns his attention to our group.

"Okay, guys listen up! We're going to be running to a bus now and I need you all to run as fast as you can!" He makes sure we're all listening before he crouches in front of the door.

Thomas will be the first one out but I'm still not to a point where I can release him just yet so I move my hand down his arm to grasp his hand. He glances at me and squeezes my hand before turning back towards the door, ready to run. My grip tightens on Newt's hand, not having released him yet, as we prepare to leave the helicopter.

The second it lands the rescuer is opening up the door and gesturing for us to run out behind him. Thomas hits the ground running, pulling Newt and I along with him. My eyes scan the area around us and I realize the world is much different than it had been. There are cranks running towards us as we run to the bus. People stand on a hill with guns aimed at the cranks waiting for their chance to take them out. Seeing them waiting to kill the cranks makes me sick to my stomach as I once again think of Chuck.

Thomas pulls us all the way to the back and steps aside so Newt can climb into the seat first. I slide in next to him and Thomas sits beside me, grasping my hand once more. My eyes instantly go to the window just in time to see one of the people on the hill shoot a crank. The echo of the gun rings through my head and I lean over Newt to drop the window, emptying my stomach as soon as its open. When I take my seat again my head drops to the seat in front of us and I release the boys' hands to hold my stomach. They both move closer to me and each place a hand on my shoulder and back in a protective, reassuring embrace.

The ride to wherever we're going seems to take forever and it doesn't take long for the day's events to catch up to me. My eyes focus on the seat Minho and Fry Pan are in and thankfully my mind is blank as we ride in complete silence for about an hour. When the bus stops I pull my head up to see a very large complex in front of us. We're instructed to once again run as fast as possible to the safety of the building. This time we're the last ones off and Newt runs to the building, pulling Thomas and I behind him. There are more cranks and more people with guns and I'm not prepared to see anyone else get shot as we run through the sand to the building. There are several gun shots that ring through the air and I feel myself now being pulled even faster as Thomas passes Newt. Finally, we reach the building and a large door opens to let us in. The word factory comes to mind the second my eyes scan the large room even though I don't remember ever seeing one.

A tall, thin man approaches our group and Minho steps forward to meet him. I can't hear what the man says but he turns and starts walking towards a big set of double doors still talking to Minho over his shoulder. I glance at Newt and he shrugs, squeezing my hand before pulling me behind him and following the man. I see Thomas beside me looking around at everything in awe.

The man leads us through the doors and down a bright white hallway where he stops and gestures to two different doors. The showers. Newt kisses my cheek before releasing me and I walk into the large shower area with Teresa.

"This place is huge." She mumbles quietly as we walk around, taking all of it in.

I nod in reply as we walk side by side to a row of stalls on the back wall. We choose ones right by each other even though there's twenty empty ones. The warm water feels miraculous on my skin and I take a few extra minutes to just stand under the water and I can hear Teresa doing the same.

This water is amazing

Teresa laughed out loud before replying as Thomas' voice popped into our heads.

I was just thinking the same thing

We both were, really

Teresa and I started laughing and the sound felt foreign to me at first and then we heard someone knock on the door.

"Ladies! Please try to hurry."

We shut off the showers and changed quickly, both of us retreating from the showers with soaking wet hair. We were led down a hall with windows by a smaller woman in a white doctor's coat. We walked closer to each other than necessary, both of us nervous of our new surroundings.

"Where are the guys at?" Teresa asked the woman.

"They are being tested to ensure they're healthy."

"Where are you taking us then?" Teresa glanced at me before looking back to the lady.

"To do the same."

I noticed the woman showed no emotions as she spoke and instantly felt that something wasn't right here. I hated not being with the guys. In theory, that's all I've ever known.

I looked at Teresa and she was watching me and I could see that she seemed skeptical as well. We were led into a smaller room with only two tables, both had curtains around them that were open, and the woman gestured for us each to take one. We sat down, thankful that the tables were across from one another. The woman walked over to me and offered me a small smile before pulling out a syringe.

"What's that?" I asked quietly.

Teresa was watching the woman carefully from where she sat.

"A blend of vitamins that you were all severely lacking from that experiment." She injected it into my arm and I immediately knew something wasn't right. I collapsed against the table suddenly feeling exhausted and felt the woman strap my arms and legs down.

"What are you doing? What did you do to her?" Teresa asked frantically.

Someone walked over to where I lay and smiled down at me. "Ah, Ms. Clara. So nice of you to join us."

As I drifted out my heartbeat accelerated in fear. Jansen.