Escape to the Hills // Newt x Reader

6

Now we continue: What's up with the guys?

The temperature in the room seemed to drop when those words left Alby's mouth. It was horrific to think something bad became something worse. Alby kept an eye on the Crank, trying to take in what he was seeing. He remembered those nasty creatures from before the Maze, but no one ever let him get so close to one. He was so fascinated by the gruesomeness of the Crank, he had forgot all about the Griever. But most definitely not for long.

Thomas and Gally were suddenly yelling incoherent words before a window crashed open on the opposite wall, the Grievers metal legs groped around for a foot hold. The guys raced up the stairs, jumping two at a time. Alby, Thomas, and Minho stayed behind and rushed to the old weapons room. Minho flung the broken hatch open and scrambled as fast as he could down the stairs. Thomas went down after him, then Alby. The three of them rushed around the room throwing boxes off the shelves in search of something they could use. But nothing ever came.

Alby yelled out a long string of curses and kicked a trunk where the maps used to be, rushing up the stairs again. Minho ran to the darkest corner of the room and searched the secret closet, but all that came up were empty cardboard boxes. "Shuck," he mumbled and went up the stairs with Thomas at his heels.

As soon as they found the others pacing about a room and trying to keep themselves from freaking out too bad, Newt was on them, asking questions about where they went and if they found anything useful. Thomas's head lolled on his chest in sorrow and Minho shook his head.

Gally turned to them and said "Well, I don't know about you shanks but I'm not dying here,"

"Good that," Alby said, his fit of rage dying down a notch. "I'm not dying again,"

There was another crash from downstairs, signaling the Griever somehow wriggled his gross flab farther through the window.

Alby risked a glance out the window. "Crank thing's still out there. Seems like it doesn't know what it's shuck doing,"

The rest of the group rushed over to look out. What Alby said was true, the Crank was just standing there, drooling. It didn't even flinch when a piece of the Homesteads wall flew from the breaking window sill and smacked it in the head. It's ripped clothes tore even more from the shards of wood flying passed them. At this point you couldn't even tell what the article of clothing was. The cloth the Crank wore on its legs were shredded up until the upper thigh, which billowed around its legs, not even close to covering its bodily parts from view. No one looked long enough to figure out what exactly the gender of the thing was. The shirt, however, was in slightly better shape. It had holes and tears all throughout it. It clung to the Cranks shoulders almost desperately. It's hair was almost nonexistent and it's face was so bashed up and scratched you couldn't tell the nose from its ear.

Just as all of this was observed by the Gladers, another thunder-like sound came from the Maze, telling of how another wall had crumbled in an explosion. The Crank turned away from the noise and screeched in such a high pitched voice, it sounded like it was tearing its vocal cords in half.

The Crank had turned in the direction of the Homestead and seemed to just notice it was there. It limped towards the building at a wandering pace. The boys hearts leapt into their throats and they turned away from the window to bar the doors.

"At least last time we had a chance to prepare!" Thomas yelled.

"They weren't trying to kill us all then!" Newt yelled back.

With combined effort they managed to push the bed in between the locked door and the wall so it would hold longer.

"They couldn't give us five minutes?" Frypan yelled in frustration, pulling a nasty looking knife from somewhere in his satchel. How he had gotten hold of a satchel, no one had a clue. But it had food, supplies, and portable weapons. Which was better than nothing.

The Griever downstairs let out a huge metallic shriek to inform everyone of the news; it had gotten in.

"Shuck," Thomas cursed the Creators again for the nth time that day. That word reminded him of something. Chuck. Where had Chuck gone? "Where's Chuck?"

"Saw 'em run in the room across the hall," Jeff nodded towards the door. "But I think they're safer than us, since the Griever didn't see 'em,"

"Is the Griever even going to make it up the stairs?" Frypan asked. "I mean, they're so cramped. There's no way it can cram it's blubbery body up here,"

"Believe me," Newt responded, heart dropping as the noises of the Griever got closer. "He'll find a way,"

Minutes felt like hours as the Griever pushed itself up the stairs, as if it had no sense of pain. There was a mushy sound like a wet suction cup being pulled off of something when the Griever was finally relieved of its long trek up the narrow stairs. After that, its metal legs hit loudly against the wooden floor. Then, when the noise was at its loudest, it stopped. Right outside the door. Leading either to the room Chuck and River were in or the room where the rest were. It was silent. No one had a clue where the Crank was. No one had a clue what the Griever was doing. The only sound heard by the boys and River were their heartbeats in their own chest.

The little girl had her hands in fists, pressed against her eyes. Chuck held her, his eyes darting to the small hole in the door every now and again. They had positioned themselves so they were out of sight of anyone who looked through. The older boys huddled in a group together in the center of the room. They each held what they could find that was as close to a weapon as possible in their shaking hands. All's breath was unsteady as they waited for something to happen.

A Griever attack. A Crank howling. A scream. Anything. Something to show them that the other group was okay. But nothing happened for the longest time.

Just as their horror became curiosity, one from each group moved to open the doors.

"Don't," River said to Chuck and Winston to Minho. "Don't move,"

But it was too late.

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Hey guys! Just wanted to thank all of you for 1k reads on Escape to the Hills and 40k on Second Time Around! That's amazing! I hope you're having a good day. You're doing amazing!