Burning; TST ➵ Thomas

S I X

Thomas ignored the fact that the older male admitted he was a Crank. He stared at Amelia, completely oblivious that she now stood in front of him.

"Eyes up here, buddy." The sound of her fingers snapping brought him back to reality. She rolled her eyes and walked back to where she originally stood.

"Even if the world is ending, you'd think people would still have manners," she muttered. In the corner of his eye, he saw Minho holding in a laugh.

The male Crank, Jorge, didn't bother to. A smile grew on his face, it looked completely out of place in the shattered building. As he spoke, Thomas took the time to examine him and Amelia.

Amelia listened carefully as Jorge spoke. She looked nothing like how Teresa did. Her hair was greasy, tangled and filthy. It was tied up in a ponytail. Her clothes were torn and tattered. There were new scars on her arms. She held a bow and quiver filled with arrows.

She ignored Thomas' stare.

Jorge was a Hispanic man who wore clothes similar to Amelia's but they had fewer holes in it. His hair was dark with some grey spots here and there.

"So you admit you're a Crank? That you're shucking crazy?" Minho took it upon himself to answer.

"He just said he likes the taste of eyeballs," Frypan exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "I think that qualifies as crazy."

Jorge laughed, there was a definite tone of menace in it. He turned to look at the girl behind him. She raised a brow, Thomas assumed even she didn't know why Jorge was laughing - considering nothing was funny.

"Come, come, my new friends. I'd only eat your eyes if you were already dead. Course, I might help you get that way if I needed to. Understand what I'm saying?" His smile was replaced with a look of stern warning. Almost as if he was daring the group of boys to confront him.

No one spoke for a long moment. The tension in the air grew thicker during the silence.

"How many of you are here?" Amelia's gaze snapped from Jorge to Newt. She began to walk to where Jorge stood, a smirk grew on her face.

"How many? How many Cranks? We're Cranks down here." The smirk on her face was replaced with a sinister smile.

"That's not what I meant and you know that, Lia," Newt replied flatly. The nickname that the Gladers had given the girl attracted Jorge's attention.

He turned to Amelia, amusement and confusion were written on his face. The male Crank rose a brow, he continuously switched his gaze between the two Gladers.

"You know them?"

Thomas noticed Amelia snuck a glance at him. But then proceeded to shake her head and deny. In the corner of Thomas' eyes, Minho and Newt looked the most disappointed. He couldn't blame them, they were her best friends.

Thomas didn't feel disappointed or upset. He felt heartbroken. Wiped of their memories of each other when they first enter the Maze. Now, only her memories were wiped - Or so he thought.

He looked around to see everybody's reactions - other than Minho and Newt. The rest were either perplexed or emotionless. Aris and Alec stayed quiet the entire time, Thomas remembered they didn't know about Amelia or Teresa - other than that they were the two girls who were supposed to be in their room.