Burning; TST ➵ Thomas

E I G H T

There wasn't an exact room for the Gladers to relax in while eating. Amelia had instructed them to stay out in the hallway, to find a wall and sit while she and Brenda bring out the food.

The food were cold canned beans and some type of sausage - according to Brenda, the words on the label were in Spanish. Despite the food being cold, it tasted like the greatest meal ever to Thomas. He devoured every bite, savoured every flavour.  It was obvious that he didn't care if it wasn't a smart move to eat it all quickly after a long period of fasting.

Thomas observed Brenda, who sat beside Amelia. The two girls chatted, ignoring the starving boys.

Brenda had a pixie cut. She was about the same height as Amelia from Thomas's view. The clothes she wore were similar to Amelia's; torn, tattered, filfthy. She was the girl who held the shovel in her hands.

There were a bunch of bags beside them. He assumed they were filled with food, looking by how one of the cans of beans were almost about to fall out.

"You know you'll get sick and vomit it out, right?" Amelia stared down at the boy in front of her. Thomas swallowed the sausage he had in his mouth.

"Slow down," she laughed, a small smile tugged the ends of her lips. "I know it's the end of the world, but we need to preserve the food here, T."

Thomas opened his mouth to respond but Brenda cut him off before he could. She held a hand up, silencing him while changing her position for her to crouch.

"Something's wrong," she pointed out. Amelia got into the same position as hers, her eyebrows were knitted together. Blue eyes filled with concern. Brenda turned to the girl beside her. "I think we have visitors."

Thomas hadn't heard a single thing. Based on how the others continued to eat, he didn't think they noticed either. Jorge was by their side, whispering something to the two of them. Thomas watched as they began to stand up, when a crash exploded down the hall.

It was a horribly loud sound, the cracking of the structuce began to fall apart. Cement broke. Metal ripped. A cloud of dust fogged their vision.

Thomas coughed and waved his hand as if it would help getting rid of the dust. In the corner of his eye, he spotted the Gladers following Jorge and Brenda. Amelia grabbed him by the shirt and pull him onto his feet.

"Run!"

Thomas protested against her instructions, saying that they had to follow the others. An entire section of the roof crashed down onto the floor in front of him; blocks of cement fell on top of each other with thunderous cracks. Hearing more cracks above him, he realised he had no choice but to follow her.

He turned around reluctantly and ran with Amelia, her hand hadn't released his shirt as they ran into pitch darkness.

-

Thomas blindly followed Amelia, who he thought had an idea to where they were running towards. He didn't stop to think about what could have caused the explosion or if his friends, Brenda and Jorge were okay. He didn't even noticed his heart was pounding against his chest.

They made a sharp turn to the right; he almost stumbled but she helped him stay on his feet. She released his shirt from her grasp when he had a good pace.