Sticks and Stones

Chapter 4: Cranks

"I'd bet it was Minho, that dumb shank." He mused, and Rachel turned to him curiously.

"'Shank'?" Rachel questioned and Newt shrugged as he answered: "It's just glade slang."

Rachel blinked.

"Is... 'glade' a British word?" She asked unsurely, and Newt grinned at her.

"No, that was what we called the... centre area in the maze." Newt explained. "Where we all first arrived."

"Oh..." Rachel realized. "So 'shank' is like 'stick'."

Now it was Newt's turn to be confused.

"'Stick'?" He asked and Rachel giggled.

"It's our own slang." She explained, but Newt was looking a little unfocused as he stared at her.

"Newt?" She asked in concern and he quickly snapped back.

"Sorry, it's just... you just said my name." He blurted out and she looked confused.

"Yes... shouldn't I?" She asked and Newt looked embarrassed as he said hastily: "No, it's fine. It sounded nice when you said it."

Rachel blushed, also embarrassed while Newt wanted to hit himself on the head. He'd been admiring the sound of Rachel's laughter, and so it had thrown him when he'd realized she'd said his name.

'What else would she call you, you dumb shank? Bloody brilliant job you're doing.' He thought to himself annoyed.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you, Rachel." He muttered and Rachel blinked.

'Oh... It does sound nice when he says my name. Although I doubt he was thinking it in the same way as me, but now I see what he means.' She thought. Out loud though, Rachel just said: "No, it's fine. Sorry if I startled you."

He shook his head but Teresa and Frypan joined them at that moment, so he didn't say anything else. The four waited, soon joined by Aris and Winston as they returned from their scavenger hunt. They'd found a similar stash in the other room but Winston grinned proudly as he and Aris produced a stash of chocolate bars that they had also had the luck to find. They all shared the treats evenly, packing them into their bags and keeping some aside for Thomas and Minho.

'Speaking of which, where were they?'

As the thought ran through Rachel's head, she heard Thomas yell: "Hey!"

They all turned to look down the corridor, and she saw Thomas and Minho's dark figures running around the far corner shouting in terror. She squinted and then her eyes widened as she saw more figures running in jerky movements behind the boys.

But what was really terrifying were the sounds those figures were making. They were screeching almost inhuman noises, sounding like wild animals.

"Oh my God." She whispered as she fully processed what she was seeing and hearing.

The others had apparently reached the same conclusion and Newt muttered as he pulled his backpack on quickly: "Shit!"

"Get out of here!" Minho shouted between his pants as he ran. The pair had almost reached them by the time the group had realized what was happening. Rachel had reacted the quickest, and she bolted, grabbing Newt's hand as she ran for her life.

The rest soon followed, turning and fleeing after Rachel as she sprinted for the escalators. As they ran up, Rachel realized that they weren't in a warehouse at all; they were in what had once been a shopping centre, but was now abandoned, many of the shop windows broken.