Sticks and Stones

Chapter 5: The Scorch

Rachel started awake, blinking groggily against the light streaming in from outside while her body jerked in alarm as Thomas cried: "Hey!"

She was vaguely aware of the person beside her tensing as well, but she didn't look at who it was, too busy searching for any immediate danger. She sighed as she saw the crow fly off, as Thomas scolded: "Get out of here!"

She blinked as she saw Teresa on her one side, before becoming aware of a very comfortable warmth right next to her. She turned her head and found herself staring right into Newt's chocolate brown eyes. She jerked back quickly as he did the same, both startled and a little embarrassed at their proximity.

Newt's arm had been hanging off her shoulder lightly and as they pulled away, it dropped to rest a little beside Rachel's waist. He lifted his hand quickly, rubbing it awkwardly behind his neck, both blushing a little as they avoided eye contact, and they only blushed harder when they realized their hands were still interlocked on Newt's lap.

Newt let go of Rachel's hand as Thomas stood up to look around, clearing his throat self-consciously. Trying to avoid the awkward situation, he turned to ask Thomas: "Are they gone?"

Thomas was looking around warily while the rest began to shift around, waking up, and Rachel was thankful no-one had been witness to her and Newt- she was embarrassed enough as it was.

"Yeah." Thomas responded to Newt's question. "We're safe, for now."

Newt nodded and Rachel began to shuffle out as Thomas murmured: "We should get moving."

Rachel slipped out passed Teresa as Thomas reached for his backpack as the older girl was rubbing her face and brushing her hair out of her face tiredly.

"Let's pack it up." Thomas ordered.

Minho gave Thomas a dirty look- clearly he was not a happy morning person, even though he was on his feet, the quickest with Thomas and Rachel. As he picked up his own stuff, Rachel moved to Aris and Thomas called all of the others to get them to move: "Aris, come on. Fry, Winston. Let's go."

The rest of the group began to pick up their packs, starting to get to their feet slowly as they tried to keep their tired eyes open. Rachel could feel Newt's eyes on her back but she fussed over to Aris, reaching out a hand to pull him up, which he took gratefully.

"You all right?" He asked her, and Rachel nodded, before she asked: "How about you? You good?"

"If it hadn't been for those Cranks, I'd have been better though." Aris tried to joke, and Rachel smiled briefly. But their dire situation made those smiles fall, especially as they heard a pained groan behind them.

Rachel glanced behind Aris to see Winston having a hard time getting up, holding his wounded stomach. Frypan had also noticed, and he whispered: "Hey, man."

Frypan bent down, offering his hand to the other boy.

"You okay?" He asked, and Winston gave a grim smile as he grabbed Frypan's hand, getting to his feet with a painful grunt. As soon as they were all up, Thomas and Minho took the lead, taking them up the rubble, back towards the top of the mall. Newt and Teresa followed, Rachel just behind with Aris beside her. Frypan kept checking that Winston was behind him as the pair brought up the rear.

"Oh, my God..." Rachel whispered as she cleared the top and looked outside. They were looking at the ruins of what would've been a large city in its glory days. She could see a huge open road in the center, so they were probably on some form of a main street.

But what was worse was that the blackened remains of the tall buildings around them looked like they had been burnt. And it wasn't too difficult to deduce what had burnt them. Even from their position, still sheltered in the shade of the overhanging roof of the mall, Rachel could feel the blistering heat of the sun.