The Boat On The Beach

Chapter Eighteen: Sheep Dogs

The pack circled the gladers as they pulled off various machetes from their backs and handguns from their holsters. It was like both groups were waiting for a sudden movement, which was, after a while, caused by Brenda. The group held their breath as the little capsule rolled towards the pack, beeping quietly before causing crank limbs to be thrown everywhere, along with a huge burst of heat and light. The remaining cranks, which was a lot, charged like wolves, growling and screaming. The group didn't split as guns were cocked and spears thrown.

Thomas knew the time for explosives was over, as they were now at major risk of blowing up someone they didn't want to blow up, so they resorted to hand to hand. The first crank crashed into Thomas, who shot it dead within milliseconds, and one after the other they rammed into the group until they were forced to split.

Thomas took two, not bothering to aim, they were that close. More came and he shot those too, until he heard a growl and one on his back. A sharp yell and a loud bang close to his ear had the crank sliding off of him, and Minho by his side.

"You good?!" he roared over the noise. Thomas nodded, and impaled one that got a little too close for comfort. He did a scan, with the milliseconds he had free. Brenda and Gally were back to back, shooting with such precision Thomas almost stopped to stare. Teresa was slicing a particularly big crank in half with a yell, before kicking another one into Frypans scope, who had it down in less than a second. Thomas had always loved the gladers compatibility, and they way they worked together and flawlessly, almost like a machine. This is why they went back to the mainland with their maze groups. 

Thomas found himself back to back with Minho, as he shot one, that probably would have been a girl his age, right in the neck. He heard a sharp grunt, and whipped around, to see Frypan being tackled by a crank. The boy swallowed dryly, and bolted off towards the two. Everyone knew cranks had unliveable strength, so the trick was to not let it get close enough to you to get involved in hand to hand, because you wouldn't win. No matter how strong you were, the crank was stronger. Thomas had learnt that the hard way. He couldn't get a clear shot without endangering his friend, so he yelled to Teresa, who was a few metres away.

"Swap!" He threw his handgun towards her, and saw the sun glistening on the machete as he caught it, not faltering once. He gripped his new weapon tightly and made it to Frypan, who was struggling badly. Thomas rammed the machete hilt deep in the side of the burly crank, grunting in effort as he put his entire body weight into the machete, managing to shove the crank out from on top of his friend. As the monster began to spasm on the ground, Thomas pulled his machete out and helped Frypan up.

"Good?" He asked, immediately passing Frypan his shot gun back. The boy nodded back, silently thanking Thomas before getting back to the mass slaughter. 

It went on, and on, and they just kept coming. They began to falter until Brenda yelled "Thomas there too many, we gotta round them up!"

"How?!" He watched out of the corner of his eye as she pulled a long dagger from a girls shoulder. 

"Sheep dogs!" She yelled back. Thomas glanced at Minho, who gave him a nod of understanding back.

"Lets go!" Thomas made it an official order, and the group made a loose circle around the group of remaining cranks. He only then realised how many of them there actually was. Thank god for Brenda, because she was right, as always. Slowly, the group moved inwards, trapping the monsters in a loose group. They kept going until the tight pack of the diseased had formed again. 

"On my mark!" Brenda shouted.

"1.."

"2.."

"3!" 

The group turned on their heel and booked it in the other direction, before throwing themselves down to the ground and covering their faces with heir arms as cranks flew everywhere, being dismembered by the sudden explosion. Thomas rolled onto his back and looked up, satisfied with the site before him. Cranks were laid, sprawled all over the ground, in the loose circle the group had created. He got up, even though his whole body was screaming in exhaustion. 

"Everyone ok?" He called, as the others began to congregate around him. They nodded and sucked in breath. Thomas nodded solemnly, and for the first time since they'd lost their only clue, lead to where Newt would be, about what to do now. Minho jabbed him in the side with his elbow, and nodded towards something. Thomas looked to where he was motioning, and what he saw brought a new flame of hope and determination to his chest. 

It was a small building, that looked just like the others at first glance. Run down, looked like it could fall apart at any second. But as Thomas looked closer, he saw an artificial glow coming from the building. "Shit Minho" he whispered, unintentionally quoting Newt from what seemed like an eternity ago.

"Come on. We've come this far, we may as well risk our lives again." Teresa had that look in her eyes, and Thomas knew there was no backing down now.