Dynasty // The Scorch Trials [Book 2]

FIFTEEN

A few feet away from the duo lay a deformed body, tangled up in the vines and naked like a slug.

A shrieking sound erupted next to Thomas, causing both of them to shine their flashlights in its direction, only to discover that it had been merely a rat. It fell down from the tunnel it had come from and approached Brenda. She kicked it away was a scrunched nose. It let out a yelp and continued swerving over the concrete floor.

Suddenly, a hand came from the wall and grabbed the rat. A man appeared and bit off the rat's head, killing it instantly. A freezing cold shiver ran down Thomas's spine as the gaze of the man reached them. Loud gurgles erupted from his throat, causing more people - or Cranks - to wake up. They appeared from every corner and Thomas stumbled backward and whipped around, only to be faced with yet another Crank. 

Thomas acted quickly and grabbed the crowbar from Brenda's backpack and smacked the man on the head, causing him to stumble away and giving Thomas and Brenda a chance to escape. They didn't hesitate to break out into a sprint and dashed through the tunnels with the people hot on their heels, their gurgles and growls never fading. 

They soon reached the light Thomas had seen earlier at the end of the tunnel. He felt relieved they had made it but was forced to stop abruptly as they had almost ran over the edge of a steep ravine. 

He looked to his right and saw two large buildings had crashed into each other, neither one had collapsed though. Behind them, the people were approaching at a fast rate and Thomas knew they had no choice but to enter the unstable building to get away from them. 

They started to climb the rubble, but that didn't stop the Cranks. They chased after them like wild beasts hunting a prey. 

Thomas kept his mind focused on placing one foot in front of the other to move and not fall because he knew that if he fell, he would get caught by the people and he could not do that to Leah. He had to get out here for her. 

He was so focused that he almost missed Brenda's cry for him to get out of the way because she pushed an old filing cabinet down, taking one of the people with it and flying out of the window that lay below them. 

As Brenda crawled through a tight opening in the wall to reach the next floor of the building, Thomas followed behind her, but his hand slipped and his shoulder hit the floor, causing the piece of concrete to almost collapse with him under it. Luckily, it got stuck and didn't fall.

By getting held back twice, the distance between Thomas and Brenda had grown considerably. She was already two floors higher than him and the people were closing in on him. Once Thomas had caught up with Brenda, so had another man. He reached for Thomas's ankle in an attempt to drag him down but Brenda acted quick and kicked him square in the face, sending him crashing down the building again.

Thomas watched for a few seconds at the man's limp body on the bottom of the flight of stairs before Brenda's calls dragged him back to reality and he dashed after her again. 

She reached for a metal beam to pull herself up, but her hand slipped and she fell against a door. The door flung from its hinges and Brenda dropped many feet until she harshly landed on a thick window that looked down into the ravine. 

Thomas called out her name but she didn't respond. She lay still on the glass that was cracked from her fall. Thomas called again and this time, she woke up and fearfully looked through the window.

"Hold on, I'm coming down," Thomas called and searched for a place to stand so he could reach her. "Don't move, I'm coming," he repeated as she slowly got to her feet, more cracks appearing under her feet. 

By the time she was standing upright, Thomas had reached her and held out his hand for her to take, but the alarming sound of a man at the door caught their attention. "No, no, no, no," Thomas started to ramble before the man dropped himself and landed on top of Brenda. 

Miraculously, the glass did not break yet. Thomas tried reaching for Brenda again but the distance was still too large. The man dragged her back by her ankle and Brenda's cries for help didn't stop. Thomas scanned his surroundings, grabbed a metal bar, smashed the window underneath Brenda and caught her in time before she fell after the man. 

He pulled her up to the side and they sat in silence, both of them heavily breathing. "Thank you," Brenda said. Thomas nodded.

"Of course." He looked down and saw the lifeless body of the man he had killed on the bottom of the ravine. Brenda exhaled and pushed herself off the floor. She patted his back.

"Let's go find your girlfriend." 

Thomas got to his feet and quickly found the door to the fire escape on the perpendicular side of the building. 

They ended up in an abandoned town. "We have to find Marcus, he'll know where your friends are," Brenda said. 

They strolled through the empty streets, looking for this so-called Marcus. 

Brenda suddenly stopped and plopped down on the floor. Thomas looked at her in question. "Are you okay?" he asked with a frown. She rolled up the leg of her pants to reveal two bloody bite marks. "Oh, my god," Thomas breathed. She took a bandage from her backpack and rolled it around her leg to hide the blood. She didn't say anything about it but Thomas knew what was going to happen to her. 

She got up without another word and led them to a street where actual people where. No infected people, healthy people. Brenda walked to the front door of a large white building. "Are you sure this is his place?" Thomas asked. 

"Are you here for the party?" a husky voice spoke up behind them. Thomas looked over his shoulder to be faced with a tall, blonde woman. He took a small step back. 

"Eh..." Brenda stuttered. "No, we're here for Marcus, this is his place, right?" 

"This is my place," a new voice said. The woman placed her hands on Thomas's shoulders and turned him around to face a middle-aged man in a dark suit. 

"Are you Marcus?" Thomas skeptically asked. 

The man placed his glass down. "Marcus... doesn't live here anymore." 

"Can you tell us where we can find him?" Brenda asked. 

Thomas shivered as the woman started running her hands down his back. 

"Sure, sure, he's over in zone B." The man motioned to a vague direction that was nowhere near useful. 

"What's in zone B?" Thomas asked carefully, afraid to know the answer. 

The woman leaned in and her hot breath fanned his neck as she whispered, "It's where they burn the bodies."