WICKED is good

Chapter 13: Break In

The Gates exploded.
Everybody started screaming in fear, over the Flare getting in or whoever caused the explosion, Thomas didn't know. He just kept running.
   "This is one elaborate distraction," Minho noted as they ran.
   "Yeah," Thomas gasped, slowing down. A huge crowd of people filled the street as they all ran towards the Safe Zone.
   The boys pushed through the crowd and made it to the front. Just as they were about to take off in a sprint, crazed laughter was heard from around the corner. Cranks appeared and ran towards them, hooting and hollering in insane joy.
   "Cranks!" Minho yelled, turning and dragging Thomas in the other direction. The crowd screamed and scattered, knocking each other over as they tried to get away.
   Somebody elbowed Thomas hard in the ribs. Another, presumably a crank, bit into his leg. Minho lost his grip as Thomas was pulled to the ground. He managed to kick it away but he wasn't able to get up. The crowd trampled him, too scared to notice the boy on the ground. He put his hands over his head in an attempt to protect himself.
Finally, Minho was able to push through the crowd and get back to Thomas. He pulled him to his feet.
   "Come on!" He yelled over the chaos. "We have to go!"
   "I can't!" Thomas exclaimed, unable to walk with his injured leg. He started to stumble to the ground but Minho didn't let go this time. He draped Thomas' arm over his shoulders and started running as fast as he could.
   "We're almost there," Minho assured him, beads of sweat forming on his head.
   Thomas cried out as somebody kicked his leg. He nearly blacked out from the pain but he forced himself to stay awake. He couldn't pass out. Not now
   Minho shifted so he was carrying almost all of Thomas' weight, bursting out of the chaos. They found themselves in a narrow alley.
   The two went down it until they found a dumpster and collapsed behind it, breathing heavily.
   "You're," Minho gasped, "so . . . heavy."
   Thomas ignored him, too busy tearing away his shredded pants away from the wound. It wasn't deep but there was a lot of blood.
   "Look, we have to go before the cranks catch up," Minho said, sitting up. He gestured to Thomas' wound. "Can you walk?"
Thomas grimaced, pulling away the last piece of fabric. "I—I think so. Just give me a minute."
   "Well, you'd better hurry," Minho said, tearing off the end of his shirt. He tied it around Thomas' injury. "It won't take long for the cranks to find out we're here."
   Thomas nodded. "Alright." He gripped Minho's shoulder, getting up slowly until he stood. He winced, putting a bit of weight on his bad foot, but the pain was bearable.
"You good?" Minho asked, holding his arm to steady him.
"I guess," Thomas answered. "But we have to keep moving. And we can't go back that way." He gestured over his shoulder to the chaos still ringing in the streets. "Is this alley a dead end?"
Minho shrugged. "Only one way to find out." He went off in the other direction.
Thomas sighed, hobbling after him.

A few minutes later, they found themselves in an empty street. No sign of pedestrians or cranks. Thomas took this as a good sign.
   "How much further to the Safe Zone?" Thomas asked as they walked. Or limped in his case.
   "Not far," Minho answered. "At least I think so. I haven't been on this side of town often. Especially not in the dark."
   Thomas looked up. Only small hints of dusk were seen in the sky. If they got lost in the dark with a bunch of cranks running loose . . .
   He decided not to complete the thought.
   Thomas was just about to request a break when he heard a groan in the distance. He and Minho shared a confused look before cautiously heading towards the sound.
   They found a man—no, a crank—laying in the middle of the street, clutching his head as he groaned.
   It was a horrendous sight. The crank's nose was bleeding and he kept coughing out spit mixed with blood. Blood was even leaking from his eyes and ears. He breathed heavily, muttering something about flowers then giggling heavily. After that he resumed his groaning.
"We should just leave him," Minho said. "He's way past the Gone. Nothing we can do."
   "Yeah," Thomas said. "Let's just go. He—"
   Suddenly, the bloody crank lashed out, grabbing at Thomas's ankles and pulling him to the floor. He cried out in pain, the crank scrambling on top of him.
   "You better run boy!" The crank yelled. "They're gonna take ya! Turn ya into a cure! You—" Something hit him in the head, knocking him off of Thomas.
   Minho pulled Thomas to his feet, handing him an extra metal pole. "Take this."
Thomas held it, though he wasn't sure he'd be much use in a fight. His throbbing ankle was threatening to give out under him.
    The crank laughed, coughing up more blood. He sat up on his hands and knees. "My cure," he mumbled. "You will get me my cure. Now, why not you just stay STILL." He lunged, letting out a terrifying screech.
   The monster yanked Minho's pole from his hands and ripped Thomas' away, throwing both to the side. The boys backed up as the crank advancing slowly.
   "They said if we helped, you would get us a cure," he said. "So where's my cure? Huh?! WHERES. MY. CURE?!" The crank fell to the ground, screaming as he twitched. Then he went still and his arms went limp. He was dead.
   Minho glanced at Thomas, fear obvious in his eyes. "What just happened to him?"
   "I think the Flare took its final course," Thomas answered. "I've only seen that happen once before, nine years ago. You know, before WICKED took me in."
Minho nodded glumly. "You think what he said was true? About the PFC promising them a cure?"
Thomas shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe—"
"Wait," Minho interrupted, holding up his finger. "Do you hear that?"
"Another crank?"
"No, just . . . listen."
Thomas listened. After a few seconds of nothing, he was about to speak up when he heard the voices in the distance. One of them sounded very familiar . . .
"Follow me," Minho whispered.
The two boy creeped towards the corner, peering around to see three people, a man, woman, and younger boy. They appeared to be arguing.
"You have to," a woman was saying. "You won't survive otherwise!"
"Not without Siggy." The younger one said. Minho gasped, recognizing the voice.
"That's Gally," he whispered.
"I'm sure your friend is fine," the man said. "Now if you'll please get in the car." He put a firm hand on Gally's shoulder but Gally pushed him away.
"Leave me alone!"
"Look kid, you have to—"
"I don't have to do anything! I'm leaving!" Gally started to storm away but the woman grabbed his arm, stopping him.
"I'm afraid we can't let you," she said, jabbing something electric into his chest.
Gally collapsed to the floor, twitching uncontrollably. The two peoples scooped him up to and threw him in the back of their car.
"Wait!" Minho yelled, running forward but it was too late. They drove away, leaving him run after them.
"Minho!" Thomas called, hobbling after his friend at a much slower pace. "Wait up!"
Minho stopped dead in his tracks. He turned around and sprinted towards Thomas. "Run!"
Thomas saw what he was running from.
   Cranks.
   And these had knives. They must've raided somebody's kitchen before coming this way.
Thomas turned around and started hobbling as fast as he could until Minho caught up. He grabbed Thomas around the back and urged him forward, helping support his weight. But they were still going too slow.
"Just leave me!" Thomas said, trying to push his friend away. "I can't go fast enough!"
"No way," Minho said, pulling him closer. "We'll make it."
"We won't!
"We will."
"Minho!"
"Thomas!"
Their argument was cut off by a blinding light from in front of them. Thomas quickly identified it as a truck. It stopped right next to the boys and the back door opened.
"Climb in!" The driver yelled.
Minho shoved Thomas inside before climbing in himself. The car started moving before they had even shut the door.
"Hang on," the driver said, accelerating. She was heading straight towards the cranks. Most of them jumped onto the car, pounding on the glass or hacking away with their knives. She managed to shake them off but not before the windshield took a good beating.
   Thomas could barely see out of the cracked glass, making him wonder why their rescuer was driving as fast as she was without fear. He didn't want to survive the cranks just to get in a crash.
"Hey, wait. Where are you going?" Minho asked, looking out his window. They just drove past the Safe Zone. "We're supposed to go that way." He pointed.
"I have orders," the woman answered. "Anderson needs all the Immunes now. That includes you both. I'm taking you outside the city. If you start to resist you will be sedated. So don't try anything."
   Minho rolled his eyes. "I won't try anything." He winked at Thomas. "I'll do something." He dove forward, grabbing the steering wheel and swerving.
   Despite the broken windshield, Thomas could tell they were headed straight for a building.
   He lurched forward as they crashed, banging his head so hard against the seat his vision doubled. Broken glass was everywhere. He quickly regained his composure but Minho was unconscious and the woman's head was bleeding badly. He decided she'd be fine and focused on his friend.
   Kicking the door open, he dragged Minho out and away from the wreckage. It was agonizing with his leg injury but Thomas needed to get them out of the open.
Thankfully, he found an unlocked restaurant across the street. He pulled Minho inside before barricading the door. Now, to wake him up.
Thomas went to the back, grabbing a cup of water. Just as he was leaving, he thought he heard a noise, like someone breathing. Listening, but not hearing it again, he decided to go back to Minho.
   Thomas dumped the water on his head.
   Minho sat up spluttering. Once he realized what had happened, he groaned and laid down again.
"Oh, I've been shucked," he said. "I've been shucked for good."
Thomas chuckled, relieved his friend was okay. "Well, at least you're alive."
"What? Were you worried?"
"Well, you kind of just crashed a car and whacked your head."
Minho scoffed. "Please. I would've been fine with twice this pain."
Thomas rolled his eyes. "Whatever. What do we do now?"
   "Find the Safe Zone," he answered. "It's only a block from here, I think."
   Thomas stood, feeling a strange prickle on his neck. He felt the sudden urge to leave. "Well, let's go then."
   Leaving through the back door, Thomas glanced up, noticing the first traces of dawn in the sky. "What time is it?" He asked.
   Minho shrugged. "Four maybe? Five? Either way it's way past my bedti—" Somebody tackled him to the ground, laughing and giggling as if it was the funniest thing in the world.
   The crank pinned his arms down with his legs and started pounding mercilessly, making Minho scream more in frustration than pain.
   "Get off!" Minho yelled. He wrestled his arms free and started shoving the crank away, but it wouldn't budge. It just kept punching. "Thomas do something! Don't just stand there!"
   Thomas, surprised and disoriented, looked around, trying to find something to help. He had just decided to jump on the crank when the fighting stopped. Minho's face was bleeding really badly and he appeared unconscious. Or worse . . .
   The crank turned toward Thomas, apparently noticing a funner, moving toy. He stood up, twitching his right arm as he giggled. "Your turn." Just before he pounced, a shot rang out and he fell dead.
   Thomas looked up to see WICKED guards, waving at them from the entrance to the Safe Zone.
   "This way kid!" One of the guards yelled. "Come on!"
   Thomas hoisted Minho up, supporting his full weight as he stumbled along. He held on to Minho and refused to let him go. He had to get him to safety. They hadn't survived all night just for it to end like this.
   Finally, Minho groaned. A disgusting sound but Thomas had never been more thrilled to hear it.
   "Owwwwww," his friend moaned.
   "You really have to stop passing out on me," Thomas scolded, shifting to let Minho walk on his own.
   Minho grunted. "Maybe I got sick of carrying you everywhere." He playfully slapped Thomas on the shoulder. "Come on."
   Finally, they made it to the Safe Zone. After being checked for the Flare and cleaned, they were let inside.
   They had made it.
   They were safe.