Survive Till Dusk (The Maze Runner)

Chapter 11 // The Market

*Scarlett's P.O.V.* 

It must have been just under an hour that we had been speeding across roads and along the rough-looking landscape. Sandy breezes wafted into my face as I felt Newt clutch onto my waist. 

The heat of the sun sweltered on as my head hung heavy. I was drowsy, yet kept my eyes on the road ahead as well as I could. Whenever I felt like drifting off, my body oddly slouched over and my eyes shot open in panic of crashing or tipping the motorcycle over. 

I had just been in a dull trance of watching the heatwaves coming off the street pavement as I felt the metal underneath my body rumble. Shortly after, the sputter of the motorcycle's engine sounded and, within seconds, the vehicle had stopped in its tracks. 

I jolted forward towards the handlebar, my body tilting with the motorcycle, before I slid off the side of it. Quickly, Newt steadied the tipping motorcycle, lending me a hand and lifting me off of the dusty road.

"Thanks," I stiffled an awkward laugh and brushed some dirt off of my baggy pants. 

Newt just re-gifted my brief comment with a shy smile. 

Rapidly, I looked to see if the others had driven on without noticing us. I sighed out in relief — they hadn't. Keith and Alex had come to a halt and were climbing off of their motorcycle. To my surprise, Johnson and Thomas had gotten down from their motorcycle to view their engine, which was fuming just like ours. Robin and Minho, however, took no notice to the situation until they were already quite some meters away. They skidded to a stop and looked back in dismay. 

"You guys okay?" Minho shouted over at us.

Keith gave a short nod. "Get ready to walk!" 

Alex grimaced at him, but kept politely quiet.

"Are you kidding me? How unlucky can we get?" I muttered under my breath.

"Tell me about it," I heard Thomas mumble back as he trudged towards Newt and I. 

"Let's go," Johnson motivated us. "We shouldn't even be too far from..." 

"From bloody what?" Newt replied, getting a tinge agitated at the whole fiasco too.

"..the market."

With those words, we headed off down the street in the direction of visible tiny, isolated buildings. Nothing more was uttered in our exhaustion.

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*Robin's P.O.V.* 

Once the distant buildings came near and the motorcycles were long left behind, I noticed that the town ahead didn't look quite as desolate, empty, and utterly devastated as everything else on our desert journey did so far. In contrast to the hot, desert-like environment, the buildings were still more or less built up, even though they were breaking away due to the aggressive sun-rays.

My mind wandered to the fact that we really didn't even know how long the world had been like this — could've been not so long ago that it began looking... well, quite crisp. After all, we never got any answers from anyone; not even proper ones from Keith or Johnson. Let alone from any other adults we've crossed paths with since we'd gotten out of the Maze. The longer I thought about it, the more I actually missed that place. It was the only place I remembered vividly and not just in fragments.  

Soon enough we reached the first building. It was crumbled away at the sides, yet still stood strong enough to support the rest of its structure.

"Can't we just go into there and settle down for the day?" I asked the others — mainly Keith and Johnson.

"I second that," Alex piped up, visibly exhausted. I was surprised because if Alex was ready to drop, it had definitely been a tiring journey. 

We all glanced at Keith, who shook his head no, but kept silent.

Man oh man, couldn't he just stop for a moment? The only impression I had of him was that he was just as  darn robust and headstrong  as Alex could be. What was so important about Denver anyway that we had to get there as quickly as possible?  We already got away from those WICKED people... Wasn't that the point of this?

As we walked past the next few concrete structures and, ultimately, to the center of what was previously a small city, I saw a handful of eyes peering down at us from the shattered windows of the buildings. Slowly, I thought. Slowly I was going insane. When I saw an old man standing at the side of an old RV, I thought I had lost it. I turned my head to the left to notion Minho to look. 

Minho glanced past me and just shrugged. "He's probably not seen people pass here in a while. Look at the place," he stated in a calm tone. 

I sighed in relief. Thank goodness he sees the man too and I'm not going crazy. Not going crazy on my own at least. 

As we passed and headed further down the main road, I saw people walking around, entering different buildings and speaking to each other. There were rows of tables with food and clothes and even a few children walked around. 

What was this place?  

Before I could utter the words or ask anything, Thomas spoke up as we all came to a halt. 

"What are we doing here? Where are we going? Who are all these people?" 

Johnson quickly hushed his outburst of questions. "Cool it, kid. Not the right time."

"Well, when is it the right time? Huh?" Thomas spat out, puffing his chest forward in an angry stance. "Because it seems like none of you even know what's going on." 

"Tommy," Newt attempted to calm him down — to no avail.

"We traveled so far to get here. We didn't have to, but we did." Thomas stepped closer to Johnson. "The least we could get is proper answers as to what this is. We're trusting you!" He nearly yelled, grabbing Johnson by the collar of his shirt. People around us were starting to stare and some continued to guffaw as the quarrel commenced. 

"Not now, Thomas," Keith gritted through his teeth. 

Thomas shook Johnson violently as if it would help us get a useful response from him. 

"Tommy, that's enough," Newt raised his voice. He stepped forward and pulled Thomas back from Johnson, who showed no significant reaction. Menacing glances were thrown back and forth before Keith rounded us up to continue our trip. 

"The heat is getting to all of us," he stated. "The circumstances don't help either." 

I was close to saying something about the audience we had attracted but, before I could mention anything, a loud gunshot fired. Swarms of people carrying a heavy demeanor instantly scurried to seek shelter amongst the tall concrete surrounding us. 

Then, not so far away from the people, I spotted a figure in a white suit. A white helmet with a black sreen in the front and a loaded assault rifle were enough to send chills down my spine.

"THIS WAY!" Keith shouted over the noise of the crowd. I felt Minho tug me after him as we all headed into a long tent-like structure. 

"INTO THE MARKET!" 

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