Dynasty // The Scorch Trials [Book 2]

NINETEEN

Bertha turned out to be a pick-up truck.

While the outside world flew past me, I sat in between Thomas and Teresa on the middle seat of the truck Jorge was driving. Newt was sitting in the passenger seat and Minho, Aris, Brenda, and Fry were cramped up in the back.

Thomas's fingers were intertwined with my own as both hands rested on my thigh. His thumb was rubbing the back of my hand as I looked through the window with a grin. My feet ached horribly as three enormous blisters had appeared on my heels and I was beyond grateful I didn't have to walk anymore. I had removed my boots as soon as I sat down on the soft cushions of the car seats.

We sped through the landscape and soon reached a mountain passage. Jorge carefully drove over the narrow, bumpy roads and I was left ping-ponging between Thomas and Teresa's shoulders.

"Jorge, how much further?" I asked, leaning forward.

"It shouldn't be much further. We'll be there soon," he replied and I plopped back in my seat, sighing deeply. A backache started to come up again and I couldn't sit straight much longer.

I noticed Thomas shifting in his seat and I looked at him in question. "Thomas?" My voice caught his attention and he looked at me in shock. "What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost," I asked calmly.

He started shaking his head. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

Jorge suddenly stopped the car and I looked out ahead to see three other cars blocking the road. I huffed and stuck out my bottom lip. "Looks like our road ends here." Jorge patted the steering wheel before he got out. The others and I followed him after I quickly put on my boots again.

We slowly walked along. The cars looked like they had been standing there for years. I traced my fingers through the layer of sand and scrunched my nose in disgust as I spotted a dead moth lying on the hood of the car.

I looked up and saw Jorge rummaging through the trunk of a car, only to find a large cloud of dust that rose from the empty blanket inside. "Leah," Thomas's voice caught my attention. "Come look at this."

I walked over to his side and saw what he had discovered, a bullet hole in the windshield of a car. I raised my brow but before I could comment on it, multiple bullets rained down on us. Thomas threw his body over mine and pulled me behind the car, shielding me from the bullets.

But he had been too late.

A bullet had pierced my shoulder and blood came pouring out. I let out a cry as I pressed my palm onto it. I clenched my teeth together while blood stained my clothes. "Oh my god," Thomas muttered and quickly used the piece of cloth Jorge handed him to stop the bloodstream.

"Is everyone okay?" Newt shouted.

"No, Leah's hit," Thomas replied, keeping the pressure on the wound.

"Shuck. How bad is it?" Newt called.

"I'll be fine!" I called back but let out a groan as I tried to sit up straight.

"Does anyone know where those bloody shots came from?" Newt asked.

"That son of a bitch, Marcus," Jorge cursed under his breath. "He led us into an ambush."

"Here, take this." Thomas handed me the cloth and I nodded, putting pressure on it myself. He slowly rose up to peer over the hood of the car.

"Be careful," I grunted, shifting slightly. More gunshots sounded through the air and I pulled him back down. "They're not gone yet."

Jorge took something out of his jacket and handed it to Thomas. It turned out to be a bomb. A remote-controlled bomb, apparently, since Jorge was holding a remote and as he turned it on, a beep sounded.

"Everyone, get ready to sprint back to the truck." He looked down at me. "Keep the pressure on that wound and run like hell." I nodded and squatted on my feet, readying myself to run. "Okay," Jorge turned to Thomas. "One, two, th-"

"Drop it!"

I froze in place. "Drop it now!" the voice shouted again and Thomas placed the bomb on the floor. Even though I didn't want to, I turned around. Two girls around my age were standing behind us with two cocked guns raised at our heads.

One of them had dark hair that was twisted into dreadlocks and she had tinted skin. The other one was pale and had blonde hair. Pieces of fabric covered the bottom of their faces, and their eyes stared at us warningly.

I raised the only hand I had free and Jorge and Thomas did the same.

"Okay, on your feet and back up!" the girl barked and I stood up, using Thomas's arm.

"She's been shot-"

"Back up!" The girl completely ignored Thomas and kept us at gunpoint.

They ushered the others to their feet as well and while we were all lined up and held our hands in the air, the dark girl spoke up again, "Aris?" My eyes averted to the boy standing a few feet to my right.

He looked at them in confusion and disbelief. The girl pulled the fabric down and Aris instantly exclaimed, "Oh my god, Harriet?!" The girl tightly hugged Aris and I glanced at Newt in question, only to receive a shrug.

The blonde girl removed her fabric as well. "Sonya," Aris said before he also hugged her.

"You're lucky we didn't shoot you, dumbass," she chuckled.

"Yeah, but you did shoot her," Minho spoke up and nodded at me.

"Oh my god," the girl, Harriet, breathed and rushed over to me. "I'm so sorry, if I had known you were with Aris, I wouldn't have shot." She gently removed my hand and the cloth from the wound and I hissed at the air hitting my skin. "It's not bad. We'll be able to patch you up," she stated.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"We were in the Maze together," Aris answered for her. Harriet nodded and placed her fingers on her lips, letting out a high whistle. People started appearing on the tops of the mountains.

Harriet heaved her gun on her shoulder and clapped. "Okay, let's go."