Born Again

Chapter fifty two

A few days later, Thomas was at yet another Right Arm meeting.

"Now," Vince said. "Before we go visit the addicted, I need you all to pick partners."

Thomas immediately looked at Newt. "I'll be with-"

"Thomas!" Brenda interrupted. "I'll partner up with Thomas."

"But-"

"Alright, Brenda and Thomas," Vince muttered, writing their names down on his paper. "Who else?"

Newt gave Thomas an apologetic look before picking Minho instead.

"Awesome." Brenda said, turning to Thomas. "What do you think we'll be doing, partner?"'

Running from cranks, he thought.

He forced a smile instead. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see what Vince says."

After everybody picked their partners, Vince explained why he seperated them into groups of two.

"After these first few meetings," Vince started, "I found that the cra—ah—addicted get very anxious in large crowds."

Thomas shared a smirk with Minho. Even Vince was starting to call them cranks.

"Anyway." Vince coughed. "That's why I'll only be taking two at a time to the support group. Those who stay behind will continue our old routine of cleaning."

Everybody simataniously groaned.

"Alright, alright. Calm down," their leader scolded. "It's not everyday. But today, I'll be taking Brenda and Thomas with me."

Thomas must have paled because Newt gave him a worried look before speaking up.

"Can I go with them?" He asked. "Or trade with Tommy?"

"No." Vince sighed, rubbing his face. "Look, I know you guys don't want to clean, but it's Thomas and Brenda only and that's final. The rest of you will stay with Mary and clean the cafeteria again."

The rest of the Gladers groaned again.

Mary tried to tell them why it was important and what a good job they did last time, but nobody was really listening. I don't think anyone realized how much cleaning they would have to do when they joined The Right Arm.

Newt walked over to Thomas with a frown. " "M sorry, Tommy. I tried."

"It's alright," Thomas sighed. "Thanks anyway. But if it's going to happen, it's going to happen. Nothing we can do to stop it."

"I know." Newt thought for a second. "But you'll be okay in this part, right?"

"Yeah, but Brenda won't be."

"Did she ever turn into a crank?" Newt asked.

"No," Thomas answered. "I cured her before she would've."

"Then I think she'll be fine," his friend said. "Since, you know, you can't cure drugs."

"Thomas! Brenda!" Vince called before Thomas had time to say to anything. "Time to go."

Newt sighed, pulling Thomas into a hug. "Alright, Tommy. Just be careful."

Thomas nodded. "I'll try."

~~~

"I told them to wait inside or us," Vince explained as they arrived at the church. "And that there would be less people. They seemed to like that."

"I'll bet," Thomas muttered.

"Relax," Brenda said. "We'll be fine. These cranks are harmless."

He wished.

Thankfully, Vince opened the door, giving Thomas a reason to not answer.

"Hey guys," Vince said. "Today is just me and-" He stopped.

Thomas walked in to see what was the matter.

Only one crank sat in the chairs, her hands folded in her lap. She stared straight ahead, not even looking up when the three walked in.

"Where are the others?" Vince asked, concern obvious in his voice.

"Outside," she answered, her voice raspy as she continued to stare forward.

Vince nodded, clearly relieved. "Thomas, Brenda, why don't you two go get them?"

Thomas was about to protest but then thought better of it. There was no stopping the dreams anymore. They always came true.

"Sure thing," Brenda said, grabbing Thomas' wrist. "Come on, Thomas. Just come help me with this."

Thomas sighed as she dragged him away.

~~~

They, predictably, didn't find any cranks at first.

Thomas and Brenda decided to split up, much against his protests, to cover more ground. So he looked around near the front but couldn't find them anywhere.

Thomas figured they would be in the back, behind the church where it was darkest, but decided to wait for the last possible moment to head in that direction.

"Brenda?" Thomas asked after a few minutes of searching. Then louder. "Brenda?"

"Over here," she said, coming into view and waving for him to come to the back of the building. "Look at this."

What he saw in the back was even worse than he expected.

Dark vines covered the walls and floor, covering practically every exposed part of the walls and ground. The only part that wasn't completely covered was the drain, coming out of the wall with a tiny trail of water flowing from it.

"Look," Thomas said, pointing. "A rat is going to come out of it." He walked over and stopped in front of it.

"How do you know?" Brenda asked, following.

Because I have futuristic dreams and know how most of my life is going to play out.

"I can hear it squeaking," he said instead.

A second later, a rat came out of it. The rodent looked at them for a few seconds before falling out. Thomas would've laughed if he hadn't known what was going to happen next.

Brenda kicked the rat as it tried to sniff her shoe. "Ugh," she muttered as it scurried away.

Thomas watched the the rat crawl across the vines, waiting for the hand to snatch out and-

Something grabbed Thomas from behind, digging its nails into his shoulder.

Thomas, unashamedly, screamed and fell backwards. Brenda yanked away from its grasp a second later, backing away

Standing there was a crank, grinning down at them through crazy puffy eyes with vines in her hair. She tried to laugh but it came out as a horrific scream.

Thomas scrambled to his feet, shouting one word:

"Run!"