fragmentary → scorch trials | newt

chapter five

The scorch lived up to its name; hills of endless sand went on for miles, the wind carried sheets of grains of sand and it scratched Elodie' s skin as they ran.

There was no possible way of staying on your feet, the sand always gave weigh and the faster you tried to go, the more you would fall. That didn't stop the group from running up the first hill they saw into the plain desert. Elodie used her arm to shield her eyes from the harsh blankets of sand.

The army vehicles were far behind but the guards on the other hand, weren't too far as Elodie looked back and saw a thick line of them closing in on group, holding bright flashlights that emitted bright beams.

"Behind here guys!" Thomas's hoarse voice made Elodie look over to him and saw that he hid behind a steep hill of sand. Elodie slid down to where he was and the others followed his orders. She poked her head out the slightest and saw that the guards couldn't see them from where they hid. Elodie was pulled down by a hand that she learned belonged to Luke, who had his eyes practically out of their sockets.

He mouthed the words, 'you'll be shot if you put your head out too much idiot.' Even in the very bad situation they were in, she still rolled her eyes at her brother. She looked over at Thomas who signalled to go further away from WCKD's facility. Teresa got up first and led the group, she was very quick to lead the group and everyone filed behind her.

"Come on guys! Let's go!" Thomas yelled from the front of the group, Elodie barely heard him as she silently struggled at the back.

They ran through the sandstorm but still moved slowly, Elodie didn't know where the hell they planned on going. She saw Teresa run to a window that randomly stuck out from the ground, she had held on to the metal frame of it. Elodie and the others joined Teresa and contemplated whether to go in or not.

Suddenly, Teresa ran into the building, without a second thought, arms flung out to stop her.

"Teresa!"

"Come down here!" She answered to the shouts, everyone on the surface looked at each other. Thomas went in first, followed by most of his gladers, then Newt went in with Elodie and hesitantly, Luke and Aris joined them.

The only light inside the building was moonlight from the top of the window, Elodie slid down the sand dune to where the others stood. She felt a loss of control from the speed of her slide and stumbled on the floor. She heard Newt snicker as he held out his hand for her to take, Elodie rolled her eyes playfully and smiled. She took his hand and propped herself up.

After dusting herself off, Elodie took in her surroundings: even though it was pitch black she felt like the building had a big interior.

Minho had gotten a torch out of his backpack of salvaged supplies and flashed it around, it illuminated the junk around them. Everything was broken and on the ground. The only sound around them were their gasps for air after their desperate run.

"Where the hell are we?" Minho looked at the group.

"We gotta go." Thomas said, gesturing for everyone to follow behind me.

"No."

"Come on, we gotta go."

"Thomas stop!" Teresa snapped, everyone's eyes were on the only other girl in their group. "Tell me what's going on!"

Elodie liked Teresa, she was fearless and knew what she wanted. She was the person Elodie wanted to be and the complete opposite of her own personality; shy, indecisive and scared. Teresa was like Alex. Elodie felt that she needed to toughen up if she wanted to fight against WCKD.

"It's WCKD, they lied to us, we never escaped. Me and Aris found bodies too many to count." Thomas stopped and explained what the hell was going on. Aris shifted uncomfortably.