A5 // The Scorch Trials

Chapter 8

* Hello guys! So sorry for my lack of updating. Things have been hectic but I found out I got into the college I wanted!

Anyways, I wanted to make a quick disclaimer. This is my story so I am writing it how I want it to go even if it goes against the books and the movies. Nothing too bad changes but I just don't want to hear any whining. Thanks for understanding! Love you guys! *

The group stood motionless as the faint screams echoed throughout the mall, unknowing of whether or not those terrifying screams were coming towards them. Their questions were answered when Thomas and Minho came running at them.

"HEY! GO! RUN!" The pair was screaming above the terrifying wails and the Gladers realized what they were running from when they saw what was behind them. An army of creatures chased after Thomas and Minho. The creatures were shaped exactly like humans but the way they haphazardly ran over the sand and the wails that left their bodies were far from human.

"Oh shit," Newt mumbled under his breath and secured the backpack onto his shoulders. He had taken steps towards (Y/N), wanting her close to him so that when they took off running, he'd know exactly where she was.

The group didn't actually start running away until Thomas and Minho had reached them, all of them wanting to keep close together so that nobody in the group could be left behind. Thinking about it afterwards, Winston felt a little guilty for tossing Thomas his backpack as they were running. Regardless of the small exchange, the group sprinted away from the creatures as fast as their legs would carry them.

Up ahead was a set of escalators, broken of course but stairs nonetheless. A small discussion happened between Thomas and the others until they unanimously agreed going upstairs was probably the best idea once they saw the cranks running at them from the other direction.

As they ran up the stairs, Winston called out, "Thomas! Minho! What the hell are those things?"

Unsurprisingly, all Thomas could answer with was, "I don't know."

It took Aris a moment to explain to the group that those things were called cranks but promised he would explain more about them once they were done being chased.

Once they made it to the next floor, more cranks ran towards them, seemingly having heard the commotion on the floor below. Another string of curse words came from the teens but Aris seemed to have a solution, one that wasn't all that good in hindsight.

He stepped up to the crank and swung his baseball bat into its legs, only for the crank to fall directly at the feet of the rest of the group. The crank wasn't too phased by Aris's line of defense and grabbed the shoe of the person who was in arm distance from it. (Y/N).

Newt yelled out her name, seeing the predicament she was in and moved himself in front of her where he could easily stomp onto the crank's wrist until it let go. In the commotion, the group had been split up again as to avoid being attacked by the crank.

"Keep going! Go around!" Thomas called out orders when the crank turned its attention from (Y/N) and onto him and Teresa. Teresa was smart so she was able to reach for a hammer and directly aim it at the cranks head, causing it to collapse on the ground motionless. This did bring her some sort of relief when she realized that these things could actually die.

"Come on, love!" Newt's arm was back around (Y/N)'s waist to guide her where the others had run which happened to be another escalator. They had to bend around a small curve to reconnect their group before coming up with another plan of where to run.

Going down another hallway, the sounds of the cranks were still close behind them. They had thought that with the multiple floors and the splitting up that they would have been able to shake them off but the cranks were set on getting them.

"We gotta find a way out of here!" Frypan's voice was loud enough to make it over the cries of the cranks even if they were getting louder the closer they got.

"Love, go!" Newt pushed the girl forward, knowing that with his limp, he was a lot slower than her now. She was only a few steps ahead when she heard the shattering of glass behind her and the yelling of her boyfriend.

Turning around, she saw a crank had crashed through the window to the right of where they were running and had tackled Newt to the ground. The crank wrestled with Newt and in his shock, the crank was able to pin Newt to the ground.

(Y/N) screamed out his name and went to go help him when Thomas pushed her back and ran forward instead. Thomas ran up to the two and kicked the crank directly in the face, the force being enough to knock the crank off the boy and fall over the edge of the walkway. Thomas helped him off the ground, Newt thanking him for his help but realized there was still an entire swarm of cranks charging for them.

Newt made it back to his girl and the two of them regained their positions at the back of the group as they ran. (Y/N)'s eyes were clouded with tears, making it a little bit harder for her to run from the sheer panic of watching that crank attack him. For now, she wouldn't say anything and instead kept her focus on running.

They knew they couldn't run forever so they tried a different approach and traveled down a small hallway that wouldn't allow the cranks to run all at once. Unfortunately, the plan was worse when they ended up at a dead end.

The hallway ended at a set of double doors but they were bolted shut from the outside, none of them having any way to get out. They were stuck.

"Get us out of here, Thomas!" Teresa screamed when she saw the cranks coming down the hall. They were pushing into one another, either not caring or not being aware of the damages they were doing as they pushed and clawed at the other cranks to get closer to the Gladers. They were worse than wild animals.

While the boys tried breaking the lock on the door by running into it, Aris came up with an idea. "I'll hold them back!" He took the gun Winston had stolen from the compound and started shooting the cranks that were getting closer. He wasn't too bad at aiming since he was able to shoot three or so cranks at the front, which did help in tripping the ones behind them.

"Get that door open!" Winston hollered, panicking when the cranks were gaining on them.

"Do it together!" The girls offered when they saw the boys hadn't actually made any progress. The boys, consisting of Thomas, Minho, Newt and Frypan, stood in front of the door and counted down from three before charging at it in sync. To their luck, the lock was destroyed and the door burst open for them all to run through.

All of them were about to make it through when Aris screamed, his backpack having been grabbed and the cranks were dragging him back inside. The Gladers were quick to react and grabbed his arms that were flailing in the air.

The group was in chaos as they tried pulling him back inside, some of them screaming and some of them yelling out inaudible words. Minho was on the other side of the door, keeping it open just enough that they could pull Aris out but not too much that the flood of cranks could escape from that hallway.

Aris screamed even louder when the cranks dug their fingers into his skin, the pale skin on his stomach turning into a scarlet mess when it was ripped apart by the cranks fingers. Winston came behind the group and started slamming the handle of the gun into the hands of the cranks. This worked and soon enough, the cranks released him and they were able to pull him out of the doorway.

Newt and Frypan stood on either side of Aris to help him walk since the cuts were making it difficult for him to run and focus on the path ahead.

"(Y/N), lets go!" Newt called out when they started jogging, wanting her in front of him so he could see her at all times. The girls ran side-by-side ahead of the boys and lead the rest of them to where they figured it was safe.

It took the group a while before they found somewhere they could hide from the cranks and it happened to be a large piece of cement that fell from the ceiling. They huddled underneath it and flicked off all their flashlights so that maybe the cranks wouldn't find them.

Newt wrapped his arm around (Y/N), feeling her body trembling with fear as she heard the continuous wails of the cranks. He could see her lip quivering as she tried hiding her cries so he gently and very quietly shushed her so that she wouldn't give away their hiding spot. The couple sat there along with the rest of the Gladers in complete silence as they waited for the cranks to either give up looking or find them all.