A5 // The Scorch Trials

Chapter 12

           
* Hello guys. This one took me a while to write due to midterms coming up. Thanks for being patient with me! *

The tunnels were pitch-black, as aforementioned, and the small flashlights only illuminated the space a few meters in front of them. They really didn't know what was up ahead but that was their only path, above ground being blocked by tons of debris.

(Y/N) was having a hard time staying strong. The tunnels were terrifying, she barely knew anything about this girl, she didn't know where Brenda was taking her and to top it all off, Newt wasn't with her.

"Come on," Brenda broke her from the daydream of terrifying thoughts. "We have to move quickly."

"Why?" As much as she tried, her voice didn't sound strong and instead wavered with worry.

"Because down here, cranks are full term. They aren't like they are up there. They're much worse." Brenda pulled her backpack on her back, now sporting a flashlight and a knife in her hands.

(Y/N) followed a few steps behind Brenda, letting the girl who was more familiar with this place lead her. Every couple of seconds, she thought she heard something and would whip behind her to make sure nothing was following her. So far, there was nothing.

"You said you'd know where to find them," (Y/N) whispered, scared that if she spoke too loud, the cranks will hear and come running at them. Unfortunately for her, the echoing of the chamber intensified her whispers just as loud as if she were regularly speaking.

Brenda nodded. "A guy named Marcus. He's been taking immune kids for years. If we have you guys, he can take us—all of us—to the Safe Haven."

"What's the Safe Haven?"

Brenda scoffed and waited a few moments this time before answering. "So I guess WICKED really does erase all of your memories." She shook that off, along with her grin. "A safe place for all immunes who either escaped WICKED or was never involved with WICKED in the first place."

That answered one of (Y/N)'s questions but as one was answered, another one replaced it. "Why do you seem to know so much about WICKED?"

This one took Brenda back. She knew the question was coming but she still didn't want to answer it, or even think of it for that matter. Shaking her head, she silently told (Y/N) to forget her question and keep walking. As much as she wanted to press further, she kept her mouth shut.

They walked in silence for a while, (Y/N) too scared to speak anymore as the sounds of the cranks seemed to get louder, but Brenda assured her it was just the echoing tunnels. There were many twists and turns down these tunnels and Brenda seemed to know where she was going. Even if she didn't, (Y/N) had no choice but to trust her.

"George." Brenda spoke suddenly, startling the other girl into squealing. "My brother's name was George. When everything started happening and WICKED was looking for kids, they came to us. Our parents were already gone by then so there was no one to stop them from stealing us."

(Y/N) listened intently, wanting to know the backstory of this poor girl and wanting to be polite as she shared something so personal with a complete stranger. 

"They gave us a bunch of tests. When they got the results, whatever they were, they didn't want me but they wanted him. They casted me aside and focused on him, even giving him one of those titles like you have."

"What was his?" (Y/N) asked, afraid of the answer.

"A-6."

(Y/N)'s heart stopped, feeling the cold chill run across her body. A-6, the same letter as hers and Thomas's, meaning they were in the same maze. (Y/N) knew this girl's brother. (Y/N) watched this girl's brother get stung. (Y/N) killed this girl's brother.

"That's why I got so excited back there," Brenda hinted at how happy she was to show Jorge what their subject titles were. "I thought maybe you knew him."

(Y/N) didn't know where to go from there. She could either tell Brenda she knew her brother and led him to his death or she could lie and say she never knew a boy named George. Neither of them would comfort her, he was dead after all, but she wondered which one would spare her the most. She went with the first option.

"He was so brave. Ran the maze everyday with our Keeper—leader I mean—and there were terrifying things in that maze." She shuddered, remembering why she had a limp again.

Brenda seemed to get the gist of what she was getting at, telling her without telling her that he had died in that godforsaken maze. (Y/N) expected her to cry or at least yell at her for letting her brother die but instead she stared ahead of her, her face blank from any expressions. She was shocked by how closed off Brenda was being but she realized that after all these years, Brenda had probably already accepted that her brother was dead.

Instead of saying something about her brother, Brenda told her, "I think it's this way." Had she not just confirmed Brenda's worries that her brother was dead, she would have made a big deal about the "think" part; now wasn't the time.

(Y/N) followed behind a little closer now than before as she noticed something different about the walls. Up till now, the walls were decorated in different colored graffiti but now the drawings were covered by red vines sticking to the floor, the walls and the ceiling. A chill went up her back as she compared the vines to veins, looking like they had been pulled straight from a person's body.

"Brenda," (Y/N) almost cried, her hand finding its way to her mouth as she tried following where the vines began. "What is this?"

Brenda didn't answer and that made her heart almost literally jump out of her chest. The only thing that was heard was (Y/N)'s panicked breathing, hyperventilation slowly creeping in. That changed when they heard a squeaking from inside the sewer to their right. Brenda even jumped back and watched for whatever was about to crawl out. She sighed in relief when it was a simple rat jumping out of the sewer.

She cursed a couple times and kicked the rat away from her. Brenda chuckled, trying to calm down the girl who was close to a panic attack. "It's fine. Rats infest these—" Her voice was cut short when the rat squealed.

A hand had stuck out from the wall, grabbing the rat and lifting it off the ground. It was then that they saw the crank attacked by the vines to the wall. It brought the rat to its mouth, biting off the head until it stopped moving. The sound of the rat squealing must have awoken the other cranks cause one by one they ripped themselves off the wall, the vines snapping and adding to the piles on the floor.

The two slowly inched backwards, (Y/N)'s eyes filling with tears as she tried counting how many there were. No matter the number, they were easily outnumbered. She cried the other girl's name, wanting her to tell her what to do.

She gave her a one worded answer: "RUN!"