A5 // The Scorch Trials

Chapter 13

           

(Y/N) followed her order and ran the opposite direction of the growing swarm of cranks. Their shrieks filled the tunnel and because of the echoing, it was so much louder than she could handle.

Brenda was in the lead, as expected, so (Y/N) tried keeping up. With her newly healed leg, she found it was much easier to run but she was still adjusting so it wasn't quite Runner-Level again. One day she'll be back to normal.

The two flashlights in their hands darted all around the room, making it rather difficult with the light not staying in one position. Because of this, (Y/N) didn't see the vine sticking out of the ground and crumbled to the floor. It took her a second to get up and within that second, a crank had caught up to her.

Brenda called her name when she saw what happened. The crank was just above her when Brenda ripping out the knife and stabbed it into the crank's cheek. It howled but fell to the ground when Brenda kicked it in the stomach. She helped the other girl up, yelling a few encouraging things to get her to start running again, and then they were off.

"We need to get out of the tunnels!" (Y/N) screamed, knowing that down here, the cranks had an advantage and up there, they might have it.

Brenda silently agreed and tried mapping out the tunnels in her head to determine where the closest exit was. Once she had it, she led (Y/N) down another hall, yelling, "this way!"

The cranks were far enough behind that they could escape quickly and that helped ease (Y/N) a little. Last time they were chased by cranks, they were in a mall where there were places to hide and things to defend themselves with. Down here, they were defenseless.

Brenda suddenly stopped, causing (Y/N) to panic and ask her what she was doing. Brenda simply grabbed a steel barrel which was thankfully placed conveniently in the center of the hallway and moved it to the center of the hall. Standing on top of it, she pushed her arms against the ceiling to open up a crate that would be their exit.

(Y/N) saw the cranks had now found them and was running down the hall towards them. She panicked and screamed at Brenda to hurry. Finally, Brenda pushed open the lid and brought in a cloud of bright light. Brenda climbed out first and then held her hand back in to help pull (Y/N) up.

(Y/N) followed the exact steps Brenda had taken and was about to pull herself out when the swarm of cranks found her. Her heart wrenching screams filled both the desert and the tunnel as the barrel was kicked out from under her and was only holding on by her hands.

Brenda grabbed onto her and tried pulling her up when she heard another terrifying shriek from the girl below her. Letting out a yell, Brenda used all of her strength and pulled (Y/N) out of the hole. Together, they shoved the crate back onto the square hole, sealing the cranks away from them.

Howls and cries could still be heard from below them but they were safe for now. The cranks, although smart creatures, couldn't think enough to build some kind of ladder or stool to reach the cover. Instead, they'll climb over each other and hopefully hurt themselves.

While Brenda pulled some of the heavier items from the sand to cover the hole with (a precaution to be certain the cranks can't get out), (Y/N) collapsed and cried into her arm. She was never one to hide her emotions, crying if she couldn't hide it and yelling if she was angry. This was one of those times where as much as she tried to keep it together, she just couldn't.

Brenda had finished and noticed (Y/N) on the ground. She walked over to her and set her hand on her shoulder. "Come on, we need to keep moving."

(Y/N) shook her head all the while Brenda tried getting her to stand up. A few tries later, (Y/N) snapped. "I can't keep going!" Brenda silenced. "I'm not—I'm not strong like you, Brenda. I can't just keep running for my life."

The older girl wasn't sure how to react. She was used to Jorge listening to every idea she had or even coming up with similar crazy ideas. Even so, Jorge was up for anything if it meant survival but (Y/N) seemed to be giving up.

"I'm not strong like you," the (Y/H/C) haired girl went on, "I only lasted out here because I had Newt and the others telling me what to do or where to go. I can't do this on my own like you can. Just leave me."

Brenda was shocked at the girl in front of her. She had asked her all these questions when they first met and seemed so brave, opposite to how she was describing herself right now, and then she pushed her boyfriend out of the way so he was safe. In her eyes, (Y/N) was brave.

"Look, I'm not good with this stuff but (Y/N) listen," Brenda kneeled in front of her, "You have a boyfriend and an entire group of kids looking for you. You survived your maze, WICKED and now the Scorch. I think that's pretty strong."

"But I'm not strong like you," she argued. She then went into detail about how weak she feels for needing Newt to protect her and for crying.

For once, Brenda seemed to have some sort of idea of how to comfort her. "Then I'll help you."

"What?"

"You say you want to be strong, so I'll help you. I'll toughen you up until you feel like you can protect yourself or your friends. Deal?" (Y/N) was confused by still took Brenda up on her offer.

Maybe it was a good thing  she was separated from her friends. Maybe she needed this to toughen her up. Ever since the incident in the maze, she relied strictly on Newt to help her, even being called a baby by a few of the Gladers because of it, so she hoped with Brenda's help, she can prove that she is as strong as Brenda or even any of the Gladers for that matter.

"We still need to move. Marcus's mansion isn't too far from here." (Y/N) nodded and let Brenda help her off the ground.

They had only walked for a little while when (Y/N) suddenly collapsed, her leg giving out. Brenda rushed to her side and asked her what was wrong.

(Y/N) reached for her bag and pulled out a long strip of gauze, confusing Brenda even more. She then grabbed the bottom of her jeans, pulling them up to reveal exactly what Brenda was afraid of. (Y/N)'s calf had a large bite carved into it, scarlet pooling in places where the blood hadn't dried up yet and was already changing color.

"Shit," Brenda said breathlessly. She had been around enough cranks and non-immunes to know where this was leading but what would happen if an immune was bitten?

(Y/N) ignored Brenda's curse word and bandaged up her leg with the gauze. She secured it around her leg before pulling her jeans back over it to hide it from any onlookers.

With a tear running down her cheek, she looked up at Brenda. "If we find them again, please don't tell Newt."

Brenda was torn. (Y/N) was a hazard now, infected by a virus that would probably affect any non-immune she came in contact with, but she was also slowly becoming her friend and she didn't want to watch her turn into one of those things. No matter how small the bite was, (Y/N) would die.

"I won't tell him," Brenda promised, comforting (Y/N) enough to let out a sigh of relief. "But now we need to move faster. You're running on borrowed time."

Brenda helped up the poor girl and left her arm around her waist to help her walk from then on. She knew it was impossible but she hoped that by some miracle, (Y/N) could be saved. But the world didn't work like that anymore, her brother was a clear example of that.