Conflicted

chapter 7

"Thomas!" I screamed.

I reached out to grab his hand, but I was too late. Only a few Cranks had made it to the ladder, maybe four or five, it was hard to see in the fading light.

So I took my chances. And jumped.

"What the hell are you doing?" Newt yelled, after I landed.

I looked up at into his concerned brown eyes. "If I don't come up with Thomas before a Crank does, close it."

"But-"

"I said close it," I said, tears stinging my eyes.

They threatened to fall, but I blinked them away. I was about to chase after Thomas, when Newt said:

"Don't die, pretty girl."

I just nodded and ran back down to the dark hallway, to my certain demise.

The tears finally cascaded down my face as I was running, but nobody was there to see them. After what he's gone through, I wasn't going to let him die like this. Not alone, at least. I reached the circular room again, where Thomas was being dragged into the middle, where the Cranks had converged. He was screaming bloody murder, but that didn't affect the Cranks at all. If anything, they enjoyed seeing their victim suffer.

I didn't have any clever ideas to do this, so I improvised. And charged. One knife against twenty or so Cranks. Great plan, Brenda. Great plan.

I charged the ones holding Thomas first, stabbing the first one's arm as hard as I could. He howled and dropped Thomas' right arm, which was all he needed to shake off the other one. The Cranks had started moving towards the ladder, but I hacked and slashed at anything moving. Thomas pulled me along as I stabbed all the infected humans in our way.

We made it to the ladder, and we climbed faster than the first time. I made Thomas go first, and I came out next. No Cranks had gotten to the ladder this time, and Newt covered the opening firmly.

"What were you thinking?" Thomas yelled at me. But I knew he wasn't mad. His eyes gave him away. I wonder how he made it that long in that maze of theirs.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe saving your life," I retorted.

I wanted to be angry with him, but I just didn't have the energy anymore. I collapsed on the hard-packed dirt of the city, utterly exhausted. The stars started to come out, which means it would be completely dark soon. And we needed shelter.

We found an alleyway filled with trucks and decided to sleep in one. The place was a dead-end, but I squashed any arguments the boys made saying that Cranks wouldn't have a reason to come here. Newt took the backseat of the truck and instantly fell asleep. I sat in the passenger seat and Thomas took the driver's seat. It wasn't ideal, but nothing was in this messed up world.

After a few awkward minutes of silence, Thomas whispered, "You didn't have to save me back there. Why did you?"

"Because..." I fumbled for the right words. I was going to say that he made me feel something that no one else had before, but I realized that would sound sappy, so I kept on the inside.

"Because why?" he pushed.

"I... I... Don't know," I sighed. The words "I love you" almost slipped out of my mouth, but I kept them in. Plus, he had something going on with the Teresa chick he had mentioned before. He seemed unsatisfies with my answer, but he didn't say anything else. I had nothing else to say, so I rolled over and fell asleep.