𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐔𝐒 ➤ [ 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑚𝑟 ]

VI | THUNDERSTORMS ✔

𝖵𝖤𝖭𝖴𝖲
𝖢𝖧𝖠𝖯𝖳𝖤𝖱 6

              THE NEXT DAY WAS EVEN HOTTER THAN ANY OF THE previous days they had been in the scorch, the sun burning every inch of exposed skin on Venus.

   The mountains were close, only a few more miles, but with the sun beating down on them, the lack of water, the tiredness coursing through their bodies, the group had a hard time moving forward.

    They had placed themselves on the middle of the nowehere. It was less sandy in this part of wherever the hell they were, Venus was thankful for being on slightly solid ground as her eyes didn't burn as much from when the sand speckles would infiltrate her eyes.

     Venus layed on her side, in a half asleep state as her head rested on her backpack.
  Her eyes slowly fluttered open, seeing that night had already fallen upon them, yet again.

Turning on her back, she quietly groaned as her eyes slowly fluttered open, the tiredness still not wearing off.

   However, she came fully awake when she noticed the extremely dark clouds hanging above them, and she shot up when lightning struck what must have been only a few miles away.

   They were in trouble, there was no denying that. Venus replayed the words of Janson on the night of their escape, when he warned them about the elements, and Venus could only think that, if the heat was as bad as they had experienced, thunderstorms would probably be much worse.

  Without wasting another second, Venus shook Thomas, who layed beside her, head on the hard ground as he was fast asleep.
   "Wake up, we have to get going ! " she  ordered, loud enough to wake the rest of their group as they shared confused glances at Venus' sudden panic stricken voice.

  "What? What happened ?" Newt groggily asked, "it's what's going to happen — there's a storm coming." This alerted most of the group members, Thomas sitting up straight as his eyes wandered the sky, and he came to realise that Venus was right, they had to get going.

    "Look there ! " Ares pointed towards the mountains, Venus getting a look at what Ares was making a fuss about, "it's lights." Thomas graspily spoke, rising to his feet as relieved filled the group.

The mountain people were real, and they weren't that far either.

    The optimism was quickly killed off when lightning struck, not too far from the group, the loud sound making Venus jump.

"Let's go, we gotta' go." Thomas was quick to order, making sure everyone had grabbed their belongings , the storm only nearing.

   Venus gulped, eyes glued to the horrific clouds for a quick second, before sprinting off after the rest of the group, boots hitting the ground as she tried to keep up with the them.

     They were sprinting , as fast as they could, nearing civilization as lightning struck left and right, Venus dodging each strike, or at least trying too.

"C'mon Venus ! " Thomas had noticed Venus falling slightly behind, her short legs trying to keep up with the rest of them.

Thomas pushed her in front of him, Venus trying her best to go as fast as she could, but the loud noises of lightning striking left and right made her extremely frightened, yet, she continued to run as fast as she could.

  "Keep going ! " Thomas motivated, they were so near to the entrance of the civilization, only a few metres away, but the lightning strikes were on their heels, striking objects left and right.

"Get inside ! Go ! " and then, before reaching the entrance, a lightning bolt landed right inbetween Venus , Thomas and Minho, sending them off their feet as Venus' body flew against a container, it knocking the wind out of her as she clutched her stomach, unable to breath, her ears ringing — she couldn't hear a thing.

    Venus gasped for air, clutching her ribs, scratching her throat as if it would give her oxygen.

    Venus watched as a seemingly lifeless body, Minho, was carried by Ares and Newt, with Teresa and Frypan leading the way. Thomas was sauntering behind, off balance, and Venus layed there, getting back short, ragged breaths, but she was unable to call for them, unable to tell them that she was left behind.

       She didn't have the energy to push herself from the ground beneath her, and she watched as the lightning strikes came closer. She had a growing pit of fear inside her, and god, she wished she had the strength to pull herself up.

   And then, a familiar silhouette came into view, Thomas, and before Venus could register anything else, she was lifted from the ground, Thomas carrying her bridal style as he ran, as fast as he could, lightning threatening to strike them both again at any time, but this time, they were just in time to make it to safety.

     "Are you okay?" Thomas breathed, placing Venus on the ground as she quickly nodded, her eyes moving over towards Minho who layed unconscious, "help — help Minho." She croaked, and Thomas didn't waste another second as he knelt down next to Minho. Venus slowly approached him, kneeling on the other side of him as she was too weak to stand.

     "C'mon Minho." Thomas begged, Newt holding a flashlight in hand as he flashed it at Minho's face, waiting, hoping, that his eyes would flick open at any give moment, and when Minho let out a loud groan, a sigh of relief escaped Venus.

   "What happened ?" Minho inquired, voice laced with confusion as he still layed on the cemented floor, "dude, you gt struck by lightning." Thomas informed, Minho frowning in confusion for a second, " oh . " was all he said , as if it was no big deal.

      Minho was helped to his feet by Thomas and Ares, Newt extending his hand towards Venus as he noticed that she was struggling to get to her feet, the lightning had hit her hard as well.

    Venus accepted Newt's gesture, slowly getting to her feet, "Are you okay?" The question was asked by Minho, directed toward Venus, and she was taken aback.
     "Yea, I uhm — I'm okay." She informed, voice dry as Minho sternly nodded.

     Venus' eyes flicked towards Thomas for a quick second, his gaze already fixated on her. 'Thank you' she mumbled towards him, refering to when he had basically, yet again, saved her life. Thomas nodded with a tight smile.

  " Hey ! What's that smell ?" Teresa grabbed the attention, and Venus let out a loud yell when a Crank came into view, wanting to grab hold of Teresa, but it was prohibited, as the Crank was chained down.

  "Jesus, those things are everywhere ! " Venus bitterly spoke, still clutching a hand to her chest , her heart beating at a rapid pace.

   And soon, it was revealed that there was not only one Crank that was tied up , no, the entire warehouse were filled with the creatures, all of them trying to get loose, wanting nothing more than to sink their teeth into the survivors.

   "I see you've met our guard dogs." Venus' head whipped towards the new voice, a silhouette standing at the far end of the warehouse.

    The girl then made her way towards the group, Thomas ordering his friends to stay back, "you guys look like shit." The girl was now in front of the group, Venus watched her intently, as did Thomas, not knowing who this newcomer was.

   "C'mon, follow me." She made her way towards the Cranks, only to notice that no one was following her, "unless you wanna' stay here with them."