The Rebel // Scorch Trials//

Chapter 9

Nightmares come to me as soon as my mind drifts off into slumber, nightmares about all my friends being tortured and killed by man-eating cranks. Hearing Chuck, Minho and Newt's scream tore me to shreds. Hearing them in pain shattered my hear into millions of tiny pieces. I would scream and run to help them but an invisible force would just push me back. Finally I woke up, the suns light pouring into the truck. I sat up to see Brenda staring at me with a concerned look.

"What?" I asked.

"You were thrashing around." She says.

"Sorry." I mumbled. "Nightmares..."

"It's fine. Let's get Thomas and Jake." She says. I nod my head. I open the door and jump out, heat rushing at me. Brenda and I walk over to the other truck and wake up the boys. They get up and we stretch getting ready to run through the rest of the city. Thomas stretches on a wall then stops and looks at it. I walk over and read what the wall says.

            Thomas, you're the real leader. Zoe you are the real enemy.

I read the little sign a thousand times. I'm the real enemy? What? I turn to Thomas who is obviously staring at the sign in disbelief.

"Tom what does this mean?" I ask.

"I... I don't know." He finally turns to me.

"We were waiting for the right time to tell you guys..." Brenda said behind us. I turned around.

"What?" I hissed.

"These signs are all over the city, all say the exact same thing." Jake says shrugging. What if the others have read this? What then? What if Newt and the others see me differently and think I'm a traitor? My heart starts racing.

"How is this possible? It looks like it's been here for ages." Thomas says snapping out of his trance.

"I don't know. No one knows what they mean. When you guys showed up and we find out your names it couldn't have been a coincidence." Brenda says shrugging.

"Why didn't you tell us about this before?" I asked.

"We were worried about how you would react." Jake says.

"Of course you thought we were going to flip. We would have flipped less if you showed us this a long time ago!" I yelled. "What are we supposed to know what this shuckin means?"

"Well it obviously states that Thomas is the leader and you're the enemy. How much simpler could that be really?" Brenda rolled her eyes. I glared at her.

"No dip slinthead." I growled. "But if they've been here a while and we are only what? Sixteen? Seventeen years old? And these seem they have been there a whole lot longer." I heard a noise down the alley and snapped my head in that direction. It sounded like a bass drum beating. Thomas put a hand on my shoulder.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Don't you hear it?" I turned around to face him. All of us keep quiet. Yet again I hear the low beating of a drum. I start walking towards it but Thomas stops me.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"Towards the sound klunk head. It could be the others." I say. All he did was nod his head. We both rushed towards the sound with Brenda and Jake running after us telling us to stop. We finally reached a dead end with only a broken staircase leading down into a dark place. The sound of drums and other instruments are now loud and playing from down the dark place. Music. I turn to Thomas.

"Should we go down there?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I don't know." Brenda and Jake have finally caught up to us. I turn around to face her. I see something behind her. I look closer and see three figures standing there, coming closer and closer.

"What were you-" I cut Brenda off.

"We have company." I say knocking an arrow and hiding behind Thomas. Brenda and Jake turn around and see the three people. They are now closer and I can see their faces. Two men and a woman, messy hair and dirty faces obviously not full gone cranks. The woman's shirt was cut so low I'm pretty sure if she were to jump her boobs would fall out. The woman had her hair pulled into a ponytail and one man had blonde hair. The other guy was just plain ugly.

"Come to join the party?" The woman said. "Lots of dancing and booze."

"Don't forget lots of love." One man snickered, he was taller then the other guy and really ugly. I kept my bow down but still knocked with an arrow. This doesn't feel right, something is terribly wrong with this.

"Um no thanks." Thomas started but Brenda cut him off.

"We're just trying to find our friends that's all, see we're new here and just getting all settled in." Brenda said kindly. I picked up on her act.

"Well welcome to WICKED's very own Crankland!" Ugly said. "Most of them at the party are only half gone, nothin worse I promise ya. Might get kicked in the 'nads or elbowed in the face."

"'Nads?" Brenda asked. "Excuse me?"

"Talkin to the boys, though some bad things might happen if you don't stay with us little ladies." Ugly said.

"Thanks for the offer, really but we really have to go find our friends and maybe we can bring them back, it would be a hell lot more fun if we had them am I right guys?" I say nudging Thomas. Thomas, Brenda and Jake nodded their heads.

"You guys are just kids, come on we are officially inviting you all to the party!" Ugly said.

"Thanks but no thanks." Brenda said.

Ugly pulled out a knife and the woman pulled out a screwdriver with some dried liquid. I gulped its blood.

"You are invited to our party, it's rude not to accept an invitation to a party. So once more, are you coming to our party or not?" The blonde man said pulling out a gun. I looked at Thomas who was looking at Brenda who was looking at Jake who was looking at me. Jake turned around.

"Yes we will come." He said. Fear pulsed through me.

"What!" Brenda and I said at the same time.

"He has a gun, he has a knife and the woman has a flippen screwdriver! What else are we supposed to do?" Jake hissed back.

"Yeah what else are we supposed to do?" Thomas said.

"Look like your boyfriends aren't stupid." The woman snickered. I glared at her.

"Come on let's go have some fun you guys!" The blonde said pointing his gun down the steps. "Go ahead we'll follow."

"Fine." Brenda said and started walking down the steps dragging Thomas with her. Jake took my hand before I had time to react and pulled me close.

"Come on baby let's go to the fun party!" Jake said in a loving but sarcastic voice. I clenched my teeth. "We'll dance and have a jolly time!"

"That's so sweet." The woman said. "I get teary when I see a cute couple in love." She wiped away a tear. Jake dragged me down the steps, the music getting louder and louder as we descended. When we reached the steps there was a wooden old looking door. The three cranks followed us down. Thomas was the first to react and knocked on the door. It swung open and a huge man greeted us. He had a huge face and ears and everything on him was just huge. His hair was white and really long for a guy. He spoke before I could

"Hey Thomas! Zoe! We've been waiting for you!"