The Wolf Trials

Chapter Thirty Eight

Thomas barely had time to blink before Malia was on top of Minho on the sand, hitting him angrily. Newt and Scott hauled her off. Everyone was glowering at Minho. He held up his hands, "Right, let me explain."

"Go on then." Lydia mumbled, Thomas waited for Minho to continue. "One of the newbie runners, they ran into a group of them a few miles north of the camp- He claimed they came out of nowhere and went for him. Poor guy barely made it out alive." Minho sidestepped Malia, who swung for him.

Scott acted quickly, grabbing Malia and keeping her arms behind her back. "Carry on dude." Minho nodded, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "He ran back fast as he could, he was too concerned getting back to realise the cranks were tailing him.

They hit the camp at night, everyone scattered. Wicked must have been keeping an eye on those shuckfaces, there were a lot of them- don't get me wrong.
Those who could hid, that's when they came. In trucks with soldiers."

Thomas felt the colour drain from his face. "How many of them did they get? The survivors?" Minho replied, "At least a hundred. I tried to hijack one of their trucks, that's how they got me."

Lydia held a hand on her hip, looking into the distance. "Lydia?" Thomas asked, turning to her. The redhead gave him a sly smile, "If they're only people, we can take them. Then we can break back into wicked and get those kids back."

Everyone seemed to get what she was on to. Liam seemed confused. "And how do we beat these "cranks" exactly? I don't hear any of you having a battle plan."

Lydia shrugged. "We've never fought them before, but they have. How did you guys beat them?"

Thomas scratched the back of his neck, he laughed nervously. "The thing is, we usually outrun them, we're yet to beat them."

Malia growled, throwing her hands up in the air. "That's it then! We're done for, we may as well go back to that dump."

Lydia marched over to Malia and slapped her. "Snap out of it! We are never going back there, never. Do you understand me? We're a pack for God's sake, we've taken down more threats than people know. We sure as hell can handle a bunch of zombiefied people!"

"Crank, not zombies." Newt mumbled. "Cranks then. Whatever. We can do this. We've come this far and I refuse to turn back now."

Thomas nodded, "I agree with Lydia. We can do this. Who's with me?"

Scott grinned. "I'm in." In the group a few words were mumbled, "Me too-" "Yeah sure."

All that was left was Minho, who was uncharacteristically shuffling his feet on the ground. "Minho?" Thomas looked over.

Minho looked up, a smirk forming. "Of course I'm in! I'm not about to leave you shuck faces, however much you get on my nerves."

"That's settled then, hands in." Thomas put his hand forward. Newt put his hand on top, followed by Minho, Scott, Lydia, Liam and Malia.

Looks like we're off to fight a crank army. Thomas thought, as he helped everyone gather what resources the helicopter had left, med kits were going to be essential.

Thomas forged a metal bat out of an old pipe, Scott shook his head laughing as he spun it around a few times. "Just like the old times." Thomas mumbled.

They marched through the sand, claws and bats at the ready. The cranks had taken over the world. And Thomas was certain he was going to take it back.