Bruises | The Scorch Trials

chapter 5: scorching sand

Janson was still talking as she ran through the door.

"Aris." Jess whispered gratefully.

He grinned at her as she threw her hands around him in a brief hug. "Good to see you back Jess." He whispered and they both pulled away before turning back towards Thomas.

In what seems to be quite a normal feat for Thomas, he was doing something stupid- trying to threaten Janson with a gun. It didn't last long before the gun ran out of ammo. Just as Thomas chucked his gun and made a sprint for it, Janson asked for the gate to shut.

Jess' eyes widened as the gate gate shrunk. In a panic, she joined Newt in yelling for Thomas to run.

"COME ON THOMAS!"

"RUN!"

Thomas just slides through at the last second and Jess sighed in relief. Despite her prominent fear, she was still alive and that was a miracle enough for her.

Thomas surged forward and opened a gate for the group to get to the scorch. Jess' eyes rounded like saucers at the expanse of dry dusty sand and the echo of agonised screams in the distance. She took a shaky breath and steeled herself. She plastered an emotionless expression on her face and braced herself to face the horrors of the Scorch.

Squinting, she crawled across harsh sands and icy biting wind. She was disoriented, her hand reaching out an in a desperate attempt to grasp into anything to steady her. She came into contact with an arm. Holding onto someone's arm like my lifeline she stumbled forward. The mystery person found her hand and held onto it. At this moment, Jess could really care less about who's hand it was- she was just grateful for the support.

"Teresa! Hey stick together!"

Jess was relieved to hear Thomas' voice in the storm. Teresa slid into a broken window, just as Jess' vision adjusted. She broke contact with the persons hand -who she refused to look at- but was pretty sure it was that blond kid, and was quick to follow Teresa, her feet twisting down onto a cold floor. She observed her surroundings. Teresa had bought them to what seemed to be a dusty and very eerie abandoned mall.

"We gotta go. We gotta g-"

"No Thomas wait!"

She furrowed her brow at Thomas. Jess knew something was wrong, but what could possibly be so bad that had gotten him so riled up? Clearly, Teresa was wondering the same thing.
"Me and Aris, we found bodies, too many to count."

Jess swallowed in fear and looked to Aris to confirm. He nodded slowly.

"Dead bodies?"

"No, but they weren't alive, either. They were being strung up, drained. There's something in our blood that WCKD wants. That's why we have to get away from them as soon as possible."

"They had Rachel." Aris whispered- so quietly she almost didn't hear it.

Jess' breath caught in her throat and her eyes immediately welled up. But she resisted the desire to let the tears fall. Not yet, anyway.

"So what's the plan?" The blond boy questioned.
Silence.

"You do have a plan right?"

"Yeah Newt. I don't know."

Newt? Like the lizard? What an odd (but interesting) name. "Well, we followed you out here and now you're saying we have no idea of where we're going or what we are doing?"

"Wait, Janson said something about some kind of resistance or army in the mountains." Aris spoke up.

Thomas backed him up. "The Right Arm."

"People. In the mountains. Mountain people. That's your plan."

She snickered inwardly but kept a straight face.

"Hey guys. Come over here I found something."
Some of the boys shone a light on a specific part of the sandy dune.

'I should really learn their names,' she thought offhandedly. Aris nudged her in the ribs to bring her attention back to the where the light was shining. Eyes widening, she shuddered involuntarily.

Footsteps.

And where there's footsteps-

There's people.