Surviving The Scorch

Chapter 9

It was pitch black outside, and extremely warm. I mean, the sun wasn't even out, and I was sweating. But maybe that was mostly from running.

As soon as the doors opened, we booked it. No one knew where to go, we were all confused, but we figured if we could put enough distance between us and W.C.K.D, they'd lose us.

We ran towards a sand dune, one the cranks had been on before. I secretly prayed they had all found other things to do, since none of us could fight them off right now.

This time, I was the one staying close to Newt. The sand was extremely hard to run in, especially going up the dunes, and he already had a limp. 

My feet slipped in the sand, and we all nearly fell about three times, but we quickly made our way over the dune. And then over a few smaller ones, getting a pretty far ways away. But, the lights were still visible.

"Get down." Thomas ordered, as I dropped to the sand, turning and facing the building we had just ran from. I glanced to Newt, who was also on his stomach, and then to Aris.

We watched as a dozen people, and three or four vehicles, came out of the building. The vehicles seemed to be made for sand, because man were they going fast. But just as we had all hoped, they had no clue which direction we went.

"Alright, come on. Stay low." Thomas whispered, standing and backing up. I pushed myself off my stomach and onto my feet, squinting to keep the wind and sand out of my eyes.

There was a half-sunken building sticking out of the sand about 300 feet from us. It didn't look very welcoming, but it was the best we had.

We struggled to run over, but eventually got there. Teresa was in the front, and as soon as her hands hit the side of the building, she was moving forward, looking for something.

I traced the windows and surfaces of the side of the building, following my friends. "Teresa- what?" Frypan asked, as I caught a glimpse of her entering through a hole in the side.

"Hey, Teresa." Thomas called, all of us gathering around the entrance. I looked down to Teresa, before pushing myself through. "Park-"

His voice seemed to stop as I slid down the ramp of sand, my feet finally hitting a surface I was more comfortable with. I stepped on the stone floor, looking to Teresa, as Minho skidding down beside me.

The others quickly followed us, as I was able to fully open my eyes. It was also pitch black inside, and if anything, seemed darker.

Minho quickly reached into his bag he had taken from inside, and pulled out a flash light. Just as my eyes adjusted, he clicked it on, and illuminated the area around us.

I watched as he turned, examining every column, door, and object that the light could reach. There was a lot of rubble, a lot of things that had been here before it became a small spec in a dune of sand.

"Where the hell are we?" Minho panted, which caused me to notice that all of us were trying to catch our breath. The Maze was longer, but the sand wore you out quicker.

"We gotta go." Thomas motioned us forward, as I glanced around, making sure Newt was nearby. He was just beside Teresa.

"No. Thomas stop." She commanded, as we all looked to her. She was watching no one but my brother. "Tell me what's going on."

That's when I realized that we had basically woken her up, dragged her out, and told her to run away without her knowing why. She trusted us that much.

"It's WICKED. It's WICKED. They lied to is. We never escaped. Me, Parker, and Aris. We found bodies. Too many to count."

"Dead bodies?" Teresa asked, confused, and hardly following. I guess she hadn't suspected them, and hadn't noticed what I had.

"No, but they weren't alive either. They had them strung up, with tubes coming out of them. They were being drained." I don't think I'd ever forget how they looked. Like a bunch of decorations on walls, or just a simple object they were using. "There's something inside of us that WICKED wants. Something in our blood. So we have to get as far away from them as possible."

"Okay. So what's the plan." Newt asked, nodding his head. I looked to Thomas, and then to Aris, as Thomas stayed quiet. He glanced down, and around. "You do have a plan, right?"

"Yeah.. I don't know." Thomas shrugged, looking down, as Newt scanned our faces. I kept my gaze low, too.

"Well, we followed you out here, Thomas. And now you're saying that you have no idea where we're going or what we're doing."

I was about to say something, a basic plan. Like stay here, look around, wait until morning, and then see whats further away from WICKED. But Aris beat me to it.

"Wait, Janson said something about people hiding in the mountains. Some kind of resistance or army." Aris said, looking to me for reassurance. I nodded. He had, they were called-

"The Right Arm." Thomas agreed, looking up and nodding. "The Right Arm. If they're really against WICKED, maybe they can help us."

"People. In the mountains. Mountain people?" Newt asked, not really having it right now. He watched our faces, his hand on his hip. "That's your plan?"

"It's the only chance we have." I spoke up. We didn't have very many options, and I'd rather be out here with no plan than a decoration on W.C.K.D's wall.

Newt looked to me, and rubbed his mouth, his thumb trailing his lips. It sort of hurt to see him do that, he hadn't really fully done it since we left the Maze. It was an anxious habit, and I guess he was anxious now.

"Hey, guys." Winston called, as we turned around, looking at him. He was crouched on the ground. "Check this out. Minho, give me a light."

We walked over as Minho shone the light to where he was looking at. Ahead of us, there were sets of footprints. People, who had walked in just like us.

I had this really sick feeling in my stomach at the sight of the prints. If there were people, where were they now, and how long ago was that. And were they really people, or cranks.

"Someone's been down here." Minho said, as I took my eyes off the prints, looking down the long and large halls.

"We can look around. But stay alert. And be careful." Thomas suggested, as I looked up and around. I had a really off feeling about this.

We walked down the hall, as Minho shone a light through a room, which was blocked off by a door. 

"Come on, open it up." Him and Thomas slid the door open, revealing a room with lots of empty water jugs. We followed Minho in, and slowly spread about the room.

I walked over to a table on the right, my hands trailing the objects on it. I stopped at something round, and picked it up, clicking on the flashlight.

"Looks like people lived here." Winston said, as I clicked on the light and examined the room for myself. It was fairly big, not as big as the ones in W.C.K.D, but still pretty big.

"Where are they now?" Newt asked, as I nodded to myself, trailing my light along the tables. Excellent point.

"Let's pack some of this stuff up. Anything you think you might need." Thomas dusted off a jacket, and slid it on. I had no clue why he'd want it, since it was burning up outside, although in here it was fairly cool. "We'll split up, see what else we can find, meet back here."

"Wait, Thomas." Newt tossed Thomas a flashlight, as he nodded thanks. Thomas and Minho walked out, turning left together.

Things never ended well when Thomas went out, did they.