"I'd bet it was Minho, that dumb shank." He mused, and Rachel turned to him curiously.
"'Shank'?" Rachel questioned and Newt shrugged as he answered: "It's just glade slang."
Rachel blinked.
"Is… 'glade' a British word?" She asked unsurely, and Newt grinned at her.
"No, that was what we called the… centre area in the maze." Newt explained. "Where we all first arrived."
"Oh…" Rachel realized. "So 'shank' is like 'stick'."
Now it was Newt's turn to be confused.
"'Stick'?" He asked and Rachel giggled.
"It's our own slang." She explained, but Newt was looking a little unfocused as he stared at her.
"Newt?" She asked in concern and he quickly snapped back.
"Sorry, it's just… you just said my name." He blurted out and she looked confused.
"Yes… shouldn't I?" She asked and Newt looked embarrassed as he said hastily: "No, it's fine. It sounded nice when you said it."
Rachel blushed, also embarrassed while Newt wanted to hit himself on the head. He'd been admiring the sound of Rachel's laughter, and so it had thrown him when he'd realized she'd said his name.
'What else would she call you, you dumb shank? Bloody brilliant job you're doing.' He thought to himself annoyed.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you, Rachel." He muttered and Rachel blinked.
'Oh… It does sound nice when he says my name. Although I doubt he was thinking it in the same way as me, but now I see what he means.' She thought. Out loud though, Rachel just said: "No, it's fine. Sorry if I startled you."
He shook his head but Teresa and Frypan joined them at that moment, so he didn't say anything else. The four waited, soon joined by Aris and Winston as they returned from their scavenger hunt. They'd found a similar stash in the other room but Winston grinned proudly as he and Aris produced a stash of chocolate bars that they had also had the luck to find. They all shared the treats evenly, packing them into their bags and keeping some aside for Thomas and Minho.
'Speaking of which, where were they?'
As the thought ran through Rachel's head, she heard Thomas yell: "Hey!"
They all turned to look down the corridor, and she saw Thomas and Minho's dark figures running around the far corner shouting in terror. She squinted and then her eyes widened as she saw more figures running in jerky movements behind the boys.
But what was really terrifying were the sounds those figures were making. They were screeching almost inhuman noises, sounding like wild animals.
"Oh my God." She whispered as she fully processed what she was seeing and hearing.
The others had apparently reached the same conclusion and Newt muttered as he pulled his backpack on quickly: "Shit!"
"Get out of here!" Minho shouted between his pants as he ran. The pair had almost reached them by the time the group had realized what was happening. Rachel had reacted the quickest, and she bolted, grabbing Newt's hand as she ran for her life.
The rest soon followed, turning and fleeing after Rachel as she sprinted for the escalators. As they ran up, Rachel realized that they weren't in a warehouse at all; they were in what had once been a shopping centre, but was now abandoned, many of the shop windows broken.
"What's going on?" Frypan shrieked as they ran up the escalators, away from those crazy figures and Thomas shouted back: "I don't know! Go!"
They all ran around onto the next floor, calling checks on each other and Thomas, Minho and Newt continually yelling at them to keep moving. As though they needed to be told. But the group all screeched to a halt as one of the figures appeared before them and Rachel freaked out, shrieking now that she could see it clearly.
It looked like a living corpse, its clothes tattered and its skin covered in angry rashes, welts and scratches. Its hair was matted and tattered, and missing in some parts where it looked like it had been ripped out. These must be what Janson had called 'Cranks': they certainly looked the part.
Suddenly Aris darted forwards, armed with a pipe he'd picked up somewhere along the way.
"Aris, no!" Winston cried as Rachel shouted in alarm: "Aris!"
But the boy was already charging at the Crank and Rachel's heart almost stopped.
"No!" They all cried, and Newt moved a step forward in a late attempt to stop the boy while Rachel froze, terrified as she watched Aris go to what she thought was his certain doom. But at the last minute, Aris ducked and whacked the Crank in the legs, causing it to topple, falling with a horrible screech and Rachel breathed in relief before she jumped, getting out of the way as the Crank fell to the ground at their feet.
Unfortunately, it continued to come after them, aiming for Teresa, whose feet had been closer. The Crank's movements cut Teresa and Thomas - who'd been behind Teresa - off from the rest and the two scrambled a little up the next escalator to get away from the snarling creature at their feet.
Rachel whipped around as they heard the Cranks that had been following them, and she saw them arriving on their floor as they ran in their lopsided way up the escalators.
"Go! Go around!" Thomas called, and they all ran for it as Thomas and Teresa continued to scramble up the escalator. They sprinted down the passage, and Rachel pulled ahead, her trained legs giving her an advantage despite her being a girl.
She sprinted up the next set of escalators they came across, Aris a little behind her. Frypan followed, then Newt while Winston called back to Minho, who had stayed at the rear to whack the Cranks that got too close to them. Thomas and Teresa joined them as they sprinted down the corridors on the next floor.
"Where are we going to go?" Winston cried as they ran. Minho and Frypan were in the lead now, Rachel having slowed to help Teresa along. Winston pulled ahead with Aris while Newt fell back, waiting for Thomas, who'd come up last, letting Teresa go first.
"We've got to find a way out of here!" Frypan yelled back at Winston, who nodded and shouted: "Minho! Anything ahead?"
The boy shook his head as he shouted back: "Nothing, but keep your eyes open!"
"Come on, Teresa, run!" Rachel urged and Teresa broke into a faster sprint.
Thomas shouted at them from behind: "Go!"
"Faster. Faster!" Someone up front shouted, when suddenly there was an almighty crash behind them and a cry of surprise.
Rachel glanced back and came to a screeching halt as Thomas shouted: "Newt!"
"Newt!" Rachel screamed as the other boys stopped too. She ran forwards and towards the blond boy, who was wrestling with the Crank that had jumped through a shop window onto him.
Thomas also sprinted forwards, as they saw Newt struggling keep the horrible creature as far away from him as possible as the Crank snarled down at him. Thomas reached Newt first, moving to the side to kick the Crank off his friend, and sending the Crank flying through the corridor banisters. It screeched as it fell through, falling down the several floors and most likely to its death. If it could die at all- Rachel had no idea and at the moment didn't particularly care.
"Newt!" Rachel gasped as she arrived and reached out a hand to the boy. Thomas had done the same and the two pulled the shaken blond up.
"Newt, you good?" Thomas asked frantically and Newt nodded.
"Thanks, Tommy." He replied, just as they heard the shrieks of the other Cranks. Rachel saw the Cranks running towards them at the end of the corridor before Newt pulled her backwards by the hand. She turned and sprinted with him and the others, Thomas behind them as they all ran once again for their lives.
"Through here!" Minho shouted, coming to a stop as he found a side door. He urged them through, Thomas running in first as the rest went a little past as they tried to stop their speed. They all ran through, heading down a small staff corridor. There wasn't space for more than two, and while running it was almost impossible for more than one.
Thomas took the lead this time, Aris behind him. Newt pushed Rachel in front of him, but she kept a tight hold on his hand as she ran a little in front of him, dragging him behind her. Frypan and Minho followed, then Teresa and finally Winston brought up the rear.
Thomas tried a door along the way, but it was locked and he banged on it in frustration. Minho pushed passed the rest of the group, moving to be right behind Thomas to help. As he did, they suddenly heard the shrieks echoing down towards them again.
Rachel couldn't see between Winston and Teresa, and she wasn't tall enough like the rest of the guys. But she could guess what they'd seen and it was confirmed as Teresa shrieked in terror: "Keep going!"
Thomas broke into a run again, and they all followed, the Crank shrieks steadily coming closer. Rachel's heart sank as Thomas shouted from the front: "It's a dead end!"
Aris pulled to a stop beside the two runners, and Newt and Rachel were just coming up as Thomas began to bang on the doors at the end.
"Get us out of here, Thomas!" Teresa shouted from behind as Newt and Rachel arrived. Thomas and Minho were banging and kicking on the locked door, trying to break the locks on the other side.
"This way!" Thomas shouted back at Teresa as he kicked. Rachel glanced between the boys and the corridor they'd just run through, hearing the approaching shrieks.
"I'll hold them back!" Winston shouted at them, and Rachel saw him cock the gun he'd picked up earlier that night at the WCKD facility. He began to fire shots down at the approaching Cranks.
"Hurry!" Rachel cried and Teresa yelled as they all aimed kicks at the door: "Harder!"
They bashed on the door, taking quick turns. Thomas would kick one side at the same time as Minho, and as he pushed off the door, Newt and Aris would kick. Teresa, Rachel and Frypan caught the boys so they wouldn't fall, especially with the heavy backpacks making it difficult for them to balance.
"Get the door open!" Winston shouted as Rachel caught Newt and Frypan caught Aris. Frypan tossed Aris into Minho as Teresa grabbed Thomas, making space as the Frypan backed up before throwing his large frame at the door.
"Come on, Frypan! Let's go" Minho shouted as the boy's weight crashed into the door, and the door lock finally broke, the door flying open.
Minho quickly shouted to make sure everyone heard: "Come on, it's open!"
Minho hurriedly ran through first, checking the other side as Thomas and Newt shoved Teresa and Rachel through as well. Newt followed quickly afterwards so that Aris could come in after him. Thomas ran in after Aris, grabbing Winston's arm as he did so to pull the boy along, when suddenly Winston fell over with a cry of fear and pain.
Rachel looked to see in alarm that several Cranks must've thrown themselves at Winston, and had managed to latch onto the boy's legs. They were now starting to drag him back out into the corridor, and she and the others quickly darted forwards to save him as Winston screamed: "Get them off me! Help!"
The boy grabbed the door as Minho shoved the door shut enough to prevent more Cranks from coming through. Newt arrived first, reaching down to grab Winston's hands, and Rachel, Frypan and Teresa quickly joined him, also gripping Winston's arms while Thomas moved to help Minho with the door and to grab Winston's chest, heaving him by the clothes.
"Pull!" Teresa screamed as they heaved, and Thomas shouted again: "Pull!"
Rachel grit her teeth as Winston screamed in pain as the Cranks tore at his exposed stomach, making deep scratches. "Pull!"
They gave an almighty tug and thankfully managed to pull Winston away. They dragged him a little away, where he groaned in pain, but there was no time to take a break, and Thomas yelled at them: "Go, go, go!"
He and Minho were shoving their bodies against the door, trying to keep the Cranks at bay. Frypan and Newt and pulled Winston to his feet, both throwing an arm around each of their shoulders to support the injured boy, while Teresa ran ahead, leading them. Rachel followed, after sending a quick anxious look at Winston, all of them running as fast as they could as the girls went ahead to scout a path. Newt and Frypan slowed down by Winston, but Minho and Thomas fought at the door to give them as much of a head start as they could.
The girls ran on outside, peering around wildly for a suitable direction to run in, and Rachel spotted one just as Newt's group joined them.
"There!" She pointed to a section of collapsed roof and floors as Minho and then Thomas arrived, both panting. The group quickly scaled down the ledges, using the shadows to hide as they moved down the broken pieces of scaffolding, Newt and Frypan being careful not to move Winston around too much as the boy whimpered in pain.
"In here!" Newt whispered, and he dragged Winston down below a piece of scaffolding that had collapsed at an angle above two other pieces, making a crevice large enough for them to all hide. Frypan helped Winston in, and then gestured to the girls to go in first.
Teresa nodded at Rachel, so the younger brunette slipped inside, crawling next to Newt. Teresa and then Frypan and Aris slipped in while Thomas and Minho kept glancing around anxiously. The two slipped in last, and had just made it in when they heard the Cranks howling and snarling up above them.
Thomas placed a finger to his lips in warning to all of them, and Winston clenched his jaws to stifle his pain-filled groans. Newt reached over and grabbed Rachel's hand tightly, and she clung on for dear life as they heard the Cranks prowling along above.
The sounds faded and Rachel let out a light sigh of relief. The group relaxed in general, Frypan moving to start wrapping a bandage around Winston's stomach, only for another feral howl to rip through the air as a Crank got closer once more. They all stiffened in fear, and Teresa was clutching Frypan and Minho tightly, while Aris hugged himself in the far corner.
Thomas's eyes were wide, and Rachel's heart was pounding so loudly it was the only sound her ears were clearly picking up. She clutched Newt's hand, curling in towards him in fear, subconsciously seeking his warmth for some small comfort. Newt wrapped his other arm around her shoulders, pulling her in as their linked hands rested on his knees while Rachel's body curled in around Newt's side.
They all stayed in the torturous cycle of peace and then fear as the Cranks moved around the whole night, eventually each falling into a restless sleep as exhaustion over came them. But not once in the night did Newt let go of Rachel, and not once did Rachel let go of Newt's hand.