There was a metallic ringing in my ear as I heard a beeping noise that woke me up.
"Nooooooo" I mumbled as almost all of our watches woke us up now with the tiny alarms they had on them. I let out a shiver pulling the thin sheet around me as I sat up and saw all the Glader's slowly waking up. As I glanced up at the sky I noticed how eerily dark it was and there was actually a slight wind.
Storms probably coming I guessed as I quickly began packing things up. Whilst packing I couldn't help but give a curious look to the side at Thomas. Should I tell him about what I saw? Were they even real? I debated. I decided to hold back on this dilemma because it wasn't exactly a top priority at the moment.
There'll be time...hopefully I told myself.
The wind seemed to pick up the more, the day passed on and we were now trying to walk with the wind without it pushing us over. I was almost shivering now as ridiculous as it sounded and reached back to try and get my sweater out of my pack but found it entirely covered in holes from when I tried to save Winston.
"Damn it" I muttered just throwing it on the ground, I didn't need it anymore.
"Here" Newt had to shout now over the wind as he handed a sweatshirt to me.
"You sure?" I asked taking it now before he said anything and sliding it on.
"Wouldn't be offering if I wasn't" he nodded.
"Thank you" I replied feeling much better now, despite the slight sting in my cheeks as I felt the beginning of wind burn.
"Now if you have any hair ties you'll really be my hero" I joked to him as I held my hair back. He jokingly looked around in one of his pockets.
"Sorry looks like my emergency hair tie pocket's all empty" he said.
"I dethrone you then as my hero" I told him.
"It was such a good pedestal to be put up on while it lasted" I noticed the distance now between us and the city and saw that we were practically a couple miles away.
"Yes! We're almost there" I realized. We were making good time it was only the second day out of our two weeks.
"Trying to decide if that's good or bad" Newt added, and he had a point. We could be walking towards a city full of very hungry and insane cranks. Before I could respond back there was a resounding crack that went off right in front of us, then a burst of white light. I found myself flying backwards and landed with a painful thud on the hard desert floor and almost skidded to a stop. My ears were ringing and my head felt like it had been cracked open. I reached back and surprisingly didn't feel any blood but I still couldn't hear as I tried to get up. The whole world began to spin as I saw bright flashes of white crash down all around me. Everyone was making a run for it and those that were to slow were suffering the consequences.
Get up! Run Bri run! I shouted at myself, my running began as a mere stumbling. Finally I found my feet and was propelling myself forward in seconds. The city was barely visible as the wind brought up the sand making it feel like you were stuck in a cloud of dust. I tried not to let fear get the best of me because I knew that it would only slow me down. Buildings began to surround us now and I felt relieved for the moment as I saw that we were now in the city.
"Almost there, Almost there" I chanted as my hearing seemed to be coming back. At the first chance I got I practically dove into a building with an open door. Quick as I could I brushed myself off and took a look around and saw that it was most likely empty, then I glanced back out into the desert to see that I had actually outrun all of the Glader's for once, as I noticed their silhouettes through the dust cloud. My first priority was to let them know I had found shelter and as luck would have it right in the middle of the room there was an old flashlight.
It's a trap I quickly realized at how this situation seemed to good to be true. I knew that the minute I turned the light on I would be letting any crank in the city know that dinner was ready.
"Shuck it" I just snapped at myself as I went and grabbed it and flickered the light on and off to catch the Glader's attention, which worked. Boy after boy came stumbling into the building and nearly collapsed with exhaustion the minute they were inside. Newt and Thomas dragged a half conscious Minho in, that looked like he was steaming.
"Turn it off we're the last ones" Thomas assured me and I did as he said. A bolt of lightening struck down in the middle of the street and I felt a body press against me as I covered my face from the falling glass that rained down on us from the shattered windows, that broke from the noise. With that climatic strike of lightening everything was silent for a moment and then it finally began to rain outside. Slowly I opened my eyes to find myself against the wall with Newt protectively covering me. We were both practically shaking after what just happened.
"Thanks" I whispered to him as he slowly stepped away from me and began brushing off any pieces of glass on him.
"I just really like that sweatshirt and would hate to see it get damaged" he joked, making me surprisingly smile. The both of us leaned against the wall and slid down to the ground as we joined everyone else in silence and stared out at the rain trying to catch our breath. Soon people began to fall asleep from pure exhaustion and I know I really shouldn't have, especially after I practically put out a beacon to any cranks and my head smacked quite harshly against the ground minutes ago, but I did too.
"Well guess it's my time to head out" the brown haired girl sighed as she looked at me and Thomas before getting the swipe, we were all a couple years younger now then our current age. I could tell there was fear in her eyes but she was holding it back to be brave in front of us. She was always like that being the eldest. WICKED had given us the lineup of what would happen to us as the maze trials began. First she'd go up, then in two years it'd be Thomas and I'd stay behind to keep an eye on the both of them to make sure everything ran smoothly with the first round of trials, all safe from behind a computer like the good little soldier I was.
"Be safe, and please don't get yourself killed" was all I could mutter trying to sound funny. It was weird for the three of us having been together forever and we couldn't manage to say anything that felt meaningful.
"What's the fun in that" the girl smiled at me giving my hand a squeeze.
"Looks like you're the oldest now Tommy" she said as she turned towards Thomas, out of the three of us they were the ones who looked the most alike, you could at least tell they were twins, and I think that's why they were so close. You know what they say, sometimes three's a crowd, and I was ok with being left out from time to time.
"Finally it took forever to get rid of you" he gave a small chuckle. In the background I could hear some muted voice over an intercom and I felt my throat clench up as I held back tears.
"We'll see each other soon right?" the girl asked us. It was a question of false hope but we had to answer yes to put some positive spin on this.
"Yeah" Thomas and I answered in unison with a nod of our heads.
"Then everything's going to be fine, we're saving the world" the girl finished. I could practically see her shaking now.
"I love you guys" she almost whispered as she gave us both hugs.
"I love you too" we replied back but it was a bit muffled as we hugged her so tightly.
"We'll be watching you" I told her.
"Bye" she said to the both of us as she walked off.
"So it's you and me now kid" Thomas sighed giving me a lighthearted punch in the shoulder.
"You and me now" I repeated copying the motion.
"Hey come on. Bri, come on open your eyes love" I heard an accented voice say off in the distance and then felt a slight pat on my cheeks.
"Bri" the voice said a bit worried now and I slightly opened my eyes feeling very light headed.
"There we go" it said relieved as I realized it was Newt, who's shoulder I had actually been sleeping on.
"What happened?" I asked worried now as I clutched onto my head, trying to sit up.
"Been checkin' on you every now and then, your breathing was very slow for a moment, gave me a bit of a scare. Should've made you stay up with me. We both took nasty hits to the head out there" he explained. I took a look around and saw that the others were still asleep minus me, Newt, Minho, Aris and Thomas. I felt a strange pain in my stomach as I saw him.
I really need to tell him soon I reminded myself now. After that dream I was definitely sure of what I saw.
"Glad to see the flashlight didn't bring any cranks on us yet" I said to them as I saw the rising sun outside.
"We need to put a big emphasis on the yet part there" Minho groaned as he sat himself up. He was looking much better.
"But we're glad you still did it, it brought us all back together again" Thomas complimented me.
"Did we lose anyone?" I asked.
"Seven" Newt put in. I nearly wanted to throw up at that number. We lost seven guys in less than an hour.
"I'm sorry" I apologized to them knowing that it was a bigger loss to them then it was to me.
"What do we do now though?" Aris asked the group.
"Easy get food and quickly" Minho answered.
"There had to be some apocalypse preppers here. Maybe if we check some cellars we can find some canned food. That or we raid a hostess factory. If the rumors are true about their products having no expiration date I'm totally ok with basing our survival on eating twinkies. Never had one before but they sound amazing" I offered up for some advice but then realized I was rambling.
"Food?" we heard an unfamiliar voice. All of us to looked up to find a head looking down at us. The first thing I did was grab a piece of glass that had fallen off of one of the windows and grabbed it in my hand ready for any attack.
"Whoa not so fast there chica" the voice said from up above.
"Who're you?" Minho asked. The owner of the voice dropped down from the ceiling revealing himself to be a man in his late 20's with tan skin.
"I'm Jorge and basically I'm king of the cranks down here" he introduced himself.
"Right, I'm Minho King of the Maze of Misfit Boys" Minho shot back.
"Hey" Newt reminded him.
"And one girl" Minho corrected himself.
"Lady" I corrected him suddenly deciding that I didn't like being called a girl.
"Lady" he repeated with a sigh.
"Could you tell your lady to put her weapon down then" Jorge nodded at Minho then glanced at the shard I had in my hands.
"Yeah, seeing as there's a chance where you could snap and lurch on us cause you got a craving for eyeballs. I'm going to have to answer no" I retorted getting a tighter grip now on my makeshift weapon.
"Hmmm eyeballs, those are good sometimes. Believe it or not eye color does have an effect on the flavor" He paused as if waiting for someone to laugh at him.
"It's not my fault you all broadcasted your whereabouts. Now be a good host and learn how to share" Jorge told us and I felt guilty now of what I had done.
"How many cranks are with you?" Newt asked quickly changing the subject.
"We're all cranks here hermano" Jorge answered back. Something was weird here. Either he was deeply infected with the Flare making him constantly cheery or he had the upper hand on us.
"That's not what he meant" Thomas told him.
"Maybe you should tell me a little bit about yourselves. See if we get along, but if anything bad starts to happen you all will seriously be at a disadvantage"
Shiza he has backup I realized.
"You must not be able to count, there's eleven of us and one of you. How about you tell us about yourself and how to get out of here slinthead" Minho insulted him. I could hear noises above us now.
"I'm giving you ten seconds to apologize to me now" Jorge threatened. As he began to count down Jorge's back up became more visible to us. When he reached nine Minho attempted to apologize but it wasn't good enough for Jorge as all hell broke loose.
Dun dun dunnn! I hope you all had a good Halloween guys I most definitely did. Plus I can see the floor of my room now which is a very big deal! Thank you all for the favorites/follows/reviews. Please review if you liked this chapter it would really make my day plus they really help fuel me! Plus if you ever wanna chat PM me if you wanna anyways have a magical day.
ptl4ever419: Yes she does and right now I'm trying to brainstorm what her relationship with Theresa would be like actually. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.