Hi again :) I'm late again - sorry. I am really busy with work and full of stress right now. But I had some time today and wanted to upload chapter 7 to you :) I checked it, but I was so sleepy, so I hope this chapter still makes some sense. That would be awesome, really :D


At the end of the day they reached the first buildings of the town. It seemed to be deserted, but they were smarter to believe this. As soon as they walked forward between the buildings, the noises started.

When a group of people walked out slowly from the shadows, the girls weren't surprised. A smaller man stepped in front of them – another leader. It seemed the Cranks were the kings and queens of this place.

Harriet was surprisingly calm as she stepped forward to meet him. Maybe she was too tired of everything and didn't give a shit what will happen or she just knew they cannot leave this city without eating, drinking, filling up their supplies and resting. The man seemed to be grumpy and not fully normal, but he was less crazy than the Crank-lady was back in the sand-sea. However some of his friends looked like they already lost their brains.

The talking between the two leaders took too long and the girls started to worry. As Zera watched the Cranks, they seemed to be inpatient. Probably they wanted to eat them and didn't understand why their leader still talks with their food. After long minutes Harriet faced her group and walked back to them. Zera let out a big breath that she didn't realized she held in.

"Well?" she asked and tried to sound as calm as she could, when Harriet stopped next to them.

"His name is Jorge. He is the leader of this Crank-group. I asked his permission to stay here for one night and refill our bags. He agreed in this and he'll give us some food and water from their supply."

"Why would he do that?" Sonya asked.

"Because I mentioned WICKED, which seems to be the magic word here. And I also asked about the boys. They didn't saw them, but they were very interested in them."

"Are you totally crazy? You just handled over the boys on a silver plate!" Sam hissed to her leader angrily.

"Back off Sam! I didn't do such a thing. I just asked if they saw them. They said no and added we were the first living, non-crazy human thing around, since ages. We don't know where the boys are. Maybe they will avoid this city."

Sam wasn't happy with that answer, she stayed silent after all, but she gave an angry look to Harriet. Zera give this one to Harriet: she needed to earn Jorge's trust to keep themselves alive. If this meant to talk about the boys, then be it. They are also survivors and can deal with the Crank-problem as well.

Soon the girls found themselves between the Cranks and they lead them to their food storage. Eat some cold tins and also packed them away with some bottles of water too. There were some friendlier and less crazy Cranks, like that blonde girl, Brenda. She even talked with them and Zera almost labelled her nice. Almost. After their small dinner some of the girls asked some questions about what happened with the world or the Flare or WICKED, some of them already prepared to sleep. It wasn't fully dark yet and Zera wanted to be alone a little, so, she sneaked just a few meters away. As she walked without a destination, but she still stayed close to the others, she spotted something on the wall in front of her. It was a text and it got her attention because it was weird. It didn't fit here. Zera walked closer to see what it said to the world. When she read it, she was confused. It didn't have any point. It was only one sentence with huge letters.

"THOMAS, YOU ARE THE REAL LEADER."

xXx

"What the hell is this mean?" Harriet asked after Zera ran back to her and told her about the text. Now, the remained group gathered around and stared at it.

"Maybe he is the boys' new leader." Sam suggested.

"But why would you compatible with Thomas?" asked Zera, referred Sam's tattoo.

"So, you know this Thomas?" Brenda asked. Harriet looked behind herself and saw the approaching blonde Crank. She cursed silently. She didn't want to name any of the boys to them.

"Yes. He is with us too. With WICKED."

"It makes sense. This thing is here for a while now. WICKED put us here, printed the sentence on the wall, so they have to own this Thomas too."
"Own?" Zera asked back with an angry tone. "Do you think WICKED own us?"

"Seeing this text, you and your tattoos... then yes, I'm saying WICKED owns you. All of you. You are their little toys and you will do as they wish."

"She is right Zera." Harriet said firmly, before her Runner could do something really stupid "We can play and pretend we are free and have our will but the truth is we are lab rats and nothing more. And you know that too." Zera wanted to say something, but Harriet cut her short "Don't! I had enough for a day and the others too. Let's go sleep and tomorrow, we will continue the journey. I don't want to her any word from you or anyone else."

As they went back to the ruined building where their temporary sleeping spot was, Harriet looked through her group to see everybody is here and fine. When she finished her mental list, realized somebody was missing. Why the problems never stop coming?

Where the hell was Theresa?

xXx

Harriet was angry. And that wasn't the right word for that. The most important girl was missing and she freaked out. She wanted to send out the Runners into the night to find Theresa, but Jorge said no to it. He said the city was really dangerous at night, because they were not the only Cranks here. And the others – as he said – weren't as friendly as they were. So Harriet had to let it go and accept the fact that probably Theresa is finished her life like Crank-snack.

As the night fell totally and the girls welcomed the normal sleeping with full stomach, Zera was thinking before the tiredness pushed her into the already waiting dreams' arms.

Brenda and Jorge said nobody was here before them. This means the boys weren't ahead of them, but behind them. This made sense. If they want to kidnap Thomas, they need to be ahead of the boys: they find a base camp somewhere and simply wait for them and take an action. According to the text, Thomas is important for a reason, so they definitely need to reach this city as well. Maybe she could use this information. Leave a mark or something... but at this point her brain shut down and Zera fell into a deep sleep.

xXx

At the next morning, when the girls packed up their belongings and ate their breakfast, Zera could escape from the watching eyes and looked for a suitable wall. She needed a building which will not avoid Newt's gaze. Maybe he will not spot it, but she had to try. When she found her wall, which was dirty, but had a lighter colour, Zera went to an old fireplace and grabbed a piece of coal from it. Walked back to the wall, and quickly wrote a few words on it. She had to hurry, so she couldn't write a mile long letter and she also didn't dare to be clear: she was afraid if she writes "We will kidnap and kill Thomas, watch out!" WICKED will interact and that would be horrible. When she was done, dropped the coal and ran back to her group and headed toward the mountains, silently hoping her message will alert Newt somehow.

Newt –

Don't trust in the girls. Something horrible will happen and I'll have my part in it. Please, forgive me.