Disclaimer: I do NOT own The Scorch Trials nor any of the characters from it.
CHAPTER SEVEN:
Scorch: Mysterious Girls and Crazy Old Men…
Day One – Part Four – The Scorch Trials
There was no way that girl could have been her. And how was it possible that all twenty of them, excluding Aris, knew that it was her? All they saw was a girl's figure with black hair, and that immediately made them think of Teresa.
One she'd stepped out of the building, she just stood there, and despite being covered by the shadows her stance made it clear that she was facing directly at them with her arms folded.
"You think that's Teresa?" Newt asked.
Thomas nodded. But then he quickly looked around, embarrassed from his quick reaction. "No clue," he said.
"You think she was the one screaming?" Frypan asked. "It stopped right when she walked out."
Minho grunted. "Better bet is she was the one torturing somebody. Probably killed her and put her out of her misery when she saw us coming."
"Couldn't agree more," Leo muttered, earning a glare from Thomas.
Minho clapped his hands together once. "Okay, then, who wants to go meet this nice young lady?"
"I'll do it," Thomas said, almost like a shout.
"I was just kidding, shuck-face," Minho said. "Let's all go over there. She could have an army of psycho girl ninjas hiding in that shack of hers."
"Psycho girl ninjas?" Newt repeated.
"That's the best name you can up with?" Leo asked, crossing her arms.
"Yep. Let's go." Minho started walking forward.
"No!" Thomas yelled. He then quickly realised his outburst and lowered his voice. "No. You guys stay here – I'll go talk to her. Maybe it's a trap or something. We'd be idiots to all go over there and fall right into it."
"And you're not an idiot for going by yourself?" Minho asked.
"Well, we can't just walk on by without checking it out. I'll go. If something happens or gets suspicious, I'll call for help."
Minho paused. "All right. Go. Our brave little shank." He whacked Thomas on the back as he winced.
"This is bloody stupid," Newt interrupted. "I'll go with him."
"No!" Thomas snapped. "Just…let me do this. Something tells me we need to be careful. If I cry like a baby, come and save me." And before anyone else could argue, he took off into a speed walk towards the girl and the building.
Leo shook her head, rolling her eyes. "'Something tells me we need to be careful?'" She scoffed. "Yeah right. He just wants to go alone so he can get some alone time with her."
Minho turned to the other Gladers. "Well, while Thomas is gone to get some action, we'll get the rest of our plan sorted out. Once he gets back, we'll set off again."
The Gladers nodded, some of them going off to the toilet while others sat down and took a sip of water from the cloth.
Leo sighed as she sat down, staring at the millions of stars in the sky, wondering how she could have survived the nights in the Glade without them. They made the night seem so beautiful, no matter how chaotic it might seem. It made things seem peaceful, unlike the fake sky they were forced to look at during their times in the Glade.
"How long do you think he'll be?" Minho asked as he checked his watch.
"A couple of minutes, give or take," Leo said as she lied down on the ground.
"Only a couple of minutes?" Newt asked.
"Man, you give Thomas a lot of credit don't ya?" Minho asked with a chuckle, almost making her laugh.
"What?" Newt asked, unaware of the topic.
She smiled. "Never mind, Newt. You're too innocent for this."
"How do you have a girlfriend again?" Minho asked.
"Because I'm clearly better," Newt replied.
"If I'd of known first, I would have swopped in and stole her," he said.
Newt lied down next to her, pulling her closer to him. "Good thing I got in first then, huh?"
"It's a very good thing," Leo said as she closed her eyes, loving the warmth from his embrace even if it was still quite warm.
As she lied there with both Newt and Minho, she wished she could have been born in a different generation before the Flare hit, before the Sun Flares, before everything. Maybe she and Newt could have met in London and could have formed this same relationship without the fear of death and WICKED?
Maybe life would have turned out much better for them.
…
The Gladers were all now talking in a circle, waiting for the arrival of Thomas. Only a minute had passed since their last conversation and now they were all planning their next moves.
As Leo stood up to stretch, she noticed something off in the distance, a figure stumbling towards them. "Is that Thomas?" she asked as she squinted, trying to make out the figure.
"Could be a Crank," Frypan said as he stood up, a worried glance on his face.
As the figure kept coming closer, more Gladers stood up to take a look.
"It's just Thomas," Minho said as he took a step forward.
Before she knew it, Thomas stood right in front of them, his eyes filled with unshed tears.
"Thomas, what happened?"
"Was it her?"
"Are you alright?"
"Thomas, what's going on?" Minho asked, but Thomas refused to answer any of the Gladers questions.
"We need to go. Now. As fast as we can," he said.
"Why? What happened out there?" Leo asked.
He shook his head. "I'll explain later, but we need to go now if we want to live."
He didn't wait for anyone else as he grabbed the pack from Aris and headed off towards town, sprinting until he was far enough away from everyone.
"Thomas!" Newt shouted, but he wouldn't listen as he continued to walk.
Minho rolled his eyes. "You heard the man. Let's go." He grabbed his pack and started walking after Thomas.
Newt grabbed the pack as him and Leo followed behind them. She could hear the other Gladers whispers as they also got their backs and started walking.
"What's gotten into him?" Leo asked.
"Have no idea. Must be something bad though," Newt said as he looked at the stumbling Thomas in the distance.
"He didn't seem injured, so it must have been Teresa. I just wonder what she bloody did to him," Leo said.
Newt nodded. "Yeah, me too."
…
They had been walking for about an hour or two before they noticed Thomas had stopped. He faced towards them as he watched all the Gladers trying to catch up with him. He knelt down, planting his forearms onto his knees.
"What's he doing now?" Leo asked, completely annoyed.
"Shuck if I know," Newt said as they walked a bit faster to catch up to him.
Minho had gotten there first and she knew the confrontation between the two wouldn't have been the prettiest. The two were close enough to hear the conversation as they continued to walk.
"What…Why…What kind of a shuck idiot are you, Thomas?"
Thomas didn't answer, so Minho knelt down beside him. "How could you do that? How could you just come out of there and take off like that? Without explaining anything? Since when is that how we do things? You slinthead."
Leo sighed with relief as she stood there, catching her breath. They had finally caught up with them, the other Gladers not too far behind.
"Sorry," Thomas said. "It was kinda traumatising."
"Traumatising?" Minho asked. "Who did you see in there? What did they say?"
"It was…it was Teresa."
"Told you," Leo whispered to Newt, who nodded.
"There's no way!"
"How can she be here?"
"It wasn't her!"
"You're lying!"
The sudden accusations flew from the Gladers' mouths, but Thomas seemed to pay no attention to them, listening to Minho instead.
"What?" he asked. "You're serious."
Thomas nodded.
"And you left her there? Dude, you need to start talking and tell us what happened."
Thomas sighed, the pain evident on his face from having to tell them. But he did anyway. "When…When I arrived at the building, I called out for her. I was trying to talk to her when she lit the candle on the table next to us. She was perfectly clean, like she hadn't been walking through the Scorch like all of us. She looked like she did when she came into the Glade, perfectly normal looking. But, she was crying, bursting into tears. I tried…I tried to ask her what was wrong when she screamed and panicked, telling me to get away from her, acting like I was going to hurt her. She acted just like Gally had before he went to the Grievers, like someone who'd gone through the Changing." He paused, taking a deep breath, wondering if he should mention something, but decided against it. "Like before he killed…And then she told me to get away from her and that we need to leave."
"Wow," Minho said, pretty much wrapping it all up with that one word.
Several minutes had passed, no one saying a word. The only sounds in the silent night were the sounds of sniffs, breaths, coughs and people drinking water.
"It was some kind of trap," Thomas said. "I don't know what would've happened, or how many of us would've died. Maybe all of us. But I could see that there wasn't any doubt in her eyes when she broke away from whatever restrained her. She saved us, and I bet they made her…" He swallowed. "I bet they make her pay for it."
Minho squeezed Thomas' shoulder. "Dude, if those shuck WICKED people wanted her dead, she'd be rotting under a big pile of rocks. She's just as tough as anybody else, maybe tougher. She'll survive."
Thomas took a deep breath. "I know. Somehow I know."
Minho stood up. "We should've stopped a couple hours ago to get some sleep. But thanks to Mr. Desert Runner down here-" he lightly whacked Thomas in the head – "we ran ourselves ragged till the freaking sun came back up. I still think we need to rest for a while. Do it under the sheets, whatever, but let's try."
Leo sighed with relief as she lied down, closing her eyes as she tried to get as much sleep as she could. It had seemed much easier than she originally thought, because it only took a minute before she fell into a deep sleep. But, the sleep surely wasn't peaceful. That would be an understatement.
…
She was in the same street as before, but this time her skin had turned a bright red from the sun shining down on her for several hours. She lifted her head off the ground, noticing her wig had disappeared once again, but this time she was wearing a long, flowing white dress with matching white shoes and her hair had been braided with white flowers.
She looked around her as she stood up, noticing that her dress had no trace of dust or dirt, and it almost seemed blinding compared to everything else in the street. She wiped her brow as she took a step forward, trying to navigate herself underneath the blazing sun. It was oddly quiet compared to her other dreams, and there was no sight of those horrible creatures, or the house the little girl had been staying in.
As she walked down the street, she noticed that all the bodies that had been previously lying there had disappeared, along with the blood stains along the road. It was almost as if she was just in purgatory, and she was just in limbo walking down the same street.
After ten minutes, she finally saw something. A figure dressed completely in white like herself, which made her hesitant to approach them. As she got closer, she noticed the figure was a small boy who looked very familiar. Once she was in ten meters of the boy, she finally figured out that the boy was Emil, standing there with a smile on his face.
"Wait," she muttered to herself. "This is just like before."
She noticed Emil slowly approaching her, and only then did she know she had to run away. She quickly turned back around, not wanting to face another nightmare of Emil stabbing her to death.
But no matter how fast she might have been in real life, in her dreams she was as slow as a sloth. Emil quickly caught up to her as he walked, that smile still on his face.
"Why are you running away?" he asked as she continued to run, but her legs wouldn't move fast enough. Emil grabbed hold of her shoulder and turned her around, pulling her close enough to stab her in the chest.
She coughed up blood almost immediately as it fell into his hair, but he didn't seem to care as he kept stabbing and stabbing.
"This is the bad things I need to do," he whispered before he let go of her, making her drop to the ground as she felt the air leaving her body, the blood pooling onto the street and sizzling under the sun.
"This is what needed to be done…"
Day Two – The Scorch Trials
Leo almost screamed as she shot up from her nightmare, taking deep panicked breaths as she tried to calm herself down. Her skin started to burn as the sun started to rise and shine through the mountain tops, blinding her for a second.
"Leo?" Newt asked as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. He noticed how distressed she looked and immediately knew what was wrong.
"Just…another nightmare," she said as she placed the pins in her hair, checking to see if the other Gladers were awake. Most of them were still asleep, and if they weren't, they were off going to the toilet.
"He's not gonna lay a hand on you," Newt whispered as he moved closer, resting his hand on top of hers.
"How can you be so sure?" she asked, making sure that Emil was still asleep before she looked back at Newt.
"Cause I'll kill him first."
She gave a quiet laugh as she leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers with a small smile. "While I might not appreciate the thought of murdering someone, thanks," she whispered.
"For what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow before she smiled again.
"For just being here."
…
After only a few minutes, everyone was up and getting ready for the day. The sun had finally risen and it had become so unbearable that it made it impossible for anyone to sleep through. Even Emil had woken up early because of it.
The Gladers remained quiet as they got themselves ready for the journey. There was nothing to be happy or excited about the journey. They were pretty much marching into their deaths. But, she had a little bit of hope that they would find out what had happened in the town and that they could get the cure for the disease they now supposedly carried.
"Let's go," Minho said once everyone was ready. And then they were off.
Across the dusty land they walked. No one needed to say anything as everyone pretty much had the same thoughts – they had no energy to run while the sun was up. It took too much out of them, mostly because of the scorching heat, which is why they called it the Scorch.
Sheets covered their heads as they wore it for protection, splitting off into pairs to save more resources. As the food and water started to diminish, they were able to use more of the packs for protection from the sun.
Today, Leo walked by herself, one of the remaining packs strapped onto her shoulder, which is the price she payed for being told to take one by herself. Besides her, Thomas was the only other one to walk by himself as most of the Gladers didn't want to talk to him after hearing the story of him and Teresa. It didn't help that he was actively trying to avoid everyone.
She felt like her life was back on a never-ending cycle.
Walking. Break. Food and Water. Walking. Repeat.
There never seemed anything that could break it. And then, of course, the wind grew stronger as it brought more dust and grit rather than relief from the heat. It whipped at the sheets, making it much harder for her to keep it in place. She coughed and rubbed the crud from her eyes with one hand as she continued to walk. Anytime she could, she took a sip of water, feeling like she needed much more than what she took – almost like she was addicted to the taste of water.
Soon, she could make out the figures of the buildings which were made of stone and the windows glimmered in the sunlight – some of them broken. The streets seemed empty. It pretty much felt the same as her dreams. No civilisation, no safe place to hide, nothing to save them. She wondered how that girl in her dreams had lived through the heat and the lack of food and the creatures roaming around.
She wondered how long it would take before they reached the city. Would it be tomorrow? She highly doubted that. It seemed too far away for that.
Walking. Breaks. Heat.
The endless cycle of the Scorch.
When night finally came, the wind picked up even stronger, this time bringing a slight chill along with it. Leo was so grateful for something besides the heat as the chill felt almost refreshing.
At midnight, Minho called for them all to stop and get some sleep, the city becoming closer and the wind growing stronger. It blew in gales, whipping and curling.
Soon as they had stopped, Leo collapsed into a deep slumber as she listened to the "peaceful" sounds of the night as she drifted away from all her troubles. And that night, she didn't have a single dream, just black. It was so rare now-a-days that she felt like celebrating in her sub-conscious.
But, that would be stupid.
Day Three – Part One – The Scorch Trials
The light made her wake to see a grey sky covered in thick layers of clouds. It reminded her of being in the Glade when the sky had stopped working, leaving them with nothing but a dull grey.
When she looked over towards the city, she realised how close they were, only a few hours away it seemed. The buildings were huge and the windows inside were shattered like jagged teeth.
She rubbed her head and the wig to remove the grime as the wind continued to rage down on them. Most of the Gladers were up now, getting ready to start walking again as they studied the sudden change in weather.
She was forced to wait around for a few minutes before the last person woke up, and of course, it had to be Thomas.
"Bout time you woke up!" Minho shouted, trying to keep his voice louder than the roaring winds.
Thomas rubbed his eyes as he stood up. "Where'd this all come from?" he yelled. "I thought we were in the middle of a desert!"
"Well, guess it has to rain in the desert sometime."
"But the whole point of a desert is that it doesn't rain!" Leo shouted, holding the wig down as the winds kept getting stronger.
"Does it matter?" Minho yelled, before he turned back to Thomas. "Hurry and eat – we gotta get going. Maybe we can get there and find a place to hide before we're soaked by the storm."
"What if we get there and a bunch of Cranks try to kill us?" Thomas asked.
"Then we'll fight 'em!" Minho frowned. "What else you wanna do? We're almost out of food and water."
"All right, then. Let's go. I'll eat one of those granola things while we walk."
A few minutes later and they were heading towards the city again, the grey sky above them ready to burst out a pour of rain at any second. There was only a couple of miles between them and the closest building.
Then, they found an old man lying down in the sand on his back, wrapped up in blankets.
"Who's that?" Jack asked as he pointed to him.
"I don't know," Minho said. "Let's find out."
They all walked closer to the old man, soon forming a circle around him as they all stared down at him. The man looked to be about a hundred years old, but that could have been from the wear and tear of the boiling sun. Wrinkles, a leathery face, scabs and sores where his hair used to be and burnt skin.
He was alive, deeply breathing as he gazed up at the sky with emptiness in his eyes. He showed no sign that he had even noticed them approaching him.
"Hey! Old man!" Minho shouted. "What're you doing out here?"
None of them were sure if the old man had heard him over the sounds of the rippling wind, but if he did, he didn't give them any indication that he had.
Thomas nudged Minho out of the way, kneeling down beside the man's face. "Sir?" he asked. "Mister? Can you hear me? Can you talk?"
"Where the hell'd you learn those fancy words?" Leo asked as she moved next to him.
Thomas shrugged, not seeming to know himself how he knew.
Newt knelt down next to him. "This guy's a bloody gold mine if we can get him to tell us stuff about the city. Looks harmless, probably knows what to expect when we go in there."
Thomas sighed. "Yeah, but he doesn't even seem to be able to hear us, much less have a long talk."
"Keep trying," Minho said. "You're officially our foreign ambassador, Thomas. Get the dude to open up and tell us about the good ol' days."
"Okay."
He moved closer to the man's head. "Sir? We really need your help! We need you to tell us if it's safe to go inside the city. We can carry you there if you need help yourself. Sir? Sir!"
The old man's lips slightly parted, but nothing came out expect a cough.
"My name is Thomas. These are my friends. We've been walking through the desert for a couple of days, and we need more water and food. What do you..?"
He trailed off when the man's eyes flicked back and forth, panic forming.
"It's okay, we won't hurt you," he said. "We're….we're the good guys. But we'd really appreciate it if-"
The man's left hand shot up from underneath the blankets, grabbing hold of Thomas' wrist as he cried out and tried to pull his arm free. Thomas could barely move as the man's grip wouldn't falter.
"Hey! Let go of me!"
The man shook his head, his eyes suddenly filled with fear. He parted his lips again, and this time a rough whisper came from his mouth.
"What'd you say?" Thomas shouted.
The man spoke again. The only words she got out of the whisper were "storm" and "terror" and "bad people".
"One more time!" Thomas yelled.
"Storm coming…full of terror…brings out…stay away…bad people."
The man shot up to an upright position. "Storm! Storm! Storm!" He didn't stop repeating the word over and over, saliva falling from his mouth as he cried.
Thomas stumbled backwards as the man roughly let go of his arm, almost making him knock Leo over as he collided into her legs. The wind intensified, almost knocking her off her feet as the man's screaming words became lost in the loud roars of the wind.
She felt like her clothes and her wig would fly right off of her and soar through the air, ready to carry her along with them. Newt grabbed hold of her so they both could keep each other balance, some of the other Gladers doing the same as the winds grew stronger.
Thomas got back to his feet before he stumbled several feet before he leaned his back against the wind, keeping himself stable against it.
Minho waved his arms around frantically, trying to get everyone's attention through the wind. Newt and Leo quickly noticed him and rushed over to him, fighting the wind as the other Gladers did the same.
The old man's blankets were lost in the wind, making him huddle on the ground in the fetal position, his skinny legs squeezed to his chest as he closed his eyes to pray. She wished she could help him, but she knew there was no way he would let them. He'd fight them off, and all of them would be dead.
Minho pointed over to the city, the closest building half an hour away if they ran. As the wind tore through them, the clouds thickened and churned as they changed to a dark purple – almost black – and the dust and debris flew at them.
The building seemed the safest option at that point.
Minho started running as everyone else followed close behind, Newt holding onto Leo's hand as they ran. They were lucky enough that they didn't have to run against the wind, or else this process would have been almost impossible.
And the old man's words didn't help with their situation either.
As if they didn't have enough things to worry about…
