Disclaimer: I do NOT own The Scorch Trials nor any of the characters from it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
Scorch: Hallucinations and Memories…
She felt like she was floating on top of a cloud, weightless in the seemingly black nothingness of her mind. She had no idea where she was, or how long it had been, or what was happening to her, but it didn't fill her with any kind of emotion.
Just nothing.
She slowly lifted her body up, sitting up in the air as she continued to float. She felt relaxed, like nothing would happen to her if she just stayed floating in this black hole of nothing.
She looked around her, noticing small little lights sparkling in the distance, something that had not been there only what she assumed was a few minutes ago. She closed her eyes as she tried to direct her floating body over to them, intrigued by the sudden lights that almost blinded her in all the darkness.
Her body slowly started drifting over to the closest star on the left, one that seemed so small that she wondered if it was even worth investigating it. She was only a few meters away when a loud, piercing scream cut her off.
She screamed as she grabbed hold of her head, her thoughts, worries and concerns slowly fading back into existence, almost drowning out the piercing scream that continued in the distance. She whimpered as a throbbing pain formed in her skull, and suddenly the dreaded three voices were back again, unknowingly tormenting her with just their existence.
Where are we? And why are we floating? This defying's everything about gravity and even common sense.
What happened before this…Injected with a syringe filled with some liquid, blacked out from both pain and the assumed drug…And then we're here.
The third voice remained silent, the child-like voice not having anything to say. It had always screamed about death, murder and suffering, but now it either didn't see a way of doing so, or had vanished for the moment.
That star…That scream. What will happen if we go closer to it? Will we get sucked up inside and fade forever, or will something else happen?
Maybe this is a test from WICKED? Whether or not we will succumb to the peaceful darkness or go back to the harsh reality?
She continued to hold her head as she tried to concentrate on moving her body towards the bright, shining light, curious about what would happen if she touched it. Once she reached it, she slowly reached out a hand to cover her eyes, the light blinding her.
Why are these things so bright? Are we supposed to be going near them?
Maybe it wants to prepare us for when we go back into the Scorch…If we aren't just dead and floating in purgatory.
"Please…be quiet," Leo whispered as she let go of her head, reaching that hand closer to the star. She wanted to touch it. It drew her in. It made her want to go closer, to see what lied underneath.
She touched the star with a single finger, hissing as pain enveloped her index finger. She tried not to scream as the light from the star started travelling up her arm, soon encasing her entire body in the bright light. The pain was too much for her to handle, and the voices both screamed in pain.
It seemed to be hurting them more than it hurt her.
She closed her eyes for only a split second, before the darkness vanished, leaving her in just a white, empty space. She called out, hoping there might be someone to hear her, but of course only her voice echoed throughout the space.
We're alive…But how?
Maybe we are actually dead and this is what death is like…
This is not what I imagined death to be like. Where's the angels with wings, and the glowing, golden gates that led me to heaven?
None of that exists. Get real.
Why…Why…Why…
The child-like chanted and screamed, causing Leo to burst out into tears as the voice's thoughts seemed to possess her, questioning its entire existence with three simple words.
Why?
The tears continued to pour down her cheeks, seemingly becoming bigger as more and more continued to fall to the ground. Soon, a small puddle formed at her feet and before she knew it, the white room turned black again…
Her eyes shot open as she tried gasping for air. She felt like her lungs were on fire as she tried to breathe. But all she kept swallowing was water.
She tried to scream as she looked around her, in search of oxygen. The water stung her eyes as she noticed she was now trapped inside what she assumed to be her tears, the saltiness burning her lungs.
She tried swimming up to the top, but it had reached up to the roof, trapping her inside the water. She slammed her hands against the roof, her muffled screams desperate to be heard. She punched and pushed on the roof of the room, hoping that someone would come and save her.
Her knuckles started to bleed, the red, metallic liquid slowly floating in the clear, salty liquid. It started to surround her as she felt herself going lightheaded, the lack of oxygen getting to her.
Just when she thought she was going to pass out, she heard mechanical sounds from above her, and she started banging on the roof once again. She could hear the sound of nails clinking on the ground, giving her the slightest bit of hope.
It went silent for a second before a circle in the roof was slowly lifted up, almost like someone was lifting off a lid to a container. She pushed herself up into the gap unfilled with water and gasped as she choked on her own tears.
She pushed herself through and landed down on the surface above the roof, the water slowly draining from the room below her. She rolled onto her stomach as she coughed up all the liquid inside of her, the sudden rush of oxygen feeling like a high.
She took deep, shallow breaths, the water finally drained from her lungs. A slight smile made its way to face as she relaxed, the glaring white room almost seeming like a blessing.
How did we survive that? Did someone lift off the roof for us?
I'd rather not know at the moment. I'm just glad we're alive.
Why? Why? Why?
The child screamed again, but this time she wasn't crying. Instead, she could smell something strange.
She lifted herself off the ground, sitting up as she looked for where the smell was coming from. A reddish-orange light burned her eyes, making her hold a hand in front of them. The room had now gotten padding on the walls, almost resembling a mental institution.
But the room felt strangely warm.
Too warm.
She took a deep breath, only to find herself coughing from the sudden toxic air that filled her lungs. She covered her mouth once she noticed why the room was so hot. There was a fire in the middle of the room, slowly burning up the room.
The smoke was gradually travelling around the room, making her eyes water as she looked for something to put out the fire.
She pushed herself onto her feet as she ran around the room, slamming on the walls in the hopes of another trap door or secret latch for someone to help her. But there was none in this room.
She continued to cover her mouth as she backed herself against the wall, watching as the fire was slowly starting to draw closer.
She almost screamed when she felt like she was falling as she jumped to the other side of the wall, noticing a black spot in the once white room. Only then did she realise that it was a hole, a hole where her feet had almost fallen through.
She rushed over to the other side of the room as she noticed more and more tiles on the floor disappearing. Now half of the room was missing. The fire was coming closer, as were the disappearing tiles.
She looked down at her own tile, noticing that the two next to her had disappeared, leaving her standing on a single platform in the middle of the room, the burning fire still drawing closer.
She watched in horror as the tile she was standing on slowly started to fade to black, making her scream as her feet fell through first, tears coming back to her eyes as she fell for what seemed like forever.
As she fell, she watched the entire room above her disappearing before her eyes, the fire eventually covering the entire room. It became clouded in black smoke, ashes sprinkling down beside her as she continued to fall.
After 5 minutes, her body suddenly stopped in mid-air, making her gasp as the wind was knocked out of her. She was stuck in the air with her arms and legs spread, staring at the ground that awaited her.
There were giant, black patches all over the ground, silvery machines sticking out of the black masses.
They were Grievers.
She couldn't help but scream once she noticed them staring straight at her.
whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
click-click-click
She screamed again as the dreaded sounds filled her ears, the sounds she had thought she would never have to hear again. All five of them were slowly releasing their weaponry, knives and giant spikes slowly reaching towards her.
She struggled in the air as she tried to escape the invisible force holding her there. She thrashed around as hard as she could, but found there was nothing removing her from the air.
whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
click-click-click
The two Grievers on the end jumped onto the walls, sliding up them as they got ready to pounce on her. She screamed as tears fell to the ground, and she wondered if she was going to die right then and there.
The three remaining Grievers tried jumping up from where they were on the ground, only coming a few centimetres from her. She didn't know how long she could last this torture, wondering if and when they were going to kill her.
It was like they were toying with her.
whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
click-click-click
The two Grievers on the wall suddenly jumped, pointing their spikes right at her body as she screamed. She closed her eyes, right as she felt her body being lifted up, the two Grievers slamming into each other. She felt her heart dropped as she opened her eyes, watching herself enter another room from above.
Her body stopped once again as the floor from underneath her closed up, trapping the Grievers underneath. She sighed with relief, her heart starting to beat again as she was stuck in the silence.
She felt her body slowly being flipped until she was almost standing up, but still floating in the air. A large, circular shape slammed into her back, making her gasp in pain. Her arms were slammed against it as rope roughly wrapped around her wrists.
She struggled as she tried to remove herself from the circular shape, but it was useless as her ankles were tied to it as well.
The room suddenly turned dark, and she could feel her anxiety rising through her body. Her hands started to sweat as she found it hard to breathe. Only her heavy and fast breaths could be hard in the silence of the room, and that only made it worse.
She had no idea how she could still be crying, but the tears kept coming down. She felt like vomiting at how hard she was crying.
A sudden light shined in the room, making her wince as it stung her eyes. It shined straight down on her, almost like a spotlight. She dreaded what could possibly come next.
Something flew straight past her, landing only a centimetre from head. It sunk into the wooden circle. She couldn't turn her head to see what it was, but she had a good idea.
She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw a long, rusty, bloodied knife sticking through her hair.
And then the circle started to move.
She screamed as she felt herself going upside down, then sideways, then back upright, then sideways again. An endless circle. Faster and faster.
Another knife thrown. Right between her fingers. She felt like she couldn't breathe as she looked at how close the knife had come from stabbing into one of her fingers.
Another knife. Then another.
All of them aimed near a vital body part.
Arms. Legs. Feet. Hands. Neck. Head.
Then the next knife thrown from the darkness was coming straight for her. She screamed as she watched the knife coming closer and closer, ready to sink in the stop between her eyes.
She closed them, right as the circle suddenly slammed backwards, sending her body with it. She watched as the knife that was going to kill her soar past and sink into the padded wall behind her.
She released a breath she didn't know she was holding as she felt the ropes loosen, her body slowly falling from the circle until her back landed on the ground. The circle was lifted up into the air as the bloodied knife remained in the wall.
She wondered how much longer this would go. The pain. The tears. The near death experiences.
How much longer could she survive?
…
She stood on the same streets that had been inside all of her dreams, the silence almost eerie from what she knew. There were no Cranks, not even a single person anywhere inside the houses.
She was secretly glad she was out of the padded, white rooms and out in an environment she had some kind of understanding about.
At least she knew what could happen out here.
She jumped as she heard the sudden screams of a man, his screams sounding much like a Crank who's almost past the Gone. She searched around her, but she couldn't figure out where the scream was coming from.
Then a high-pitched, girl's scream echoed through the streets, just as a small body flew out the window. Glass shattered around them as red liquid dripped and squirted from her back.
The body landed on the ground on their side, and as Leo drew closer she realised it was a little girl. No more than the age of five.
She could hear the horrid laughs of a male Crank from above, and she looked to see the Crank staring out the window, laughing at the body of the young girl. Leo's heart ached. He must have been the girl's father.
Leo quickly picked up the bleeding girl, carrying her away from the Crank inside the house and to somewhere safe. She had no idea where that could possibly be, but she felt that she needed to save this girl.
The young girl fell unconscious, her blood staining Leo's hands as she slammed her body into a door, pushing it open as she rushed inside. Leo quickly placed the girl down on the couch as she rushed to slam the door shut, moving one of the other couches in front of it.
She hoped the Crank wouldn't come back for them.
Leo quickly ripped off one of her sleeves, rushing over to help the girl. The blood on her hands made her feel sick, but she knew she needed to overcome this or else the girl would die.
She flipped the girl's body until she was lying on her stomach, wrapping her sleeve around the middle of the girl's back. She ripped off the bottom of her shirt as she wrapped it around the girl's lower back, securing it tight to try and stop the bleeding. It soaked through the shirt, but with Leo's hands pushing into the wounds, the blood eventually slowed until it stopped altogether.
Only then did Leo let her disgust of blood overpower her.
She rushed to the kitchen and threw up in the sink, trying her best to wash off all the blood on her hands. She hoped her efforts wouldn't go to waste and that the girl would survive.
She lied down on the kitchen floor, knowing it would be a while before the girl would wake up. She was most likely in shock from the impact on the window, and the amount of blood she lost.
She could hear bangs on the front door, but she drowned them out as she closed her eyes, letting her exhaustion take over her…