(A/N: In the books, Brenda is roughly the same age as Thomas. In the flashback when Thomas was experiencing the Changing, I mentioned a dirty-blonde-haired girl; that was meant to be Brenda and I said they were the same age. But forget all that I've just mentioned because I'm bumping her age up quite a bit and you'll see why eventually. It will all make sense soon.)
Chapter 8
The Berg landed and Teresa stepped out, beginning her short trek to where the girls of Group B were camped. They saw her coming instantly and she smiled to herself.
Newt waited until Thomas had walked off down the corridor of what they'd thought was an abandoned building with the man named Jorge before he turned on Minho.
"What were you thinking?!" he hissed as his friend turned a surprised look on him. "No, wait," he continued, "You weren't thinking! You never do! Bloody hell, Minho, you coulda gotten us all bugging killed!"
"Woah, calm down!" Minho defended. "You're saying this is my fault? How was I supposed to know a bunch of Cranks were gonna come out of nowhere and surround us?"
"Nobody knew they were there. But the rest of us knew not to insult the leader while he and all his buddies were pointing weapons at us!"
Minho wasn't going to admit Newt was right. Nor was he willing to admit that he felt really scared for Thomas at the moment. He wasn't even going to admit how he'd known instantly that he'd messed up and that he was really sorry for it. He just turned his head and grunted acknowledgment of what Newt had said, feeling somewhat embarrassed: it seemed that Thomas was constantly trying to make up for his big mouth. It wasn't the best start to being the Leader. It should be him negotiating with Jorge right now.
"Hey! Shut up, you two!" a young woman snapped at them. She had dirty-blonde hair, incredibly pale skin, and a long gash down the left side of her face. It was obviously a recently-acquired wound and looked slightly infected.
Minho opened his mouth to respond and Newt sent an elbow to his ribs. It was fortunate that Thomas chose that moment to reappear.
Minho looked up at his friend and gasped. Blood was slowly trickling from a split lip and one of his eyes was swollen over. Jorge looked only slightly better. Despite this, however, Thomas had a small smile on his face.
"Right, you lot," Jorge yelled and all the Cranks looked toward him. "These guys have been told by WICKED that there's a Safe Haven just over the mountains with the Cure to the Flare waiting for them. I'm thinking we could get in on that, too, if we help them. Meet up at the Old Tower in twenty minutes so we can find the best route. Me and Brenda will stock up on supplies in the Underground."
The Gladers all stood up and made their way out of the building, herded by Jorge and Brenda - the young woman who'd told Minho to shut up. He didn't know if he felt relived that they were with the two who seemed the most sane or worried that these were the two most sane out of the Cranks. So far, things didn't really seem to be going entirely in their favour.
They made their way down into the underground tunnels and were instantly hit by blissful coolness - a stark contrast to the near-unbearable heat outside. And there was food! All the boys instantly started to devour the precious morsels, making every second of it last. They had all gone so long without a proper meal that the cans of food they were eating out of seemed like heaven.
Minho frowned through a mouthful as he saw Brenda sit down next to Thomas. She seemed to enjoy hovering around his side and Minho was growing suspicious. Newt did that weird thing where he read people's minds again.
"She's getting rather touchy-feely, don't you think?"
"Only known that shank for a short while, but I know he attracts trouble and people hanging 'round him usually are bad news," Minho agreed, glancing over at where his friend was having a conversation of sorts with the Crank lady.
The speculations between the two former Keepers came to an abrupt halt as a loud explosion echoed across the Underground. Part of the ceiling fell in on itself and, just like that, the exit was sealed off. Everyone was up in an instant. Minho heard Jorge say something about the explosion and who caused it, but it didn't fully register - all he knew was that he needed to run. He took off after Jorge and the other Gladers.
There was the sound of crumbling concrete above him and two yells from behind. He turned in time to see Brenda pull Thomas out of the way of the falling debris before they were completely separated.
"No!" he yelled.
"Hey, we gotta keep going!" Jorge came running back up to him, trying to pull him along. Minho shrugged his hands off.
"What about my friend? What about yours? We can't leave them! Or is that something Cranks do often?"
A dark expression took over the older man's face and he drew back his fist. Newt caught it.
"Enough of that!" he tried to force the man back, but he continued advancing.
"How dare you!" he roared. "Brenda is like a daughter to me! How dare you suggest I'm okay with leaving her! I may be infected, but I'm not full gone just yet! Don't compare me to those animals!"
"Let's not leave them, then!"
"Minho!" Newt scolded.
"We can't stay," Jorge sighed, all anger draining from him in a second. "There's no way around that. Staying here will get us killed, too."
"How will they get out, though?" one of the other boys asked.
"Brenda's very smart and capable and your friend seems to be, too. Brenda knows her way around the Tunnels and will continue to the meeting point of Old Tower. We just gotta continue there, too."
"I thought the tower thing was just a distraction to get away from those other Cranks," Minho said, confused slightly.
"No time to explain," Jorge quickly said, hearing the sounds of some of the Cranks more past the Gone getting closer. With that, he lead the group of boys farther into the darkness.
Further away from Thomas, Minho thought, not knowing that Newt was thinking the same thing and that Jorge was thinking that about Brenda, too.
(A/N: Sorry! I know it's been forever since I last updated and I know this is a really short chapter, but I've had a lot going on lately, so sorry, but this is the best I could come up with. Further chapters to come will get better, I promise... Or, at least, I hope they will!)
