The Storm: Chapter Four


The dust in the air had made it difficult for us to navigate the city. The wind had picked further in its path of terror as it lifted it from the ground and pushed it in every imaginable direction. The thickness made it difficult to breathe. Not the 'heat-is-sucking-the-very-breathe-out-of-me' type of difficultness. I had already experienced that. No, this time it was 'every-dust-particle-in-existence-is-trying-to-shove-its-way-into-my-lungs,-forcing-me-to-choke-every-few-seconds' type of difficultness.

It didn't help that coupled with my lungs struggling to take in a breath of air without a gulp of dust, my eyes were consistently watering for the same exact reason. I cursed myself at this second. There was a reason why I had found a scarf in my pack. Cleaning blood was not the reason for its use. Jorge would jump for glee if he had found out that I had destroyed it. Another punishment I reckon he would have said to me.

It wasn't the wind that had changed its temper. The sky itself had darkened in colour as a warning. What was once a very dull cloudy day had suddenly transformed into a murky darkness. Without the others close by me, it soon dawned on me that I would have lost them in the storm to the city. I doubt I would have ever been able to find them again if I lost them now.

Then the lighten came.

The brilliant streaks of jagged electricity lit up the sky above us. Light from the streaks flashed against the hollow shells of the buildings, illuminating the insides for the briefest of seconds. The city had been empty the whole time we had walked through it, but the shadows highlighted how alive this place really was. And how much danger we really were in.

The lightening did not stop. They fell from the sky in jagged streaks. Bars of white light slammed into the ground and threw up large chunks of the earth around us. Fires caught alight as the it intensified. It never relented.

I momentarily lost the others in front of me. Despite the brilliant light illuminating the sky, there was still a thick cloud that enclosed us. Every so often I caught a glimpse of them in front of me, the light hinting at their position.

Suddenly a bolt of pure white zigzagged from the sky and exploded on the ground in front of me. I screamed in terror, but I couldn't hear my voice. I squeezed my eyes shut as some form of energy threw me to the ground. I landed on my back, the air knocked from my chest and a spray of dirt and rocks covering me from the aftermath. Spitting the dirt from my mouth, I gulped for air as I scrambled onto my hands and knees. A second of panic was replaced by a wave of relief as the air flowed back into my lungs.

I cupped my ears as the ringing pierced my head. The high-pitched shrill felt like nails digging into my eardrums. Around, the wind lashed at my body and flung dirt into my skin. A sense of panic overcame me. I was frozen, limbs glued to the ground as the nightmare rained down its torment with a crash and a boom.

I had no idea where I was

All I heard from that point was a ringing. A high-pitched buzz that felt like nails digging into my eardrums. The wind whipped at my clothes and the dirt stung my skin. I was in a sense of panic, the world swirling around me as the living night was broken by flashes of lightening.

I was glued to the ground, my limbs refused to move. I had been knocked off course. I didn't know where I was. I didn't even know if the others had realised I was missing. I just could not move from my spot. No matter how dangerous it was to be stuck here. The fear had paralysed me, swept in and that very second, I was vulnerable. I couldn't react to anything. It was as if my body had completely shut down from the stress. To make matters worse, my ears had started to numb as the horrific noise faded into a distant hum, leaving me with just a muffled sound of the world around me.

This is not good this is not good.

The words repeated, slammed and screamed. My mind had gone into complete melt down. There was nothing I could do to kick start it again and move.

Pressure from a hand, and feeling myself being dragged along the floor, forced me from of my fear. I pulled my feet up from under me and elbowed the arm away. Upon release, I began my attack. I reached out and blindly clawed at the space in front. This was only met with my hands clamped roughly together. I struggled against the strength. That was no use. They were far stronger than mine. Instead I kicked, aiming for where the knee ought to be.

"ClarkePoe!" Poe barked into me ear. I snapped my eyes open to be greeted by the face of a friend.

There was no time for a dance of glee. Poe had immediately spun on his heel and sprinted. I propelled forward from the sudden change of standing still. A small stagger forced Poe to free my arm. With this, I pumped my arms back and forth, the motion a natural extension, an awareness that bought back a sense of relief. We jumped over small pot holes, dodged falling debris and skidded around wreckages too high for us to leap over.

Poe lashed out a hand to grip my elbow, steadying me before I could even register that I'd stumbled.

Where are we going where are we going?

"Faster!" Poe snapped. I didn't hesitate.

Poe led the charge as we flat out sprinted to our destination.

Come on!

Out of nowhere, Poe again grabbed my elbow and wrenched me sharply left. We tumbled into a small doorway and crashed into a sprawl. Our limbs tangling as we slid across the floor and slammed into a barrier fixed into the ground. The impact knocked the breath out of me again.

Through heavy breaths of air, I stole a glance to the outside world and witnessed a bombardment of bolts striking the ground, displaying the full anger of the sky. I felt the silent impacts of the explosions, each one rattling my skull, shaking my bones.

Then the rain started.

Groaning, I untangled my limbs from Poe and rose from the ground. A sharp twinge erupted in the corner of my back. I yelped in pain and collapsed onto one knee. Cool hands brushed my skin, applying a soft heaviness as they searched for the epicentre. When his fingers touched the pressure point, I whimpered in response. The pain radiated up and down my body, frying the muscles into a spasm. I flicked Poe's hand away from my back and held my own there. The coldness of my palm offered some relief. It was not enough.

"… fine … no blood."

Poe took a hold of my free arm and hooked it over his shoulder. He helped me up from the floor and directed me to another part of the building. On the other side, we were greeted by two dark shadows huddling in the corner of what once must have been a kitchen.

I didn't need the strike of lightening to identify who the shadows were. Jamie ran towards me and trapped me into a hug. A yelp escaped my lips and I half collapsed into him. The kid was beside himself. He flung himself from me and held his hands out in front of me. His lips moved but the words were lost to the buzzing still ringing inside my head.

"I'm glad you are okay." I said to Jamie. I turned to Poe and said, "thank you."

Jamie winced at my gesture. Poe, in turn, unhooked my arm and allowed for me to stand on my own.

"… get … please."

"… wrong … her … shouting … idiot."

"Now!" Poe yelled. Jamie backed up toward where Maya sat. I turned to Poe to scold him, but I was greeted with a hand in the air. Even with my memories gone, I knew that that meant butt-out. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out.

So I shut up.

It was for the best.

Poe guided me to the others. He took the pack from my back and helped my sit down next to Maya. From the look on his face, it was clear that we were running dangerously low. Whatever we were eating now surely would be the last for a while.

There was not much I could do on the hearing front. Whilst the others chatted amongst themselves, I patiently waited for the throb of silence to disappear. It took its time, mind you. Concentrating on the others helped the ringing to subside. Somehow, deep down, I knew that relaxing would help. How I know these beats me, but by golly it helped.

It was the sound of rain that I noticed first. The pitter patter of raindrops on the rooftop murmuring like white noise. That only lasted for so long. Over the time that we sat there, the soft thrum grew louder and louder till the full strength of the storm was revealed.

"That's heavy," I said this time hearing how loud I spoke. Jamie and Poe had falling asleep beside one another, their chests rising and falling in unison. A sound of a shuffle next to me indicated that Maya was not asleep. She twisted from her resting position and turned to face me. In the darkness, I just about made out her out, her cloud like hair that formed a halo around her dark face. She released a heavy sigh and made herself comfortable in a sitting position.

"I'm sorry for the way I've been acting," Maya whispered loud enough for me only to hear. "I still think you are a trick of some sort."

"So do I," I agreed with her.

"It's just … you …" she paused. "You were there one minute, this person that so dedicated to the Eden. And the next … well … you were gone."

Maya coughed and rubbed her eyes. "We mourned for you. We thought you had died. Now you are here again, but you're not here. It's just too much to handle. Are you really dead?"

"If I was dead, could I do this?" As quick as a flash, I pinched Maya's arm just tight enough that I knew she would squeal.

"Hey," she laughed as she swatted my hand away. "Fine, you're real."

We fell into quiet, the noise from outside filling the silence. The thrumming noise of the rain becoming a familiar rhythm.

"I have to ask. Poe mentioned to me that me before was this wise-cracking … erm … strong, pragmatic person. Am I?"

"Oh yeah. Wait are you not that now?"

"No, I just … I don't know. Ever since I woke up in the Glade, I have felt almost incomplete somehow. Like there is a part of me missing for some reason."

"I can't answer that for you, Clarkie," Maya responded in a hushed tone. "But what I can tell you that that person … you are still in there. You just need to release her."

I hummed in agreement and returned to listening to the rain. Maybe she was right. Ever since waking up in the cot back in the room, I have felt somewhat different. It was as if the world was now in high definition and I could sense everything around me more. And the nagging sensation in my head, well that hadn't haunted me now for days. Perhaps the old me was returning.

"What's the Glade?" Maya asked.

"Well…"

I told her the story I had told Jamie and Poe about the sad tale of the Gladers in the Maze. Yet when I described the tale for Maya, it felt different. The grief for the boys that were left in that nightmare. For little Chuck who I had abandoned to the same fate as the Gladers. The yearning to be with them, with him, that took forever to subdue. I felt none of this. It was as if the sadness themselves had been released from the words into the air. It still mourned for them, but not in the same way I had been.

"So Newt, he your boyfriend?"

"Not you too," I groaned as I smacked my hand into my face. Maya let out a hearty laugh, her voice echoing in the small room. "I'm going to sleep before you say anything more."

"Alright grumpy. If you dream about Newt, please keep the noise down."

I gave Maya a sharp kick to the knee in response to the comment. She only shook as she tried to contain her giggles. I swear I even heard her snort from her excitement. A huffed in response and turned myself so I faced away from her. What was with it with these people?

I tuned out from the harassment into the soothing sound of the rain until the darkness of sleep invited me in.


There were two things that greeted me when awoke from my slumber. Number one was the blessed sound of silence as the storm had disappeared in the night. Number two was the glow of sunshine. And the most important thing to mention. I had slept through the night again without a nightmare. Things were really looking up for me.

The light from the sun peaked through the cracks of the wall and doorway into our hiding spot. Even with it partially lighting up the room, it was much easier to tell that we were in a kitchen. Well what was left of one. There were dark stains up one side of the wall from where the oven must have once stood. A few cupboards hanging with an inch of their life off the wall, the doors falling from their hinges. The walls themselves were covered in black mould. A huge spore of it located nearest the door outside. And the ceiling itself had collapsed inwards on the floor, electrical wires hanging dangerously free above us. It was like a bomb had gone off inside of here.

I glanced around to see the others stirring. They stretched their stiff and sore limbs until their eyes fluttered open.

"Rain's stopped," Jamie said enthusiastically from the door. He munched on his last ration of beef jerky and crackers, savouring every bite as long as he could. "Dunno where we are, but it looks a mess out there. Whatca think caused a storm like that?"

"Sun flares," I said. "Remember what the old man said. The world being torn apart and burning up. That'd screw up the weather for sure."

Jamie shook his head in agreement. "Lucky we were already in the city. Imagine what it would have been like out on the Scorch."

"Yeah, we were lucky indeed," I mumbled to him as I took a sip of the last remnants of water. I turned to face Poe and Maya. "We better start thinking about what we're gonna do next."

"Agreed," Maya affirmed. "Well, this place is massive. So finding the other two will be extremely difficult. We should look for food and water first. Hopefully we cross paths with them on our search. We just need to be careful."

I didn't dare add to that plan about the possibility of crossing paths with Georgie and her crew. Even just thinking about it put a bad vibe on the situation. Alice was enough for us, and that was just one person against two. Could we take her on with her friends with just the four of us? If I were a betting woman, I would bet no.

"Last time I saw Georgie," Maya continued. "Will, Nest, Andy and Leo were with her. Will and Andy were the ones that ambushed us. When Lottie went to investigate a room, they jumped us and tried to kill us. We just about made it out of the building before the others turned up. We gave quite a chase, but I lost them in the process. I was near the edge of the city, I saw your figures and decided to take a risk."

"And after all the times Clarkie told you to take more risks as a person, you chose to take the biggest one," Poe said. He run a hand through his hair and let out a chortle of laughter.

"Yeah, well it was either that or die at the hands of them maniacs," Maya retorted. She balled up the empty packet in her hand and chucked it at Poe. It was a perfect shot, hitting him square in the head. Poe jumped from the ground and lurched toward Maya. He hooked her head under his arm into a headlock and held her there as she squealed obscene names at him.

"Alright, guys that's enough," I commanded with a voice that I did not know existed within me. They both stopped immediately and pushed each other away, a few slaps exchanged in a playful jest. I waited till they had both calmed down before I continued speaking. "The plan is to find supplies then find Lottie and Maggie. We agreed?"

A unison of yes's responded.

"Right, let's move out." I rose from the ground and hooked my, now very light, pack onto my back. The feeling strange as I had come accustomed to the weight over the days. I waited for the others to rise with me, but I was met with three eager pairs of eyes all expecting something.

"What?" I asked them, unsure why they were not getting ready to leave.

"I dunno, you usually say some inspirational quote at the end of something like that," Poe said to me, a hint of a smile itching at his lips.

"An inspirational quote? I don't know any inspirational quotes."

"I have not missed these," Maya chimed in, her voice suggesting that there was a hint of sarcasm laced within her words.

"I'll help you." Poe shot up from the ground and stood beside me. He cleared his throat and said, "There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion."

"Clarkie never said that," Maya interjected. "It was something like 'if you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude'."

Jamie flung up his hands and waved them around, grabbing the attention from all of us. "Your guys memory is bad. Clarkie never said anything like that, she said stuff like 'stop whining and get on with it' or 'shut up I don't have time for space-wasters'."

An eruption of noise sprung from the three as they debated what inspirational quotes I had and hadn't said. Each one disagreeing with the other over what I had said when I was second-in-command.

Déjà vu.

That was the only way I could describe it. That feeling where I had lived something like this before. A familiar scene of the friendly mocking between people who were comfortable around each other. For the first time since I had met these people (or technically the second) I felt accepted, even if they were taking jabs at me. When the Glade, I had felt like an outsider, a person that did not fit in no matter who hard me or the others tried. Here, it was as if I had never left them. As soon as they released that I was not a trick, they relaxed and became themselves again. I would never have that opportunity, WICKED made sure of that. But the emotions swelling inside of me of comfort and belonginess felt right. I felt whole around them.

"You've had your fun," I said. "Now let's move on we are on a time constraint."

I signalled for them to move and follow me out of the kitchen into the shell of the open floor. We exited our safe haven for the night and carried on exploring the city for its secrets.


The sun shone as brightly as it could as we walked through the city. We walked in single file line, with Maya leading and Poe bringing up the rear. We stayed as best we could in the shadows of the building, making sure that we were as close as we could get to the walls. There were dangers lurking round every corner, and Georgie was only one of them.

At one point we passed a set of steps that led into the ground. It reminded me of something, something that was a normality before all the swipes. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I'm sure it would come back to me eventually. They always did.

We walked through several twists and turns of the city. Travelling down alleyways and quickly through open buildings. Once this place would have been bustling with a hub of people going about their daily business. Now, the occasional scream in the distance, or sounds of crashing inside of buildings indicated that there was life. At one point, further down the road we spotted a small group of people scurry across. However, fortune smiled down on us as they took no notice of our little party.

Be that as it may be, not encountering anyone as close as the group still did not stop me from scanning every broken window, every alley, every crumbled doorway. Jorge the Crank had appeared out of nowhere, I would not let something like that happen again. I was forcing myself to be more vigilant. Danger lurked everywhere.

"Is what Georgie said true about you and Lottie?" I dropped so that I was walking in time with Poe. The silence had started to bore me and I felt an urge to learn about the people who knew me most.

"In a way." Poe shrugged his shoulders and ran a hand through his hair. a briefest of smile escaping onto his lips. "I … well, we've never actually discussed it."

"So is Lottie your girlfriend then?" I sang in a mocking tone. Aha, payback. Poe rolled his eyes at me a gave a little nudge that sent me stumbling off the pavement into the road. I righted myself and re-joined back by his side.

"Satisfied?" he questioned.

"No." I counted to sixty before I changed the tone. "We will find her them. You know, that right?"

"I do. I don't know what I'd do without her."

Same.

We walked until the sun was directly above us and the hunger rumbled in our belly's. The heat had increased over time, yet the shade provided some comfort that we had eluded whilst in the Scorch. I savoured it as long as I could because I knew that we were only halfway through our journey. We had the mountains next to conquer.

Maya had signalled for us to stop at a junction where she pointed to an opening a few metres from us. She whispered that we should rest there for a bit. We followed her suit and in single file edged against the wall until we made it to where she had pointed.

And what fortune she had struck.

As we had scuttled inside, Maya briefly tiptoed to the other end of the room (checking for any unwelcomed visitors that may have been lurking in the shadows) to discover what we had been searching for. Under a large sheet, camouflaged so well against the backdrop of the wall, Maya discovered tins and tins of food as well as containers of water. The label of the tins had been scratched off, the paper hanging off in tiny shreds. A few words dotted some. Beans being the key pointer. That did not matter. We had found supplies and we were not going to die out here.

"You think it's a trap," Jamie whispered. His eyes darted around the room as he shuffled closer to me.

"I don't want to hang around to find out," I said as I passed Maya my pack. She took it from me and stuffed as many cans and containers as she could into it. I backed away and stood by the doorway, keeping an eye out for any Cranks that were waiting to jump us. It was fair to assume that the ones we had met at Jorge's palace were the only ones not going to eat us.

It was patiently waiting for Maya and Jamie to fix the packs that I heard a sound that resembled a muffled scream. I glanced over my shoulder. The others had not heard the noise. I dismissed it as a figment of imagination, or just pure hunger, and carried on with my stare.

Seconds passed, the noise came again. This time I knew it wasn't the hunger. I left my post and followed where I believed the noise was coming from. I shuffled across the room to the furthest wall from the others.

Again I heard the muffled screams, the sounds clearer this side of the room. I traced my finger tips across the wall, catching flecks of paint with my nails. To be certain that I wasn't actually going mad, I pressed in ear to the smooth surface and listened. Faint scratching sounds whispered to me, almost quiet enough that I nearly mistook the noises as a family of rats nestling in the walls. It was muffled words that dismissed the idea. As far as I knew, rats did not talk.

I traced the wall again until I found what I was searching for. A small section of the wall flipped in as a handle. It was so cleverly hidden that without knowing what you were looking for anyone would miss it. I sucked in the nerve and pushed the wall until it slid away revealing the scene behind it.

Two girls. Gagged. Tied together. One brunette, the other raven haired. Both scared. Both the missing friends.

"Lottie? Maggie?" I said in astonishment.

The surprise of my find wore of fast. Lottie's eyes widened and she jerked her head forward. Maggie joined in with her and shuffled frantically on the floor.

"What you doing?" I kneeled down beside them and removed Lottie's gag. She spat it from her mouth and screeched "behind you."

I snapped my head to where the direction Lottie was staring at. My gaze fell upon three figures standing in the entrance of the room, blocking our escape.

We were right, it was a trap.