ENJOY THE CHAPTER...this one is rather short, but it's worth reading.
CHAPTER SEVEN - The Storm
It was night.
The sky was a faded mixture of yellow and dark blue. The clouds were grey and pink.
The vast wasteland was cold.
No mirage could happen.
The group decided to stop for the night at the ship Luke and Luna saw earlier.
The ship was toppled to its side.
There were many shipping containers. Some providing an overhead shade for the group
The group managed to build a campfire.
Cyrus had his hoodie over his head as he stepped out from a shipping container with wooden planks in his hand.
Cyrus approached the campfire and tossed the planks into it.
Cyrus then sat down next to Stella.
The group was around the campfire.
No one was smiling...
Lynn was twirling the knife Matias gave her in her hands.
Sam looked at her hand.
The bite mark seemed to be healing on its own.
Luke was sitting away from the group by himself, staring into the sky.
Cyrus shook his head.
"Sawyer and the rest are probably dead...they didn't meet us at the mall..." Cyrus said.
"Your friends are fine...they probably just couldn't meet us in time..." Aazay said.
The mood of the area was dark.
Sage and Matias were already both gone...only one day into the scorch...
"I never thought I'd say it..." Nick said.
The group looked at him.
They noticed tears coming down his eyes.
"I miss the glade..." Nick said.
The group was at there lowest.
"I miss cooking..." Nick added.
Lynn kept twirling her knife.
"I miss the parties..." Sam said.
Mollie's gash in her head seemed to stop bleeding.
"What do you think happened to everyone who stayed behind?" Mollie asked.
"Like Javier? or Jesse? Hassan, Lance, Colton? Everyone else...they're probably still there...or maybe they all died from grievers..." Kaitlin said.
Luna was resting sideways on a clay lump they found in one of the containers.
"If these Unit 8 assholes really wanted to kill us...why the fuck didn't they just finish us off when they found us at the maze..." Luna said.
"Because they need us...our immunity, it's what they want. They don't care how, but they won't stop..." Lincoln said.
"We're running again...just when I thought we were done running..." Luna said.
The group sat silently.
Luna sat up.
"None of us are safe out here...no matter how immune." Lynn said.
Luna looked at Luke and saw him sitting alone.
Luna was pissed off at the fact they were trying to stay alive again...but she knew they couldn't give up.
Luna stood up and approached Luke.
Luke had no emotion in his face.
He just sat there and stared...
Luna sat down next to him.
The sound of wind blowing and the cackles of fire were the only sound she heard when she was sitting next to Luke.
"Luke..." Luna said.
Luke looked at her.
Luna knew how much pain he was in right now.
"Join us at the fire..." Luna said.
Luke looked away.
He didn't reply.
"We need you..." Luna said.
Luke shook his head.
"Why? Why do you need me? Matias is dead because of me...he saved my life at the cost of his own...and then it followed me back, and since Sage came back to help me...she was the last one to go through the door, and that's when they infected her...both of them are dead...because of me..." Luke said.
Luna listened.
"We don't even know where we're going...we're just blindly hoping that we stumble upon our saviors...when our friends are dying left and right..." Luke continued.
Luna took in every word.
There was a brief silence between the two.
"I just took the shot from the vial...it should've been given to Sage instead." Luke said.
Luna looked at him.
"Remember when I killed Sully?" Luna said.
Luke nodded.
"I still blame myself for Clyde's death...I felt like I could've been faster...Sully's death haunts me too...I knew him for a long time...he was one of the first eight to arrive...he's the one who helped me adapt to the maze, back when he was less of a dick...we used to make music together with rocks and sticks...it was fun..." Luna continued. "And then five years later...I throw a spear into his eye...and it was like I was watching him die...I didn't hesitate...but I keep seeing his face...I keep seeing Bobby...everyone else who died in the attack...they were just kids...kids who wanted to live...and have fun...the years of torment we went through...sometimes I wonder if it was worth it...all the friends we've made...the connections...the family we've created...and now half of them are dead...and it's just us left..."
Luke listened.
Luna looked at him.
"And yet...I keep going...I don't give up...because I know they need me...and I know it's not gonna be easy to forget what happened...we're family...and you're family too...and there is a place for us out there...I don't know where...and believe me, I'm not happy how were running again...but dude...you can't give up on your family...and I can see in your eyes that you're tired...but Sage and Matias would want you to keep going...a lot of our friends died to get us this far...so we can't give up..." Luna said.
Luke stared at the ground.
Luna put her hand on Luke's shoulder.
"We're here for you...you're not alone..." Luna said.
Luke smiled.
"Thanks Luna..." Luke said.
Luna smiled.
"Come join us at the fire...and get some rest..." Luna said.
Luna stood up and began to walk back to the fire.
Luke stared at the ground, deep in his thoughts...
Jay was in the communications room.
He was sitting in a chair.
Jay waiting for something to chime on the radio...
The buzz of the light in the room was getting annoying.
Jay waited for what seemed like several hours, just doing assignments and paperwork.
The radio chimed...
Jay quickly rose his head up and picked up the radio.
"This is The Owl." Jay said.
"We found the bodies of three of our men at the mall. There were several cranks but we took care of them...the power to the mall was on..." The soldier said.
Jay nodded.
"Must've gotten overrun...why the fuck would they turn on the power?" Jay said.
"That's the thing sir...they didn't...it was the kids..." The soldier replied.
Jay's eyes widened.
"Did you find them?!" Jay asked.
"No, well, not alive...we found the body of one of them with two dead cranks beside him..." The soldier said.
Jay's heart was racing.
"Which one? An immune? Or a regular?" Jay asked.
The soldier sighed.
"Immune...it was pink haired one...it looks like he fell from up top...there was a backpack with him with supplies from the mall, nothing else of interest though...but they were here..." The soldier said.
Jay slammed his fist on the desk.
"Find them. We can't lose anymore..." Jay said.
"Copy that." The soldier said.
"Have you been able to contact Halek on his status?" Jay asked.
"No sir...we haven't been able to reach out to him...it looks like his signal has gone dark..." The soldier said.
"What...? That shouldn't be right..." Jay said. "I'm gonna check it out for myself...Owl out." Jay said.
"Out." The soldier said.
Jay switched channels trying to contact Halek.
"This is The Owl, city team, do you copy?" Jay asked.
Just static...
"Repeat. This is The Owl, city team, do you copy?" Jay asked.
No response.
"The fuck..." Jay said.
Jay switched channels again.
"This is The Owl, Wolf, do you copy?" Jay asked.
Mavys picked up her radio and responded.
"I copy. What's up?" Mavys said.
"They found a body of one of the kids...an immune one at the mall...Halek has gone dark, he isn't responding..." Jay said.
Mavys sighed.
"I'll try and contact him..." Mavys said.
Mavys looked at a soldier.
"Alfred, can you please get Sterling? I need him." Mavys asked.
"Sure thing." The soldier said.
The soldier nodded and proceeded to do what Mavys asked.
Jay shook his head.
"Somethings going on..." Jay said.
It was morning...
The hot sun was scorching the sand below...
The sky was blue once again...
The group was walking...and walking...and walking.
"Last thing we need is a fucking sandstorm..." Kaitlin said.
"Let's hope we don't run into any..." Luan said.
The heat was starting to get to them.
Throughout their walking, the group had already stopped for breaks...drinking water each time.
They already managed to finish one bottle.
During their night at the fire, they already ate some of the food.
Supply was starting to get smaller.
The mountains ahead looked like they were getting further and further.
Aazay spotted something in the distance.
It looked to be a small building.
It looked like they already reached the end of the scorched lake...
"I see something up ahead...we're running low on food and water...we should check it out..." Aazay said.
Everyone had their jackets unzipped. The heat was too much.
"Alrighty then..." Nick said.
...
After another twenty minutes of walking...the group finally reached the small building.
Aazay looked at the sign on the building.
"G A S"
"Let's have a look..." Aazay said.
It was rather small. There were only two pumps and there was also a repair room attached to it...
There were some benches outside of the station. There was shade above them.
Cyrus immediately sat down.
Some other members like Luan, Benny, Lynn and Stella took a seat as well to rest their legs.
Cyrus took out his metal baseball bat.
"I can't carry this anymore..." Cyrus said.
Nick approached him.
"Want me to carry it for you?" Nick asked.
Cyrus nodded.
"Yeah...thanks." Cyrus said.
Cyrus handed Nick the bat.
Cyrus looked at Aazay.
"Hey...any chance for a water break?" Cyrus asked.
Aazay shook his head.
"We gotta preserve. We already drank too much, just hold on for a couple more hours..." Aazay said.
Cyrus sighed.
"Fuck." Cyrus said.
Jordan sat down next to Cyrus.
Cyrus closed his eyes, not noticing her.
"Don't tell anyone...but I kept my own..." Jordan said.
Cyrus opened his eyes and looked at Jordan.
"Kept your own what?" Cyrus asked.
"Water." Jordan replied.
"Wait, seriously?" Cyrus said.
"Yeah, I feel bad for keeping it away from everyone else...but I already shared some with Mollie, Kaitlin and Lincoln...do you want some?" Jordan asked.
Cyrus nodded.
"Please." Cyrus said.
Jordan chuckled and took out the water bottle.
It was a tiny one with half of it already gone.
Jordan handed Cyrus the bottle.
Cyrus took a sip.
"Hate warm water...but it's better than nothing." Cyrus said.
"Surprised it isn't boiling..." Jordan said.
"I'm surprised the heat didn't malfunction my hearing aid..." Cyrus said.
Cyrus looked at Stella.
"Imma go give some to Stella, I noticed she looks like she was roasted alive...if you don't mind..." Cyrus said.
Jordan nodded.
"Go ahead." Jordan said.
"Cool." Cyrus said.
Luke opened the door to the gas station.
Dust was flying off.
Luke looked inside.
Looked like any other abandoned gas station...
Spider webs were in the corners.
Dust and sand were on the floors.
No cranks or bodies in sight.
Luke walked inside and looked around at the shelves.
Nick and Kaitlin followed inside.
Kaitlin sighed.
Aazay and Lori went inside after.
"All this food is rotten, even the water." Luke said.
Aazay sighed.
"Well, it was worth a shot." Aazay said.
Luke looked at a door.
"Imma go check out that door." Luke said.
Luke approached the door and opened it slowly.
The door creaked.
It was an auto shop.
No cranks.
Luke opened the door.
There was a big whole in the roof, allowing the beam of light from the scorching sun to shine down and illuminate the room.
Nick entered in after.
Luke noticed a tool box.
It was open.
Luke approached it to look inside.
All that was left was a singular screw.
"Fuck!" Luke said. "There's nothing here."
Nick approached Luke.
"It's a shame we found this place so early. I wish we found it later so we can actually stay here for the night...but we can't stop of course." Nick said.
Luke nodded.
"Hey, what was Luna talking to you about last night?" Nick asked.
Luke turned around and looked at him.
"The Unit 8...that's it." Luke answered, although lying.
Nick nodded.
Luke began to exit the room.
"Hey." Nick said.
Luke turned around.
"You uh...have something on your jacket..." Nick said.
Luke looked at his jacket.
It was a spider.
Luke picked it up and tossed it away.
"Yeah...least scary thing you saw this week, right?" Nick asked jokingly.
Luke nodded and proceeded to leave the room.
"Shit, shouldn't have said that..." Nick said to himself.
Nick proceeded to leave the gas station.
Luke and Nick got outside.
"Place has nothing at all." Luke said.
"Well fuck. Well...let's keep going." Aazay said.
Everyone got ready for another long walk.
Luna approached Luke.
"Hey, is the bite looking any better? Sam isn't feeling anything at all." Luna asked.
Luke rolled his sleeve down and looked at it.
It didn't change.
"No. It still looks the same." Luke said.
Luke then immediately walked away.
Luna knew he wasn't happy about the decision.
No one has ever seen Luke like this before, it was surely surreal.
Luke's lack of spirit chained onto the rest of the group.
The group began walking again...
Back in the room with the strung up bodies...
A soldier with ginger hair entered the room and quickly ran towards Jay.
"JAY!" The soldier said.
Jay was speaking to Mavys.
Jay looked at the soldier.
It was James.
"What? Did they find them?" Jay asked.
James shook his head.
"No, but...we might have a lead to where they are going...one of our scouts...they found something big." James said.
Jay looked at Mavys.
"You're gonna need some good fighters for this..." James said.
Jay stood up.
"What'd you find?" Jay asked.
James took a step forward.
"Becky." James said.
Jay smiled.
"Finally." Jay said.
Mavys looked at him.
"They must've overheard..." Jay said.
"Then they must be heading there...we can get both at the same time." Mavys said.
Jay nodded.
"We need them." Jay said.
"Who?" Mavys asked.
"Alan and Ilsiv..."
James' eyes widened at the mention of these names.
"You sure you can trust them?" James asked.
Jay nodded.
"I know I can..." Jay said.
Mavys and James looked at Jay.
"We invade tonight." Jay said.
It was getting dark.
The sky was pink.
The kids walked several miles in the scorching heat.
Aazay was in the front of the group while Nick was in the back talking to Kaitlin.
"So you're telling me that the reason we survived that long, wasn't because of me?" Nick said jokingly.
"Yes, I am, it was me. I'm the one who grew all the crops for your food, and I am the one who assigned you as the keeper of the cooks, since I was the one cooking before you arrived. Without me, you wouldn't be able to cook a damn thing." Kaitlin said.
"I guess you're right." Nick said.
Kaitlin was the tallest and one of the oldest in the group. She was the fifth glader to arrive in the glade.
Nick looked at Kaitlin.
"Hey, I like your new outfit." Nick said.
Kaitlin looked at him.
"I just found it in a pile of clothes. The other one I was wearing didn't feel comfortable." Kaitlin said.
"The color of your hair really does stand out." Nick said.
Everyone from the glade, even Kaitlin herself, knew Nick had a crush on Kaitlin.
"Well, it wasn't by choice." Kaitlin said.
Nick was holding the metal bat while his other hand was in his pocket.
"So uh...did you like my cooking?" Nick asked.
Nick and Kaitlin were a bit further away in the back.
"Uhh...sure." Kaitlin answered. No eye contact.
"Cool. Cool. You uh...look-" Nick was cut off.
"What is this?" Kaitlin said.
Kaitlin looked at Nick.
"I'm just trying to talk to a friend...that's all..." Nick said.
"Mhm. Ok." Kaitlin said.
Kaitlin postured her glasses and kept walking.
Nick sighed.
"You fumbled that one Nick." Nick said to himself.
Aazay looked at the mountains.
"It's getting dark." Aazay said.
Stella looked around.
"Doesn't seem like there's any shelter nearby." Stella said.
"Let's just sleep on the ground." Lincoln said.
"Yeah, but we're exposed. Any plane that flies by will spot us instantly." Kaitlin said.
"I'm exhausted." Benny said.
"We can't keep walking all night for a shelter. We need rest. Let's settle down at those rocks over there." Aazay said as he pointed in front of him.
"Alright." Sam said.
The group continued walking towards the rocks.
Everyone was completely exhausted.
Several hours past by.
Everyone fell asleep.
There was nothing to make a campfire with, so it was a cold night.
The sky was a very dark blue. The clouds were grey.
Everyone was sleeping on the ground, some had their backpacks used as pillows, others used their hoodies for warmth.
The sky was looking quite stormy.
The distant, very quiet strike of thunder woke Aazay up.
Aazay rose his head from his backpack.
Aazay looked next to him and picked up his glasses and put them on.
When his vision became clearer...he saw something that made his eyes widen.
Lights.
Aazay sat up and looked at the lights.
There were several lights in the distance near the mountains.
The group was pretty close to the mountains.
They were only about half a mile away.
"Hey! Guys! Get up!" Aazay said.
Aazay tapped Luna's shoulder, waking her up.
Nick was still asleep.
Jordan tapped his shoulder, waking him up.
Everyone woke up.
"What is it?" Sam asked.
Aazay got up and pointed.
Nick smiled while looking.
"There's lights!" Aazay said.
Lynn looked.
"Those lights, that's gotta be it!" Lori said.
"How do we know that isn't just another Unit 8 base?" Lynn asked.
Aazay looked.
"It barely has anything in the front of the building. I don't see any of the logos...this can't be one." Aazay said.
Everyone stood up.
"We'll what are we waiting for?" Luan said.
Luan got up and began walking.
"Nothing's stopping us." Luan said.
Suddenly, a loud boom came from behind.
Everyone quickly turned around and looked.
It was a storm...lightning and thunder...
Blue and white were flashing in the clouds. Booms every second.
Suddenly, a strike hit the ground. It was loud, causing everyone to jump.
"Shit..." Luna said.
The sky was getting a very dark grey.
"What's the noise?" Stella asked.
Aazay looked.
There was fog...lots of fog.
Screams were heard from the fog.
Everyone knew what that sound was.
Suddenly, shadows started to come out of the fog, rushing towards them.
They were pretty far behind, but everyone knew what it was from the sound alone.
"CRANKS!" Cyrus yelled.
The sound of the lightning must've woken the cranks up.
"Alright! EVERYONE! LET'S GO! WE GOTTA RUN!" Aazay yelled.
Everyone grabbed their things.
"Get to the lights!" Kaitlin yelled.
The group began to run towards the lights.
A mass group of cranks and the lightning behind seemed to give chase.
...
The group was running through the darkened wasteland.
The sounds of echoed and distant crank screams chilled the spines of the group.
The sounds of thunder and lightning strikes made the group run faster.
The group ran as fast as they could.
They were getting closer to the lights.
"HURRY!" Cyrus yelled.
"RUN!" Stella yelled.
The group kept running...and running...and running.
The group was close enough to make out a factory.
The lightning caused the group to duck their heads down.
Lori, Sam, Jordan, Mollie, Luan, Benny, Stella, Lincoln and Lynn were in the front.
Aazay, Luna, Kaitlin and Cyrus were in the middle.
Luke and Nick were in the back.
Next to the building was a medium sized electrical power plant.
A strike of lightning hit the ground only fifteen feet away.
Everyone moved away from that area and kept running straight.
"WE'RE ALMOST THERE!" Jordan yelled.
Cyrus moved around something he saw on the floor.
"THERE'S SHARP OBJECTS ON THE GROUND! WATCH YOUR STEP!" Cyrus yelled.
There were several rusted cars scattered in front of the building.
Suddenly, a strike of lightning struck a generator, it was close enough to knock Kaitlin to the ground.
Kaitlin fell to the ground.
Nick noticed this and grabbed her and helped her to her feet, slowing him down.
The cranks were giving chase behind, screaming.
"KEEP RUNNING!" Nick yelled.
Luke was still in the back.
Suddenly, something caused Luke to tumble to the ground in pain.
Luke had tripped over a sharp piece of metal, slicing his leg.
"FUCK!" Luke said in pain.
Nick turned around and grabbed him.
Nick put Luke's arm around him.
Nick was still holding his metal bat.
Everyone except Luke, Nick, Luna, Aazay and Kaitlin had made it inside.
"COME ON MAN! WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT, LET'S GO!" Nick yelled while the two were running, holding onto each other.
Nick looked at his metal bat and realized something.
Suddenly, a loud crackle came from above.
Nick looked up and saw what was coming down.
"OH SHIT!" Nick yelled.
Nick without a second thought threw Luke away from what was coming down.
It struck.
...
Nick was directly struck by lightning...
Nick fell to the ground...
From the loud blast, Luke's ears were ringing.
Luke was on the floor, trying to turn around.
Luke slowly looked behind him.
What he saw made his heart drop...
It was a sight he wished he never saw...
There was smoke emitting from Nick's body.
Nick's orange hat had fell off...there was a burnt hole through the top...
Nick was still moving...
His skin was burnt and some of his hair was burnt off...
His veins were visible and blood was seeping out through his nose...
His clothes had been burnt and one of his eyes was melted off...
His right leg had been blown off...blood was gushing out, creating a puddle.
Nick could barely breathe.
"NO!" Luke yelled.
Luke quickly crawled towards Nick's body.
Luke looked at Nick.
Kaitlin was at the door when she looked behind her.
"No..." Kaitlin said as she saw Nick's charred body.
Aazay and Luna turned around.
They both saw Nick's body...but they also saw the mass group of cranks swiftly approaching Luke, who was still hovering over Nick...
Nick made eye contact with Luke, but he couldn't speak.
Nick gasped and gurgled the blood dripping from his own eye socket.
Aazay and Luna quickly ran towards Luke.
"LUKE!" Aazay yelled.
Luke was crying.
"GET UP MAN! COME ON! PLEASE!" Luke yelled. "YOU'RE GOING TO LIVE!"
A crank was only mere feet away from Luke.
Luna and Aazay approached Luke and grabbed him by each arm...pulling him away from Nick.
The two began to run towards the building, carrying Luke.
The crank jumped and missed Luke by mere inches.
"LUKE, DON'T LOOK BACK!" Luna yelled.
Luke listened, but still heard what she wanted him to avoid seeing.
A group of cranks swarmed Nick's body and began feasting down on it.
Nick couldn't scream. All that was heard was a groan.
"KAITLIN! HOLD THE DOOR OPEN!" Aazay yelled.
Kaitlin held the door open and signaled with her hands for the three to hurry up.
"GO!" Luna yelled.
The cranks were getting closer.
"GET IN! HURRY!" Kaitlin yelled.
The three entered the dark building.
Kaitlin got inside and shut the door, blocking the cranks from getting in.
Jordan looked at the dark room inside before turning around from the commotion.
Sam and Lori began to block the door with a shelf they found.
The room was almost completely dark.
The only source of light was the windows above.
Luna and Aazay let go of Luke.
Luke fell to the ground as tears fell down his eyes.
"Nick...Nick..." Luke said quietly to himself.
"Wait, what happened?!" Sam asked.
"Where's Nick?" Lincoln asked.
Aazay closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief...another one of their friends was gone...almost instantly...
Kaitlin punched the wall in anger.
"FUCK!" Kaitlin yelled.
"Is Nick...?" Luan asked.
Aazay nodded.
"He's gone..." Aazay said in sorrow.
Luna stood silently in disbelief.
"What?!" Jordan yelled in confusion.
Jordan began to tear up.
"What? How?" Mollie asked in confusion.
"He just...h-he...just...fuck!" Kaitlin said tearing up.
"It happened so fast...I..." Luna said as she sat on the floor.
"No! NO!" Lori said as she began to tear up.
Luke was still on the floor, crying silently to himself.
"Nick..." Luke said to himself.
The group stood in place for a good 10 seconds as the sounds of cranks banging on the doors echoed the empty room.
Aazay, trying to make sure they are safe, took out his flashlight.
A few of the teens cried while a few others stood in shock, trying to take in what just happened.
Aazay shined it around...
The room was empty...
No one spoke...
Suddenly, the room was emitted almost completely by lights above.
The group looked around from the sudden light.
Suddenly, four girls entered the room from a balcony above.
The girls aimed their guns directly at the group straight on.
Aazay and everyone else stood back.
Luke looked up, his eyes red.
There was a good ten second silence in the room.
Aazay looked at the four.
One girl was holding a rifle at them. She had medium-length red hair, caucasian skin, a brown hoodie, grey paints and winter boots. She looked to be in her early 20's...
Another girl was holding a sniper rifle at them.
She had a grey hoodie, long black hair, a purple headband, tan skin, beige pants and purple boots. She was asian and looked to be in her late teens.
Another girl was holding a sniper as well.
She had distinct white and black hair split down the middle. She also had caucasian skin, a brown vest, blue pants, and green winter boots. She looked to be in her late teens.
The final girl was holding a revolver at the group.
She had fair skin, long brunette hair styled into a pony tail, a brown scarf, a brown and dark red long-sleeved hoodie, black cut pants with brown socks and brown boots. One of her fingers on her left hand were missing and she had a scar on her left cheek. She also had a piece of her left ear missing and her right hand was completely gone and replaced with an prosthetic arm with a big spiked ball at the end of it.
The girl with red hair spoke.
"Who are you?" The red haired girl said.
Aazay walked forward. He could tell these four weren't part of the Unit 8.
"We mean no harm! We're running away from a group called the Unit 8! We're just trying to find shelter! Please, lower the guns!" Aazay said.
The group watched on.
The red haired girl looked at the girl with brunette hair.
They nodded at each other.
The group stood in the empty room...waiting for something to happen...
...
Another one bites the dust...in only a few days into the scorch...the group had already lost 3 of their friends. Yikes. It pains me to kill off a character I enjoyed writing, but it's for the story...RIP The Legend Cook In The Glade. This is my first attempt at grotesque details...hope I did well lol. I think we can all agree he had the worst death in the story so far...
Anyways, see you guys in chapter eight, titled "Allies". Chapter eight marks the halfway point of the story. Expect longer chapters from Chapters 9-16 as we got a lot to cover.