Steel and Stone [The Maze Runner (Scorch Trials) Fanfiction]

Power's out

"You ready to go babe?"

"Hmm? Oh, ya just a sec." I reply, trying to stuff Kay back into the sling I'd made for her. She'd climbed out a few minutes before, chasing after someone's untied shoelaces, and now I was having trouble getting her back in. We were all set to leave the city, ready to head on to the next. After having found water but no food, we had decided that checking out the next city was probably our only option.

"Yep, I'm ready." I announce, finally having recaptured Kay.

"Everyone follow me!" Minho calls out, grabbing my hand as we take off jogging. We'd waited till dusk to start traveling, as walking in the afternoon sun would have been suicide. Even with the sun barely peeking over the horizon, the heat is still nearly unbearable. It had been one thing when we'd had the shade of the buildings for protection, but now out in the open, it was something totally different.

"So do you think there will be any more cranks in this city?" Newt asks thoughtfully, walking along a few steps behind us.

"Probably, I mean we can see the fires from here." I reply then snort, "heck, according to Ratman I can guarantee you there will be, since we're all cranks anyways."

"Shuck it, Sky why do you have to be so logical?" Newt says, "it's bloody depressing."

"Sorry." I say, shrugging. "Still something about that just doesn't add up to me."

"What do you mean?" Minho asks, joining our conversation for the first time. I smile a bit when I hear his voice, I had missed it. I even missed his stupid sarcastic jokes, not that I would ever admit that to him.

"Well, if we really do have the flare, why haven't we had symptoms before?" I say, "Ratman said they gave it to us before the maze right? So shouldn't we already be insane?"

"Hmm, I didn't think about that." Minho says, looking sideways at me, "But maybe we are already crazy."

"Maybe...." I say, my mind reeling with possibilities and scenarios. "But I doubt it."

"Ya I kinda do to." Newt chimes in, "do you think WICKED lied to us?"

"WICKED? Lie?" I scoff, mockingly rolling my eyes. "no! they would never."

"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't be the craziest thing to happen."

"Not by a long shot." I reply, thinking back to the disappearing bodies and bricked up windows, and of the griever hole, hidden in mid-air. Thoughts of the maze bring back a wave of sadness, and suddenly I've lost all desire to talk.

We walk for hours, using the distant fires to guide us through the darkness. I shuffle through the sand, doing my best to keep up with Minho. His long strides make more of a difference here than they ever did in the maze. In the maze I would simply sprint faster to keep up. That isn't an option here,  you try sprinting in sand and see how it works out for you. So by now, I was tired, hot and -after not eating for two days- very, very, hungry. Still we trudge on. We're only a few miles from the city, when we catch sight of two figures running towards us.

"Everyone stop." Minho yells, pulling me closer to him. "Make a circle." The gladers obey, forming a tight group behind us. We wait anxiously for the two figures to reach us, nervously anticipating their motives. Are they cranks coming to attack us? Or other people coming to warn us?

As they approach I can make out what appears to be a man and a woman, covered from head to toe in ragged clothing, their faces shielded by strips of cloth wound tightly around their heads. The first figure, the man, walks up to us, surveying our group. "Where did you come from?"