Burning Curiosity //Minho

Smoldering

Everyone immediately became alarmed. All the questions were the same, "Who is that?" "What's happening?" "Are you hurt?" Only one voice was louder than the rest and that was Thomas.

"Stop thrashing! What's the matter with you!" Then the hall fell silent again. Everyone was too scared to speak.

"Thomas, what happened?" Minho demanded.

"He's warm. Like burning up. He.." Thomas cried out in pain and it sounded like he jumped back. "I think he burned alive."

"There was no fire."

"We would have seen something." The noise level grew as everyone tried to figure out what Thomas meant. How could someone burn alive with no flame? I knew how but I couldn't say anything.

"He feels all ashy." Someone else said. "His clothes have holes in them too, like he was burned." I recognized the voice as Winston as he continued to speak. "Somethings wrong here guys. We should have.."

"Should have done what?" Minho demanded. "Turn back? Never have left the Glade? What was our first mistake?" Nobody spoke and Minho sighed. "We can't talk about what we should have done or could have done. We left the Glade, we stepped onto that Flat Trans, we're going to keep moving forward. Everyone got that?" There were low murmurs throughout the crowd but nobody spoke up. "Alright, let's keep going. Does anyone know who.." Minho stopped talking.

"I think it was Abraham." Came a small voice. Abraham... Nice guy. He was part of the Gardeners.

"Well we'll all mourn him later okay, right now we have to.." Another blood curling scream, this time closer to Minho and I. I nearly screamed too with how scared I was. Instead, I reached back frantically, touching Minho's chest and then grabbing his hand. "Renner!" Minho shouted. Feeling a little less scared, I tried to find Renner in the dark. I grabbed his arm and screamed. His flesh burned my hand. "Mallory! What happened?" Everyone was shouting now, asking what was happening, what to do.

"He burned me, my hand!" I cried out. Why did I touch him? I knew better. When Renner finally stopped screaming and his body slumped to the ground, everyone was quiet.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do. Everyone spread out." Minho let go of my hand. "And now, we're gonna run like hell okay? If something touches you, grabs you, beat the living klunk out of it. Got it?" He demanded. Nobody said a word. "Run." And then we were sprinting down the corridor.

I kept my head down, knowing that those damn things were  coming from the ceiling. W.I.C.K.E.D probably tried to get me instead of Renner or maybe they were killing someone next to me as a warning. Say nothing. Do not help them. I ground my teeth, breathing in the dust from the hallway.

The hallway only claimed one more person. I don't know who and nobody stopped to check. As the screams continued, we moved farther and farther away from them. When I thought I couldn't run anymore, I collided into Minho's back. He grabbed me before I could fall over. But in doing so, he brought us close together, our foreheads touching. I could feel his chest moving up and down and his breath on my cheek. Despite how warm I was, I shivered.

"You alright?" He asked me. His voice was closer than I expected. That means his lips must be...

"I'm fine.." I whispered just as someone ran into me.

"Whoa! Hey, Malls?" Minho and I broke apart, despite Thomas not being able to see us. I could just tell that I was bright red. "Where's Minho, why'd you stop."

"Slim it Thomas. I'm right here. Everyone slow down!" Minho commanded down the hallway.

"What's up?" Newt asked, somewhere not far behind.