I Promise | The Maze Runner

Chapter 12: Jorge ✔️

"Hey! Get up! Frypan! Aris! Spencer!" 

I open my eyes as Thomas pushes my shoulder. 

"Get up! I see something! You see that?! It's lights!" Thomas says, pointing towards the distance where lights are.

"We made it." Aris whispers.

We all turn around and look up at the sound of thunder. "We gotta go! Come on! Hurry up!" Thomas yells as everybody grabs their bags and starts running. Thomas yells at all of us to hurry up as we get closer to what looks like an abandoned factory where Thomas saw the lights.

Lighting strikes all around us, shaking the ground a little as it hits. I'm almost to the door as I hear yelling from behind me. I glance behind me to see Thomas and Minho on the ground. Aris and Newt run back to grab Minho as Thomas staggers up. They continue running towards the building. I open the door as everybody goes in. Once everybody's through I close the door behind me.

Somebody turns on their flashlight, illuminating a small space around us. I also grab my flashlight out of my bag as the boys crowd around an unconscious Minho, yelling at him.

"Come on, Minho!" Thomas yells, frustration in his voice.

"Ugh." The boys all sigh in relief. "What happened?" Minho asks, glancing around, squinting from the light on his face.

"You got struck by lighting, dude." Fry says, looking at Minho with a smile of relief. 

"Ugh." Minho replies as the boys get him standing up.

I glance at Newt. "Is he okay?" I ask, nodding to Minho.

"I hope." Newt replies.

"What's that smell?" Teresa whispers, looking around the room, unable to see anything from lack of light. She takes a flashlight out of her own bag and turns it on as a crank comes running at her. She screams, stepping back as the crank is held back by the chain around it's neck. I step in front of Newt as more cranks appear, running towards us, but all held back by chains.

"I see you met our guard dogs."

We all whip around to see the silhouette of a teenage girl as the lights turn on. She walks through a path of cranks towards us so we can see her. She has short, dark brown hair, and matching dark brown eyes. She looks the group up and down.

"You guys look like shit." She says, an eyebrow raised. "Come on, follow me." She says, turning to walk back town the path. All of us exchange looks, not knowing if we should trust her. She stops and turns back to us. "Unless...you wanna stay here with them."

We all look at each other. She walks back down the path, us following. She leads us up a set of stairs to the second floor of the factory. "Come on, keep up. Jorge wants to meet you." She says, leading us to where a big group of men are sitting around.

"Who's Jorge?" Thomas asks as some of the men start following us.

"You'll see." She says with a smirk. "Nobody's come out of the scorch in a long time, you just got him curious." She says as we continue walking. She glances Thomas up and down. "And me too."

Newt glances behind us as more and more men start following our group. "Anybody got a bad feeling about this place?" He whispers, glancing at me.

Thomas looks back at us. "Let's just hear him out, see what he has to say." He says as we get lead up another set of stairs.

"Jorge, they're here." She says to a man, who I assume to be Jorge, hunched over a radio set.

"Shh." Jorge says, looking back at the radio as static comes out of it. "Dammit!" He curses, throwing a pair of headphones on the table. He sighs and stands up before turning towards us. "Do you ever get the feeling the whole world's against you?"

All of us share a look, like 'yes, oh wait, the whole world is against us!'. 

"Three questions: Where did you come from, where are you going, and how can I profit?" Jorge continues, pouring a cup of water. All of us stay quiet, not really trusting the man, and not wanting him to know."Don't all answer at once." He says after a minute of silence.

"We're heading for the mountains." Thomas speaks up. "Looking for the Right Arm."

The men crowding around us laugh. "You're looking for ghosts, you mean." Jorge says, correcting Thomas. "Question number 2: Where did you come from?"

"That's our business." Minho speaks up, like an idiot.

The men around us, all step towards us, grabbing us and forcing us onto our knees. The female grabs something off the table and walks over to Thomas. She scans something on the back of his neck as he yells and struggles. 

"Shut up you big baby." She says, finally letting go of him. 

The men all let us go and we stand up again, watching them, suspiciously. "What is that?!" Thomas yells, pointing to the thing the female is still holding. 

"You were right." The female says, ignoring Thomas and looking towards Jorge. 

"Right? Right about what? What is she talking about?" Thomas asks, glancing between the two, confused and frustrated. 

The female hands Jorge the thing and he takes it, looking at it. "Sorry, hermano." He says, looking up at Thomas. "Looks like you're tagged. You came from WICKED, which means, you are very valuable."