ONE WAY RIDE | Maze Runner

➭ Chapter 2: Silhoutte

"Hey shank, look at this" Minho says in an excited tone.

Thomas turns around and sees his friend crouched down in front of an old videogames console, a joystick on his hand. He crouches down next to him and stares at the object. He's never played videogames before, and if he did, he probably doesn't remember. But this one maybe belonged to a kid that lived here, with his family. He thinks of an innocence soul, who didn't know what was really going on in the outside world.

"Too bad we don't have electricity. Or a function TV" Thomas smirks and Minho rolls his eyes hitting his shoulder playfully.

"Don't be such a killjoy, shuckface. It would be really cool to turn this klunk on"

"Yeah..." Thomas trails off for a moment. There's a noise in the back of his head. A buzzing noise. It seems coming closer with every step, and he glances up. "Watch out!"

A crank is making its way towards them from behind Minho, running and making gurgling unhuman noises. Thomas shoves Minho to the ground to avoid the creature from biting his neck furiously. He takes out his gun in the blink of an eye and suddenly a loud boom echoes throughout the abandoned city and the crank falls, a bright black hole between what was left of his eyebrows.

"Wow, thanks" Minho is breathing heavily from the scare. "Good shot"

"You okay?" Thomas asks Minho, who nods, with labored breaths too. Putting his gun back to his holster. "Come on, we got to keep moving. The noise will probably attract more of those things." He cringes at his own choice on words, knowing their friend turned into one once too. He sees the noticeable wince in Minho's face and chooses to ignore it.

"Are you guys alright!?" Brenda suddenly appears at the apartments' door panting with Jorge behind them.

"Yeah, yeah. Just a crank" Thomas assures them, helping Minho back to his feet. "Found anything?"

"Canned food and medicine. Can be useful. You?" Jorge answers back.

"Just an old console, nothing important." Minho answers with disappointment. "We should go back. Gally and Fry must be waiting" He states before moving fast ahead of them.

Thomas looks at him closely. Then, he looks at the floor and continues walking behind the rest, taking one last look at the dead crank before leaving the apartment too.

▰▱▰▱▰▱

Gally and Fry are waiting for them in the building loft, they are drinking sips of cold water but by the look on their faces Thomas can tell they haven't found anything important just like Minho and him Guess the only ones who were lucky were Brenda and Jorge. The group gathers outside, the scorching sun hitting Thomas' eyes like a ton of bricks, making him lead a hand to his face in an attempt to ease the discomfort, when his sight clears, he notices something a couple of miles from them.

"Alright lets continue" Brenda speaks up first, unfolding the map one more time.

"Wait wait, guys. Is it me or that wasn't there before?"

Everyone looks at him confused, and follow the line of his gaze, to a dusty military jeep three blocks from them parked in the side of the street. At first sight it doesn't seem to be supporting any person inside.

"Looks too new to be abandoned" Gally mutters.

"Okay we should continue with the next building. Just speak up if you see something strange, alright?" Jorge orders.

"Stranger than that?" Frypan asks with preoccupied eyes.

"Yes... Come on"

Thomas continues with Minho to another building, this one looks like there used to be offices before. This time they find a bit of canned food, handy talkies and something they think are antibiotics, much better than the last. Thomas also finds clothes, so he packs them in his backpack. When they come back Gally found old blankets and empty water bottles, Frypan took what it seems to be a watch that probably doesn't work anymore; and Brenda and Jorge found the same than Thomas and Minho. The group leaves the building satisfied with full bags and steps on the sidewalk, but this time there is something different.