𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐒 - 𝘚𝘊𝘖𝘙𝘊𝘏 𝘛𝘙𝘐𝘈𝘓𝘚

10 ~ 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨

Lottie

Somehow, I was alive. I wasn't sure I was supposed to be, but I was. I stared in horror at the pile of rubble separating myself and the others, and turned to Thomas gratefully. He still had the back of my jacket clenched in his fist from when he pulled me out of the way. "Thanks," I said. "Do you think I saved him? Newt? Do you think he's alive?"

"He's alive," said Brenda reassuringly. "I saw Minho yank him the rest of the way to safety."

"Oh, good," I breathed in relief, but it was short-lived. "How are we going to get out of here now?"

"Now you notice," Brenda grumbled, and shone her light down the way we came. "Well, there's another way... a smaller tunnel, and darker. And it probably has more Cranks-"

"What the shuck are Cranks?"

"The Infected," Thomas answered, face pale. "People who have the Flare virus. Well – they're not really people anymore. They're cannibalistic monsters now."

I stood in silent shock for a moment. "What the actual shuck is this world?! Grievers, Cranks, and an evil organization that likes to kill children. Honestly."

"Well, it's no use complaining about it," said Brenda, who was already a good twenty yards away. "Let's go, quickly. I'd rather not stay here as long as possible."

We found another tunnel, which was connected to the main one. The only difference was that this tunnel was smaller and darker. We hesitated at the front, peering into the darkness. "Ah, yes," I said sarcastically. "I would very much like to go in there. Count me in,"

"Shut up," Brenda sighed, taking the first step in. "Follow me."

We walked in silence for what seemed like hours, before I heard it. The inhuman scream from behind us. I froze, and from the absence of footsteps ahead, the other two had stopped too.

"Crank?" I squeaked.

"Yeah," Thomas mumbled. We shone our lights around, trying to find the source of the sound, but all we saw was the graffitied brick walls and the remnants of cars. There was the sound again, closer this time. I instinctively inched closer to Thomas. Brenda was cursing repeatedly under her breath, which was not making me feel better about the situation at all.

"Where is-?"

I was cut off by the scream, this time right in my ear. I let out one to match, swinging my light towards the sound. It revealed a creature in the shape of a human. It wore a tattered navy suit, stained with something dark that I didn't want to think about. The most horrifying part of it was its face. It had bloodshot eyes. There were chunks of hair gone from its scalp, and it was missing part of its nose.

The Crank opened its mouth again, revealing rotten teeth, and screeched. This time it lunged at me. I shrieked, stumbling back into Thomas, who seized my shoulders and threw me behind him.

"Run!" He bellowed, and I did not hesitate to obey. I bolted after Brenda, who had already taken off seconds before.

The Crank snarled behind us, and without looking, I knew that it was chasing us. More snarls joined the first. I looked back to see that two more Cranks had begun chasing us as well.

"In here!" Brenda ducked into a doorway. Thomas and I followed. The room consisted of nothing but a large desk – what it was doing by an underground road, I had no idea. "Quickly!" Brenda dove under the desk. Thomas followed, pulling me with him. It turned out that there was a small compartment under the desk, just big enough for us to squeeze into.

"They'll never find us, just stay quiet," Brenda whispered, switching off her light. Thomas and I followed suit. I could hear the screams of the Cranks getting closer.

"Come out, come out! Give me your noses! I need a new nose! I want your noses!" They cried, hauntingly gleeful.

I heard footsteps inside the room, and I knew that the Cranks had arrived.

"Noses...noses..." One of them muttered, sending chills down my spine. After a while, I heard, "There are no noses here," and then silence.

"I think they're gone." Thomas said, and switched on his light. It was a mistake.

"HELLO, NOSES!"

The Crank's bloodied face appeared below the desk. I couldn't help but scream. The Crank grabbed Thomas by the shirt, and began slamming his face over and over into the wall. With a grunt, Brenda reached over me, brandishing a knife. She made a cut on the Crank's arm, which immediately retracted.

Wasting no time, Thomas scrambled out of the small compartment, Brenda and I following. The Crank screamed in rage and lunged at me. I dove across the table, and then pushed it towards the Crank from the other side. It flipped over, crushing the Crank.

"Get out of here!" I screamed at the others, ushering them towards the door.

"Lottie!" Brenda shrieked, pointing behind me. Before I got the chance to turn around, I was tackled from behind. I could smell the Crank's rotten breath as it cried in triumph and clawed at my nose, leaving gashes there from its fingernails.

Suddenly, it was knocked off of me. I sat up to see Brenda struggling with the Crank, pinning its legs down while Thomas straddled it, pinning down its hands.

"You have to kill it!" Thomas tossed the knife towards me. I seized it and hurried over to the restrained Crank, which was still snapping and screaming. Closing my eyes, I plunged the knife into its chest, waiting to open them until the screams stopped. Eventually, they did, and I felt Thomas lifting me away. I opened my eyes and looked at Brenda.

"Get us out," I sobbed.

"We'll have to run if we want to avoid any more Cranks," she explained. I nodded. That was fine. I wasn't a Runner for nothing. The three of us set off sprinting down the dark tunnel once again.

We ran for hours. The sounds of the Cranks were distant but they never went away. Since Thomas and Brenda were silent, I had a lot of time to immerse myself in my own thoughts; I couldn't stop thinking about the Crank I'd killed.

He used to be a normal human. He could have had family, friends... young children that hoped against hope that he would get better and come home.

Watching the way the Cranks acted... it was draining. It drained you of hope. Then it dawned on me that WICKED was trying to help these people, to find a cure. Their intentions were good, but they were just performing it in the wrong way. Maybe that's why I agreed to help them in the first place... because I thought I could set them straight.

I suddenly collided with Thomas in front, who had stopped suddenly. So had Brenda. We were all out of breath.

"Here," Brenda gasped, and pointed up with her flashlight. The beam illuminated another trapdoor in the ceiling. "Someone help me up." Without hesitation, Thomas took hold of her waist and lifted her easily into the air. Brenda placed both hands on the trapdoor and pushed it open. I hissed as the sunlight streamed blindingly into the tunnel.

Brenda climbed up first, then aided Thomas. Together they pulled me up. After brushing off the sand, I looked up. It was still bright, but the sun was setting. It was nearly nighttime. Brenda shielded her eyes and looked at the sunset.

"We'll have to sleep in an abandoned car or something. It's too late to start heading towards the city."

"Over there." I pointed at a semi-truck half-buried in the sand. We made our way towards the back and Thomas opened it. We clambered inside, collapsing on the floor in exhaustion. Without much word to each other, we swung our backpacks off of ourselves and used them as pillows. The moment my head hit the backpack, I fell asleep. 

A/N

Ch 10! Vote if you liked it

- 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭