The Desolation (The Maze Runner)

23. Trap

Salsa shot but the bullet merely glanced off the huge eel. Seconds later, another one crashed into the room from the ceiling. It separated Brenda and Minho from the rest. Minho started to use his fists to fight with it.

"Hey, catch us!" Salsa looked at Thomas and he nodded.

They ran through the next door. The monsters moved through the walls, one underneath and the other over their heads.

"Faster!" yelled Thomas when they reached the second room, even bigger than the first. "Salsa, do you have a plan?"

"Not yet!" she was running and thinking at super speed. She reached for the laser attached to her belt and pointed it at the wall on her right.

"Thomas, keep shooting!" she shouted when the first monster appeared from the wall in front of them. Thomas grabbed the gun she tossed him and started to shoot.

"It's not working!" he said.

A wave snake along the floor but Salsa kept cutting the wall till a huge part fell out. She was lucky, the opening revealed the outside. Salsa glanced at the buildings in front of her and smiled.

"Thomas, run!" she shouted, gliding the laser over the closest monster and it moved back as debris fell off its back.

They jumped through the hole in the wall and fell onto a gravelly hill.

"What's the plan?" asked Thomas as he gasped for air.

"The electricity tower," Salsa pointed at a metal construction in front of them.

She jumped up and sped up the hill as the small stones trembled after them.

"Do you see the two long metal straps on both sides of the tower? We have to disconnect them, one each, and when the monsters are under us, just let go of them," she explained the plan while running towards the tower.

She stopped under it and opened her bag while Thomas glanced behind his shoulder.

"They're coming," he said worriedly.

He raised the gun. Salsa threw two pairs of gloves on the pavement and crashed a bottle of green liquid against the ground.

Thomas shot till he ran out of bullets as Salsa covered the gloves in the liquid.

"Run!" shouted Thomas, turning around and jumping towards the metal construction.

"Stop!" Salsa grabbed him before he could touch the metal.

"The electricity will kill you! Here, put this on," she handed him the gloves. "And cover your soles in the liquid."

She fired at the monsters, allowing him to prepare himself.

"Ready!" he gasped.

"Climb up and remember, don't touch the construction with any other part of your body," she said, stepping into the rest of the liquid. Then she turned back to the monster and screamed. "Come on and get us!"

She ran towards the construction, pulling her pack back on. Salsa touched the metal through the gloves and felt the electricity sending tingles through her skin. She shivered but raised her legs onto the construction and started to climb up.

Thomas was already ten meters above the ground. The monsters glittered in the dark when they sped towards the electricity tower. Salsa climbed up as fast as she could, still being cautious not to electrocute herself. The first eel hit the bottom of the construction and sent explosions of current up the tower.

"Faster!" Salsa screamed at Thomas who let out a loud moan of pain when the electricity ran through him. Salsa bit her lip, shuddering from pain, but she kept going.

The whole construction swayed dangerously when another monster rammed into it. Salsa glanced up at Thomas as he reached the end of the metal wire and stretched his hand out to undo it. She reached her own wire and took her laser out. The construction trembled and she glanced down to see the glittering monsters right under them. She looked at Thomas.

"Ow!" he winced when he burned his skin on the construction. Another explosion went up the metal to meet them. Salsa saw that Thomas finally managed to destroy the attachment of the metal cable.

"Ready?!" she asked.

"Ready!" he looked at her and started to count down. "One, two, three!"

When he said 'two' she slid the laser through the cord. Both pieces fell down, gaining speed before hitting the monsters. It went through them and sparks erupted.

"Down!" Salsa climbed down as fast as she could and so did Thomas.

The pain hit her with another electric explosion when the eels started to glow madly.

"Jump!" she yelled, letting go of the construction and falling.

She hit the hard ground and Thomas fell beside her a second later. The monsters exploded in an eruption of lightning and stopped moving. The glittering remains of their metal skeletons were frozen on the ground. The power also faded from the electricity tower and the last lights in the city disappeared, leaving it in complete darkness, apart from the shining white tower in the middle of it.

Salsa pushed herself up, feeling the pain all over her bruised body. She had been through a lot but this mission was way more dangerous than anything she had ever experienced.

"Wow, good job," they heard familiar voices.

Salsa turned around to find Minho, Brenda and Jorge standing by the hole in the wall of the building.

"Are you okay?" Salsa looked at Thomas.

"Alive," he panted, still on the ground.

"Let's go," she said. "Everyone in the city must have seen the explosion."

Thomas got up and they made their way to another devastated building to find shelter. It wasn't easy, it seemed like the Cranks were housing in every hole here.

"I start to think that the Scorch was a playground compared to this," Salsa sighed.

They rested against a wall and they could hear the unpleasant sounds of body parts being torn apart behind them.

"This city also has tunnels," suggested Brenda, coming closer to Thomas.

"I'm not taking the tunnels," said Salsa resolutely.

"Why?" Brenda asked, her dark eyes shining with fury.

"It isn't safe," Salsa muttered.

"It's not safe here either!" Brenda looked at Thomas.

"No, I'm not taking the tunnels unless I'm forced to do it!" argued Salsa.

"What do you know?" Brenda's eyes narrowed.

"Enough to be afraid," Salsa turned behind the corner where two Cranks were eating someone for supper. They glanced at her with mad eyes and drenched in blood.

"I'm taking over this house," she said, sending two bullets between their eyes.

Thank you once again.
Do you think they will reach the White Tower in time? What might await them there?
If you like the chapter please comment and vote.
I dedicate this chapter to In_The_Starlight_
:)