Ticking Time Bomb [THE SCORCH TRIALS]

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

           "You'll see!" Brenda replied, out of breath as she reached the last step on the wooden staircase. She could make out Jorge's frame in the darkness, waiting for them as he hauled a bag over his shoulder. Ingrid raised her eyebrow at the sight of him, wondering what exactly could he help them with. Thomas seemed to have the same thought as she did, for he stopped behind Ingrid as well. Jorge noticed the standstill teenagers, rolling his eyes before motioning towards them.

           "Come on! We don't have much time! Let's go," Jorge gestured towards them. He spoke the last two words a couple more times before Ingrid finally budged from her spot, rolling her eyes as she raced after the older man. "Right this way," Jorge heaved before stopping in a front of a glass-paneled door, pushing it open to reveal a sight that was certainly not for the weak-hearted. There was a small string that led all the way across to another side, and about a 100-foot drop below it. Ingrid's mouth gaped open in shock, her stomach flipping as she took in the sight. Normally, this would be regarded as fun, even euphoric, but under these circumstances, Ingrid was anxious.

         "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Frypan spoke up from behind the group, and Ingrid subtly nodded in agreement as her eyes wandered over the vast expanse of the area. She couldn't help but think about the many things that could go wrong; one of them being falling to her sudden death. Ingrid looked up towards the ceiling, catching sight of ropes that were connected with the string. Jorge tugged on one of them, pulling it closer to the teenagers in the group.

          "Come on, hermanos. You wanna get to the Right Arm? I'll lead you to them," Jorge offered. "But you're gonna owe me." He pointed towards the equally as shocked group of teenagers, Thomas's mind whirling as he tried to decipher the words that had came out of his mouth. Ingrid couldn't believe what she was hearing — the Right Arm was real. Janson had always mentioned it was a joke, a place that people conjured up to believe that there was refuge for this life. "Alright, follow me!" He pulled on the rope, bringing it down to his height before swinging off into the distance.

         Brenda pulled down another rope, and the aforementioned group really had no idea what to do at that exact moment. They could either follow after the two, or find another way out. Ingrid watched as the others had trouble with the decision as well, and she knew that there was a mere chance that they still didn't trust Brenda and Jorge yet. In all honesty, Ingrid herself was incapable of believing a word that had come from their mouths yet. "Come on!" She yelled again, and it was only then when everyone began to move. Thomas urged Minho onto the next rope, Aris and Newt following immediately after. "Teresa, you're next! Go!" Ingrid pushed Teresa off, and before Ingrid could even move along, she heard Thomas's footsteps race after an unsteady Brenda. Ingrid groaned loudly before ditching the rope and sprinting after the two.

           "Where are you going?" Thomas yelled after Brenda, and said girl was found in Jorge's room of knick-knacks, rummaging through a drawer hurriedly. Ingrid stopped after Thomas, breathless, as she waited anxiously for Brenda to stop scavenging and move along. The Clearwater girl wanted to be as far away from that place as possible. "Brenda, what are you doing? We've gotta go!"

"I got it! I got it!" Brenda rushed to say as she pushed past the two teenagers, running through the narrow hallways and whizzing past curved corners. But, the three couldn't get very far before their eyes latched onto WCKD's troops, only a few feet away from them. Luckily, they hadn't noticed them yet. Surely, Brenda's heavy breathing would give it away soon enough. Ingrid tentatively stepped forward, pulling her bow from her arm and an arrow from her sack of them, slinging it towards them. The arrows landed directly in places where she needed them to; their chest, their back, or their neck. Thomas and Brenda watched in awe as she shot the ones that were in their way down so that they could run past them. "Go! This'll only hold them off for so long!" Ingrid yelled out.