Run With Me ➵ Newt [2]

NINE | jorge and brenda

▬"How did you catch them?" Thomas asked as the lady led us down several dim, damp corridors, the walls coated with moss. "The Cranks, I mean."

"Catch them?" The lady repeated, her tone of voice suggesting that it was an odd question. "What, do you think we're stupid enough to do something like that? We don't catch them. We just take precautions when people start to turn."

"Wait - those things back there were your friends?" Teresa questionned in disbelief. "So you just chain them up?"

"It's no worse than cutting them loose to the Crank Palace," the lady said.

"What the hell's the Crank Palace?" Frypan asked.

The lady slowed down as we neared a set of doors, her eyebrows arched as she peered at our puzzled gazes. "You guys aren't from around here, are you?"

Without even waiting for our responses, she slid the doors aside and walked through them, leaving us no choice but to follow. I glanced around me with a mixture of curiosity and wariness. We were in a spacious warehouse where people of all shapes and sizes were hanging around. The lighting was dim, only lit up by strings of lightbulbs looping around the metal railings of the floors and windows, casting an eerie glow over everything and everyone. 

"You haven't told us your name," I said, hating how my voice echoed through the cavernous space.

"Brenda," she answered without looking back. Then added, "You guys seem to like asking a lot of questions."

For good reason, I thought, though I didn't say it aloud.

As she led us up a flight of stairs, our footsteps echoeing on the metal steps, a bald man with a heavy, tattered coat loomed out of the darkness and stepped up to us, malice twinkling in his dark eyes. 

"So we're taking in strays now, are we?" He sneered, revealing rows and rows of ugly, broken teeth that were long since rotten down to an unhealthy yellow. Minho stepped up to the man and glowered at him, his hands curled into fists at his sides. Brenda spotted the sudden tension between the two and quickly stepped back down the stairs to them.

"Back off, Barkely," Brenda ordered, sensing the danger. When he didn't respond, she said, "Jorge saw them first."

With one final glare at him, she went back up the stairs and took the lead again. We followed her up, trying to ignore the glares Barkely was shooting at our backs.

"Come on, keep up. Jorge wants to meet you." Brenda called out to us.

"Who's Jorge?" Thomas asked.

"You'll see. No one's come out of the Scorch in a long time. You just got him curious."  

We walked through the upper floor, where the head of barrels were lit up with bright orange flames. People in torn, tattered clothes walked by us as we followed her, throwing glances at us as they passed by. A moment later, some of them started following us, trailing behind our group, their faces guarded up and tensed, completely blocking our way of escape if it ever came to be. Newt glanced back at them and one of the guys gave him a creepy sneer.