CHAPTER FIVE
[ lights ]
They walked till it was dark. They had a fire set up around shipping containers. Aris walked out of one with some wood and chunked it into the fire.
Everyone was sitting or laying on the ground around the fire. Minho was playing with a knife when he said, "I thought we were supposed to be immune."
Teresa with her head on her bag said, "Not all of us, I guess."
Newt then spoke up, "If Winston can get infected, we should assume so can the rest of us."
Thomas had tears welling in his eyes. With tears streaming down his face Frypan said, "I never thought i'd say it but.... I miss the glade."
Minho started carving some wood with the knife he was playing with earlier.
Soon everyone fell asleep.
The next day when they woke up they were back to walking over sand dunes, in the hot sun. They kept walking not stopping, heading for the mountains.
Minho tried getting water from his bottle, just for it to be empty. He chunked the bottle to his right. They walked until night again.
They were in the middle of what seemed nowhere asleep on the ground. With nothing supporting them besides their bags and arms. Florence was laying tucked into Newt and Aris was on her back.
Thomas soon woke up cause of the lightning. He sat up and saw lights. He began waking everyone up. "Hey. Hey. Get up." He hit Newt's leg, who jolted wake-Florence following in suit. "Newt. Florence, get up. Come on, let's go. Frypan, Aris. I see something."
Everyone stood up looking to where Thomas pointed. "Whoa, what is it? What..."
"You see that." Thomas breathed heavily. "It's lights."
"We made it." Minho said, when thunder cracked. Everyone turned around and saw the lightning crash. Florence took one look and bolted.
"Bye bitches!" Florence screamed, running away towards the buildings with light.
After a few seconds everyone followed her. Florence was almost at the door when she heard a loud thud. She turned around and saw Minho and Thomas on the ground.
Thomas was moving and Minho wasn't. She rushed over to Minho. She and the others helped move him towards Teresa and Frypan whom was waiting at the door.
They all ran in and placed Minho ok the ground. "Who's got a light?" Thomas asked.
Florence tapped Minho's cheek lightly hoping for the boy to at least move. "Minho!" Thomas shook the boy.
"Come on, come on. Minho!" Newt said holding the flashlight.
Florence moved her hands away when Thomas grabbed Minho's face. Everyone was breathing heavily waiting and hoping their friend woke up.
"Come on, man." Newt said.
Florence gave him a good slap on the face and he groaned awake. Everyone sighed in relief. "There he is." Aris said.
"There you go."
"Here you are. Are you okay?" Thomas asked.
"What happened?" Minho asked.
"I think you got struck by lightning."
"Oh. Cool."
The boys helped Minho up and Teresa and Florence looked around at the place they were in.
"Hey. What's that smell?" Teresa asked. Teresa clicked on her flashlight.
Suddenly a crank popped out from the shadows, Florence let out a loud yelp. "Bitch, get the fuck away from me."
Everyone screamed backing up from the crank whom seemed to be held back by something. "Behind you!" Teresa shrieked.
Another crank came from the right of Thomas and Newt. The cranks were held by chains and were all trying to grab them. "I see you've met our guard dogs." A person from the dark said.
Lights turned on and a girls figure was seen. The girl started walking towards them passing the cranks whom tried grabbing her. "Stay back! Stay back!" Minho said.
Brenda stopped in-front of the group and blew out some air, "You guys look like shit."
"So do you." Florence said.
Brenda ignored the comment and said, "Come on. Follow me." Florence was the first to move. "Unless you want to stay here with them." Brenda turned and walked away. They ended up in a small hall and Brenda pushed a slide down over and walked through.
Everyone followed in a line. "Come on, keep up." Brenda commanded. "Jorge wants to meet you."
They walked up some stairs and Thomas asked Brenda, "Who's Jorge?"
Brenda looked at him then turned her head back forward, "You'll see. No ones come out of the scorch in a long time. You've just got him curious..." She slightly turned to look at Thomas again. "And me, too."
Florence watched Teresa's reaction from next to her and in-front of Newt and snickered. Teresa elbowed her and Florence pouted.
Newt and Frypan turned around to see a group of men had joined them, he turned back around and said, "Anyone else starting to get a bad feeling about this place?"
"Yep." Florence said popping the p.
"Let's just hear him out. See what he has to say." Thomas said back to Newt.
They kept following Brenda until they were in a room with a man sitting at a desk playing with a radio. "Jorge, they're here."
Jorge held up a finger and shushed her. "Quiet." He whispered. The radio didn't work when he turned the dial. "Damn it."
He turned it off then exhaled sharply. The group was in the center of the room and the men whom followed them were spread all around the room.
Brenda sat on the couch and leaned her head back. Jorge turned around and put his hands on his hips. "You ever get the feeling the whole world's against you?"
"Yes." Florence muttered to herself. Newt heard and grabbed her hand.
Jorge took his hands off his hips and walked towards the group. "Three questions." He picked up a glass and held it. "Where did you come from? Where are you going? How can I profit?" He stood waiting for a response and when no one answered he said, "Don't all answer at once."
"We're headed for the mountains. Looking for the Right Arm." Thomas said.
The men in the room began to laugh. Brenda looked to Jorge and Jorge smiled and said, "You're looking for ghosts, you mean." He took a sip from his glass he poured.
"Yo, can I get some water?" Florence asked.
"No."
"Okay."
Jorge lifted the empty glass and started walking closer to the group. "Questions number two." He stopped walking. "Where did you come from?"
Thomas and Minho looked at each other. Newt looked at the both of them when Minho spoke, "That's our business."
Jorge didn't look impressed. He shrugged and his men grabbed Thomas by the arms and Minho by his shoulders. More men grabbed the rest of the group restraining them.
"Get the hell off me, man!" Thomas groaned. Brenda picked up a device and walked over to Thomas.
She grabbed the back of his neck and said, "Shut up, you big baby." She began to scan his neck.
"What is that?!" Thomas shrieked.
Brenda finished scanning and the me let go off everyone. Brenda looked down at the scanner and then looked up at Jorge. "You were right." She breathed out.
She handed it to him and he slipped his glasses on and read it. "I'm sorry, hermano." He looked back down at the scanner. "Looks like your tagged, you came from WICKED."
Brenda looked at them, "Which means, you're very valuable." Jorge continued.
Before they knew it they were strung up from the roof hanging by a rope by their feet.
"Good plan, Thomas." Minho said. "Let's just hear what the man has to say. Really working out for us."
"Oh shut up, Minho." He reached up, "Maybe I can reach the rope." He grunted.
"I think i'm gonna pass out." Florence said.
Jorge walked in. "Enjoying the view?"
"I would be, if I weren't about to pass out."
Jorge ignored her and walked towards the group.
"What the hell do you want?" Thomas asked annoyed.
He laughed, "That is the question. "My men want to sell you back to WICKED. Life has taught them to think small. I'm not like that. Something tells me you're not either." He said talking to Thomas.
"Is the blood rushing to my head or is this shank not making any sense?" Minho asked.
Jorge ignored Minho and pointed his walking stick at Thomas. "Tell me what you know about the Right Arm."
Newt with his red face said, "I thought you said they were ghosts."
Jorge looked to Newt and responded with, "I happen to believe in ghosts." He looked back to Thomas and continued, "Especially when I hear them chattering on the airwaves."
Jorge walked over to the lever of the contraption holding the rope they were tied to. "You tell me what you know, and maybe we can make a deal."
Thomas stuttered responded with, "L-look we don't know much."
Jorge pushed the lever down dropping them a foot. Everyone let out a loud scream, Florence's being the loudest. "Fuck!" Florence yelled. "Omygoid. Don't do that again, for the love of god."
"Okay! Okay! They're hiding in the mountains. And they attacked WICKED. They got out a bunch of kids. That's it. That's all we know."
Jorge was about to speak when another voice joined the conversation. "Yo, Jorge." Barkley said.
He walked in and looked at the group then back to Jorge. "What's going on?" He put his hands on his hips.
Jorge nodded his head towards the group and said, "Me and my new friends were just getting acquainted. We're done now." Jorge said looking down at Thomas.
"Hey, wait. You're not gonna help us?" Thomas asked confused.
Barkley looked suspiciously at Jorge and Jorge said, "Don't worry, hermano. We'll get you back to where you belong." Jorge began walking away before saying, "Hang tight."
And with that they left.
"Thomas are you fucking stupid or something? He said his men wanted to sell us back to WICKED. You asking in-front of one of his men asking if he was going to help us? How much of a dumbass can you be?"
"Sorry." Thomas mumbled.
Florence groaned and said, "Yeah, whatever." If WICKED fucking comes i'm blaming Thomas, Florence thought.
Soon the boys came up with an idea to swing Teresa to the lever and get them down. Thomas grabbed Teresa ," Got you. Minho ready?." and sent her over to Minho. Minho grabbed her waist and Thomas counted to three. "One... Two... Three."
Minho pushed her and she missed by centimeters. Teresa and everyone groaned. "Shit." Minho said.
They tired again. They failed. Tried again. And failed. "Come on Minho. Push her harder."
"Shit." Thomas mumbled.
Teresa swung back to Minho. He grabbed her and launched her with all his might. Teresa grabbed a-hold of the bar near the rope. Everyone cheered.
"Yes!" Minho said.
"Yes!" Thomas said.
"Oh thank god." Florence said to herself.
Teresa flipped over so she could grab the lever. She grabbed it and yanked it to where everyone sunk a good 4 more feet. Teresa began to untie her feet.
She quickly went over and grabbed a old pipe. She held it out to Thomas who grabbed it and she pulled him over to the ground. Suddenly they heard a helicopter and Janson talking, "Good evening! This is the World Catastrophe Killzone Department. We have your compound completely surrounded. You find yourselves, through no fault of your own.. in possession of WICKED property. Return them to us unharmed."
Teresa got Thomas down and headed to help Newt. Thomas began to help Florence get down.
Soon everyone was down and they all began to head towards the way out, "Come on, let's go." Thomas said
A gun cocked. In-front of them stood Barkley with a shotgun. He stepped towards the group of kids and Thomas spoke up, "We're not trying to cause any trouble, okay? We gotta get out of here."
"Is that so?" Barkley asked with a wide smile. He lifted up his walkie talkie, "Janson, I got 'em for ya. I'm bringing 'em down. Don't shoot us." He put the walkie down to his side and said ," Come on. Let's go."
He walked closer to them and said sternly, "I said let's go." Thomas then hit the shotgun in Barkley's hand and it went up and a shot was fired. Thomas fought with Barkley and he group followed as the two fighting moved more forward.
Thomas pushed Barkley back far and before Thomas could do anything Barkley cocked the gun and lifted it. "You little bastard!"
There was a gun shot. Everyone looked around to see none of them were shot. Barkley fell to the ground and Brenda was behind him holding a gun.
"Cool." Florence said.
"Okay. Come on." She started walking away. No one moved "Come on! Let's go!" Florence followed behind her like a puppy.
As they were moving through the place a song began to play. They ran up the stairs and heard Jorge yell, "Brenda! Hurry! We don't have much time! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
They walked down to a window. "Right the way." Jorge pushed it open.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me." Frypan said.
"Plan B, hermano. You kids wanna get to the Right Arm? I'll lead you to them. But you're gonna owe me." Everyone was breathing heavily trying to catch their breath. Jorge pulled the rope and got on and said, "Follow me!"
"All right! Let's go!" Brenda said pulling another down. "Come on!"
"Go! Everyone, go."
Minho went to the one Jorge used and went down. Frypan went to the other one. Aris went after Minho. Florence went to the side Frypan used and went down. She landed on the ground with a thud. Newt to her landed Newt.
"Hi."
"Hey love."
"All right. We have to go-" Jorge looked around. "Where's Brenda?"
"She ran back to get something." Teresa said. "Thomas ran after her."
"She went back to get George." Jorge whispered to himself. "All right. We need to go."
"We can't leave without Thomas!" Newt said.
"He's with Brenda, she know's where to go." He said and walked away. They ended up in-front of a truck.