Lottie
I watched with a grimace as Newt's body shuddered on the floor, sparking with the electricity from my Launcher, which I was still holding aloft. Underneath Newt, the woman he had been strangling twitched and jerked around, trying to escape the electricity flooding from his body.
I ignored the chaos around me and sprinted towards Newt, jumping over the bodies of dead Cranks who had been unfortunate in getting hit by some of our bullets. Among the dead I saw all three of the Cranks Newt had been with – Donna, I think he called one of them, and the other two men.
I braced myself before I bent to seize the back of Newt's shirt and haul him over my back. The bolts of electricity flickered up my arms and I could feel the numbness and pain spreading across my body, but with adrenaline I was able to ignore it. I was not surprised that I could carry Newt's dead weight on my back. I had grown stronger over the past few months, and Newt had become weaker and frailer with the Flare disease.
Wincing, I hobbled along the wall, focusing all of my energy on not dropping the boy on my back. All of the other Cranks in the room were distracted by my friends in the middle, who were still firing their guns and wrestling with the monsters. There were many who were dead on the floor, though. If we didn't get out of the Palace soon, the whole place would be dead and it would be our fault.
I kept struggling towards the door, planning on leaving Newt out of harm's way before coming back inside and rounding up the rest, but then I heard a mighty roar from my left and Minho came flying into view, swinging a snapping Crank over his head and slamming it on the floor.
"Stay down!" Minho bellowed, spit flying from his lips. The fighting had gotten to his head, as his eyes were shining with desperation and anger.
"Minho!" I shrieked. "Minho, we have to get out of here, or else it's going to be a massacre!"
Minho glanced up at me, nodding in agreement. "Get Newt out of here, I'll go get the others-" he slammed the Crank into the floor once more, letting it fall limp before he turned back towards the battle eagerly. I looked towards the door. It was still so far away, and I wasn't sure how long I would carry Newt for.
"I can't carry him any longer!" I yelled. "It has to be you!"
Minho looked at me in despair before giving a resigned sigh. He came to stand next to me and I twisted my body awkwardly to deposit Newt onto his back instead. He began jogging towards the door ten times faster than I would have, Newt flopping around lifelessly.
I turned from them, hurrying back into the fray to wrangle up my friends. "Jorge!" I yelled. "Brenda, Julian – we have to get out of here before anything goes wrong -" I tried grabbing at them, getting their attention, but to no avail.
"Lottie!" A voice shouted in my ear. I whirled to see Spitfire approaching me, shooting his gun to his left three times in succession before glaring at me with panicked brown eyes. "You don't have a gun! What are you still doing in here?"
"Trying to get everyone to leave!" I exclaimed in exasperation. "We're doing okay for now, but there are hundreds of Cranks in this Palace. They're going to outnumber us eventually-" I broke off with a cry as I felt grimy hands on my back, and suddenly I was on the floor with the creature on top of me. I made an X with my arms, pushing back at the Crank, but it still snapped down at me with its rotten teeth. This one seemed like it had been going mad here for ages.
Then there were gunshots, a spurt of blood, and the monster fell limp onto me. Scrambling, I tossed it away as Spitfire grabbed my hood and pulled me to my feet. His helmet had fallen off, and I could see sweat dripping from the strands of hair that had fallen in front of his face.
"See?" he insisted. "You need to get out of here. I'll get everyone out."
Suddenly, there was a massive crash as two windows were destroyed and a flood of Cranks poured in from other places in the Palace, attracted by the commotion, no doubt. I couldn't help it; I screamed.
It finally seemed to dawn on the rest of my friends that they were outnumbered, and they began to spin on their heels and rush towards the door, punching and gunning down Cranks as they went. Soon they would run out of bullets and then we would have no advantages.
"Go!" Spitfire seized my shoulders, spun me around, and pushed me towards the exit. This time, I didn't hesitate. I ran so hard that I caught up to Minho, who was still making his way towards the van with Newt on his back. I could see that the electricity had worn off and now Newt was just unconscious.
"Minho, they're chasing us!" I shouted, expecting him to go faster, but instead he turned to see me. It was a mistake, though, because out of the shadows sprang another furious Crank – at this point I was getting tired of seeing their mangled faces and hearing their strained voices. The Crank, Minho, and Newt tumbled to the floor.
I cried out in panic and without hesitation flung myself into their midst. Minho already had the Crank by the neck, but it was ferocious and kept clawing at Newt, who laid helplessly on the floor. I swiftly hooked my arms under his and tried to pull him to safety, but out of my peripheral vision I spotted a mass movement out of the bowling alley. My friends led the stampede, and behind them was a horde of dozens of Cranks, all desperate for our blood.
Minho glanced up from his wrestling match, gasping with effort. "Spitfire!" He bellowed. "Shoot this thing!"
I watched them carefully, still dragging Newt towards the exit to the best of my ability. I saw Spitfire raise his gun, and shoot, sprinting towards us all the while. But the Crank did not go still. Instead, I heard the bullets pinging off the walls.
"Ugh! Let me!" Hacksaw shoved Spitfire's arm to his side and raised her own. Minho nodded at her and threw the Crank he was fighting away from him. With careful precision, Hacksaw's bullets followed and the next thing I knew, Minho was scrambling after me, leaving his dead Crank in his wake.
"Give him to me and go!"
I dropped Newt into Minho's arms and took off; down the corridors and into the courtyard. With a gasp of relief, the Right Arm's van came into view. I dashed through the gates – and was caught around the waist by one of the guards of the Crank Palace.
"And where do you think you're going?" He asked in my ear. His tone expressed surprise more than anything, but I did not show mercy as I twisted in his arms and punched him straight in the face. It felt like the hardest I'd ever hit anything, because the man crumpled the second my fist made contact. His partner caught him before he could hit the ground.
"Run while you still can," I spat at him before reaching for the van door and yanking it open. I turned back to the gate to see all of my friends still there but running frantically for their lives. Minho reached me first, throwing Newt's body into the van before clambering inside himself. "Go, go!" I screamed in terror. Some of the Cranks were making some very close calls. The only way some of my friends escaped them was reaching over their shoulders and making some swift punches or shots.
Finally, they reached the van – Jorge, Brenda, Thomas, Frypan, Julian, Gally, Hacksaw, and finally Spitfire bringing up the rear. I was still standing outside the van, holding the door for everyone. I was planning on jumping inside at the last moment, but Spitfire had a different idea. As he approached the van, he threw an elbow backward into the face of a Crank before scooping me up and tossing me into the van like I was a ragdoll. I landed painfully on my friends' knees and ankles, but before I could get up, I heard the door slam shut and the van jerk into motion.
Somehow Gally had climbed into the driver's seat and had taken off. I heard thumps on the windshield, and I sat up quickly to see what it was, ignoring my uncomfortable seating. It was one of the Crank Palace guards. His face was covered in blood and his partner was no where to be found.
"Help!" He screamed through the glass. "Please help me-"
"Let him in!" I cried, shakily getting to my feet and reaching into the passenger's side to open the door for the poor man.
"No!" Multiple voices protested. I felt many pairs of hands on my shoulders, dragging me back. I watched helplessly as a Crank seized the man on the windshield and brought him tumbling to the ground. Gally slammed his foot on the gas, and I knew we would never see the man again.
I made helpless noises every time the van's wheels bumped over Crank limbs, until the only things we were driving over were the roots of the trees. I finally gained the courage to tear my gaze away from the place the man disappeared and look towards my friends instead.
Some of them were treating their wounds, and some of them sat in shock with their knees tucked up to their chests. Newt was still unconscious, propped up in the corner. I pursed my lips at the sight of his pale lips and green-tinged veins.
"We need to tie him up," I said. "Or else he'll kill us all."
A/N
What's up guys... It's Christmas break when I'm writing this, so hopefully I can write a few chapters while I'm off. Vote if you liked it!
- golden habit