|When the sky turns gray, and everything is screaming...
|Song: Bleeding out, Imagine Dragons
|||
Lisa's P.O.V.
There was no other option than to go down the mountain path and walk towards the desert. Maybe there was some underground complex we couldn't see yet, maybe they would pick us up with a helicopter, maybe maybe maybe. The never ending questions were driving me insane.
Carefully the group started making its way down the small paths towards the desert before us.
'Hey guys, look!' A Glader pointed into the distance.
I squinted my eyes against the wind and dust flying around and then saw it. 'It's those shucking girls!'
He was right. Group B had reached the mountain slope and were now heading towards the empty desert.
'Do you think Tommy is with them?' Newt asked.
Minho shrugged. 'We'll find out soon enough.' He started walking again but fastened the pace.
During our walk down I kept on gazing at the sky. The clouds were growing, gaining a dark color and the wind was getting stronger with every passing minute. A storm was coming and if we went down into that desert there would be no shelter for when the thunder came, but it also wasn't an option to stay here. We had to reach the safe haven, whatever it was.
And so we kept on making our way down. It took maybe three hours for us to reach the desert.
'Let's start running guys. Maybe there is something worth seeing,' Minho yelled above the blowing wind. And so we did.
It had been a while since I had run a good and steady pace. And since we were running straight into the wind, my muscles were soon protesting.
We ran for another hour or so when we noticed something. Group B was standing still, forming a circle around...something.
I felt a spark of hope in my chest but pushed it away immediately. I didn't want to be disappointed again.
When we were only a few miles away we stopped running and caught our breath while walking the remaining distance.
I felt the tension in the air rising.
Boys were grasping for their weapons.
I slowly took my gun from my belt. They were not surprising us again. My eyes searched for any sign of Thomas but I saw only girls. My heart dropped. They hadn't really killed him, right?
Finally we reached the group and Minho gave us the sign to stand still and raise our weapons. For a couple of seconds it was completely silence. Two groups facing each other, weapons raised.
'Where's Thomas?' Minho yelled.
A brown haired girl with dark skin, who seemed to be in charge, shrugged. 'He left our camp, together with Teresa.'
Minho slowly lowered his knife. 'What do you mean left? You let him go with that shucking-'
'Minho,' Dawn placed her hand on his shoulder and stepped forward. 'Tell us what happened.'
The girl seemed to consider her options but finally sighed and mentioned for us to look at something behind her.
Curious we made our way through the group of girls and finally saw what they had been standing around. In the ground was a stick standing with an orange flag on it. Written in black letters on the flag stood the following words:
"The Safe Haven"
I snorted and put my gun away. 'This is ridiculous!' I yelled, pointing at the stupid orange flag. 'We did all this trouble, fought all those monsters just for...for...a shucking flag!'
Minho walked towards me and put his hands on my shoulder. 'Hey calm down. I'm sure they have a-'
'A what? Another shucking lie?' I yelled in his face.
He released my shoulders and took a step back, looking slightly startled.
I sighed and threw my hair over my shoulder. 'I'm sorry,' I mumbled. 'I'm just mad.'
Minho nodded, seeming to have taken my apologie. 'Let's just hear what those girls have to say. Then we can discuss what to do next,' he said and I nodded.
And so we gathered around the dark haired girl, who turned out to be called Harriet, and she told us what happened ever since they got out of their maze. How Teresa joined their group, how they came into the mountains by following an underground tunnel and how they avoided the city. She told us they were given the mission to kill Thomas and Teresa seemed to be totally focused on it. So after they caputered him they took him to their camp and in the middle of the night when Teresa was gone they had a chat with Thomas. And they really saw no point in killing him anymore.
I felt a small smirk cover my lips at that part. Thomas had always been good in convincing people.
But Teresa didn't listen to the girls and took him with her anyway. And then they decided to head for the safe haven, which turned out to be a flag. When she was finished, I had to say, I believed her. The whole situation was shucking weird, especially Teresa wanting to kill Thomas so badly. That just didn't make sense at all.
'Hey, where's Aris?' A blond haired girl asked, I thought her name was Sonya.
'He left our camp, we couldn't find him,' Dawn answered.
'Well, I just did,' Jorge interrupted and pointed at something behind us.
I turned around and squinted my eyes against the dust flying around. Three people were making their way towards us, running fast. Two were definitly male so the other had to be...'Thomas, Teresa and Aris,' Newt mumbled. 'Wonder what they have been up to.'
I nodded, curiousity mixing with anger inside me, but also relief for seeing Thomas was still alive.
It took them ten minutes to reach us. Minho was waiting for them with his arms folded, I stood next to him hands on my hips. Happiness floaded through me when I saw Thomas being okay. He didn't even have a single bruise or cut. I didn't look at Teresa but did wonder what Aris had to do with all of this.
'It's about time you slowpokes caught up with us!' Minho yelled at them. Thomas stopped right in front of him and doubled over to catch his breath. 'I thought you'd be fightin' tooth and nail with these girls after what they did to us. To me, anyway.'
Minho and I looked over our shoulders and the two groups. They didn't really talk with each other, but who was to blame them.
'We wanted to,' I said, turning back to Thomas.
'Yeah, but some chick named Harriet explained everything,' Minho added. 'We're the ones who should be surprised that you're still with them.' He gave a nasty glare to Teresa and Aris. 'Never trusted either one of those shuck traitors.'
I didn't do as much as glare at Teresa's direction, just kept staring at Thomas. 'They're on our side. Trust me,' he said, especially looking at me.
Minho laughed bitterly. 'Figured you'd say something like that.'
I smirked. 'Let me guess, it's a long story.'
'Yeah, very long,' Thomas replied.
I grinned and before he could say anything else I pulled him into a hug. 'I'm glad you're okay.'
He patted me on the back. 'Not as happy as I am to see you alive.'
I grinned again and let him go.
He threw a glare over my shoulder and frowned then. 'Why'd you all stop here? What's everybody looking at?' Minho stepped to the side, sweeping his arm behind him. 'Have a peeky-peek yourself.' Then he yelled. 'You guys make a path.'
Several Gladers and girls looked back then slowly shuffled to the side. Until a narrow path in the crowd was formed. Thomas immediately walked ahead and abruptly stood still at the sight of the orange flag. He stared at it, then numbly turned back to us, he glanced at his watch. 'We have over an hour left. Our safe haven is a stick in the ground?'
I nodded, feeling again the disappointment and anger run through me. A safe haven, a cure, it all seemed to good to be true now.
'Wasn't so bad when you think about it,' Minho said. 'More than half of us made it here. Looks like even more of the girlie group.'
Thomas gave him a glare. 'The Flare turn you crazy already? Yeah, we got here. Safe and sound. To a stick.'
I had to agree with Thomas on this one. Wicked had screwed up, again. Minho just scoffed at him. 'Dude, they wouldn't send us here for no reason. We made it in the time they gave us. Now just wait until the clock ticks down and something'll happen.'
I raised my eyebrows with surprise. Never underestimate Minho, because he is a lot smarter than he claims to be.
'That's what worries me,' Thomas said, taking me out of my thoughts. 'Hate to say it,' Teresa added. 'But I agree with Thomas. After everything they've done to us, it'd be way too easy to have a little sign here and then they come get us in a nice helicopter as a reward. Something bad's gonna happen.'
I folded my arms and looked the other way, not interested in anything she had to say.
'Whatever you say traitor,' Minho said, his face revealing all his hatred. 'I don't want to hear another word from you.' He walked away, more angry than I had ever seen him.
I threw a quick glare at Thomas before making my way after him.
Minho and I walked over to Newt, Frypan and Dawn who were sitting on the ground, all three looking as if they were waiting for the world to end. 'Hey guys,' I mumbled as Minho and I sat down.
Dawn gave me a slight smile. 'So that's it then,' she said. 'We made it.'
I nodded, but wasn't able to shake the feeling that something was going to happen.
We fell silent again and I glanced at the sky. The dark clouds above us had lowered, like a dark fog swallowing the earth. The wind was strong, blowing my hair all over the place. Glimpses of light flashed here and there through the dark mass of clouds. It wasn't real thunder yet, but it would be soon enough. My thoughts were interupted when Thomas came to join us.
'Hey Tommy,' Newt greeted him.
He sat down and wrapped his arms around his knees. 'Glade to see you guys made it here,' he answered. Frypan let out his usual animal-like bark of a laugh. 'Same back at ya. Looks like you had more fun, though. Hangin' with your love godess. Guess you two kissed and made up?'
I couldn't help it but to grin at his words.
'Not exactly,' Thomas said. 'It wasn't fun.'
'Well, what happened?' Minho asked. 'How can you trust her after all of that?'
Thomas hesitated but then took a deep breath and started talking. He told us about Wicked's plan for him, the girls camp, the talk with Group B and the gas chamber. None of it made sense. So, Teresa pretended she and Aris were together, like a couple, and she wanted to kill Thomas. But the gas chamber she put him in only healed his injuries and left him unharmed.
I groaned and massaged my forehead. It was too much right now.
'And you forgave that witch?' Minho asked, disbelief and bitterness sounding through his voice. 'I won't. Whatever those shuck Wicked people wanna do, fine by me. Whatever you wanna do, fine by me. But I don't trust her, I don't trust Aris, and I don't like either of them.'
I nodded and folded my arms. 'I'm with Minho.'
Newt however seemed to consider it more deeply. 'They went through all that- all that planning and acting- just to make you feel betrayed? Doesn't make any bloody sense?'
'Tell me about it,' Thomas muttered. 'And no, I haven't forgiven her. But for now I think we're in the same boat.' He sighed and glared around. 'What about you guys? How'd you make it here?'
Minho answered him, told him about the Cranks and Aris his disappearence. 'Food and water's almost out, though. And my feet hurt. And I'm pretty sure another big bolt of shuck lightning's about to come down and make me look like a piece of Frypan's beacon,' he ended the story with.
I smirked at his words while Thomas replied with a simple: 'Yeah.'
Dawn threw a glare of her shoulder. 'Maybe we should bag this whole safe haven thing and try to find shelter.' But even when she said it I saw she didn't stood behind her own words. 'No way,' Newt replied. 'We didn't come this far to go back now. Let's just hope the buggin' storm holds off a little longer.' He looked up at the almost black clouds with a grimace.
Our little group grew silent. The wind continued to pick up and the roars made it hard to hear each other anyway. I glared at Dawn's watch, thirty-five minutes left. The storm would never hold off that long. 'What's that!' Minho suddenly shouted, jumping to his feet and pointing at something behind us.
I stood up, my inside turning to ice as I saw the horrified look on Minho's face.
About thirty feet from our group a large section of the desert ground was opening. A perfect square was sinking into the group and being replaced with something that was laid beneath it. The sound of groaning, twisting steel pierced the air, louder than the wind. It reminded me of the Maze doors. Finally the ground stopped moving, where once the desert ground had been was now a section of black material, with an odd object sitting on top of it. It was oblong and white with rounded edges, reminding me off a huge egg.
I frowned, trying to figure out what it was or what it could contain, but before anyone could move more sections of the desert floor, surrounding us in a large circle, started to sink into the ground. Like dark, gaping jaws, dozens of them. And we were completely surrounded.