Aris sprinted after Jorge. He snatched his hand, scurrying along the bricked, sandy, uneven path. The ill-minded people growled at them, lashed at them, and he felt fear course through him. Suddenly, there were several helicopters so close that Aris could see they were labeled as WICKED.
"Oh, no...." he said softly. I thought there was a Phase Two to complete. Why are they hunting for us? "They tricked us into thinking there was a Phase Two," he said aloud. His new "friends" nodded in agreeance, murmuring to each other before Minho reached for his knife.
"Don't worry," Jorge said reassuringly. "I'll play their favorite music to offer and buy us some time." Then, he flipped on a radio. As they bolted towards the window, Jorge hurtled a chair at the window, causing glass to shatter disastrously, and Jorge leaped right through.
"Hurry up, hermano!" he yelled.
Aris gingerly adjusted his backpack on his back. They settled into the truck. He gripped the chain links. What's going to happen? he thought numbly. The helicopters hovered above them, and Jorge reached over to the radio of the truck, twisting the knob to heighten the volume. "I'm going to play their favorite song!"
A song burst out of the radio. Some of his companions were rolling their eyes; Aris flinched at the volume. Some sort of music about moonlight. The helicopters continued to shoot at them. He felt his entire body seize with terror, as he trudged along his new friends.
Everyone was petrified. He continued to rattle, as the truck sped over the ups and downs of the road. Jorge swerved dangerously to avoid a ditch. Gunshots split through the air, as Brenda rose her feet and began firing from behind them, continuing to careen down the road.
"You shoot!" Jorge yelled, tossing the gun to Aris.
The gun was in Aris's hand. He fired it, and then ducked down into the truck as it swerved around the road. More gunshots split through the air until the airships seemed to have retreated. He blew out a breath, and then, Jorge chuckled lightly.
"We're safe and secure," he said. "How about you go directly back to your friends, and then, I'll trail after you just in case WICKED arrives again with their deranged army?" He nodded, leaping out of the trunk bed with Sonya and strode off with Brenda.
"Will we see him again?"
"Yeah, he's one tough monkey. You will." Brenda waved him off. "Go on, now, you two."
***
A few hours later, they discovered the band of Gladers seated on the ground, just as dark clouds rolled in. Just then, an intermittent of light flashed across the sky. "Hurry!" he cried out, sprinting towards the sheltered space. Just then, he heard a cry of agony echo through the air and whirled around.
It was their leader, Minho. His garments were on fire, screaming in agony. Aris desperately rolled him back and forth, along with the other Gladers. "Over here!" a grimy-looking boy called out, swinging open a door. Aris assisted him by raising his upper arms and dragging him towards the door.
"Shuck it," Minho whispered. "I'm tougher than nails." He flexed his fingers. "What are we, in a quarantined space?" Aris squatted down next to him.
"It is vacant," he told him. "We're safe and secure here, I think." The Asian boy jolted up, seemingly realizing who was speaking to him.
"Yeah? With you and that blond-haired girl?"
Aris remained quiet. "We'll need to spend the night here." He flipped on a flashlight and flipped it on. "Let's...spend the night here. It's far too risky to be outside." He sprawled out on a mattress. Newt spoke up.
"I feel like my shucking hands are tremblin' right now."
"Yeah, well...."
"No! No! There are people in here!" a boy shouted.
"What?" Aris whirled around, his ears registering fainted coughs and groans. It wasn't vacant.? Fear coursed through him, as boys began to stride over and peer around. He heard a scuffle of feet, a fainted groan, and a growl. He swept through the entire space, before he noticed something.
A black-veined creature began to emerge from underneath the bed. The boys began to panic, sprinting towards the exit. "Go, go!" Boys shouted left and right, as Aris and Thomas assisted them in fleeing. "Run!" Everyone desperately battled with the creatures.
They trudged through the storm. Everyone was crying out in fear, tripping and stumbling, feet catching on the uneven path. Someone flung open another door, shoved everyone in, and secured them inside. Aris slumped to the ground, watching tiny bolts of electricity flash across the sky.
Are you all right?
Yeah, Aris told Teresa. Do you see all this?
We... There was reluctance in her tone. I'll speak to you later.
No, wait! But she was gone from his head. Everyone was inspecting the room; Aris clicked on his flashlight, causing a beam of light to sweep across the room. "There are beds here," he said. "Do you think--?" His sentence came to a halt as he watched the disapproval of the boys' faces.
"No shucking way," said Thomas. "We can't risk our lives like this. Let's go." The tiny bolts of electricity had faded, and they all stepped out of the room. The sun was well up into the air as they traveled through the desert. The white-hot sun beat down on Aris.
***306Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1XsNE1g3a
He felt completely exhausted and drained out. "Break time," Minho murmured and plopped down onto the sand. Aris took a swig from his water bottle, which he had retrieved back in the dormitory. It was halfway vacant now, but his throat still felt very parched, and he began swallowing his saliva.
"I don't have any water stored in my bottle," one of the younger boys said.
"We know," Aris said. "We need more."
Aris and his friends set off. He felt parched, exhausted. Some boys looked on the verge of collapse, not to mention a few boys crumpled along the way. WICKED must be glad of their killzone patterns and continue torturing them until they discovered a nonexistent, so-called cure.
ns 18.68.41.181da2
