To Hell And Back || The Scorch Trials || Minho

19 - Death Is Not An Option

No one spoke. It seemed that if we even breathed, we might set them off somehow. I wanted to figure out what they actually were, Griever containers or not. But Minho held me back. His hand was still gripping mine tightly. Looking around, I noticed Harriet was standing next to Brenda and Jorge. Our eyes made contact and I motioned for her to come over. What I didn't expect was the two Cranks to follow her.

"Hey" Thomas suddenly spoke.

Teresa nudged Newt and Minho in greeting before we all faced one another. I examined the girl in confusion. She was so different from when we first met. I didn't know if she had a change of heart after her little escapade with Thomas in the woods, or if she was just having extreme mood swings.

"So what do we do?" Minho asked while giving Teresa a nasty look. With his stubbornness I couldn't see him ever forgiving her. I was about as stubborn as he was, but at least I wasn't glaring at Aris 24/7.

Newt answered, "If those things have bloody Grievers in 'em, we best start gettin' ready to fight the shuck buggers."

"What are you guys talking about?" Harriet had finally gotten over to us, the two Scorch pals by her side.

"Oh great," Minho muttered. "The queen of glorious Group B."

I kicked the back of his leg, telling him to stop being an ass. Harriet smirked in my direction, obviously satisfied with my actions. Minho on the other hand kicked me right back, maybe not as hard, but he proved his point.

"I'm assuming you all saw those pods in your WICKED chamber, too. They had to be where the Grievers charged up or whatever it was they did."

"Yeah," Newt said. "Gotta be that."

Thunder all of a sudden boomed, causing my heart beat to increase. I tried not to show I was scared, because I was. The journey to get to this point wasn't easy but something about this moment didn't feel right to me. Maybe it was the ominous boxes looming over us, or the fact that I had the same dark feeling inside of me that I got when Sonya and Rachel died. Every single time I felt that, something bad happened.

Thomas spoke up, "We've only got twenty-five minutes. We're either gunna be fighting Grievers or we need to get inside those big coffins at the right time. Maybe they're the-"

Before I could process what was actually happening, I saw something that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The lids were open.

"Minho," I called out, my voice hoarse.

His head turned, and his eyes met mine. "Yeah?"

"I take back what I said earlier. Don't die on me. I can't handle more people dying."

"I don't think dying is an option for me. I've been through hell and made it out. Nothing can hurt me now." He began to pull away from me to goto Thomas, but I stopped him.

I kissed him on the cheek.

"Don't be too cocky," I said. "If we come out of this alive, then you'll get more then that."

That kiss was mainly to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. I knew that if I promised him more, he would fight even harder. Like I said, I couldn't handle anyone else dying on me.

A small smile appeared on his face. "Be careful, don't die, Anne."

"So you're, Anne," someone said beside me as more thunder boomed overhead.

I found my attention on the girl with long brown hair and dark eyes. Also known as Brenda, the Crank. She was looking out at the vast desert, but her eyes stopped when they landed on Thomas.

"Yeah, it's not very hard to figure out considering I have a giant scar on my face," I said, not caring that what I said sounded a bit rude. "And I already know who you are."

"It's not very hard to figure out considering I'm one of the two Cranks," she shot back playfully. "But it looks like I'm not going to want to eat your eyeballs for much longer."

I glared at her, not thinking what she said was funny. "I know you're some variable, or whatever it is. You're working with WICKED to mess with us. Just like every damn thing that seems to come our way."

Brenda chuckled, "Sorry, but that's beyond wrong. No way would I work with them."

Responding was not option because something began to emerge from the pods. It looked human, but it was definitely some lab experiment gone wrong. It's flesh was sickly and beige. The thing only had four odd, uneven fingers. It's arm was covered with wrinkles and lumps. But it's elbow was the weirdest things. Located there was a perfectly round protrusion or growth, maybe four inches in diameter, glowing bright orange.

"What is that thing?!" Minho shouted over the noise of the angry storm.

No one answered because more of those creatures fell out of the containers. Now I could see that it had at least two dozen of the orange bulbs covering it's entire wrinkled body. The thing didn't have eyes, a nose, ears, not even hair. Nothing about it was normal.

When they all got out, they made a circle around us. Then, simultaneously, they raised their arms until they pointed toward the sky. Thin blades shot out of the tips of their fingers, toes, and out of their shoulders.

A strangled moan somehow came from the monsters. Paired with the thunder, that sound made me want to run and hide.

Whoever came up with these things must have had a sick and twisted mind.

"There's about one for each of us!" Minho yelled. "Grab whatever you got for a weapon!"

Just as he said that the creatures started to advance toward us, and they did not look they wanted to be friends. A flash of lightning glistened on their silver blades, making it even more obvious to me that they were made to kill.

It's going to be okay.

There it was again. The voice in my head. Teresa.

It's almost over, she said.

This time I answered her, my body tense. No it's not, it will never be over.

I grabbed the machete I had out of my backpack and got ready to fight for my life.

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Those bulb monsters creep me out.

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