The Desolation (The Maze Runner)

26. Darkness and danger

They continued their journey through the city after nightfall. It was easier to hide in the darkness and before midnight, they made another five miles. They were closer to the city center now, the buildings became bigger and higher. Salsa was leading, watching out for every move of any shadow or every sound.

There was something in the air that made her feel even more unpleasant, a strange smell, and a very bad one that was growing stronger.

"The shucking city stinks," commented Minho.

"I know this smell. It seems familiar," Salsa stopped.

"The Scorch stunk better," Minho stopped behind her.

"It's not the smell of the Scorch," she said and suddenly realization hit her. "Let's check something."

She started scanning the buildings nearby, noticing an oval skyscraper with about fifty floors. It seemed rather empty. They moved towards it and went inside, stopping on the second floor.

"Wait here," said Salsa, finding a way to climb higher to the upper floors as the stairs were missing.

She reached the twelfth floor and moved to the window. It still had some glass left and she took a pair of binoculars from her backpack. She looked out of the window through it and froze.

There was the White Tower, maybe five more miles from them, but entire place around it was taken. Huge and small fires burned here and there with thousands of Cranks moving around. It was like a huge Crank Palace and it smelled like one. The biggest Crank Palace ever, but this one was filled with completely mad monsters.

Salsa felt her knees giving in and she fell on the ground, feeling shivers running through her body. There was no way, absolutely no way through.

She took a quick breath and got up, trying not to panic. Lifting her binoculars again, she slowly scanned the area around them and there it was; in a dark corner of the building they were in, there was an entrance to a tunnel. She shivered.

As she slowly climbed back to the second floor, Brenda was sitting in the middle of the room and Minho was sleeping against a wall. Jorge looked paler then ever, and Thomas was leaning against a window deep in his thoughts.

"And?" Brenda asked and Minho started.

"The tower is five miles from here, but..." Salsa looked at the four faces that were filled with hope and fear. "There's a whole Crank Palace around it, thousands of them."

Their faces fell completely in horror.

"There's no way in?" asked Minho.

"There is a way, through the tunnel, which is coincidentally right next to where our bloody asses are!" Salsa tried to keep herself together.

"So we're going there," said Thomas.

"Not all of us, we can't risk it," she pointed and everyone looked at him.

"I'm going with you," Thomas held her gaze.

"No, I'm hired to protect you so you're staying here. I'm going with Minho," Salsa was so mad she wanted to scream.

Why did all the people she cared about wanted to die?

"No. It's my mission; I have to reach the White Tower. This is what WICKED wants, this is what you're here for. You can't protect me if you're gonna leave me here," Thomas' eyes darkened.

"Thomas," whispered Brenda.

Salsa stayed quiet. She felt so much fear, more than ever, and she couldn't even explain it.

"Okay, here," she finally said and gave Brenda one of her guns. "You'll stay here and we'll come back for you once we've checked that everything's alright. If we don't come back, just leave the city and hide."

"It'll be ok," Thomas grabbed Brenda's hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Take care," she said and the both of them left the building.

The street was empty and they found the hidden entrance in no time.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Salsa.

"Yes," Thomas looked at her and jumped into the tunnel with his gun ready to fire.

She hesitated one more second and dropped in after him. They landed in complete darkness and she listened to the metal silence for a moment, then grabbed her torch to light the way. The tunnels were similar to the ones in the Scorch- long, dark and scary.

"We have to move north-west from here," whispered Salsa.

She started to walk slowly, listening hard for any sound but the tunnels stayed silent.

"It feels like the Maze at night," whispered Thomas.

They walked along the tunnel in the silence and Salsa noticed the cracks along the ceiling.

"Maybe it cracked during the earthquake, it wasn't so far from here," she said.

"Let's move faster," Thomas glances around.

The silence was the thing that bothered Salsa the most. It was too ghostly in this deep lost and dark place. They moved behind a corner and went into another corridor.

"We must be around four miles from the Tower now," said Thomas.

Salsa lit up the space in front of them, but the tunnel remained empty and still. They kept walking and then a scream made all the hairs on their bodies stand on end.

Salsa turned around and her torch lit a devastated, blood covered face. The Crank had inhuman like sharp teeth and ambled towards them.

"Run!" she yelled to Thomas, grabbing her gun and firing.

It took four bullets to put the Crank down, but then she heard another strange sound and turned around. There was something on the other side of the corridor. She saw long thin legs, so thin that they were only visible when they moved in the torchlight, one leg next to another.

"Thomas," she breathed out in dread.

He saw it too and stopped, raising his gun to point it at something that resembled a giant spider with skinny elongated legs.

Thomas and Salsa fired, the spider moved back to avoid their shots. Then the ceiling at the end of the corridor fractured and another spider dropped in. Its emaciated long leg reached out to Thomas and cut through his chest, pulling him into the air. The gun fell from his hand and he moved his head to Salsa, whispering something she couldn't understand as she looked into his fading eyes.

"THOMAS!!" her scream was like thunder that echoed throughout the tunnels and she swore every Crank in the city must have heard it.

She froze, paralyzed from the image in front of her. Numerous scenes from her life flew past her eyes, her mum, her dad, her ex, the presidential plane...

"Thomas!!" she screamed again, raising her gun and shooting at the spider. It withdrew, trying to drag Thomas' body up through the ceiling with it.

She reacted instinctively, tossing a grenade into the end of the tunnel and causing an explosion that demolished the already torn ceiling. Salsa ran, chased by the collapsing walls until she reached the black opening they had used to get in. She jumped up and lifted herself up onto the street while the underground world of tunnels fell away, burying Thomas under the stone forever.

I really hope you don't hate this story after this chapter, all the reasons for this will be revealed soon.
Just let me know your thoughts...