Escaping This Ivy Nightmare

Chapter 21

The next thirty minutes were an eruption of mass confusion. Newt and Alby gathered the Keepers and put them in charge of making assignments and getting their groups inside the Homestead within the hour. 

The builders, who were all still without Gally, were ordered to put up barricades at each open Door; but everyone knew that there wasn't going to be enough time to actually do much good.
Every flashlight in the compound was gathered and distributed to as many people as possible; Newt said he planned for everyone to sleep in the Homestead that night, and they'd kill the lights, except for emergencies.

Frypan's task was to take all the nonperishable food out of the kitchen and store it in the Homestead, in case they got trapped there. Thao could only imagine how horrible that'd be. Everyone crammed up into the Homestead, no way out and no toilets either. If they did get trapped, it would be almost worse than being out in the open with the damned Grievers. 

She quickly shook her head and returned to helping Minho move the weapons from the basement to the main building. Alby had made it perfectly clear that the Homestead would become their fortress, and everyone would do whatever it took to defend it.

Thomas began helping a few minutes later, taking some knifes and barbed wire-wrapped clubs from both Thao and Minho to lighten the load. 

"Thomas, Thao and I have a special assignment from Newt, so we need to get started on that now. Go find him or Chuck. We have to go." Minho informed the kid a few minutes later, basically telling him to get lost.

Thao watched as the boy sauntered away, head hung low. "You could have been a tad nicer, he's your friend." She pointed out. He grabbed her wrist and started to pull her away from homestead, towards the map room. "What kind of special assignment is this anyways?" She questioned, figuring Newt had nothing to do with this.

He led her into the room, and down to the basement. She followed him, noticing the way he turned in on himself as he walked, almost sheltering himself from the horrors which were about to come. "We should bring some of them to the homestead." He suggested, pointing at the swords and bows that lined the walls.

"Good that." She walked over to the wall of swords, admiring them. "Is it bad, that while everyone is panicking up there, fearing for their lives, I feel completely safe in this little room?" She asked, running her hand along the blade of her favorite sword. It had a rusting handle, and was slightly shorter than the rest, but it was the sharpest they had.

"I wish I could just lock the door and stay in here with you forever." He answered, picking up a pair of throwing knives and tucking them into his belt.

"And leave Audrey and Newt to die?" Thao laughed, holding the sword in her hands and walking over to him. "On your knees, shank." She commanded with a smirk.

"Ooooh, I'm so scared." He held his hands up in mock surrender as he sank to his knees. "Maybe you should be the one on your knees. That way you could-" She cut him off by slicing the sword through the air, smirking at him.

"This is a time of war, Minho. It is very important that we have warriors." She told him, tapping the sword on one of his shoulders. "Therefore, I am knighting you," She tapped it on his other shoulder, and brought it back to her side. "So you can be my knight in shining armour, and all that klunk."

He laughed, rising to his feet and pulling her towards him by her waist. "You're ridiculous, Thao. I'm so shuckin' scared, but i'm gonna protect your sorry ass at all costs." He pulled her closer, crashing their lips together.

When they broke apart, they both moved to gather as many weapons as they could carry before heading back towards the Homestead. When they reached it, it was packed full. Everyone that slept outside in normal times was packed into the room along with those who slept inside and it was a tight fit. Blankets and pillows were everywhere, and everyone was in a frenzy to get organized.