" BAD BLOOD " T. SCORCH TRIALS²

fifteen.

[CHAPTER FIFTEEN]
the deal

~

Eleanor followed closely behind Thomas and Jorge through the old, shattered building. Her heart was pounding against her chest, creating an uneven rhythm with the sounds of her footsteps hitting the tiled floor beneath her. The building smelled strongly of rotting wood and mildew, and water echoed as it dripped somewhere from the floors above.

"Just keep going," Jorge urged Thomas as the dark-haired boy slowed a bit. "There's a room at the end with chairs. If either of you make even the slightest move against me, everyone dies."

"I'm not an idiot," Thomas grumbled underneath his breath, though his voice carried a long ways through the building. "You can quit the whole tough-guy routine."

They were led to a room at the end of the long hallway, and just as Jorge had stated, there were three chairs pulled around an old metal table. Eleanor stepped inside, immediately engulfed into darkness as Jorge shut the door behind her. She could feel the Crank push past her, and a moment later, light flooded into the room. It took her a moment to realize that he had pulled a large sheet of canvas away from a single window in the room, and a bright white light was now shining through.

"Sit," Jorge said, motioning towards the two chairs across the table from his own seat. The metal legs of his chair squeaked across the floor as he sat down, looking up at the two teenagers expectantly. Thomas pulled out the chair closest to him and took a seat, and Eleanor hestitated a moment before doing the same.

Jorge leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table, hands clasped together. His face was blank, voice of emotion, as his gaze flickered in between Thomas and Eleanor. "Talk."

Eleanor looked to Thomas, and the boy suddenly looked nervous. "Okay." He paused after that, pulling in a breath before continuing. "Look, I heard you mention WICKED back there. We know all about those guys. It'd be really interesting to hear what you have to say about them."

Jorge's facial expression remained the same, and he only blinked slowly. "I'm not the one talking right now. You are," he pointed out flatly.

"Yeah, I know." Thomas scooted his chair closer to the table, glancing at Eleanor as if asking for her help. Though she could only shrug, for she had no idea what to even say to the Crank. "Well, this is hard because I don't know what you know. So I guess I'll just pretend like you're stupid to the whole thing."

Jorge raised an eyebrow at his choice of words. "I'd strongly advice you never to use the word stupid with me again."

Eleanor let out a long sigh as her heartbeat quickened, suddenly wishing that she hadn't chosen to tag along. Beside her, Thomas swallowed thickly, his face red with fear. "Just a figure of speech."

"Get on with it."

Thomas took a deep breath before continuing once more, his voice shaky. "We used to be a group of about fifty guys and... two girls." He hesitated after that, and Eleanor could've sworn she saw a flicker of pain in his eyes as he thought of Teresa. She knew that he must have found it unfair that she was still with them and the raven-haired girl wasn't.