The Memoriam Files: Minds [EDITING] ✔

| Chapter 24, Rose took my nose

|No one can hear me scream, maybe it's just a dream

|Song: Monster, Skillet

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Lisa's P.O.V.

Completely at loss for words I stared at the Crank before us. His sudden appearence terrified me in a way I never thought was possible. And all of a sudden it didn't seem too weird that Wicked wanted to put us through all of this. If this was what all humans looked like, how far would I go if I could do something about it?

Suddenly the man took a step forward making me, Thomas and Brenda step back. He had to wave with his arm to keep his balance. 'Rose took my nose, I suppose,' he repeated in that same disgusting voice. 'And it really blows.'

I didn't know what to do. The situation had caught me completely off guard. So I glared at Thomas, who seemed to wait for Brenda to do something.
'Get it?' The man said. He looked like an animal that was about to attack his prey. 'It really blows. My nose. Taken by Rose, I suppose.' He laughed then, a wet gargle that was probably the most horrible sound I'd ever heard.

'Yeah, I get it,' Brenda said. 'That's some funny stuff.'

Suddenly I noticed her moving. She had taken a can from her back and with a sudden movement she threw it against the Crank his head. He let out a shriek that iced me to the core.

And then the others appeared. A group of two, then three and four more. Men and women. All dragging themselves out of the darkness to stand behind the first Crank. All just as gone, just as hideous, just as consumed by the Flare. And they all missed their nose.

I had a sudden urge to throw up, their smell was driving me insane.

'That didn't hurt so bad,' the leading Crank said. 'You have a pretty nose. I want a nose again.' He stopped snarling to lick his lips. 'And so do my friends.'

Never had I felt more disgusted and scared in my life. I had imagined Cranks who were passed the gone to be nothing more than mindless beasts, but this was completely different. They still seemed very aware of what they were doing. And I couldn't decide what scared me more.
The man took another step forward, then another. It was definitely time to go.
Brenda and Thomas didn't have to say anything. We shared a quick glare, then Brenda threw another can towards the crank and I took as quickly as I could my gun out of my belt. I fired one shot, right in the head of a female Crank. Then the three of us turned around and ran.

The psychotic screams of the Cranks rose behind us like the battle call of a demon army.

Brenda's flashlight beam shakily crisscrossed left and right, bouncing as we sprinted through the tunnels. We had a little advantage, I mean those Cranks couldn't be very fast seeing the way they walked. But the thought that there could be more waiting for us in the dark...I shivered and shook it off me. Brenda took Thomas's arm and he took my hand, we couldn't affort to loose each other now.

The angry shouts and catcalls of the Cranks faded a bit. Brenda turned left. Then right. After the second turn she flicked off the flashlight but didn't stop running.

I had a sudden urge to laugh as the thought crossed my mind of us running into a wall.
'What're you doing?' Thomas asked, and I noticed him holding his hand out in front of him. Probably the thought of walking into a wall crossed his mind as well. A shush was the only response he got. Brenda pulled up again a few seconds later, stopping completely.

We stood in the darkness, catching our breaths. My heart was pounding fast in my chest. The Cranks were distant but still loud enough to hear.
'Okay,' Brenda whispered. 'Right about...here.'
'What?' I asked.
'Just follow me into this room. There's a perfect hiding spot in here. I found it while exploring once. There's no way they'll find us in there.'
There were a few noises in the dark then Thomas pulled me to the right. We passed through a narrow door and Brenda pulled us down to the ground.
'There's an old table here,' she said. 'Can you feel it?'
I carefully reached out until I felt hard, smooth wood.
'Yeah,' Thomas answered at the same time I said 'yes.'
'Just watch your head. We're gonna crawl under it and then through a small notch in the wall that leads to a hidden compartment. Who knows what it's for, but no way those Cranks'll find it. Even if they have a light, which I doubt.'
Brenda went first and there was no way I was going to sit close to the opening, so before Thomas could move, I went.
We crawled on hands and knees under the table, then through a small square opening into the long, narrow compartment.
I felt around, trying to get a sense of where I was. The ceiling was only about two feet off the ground and it felt like concrete walls. It was the perfect hiding spot. I tried to sit in a comfortable position which was kinda hard. I almost was on Thomas's lap and my head was on Brenda's shoulder but there was no way we could move.
'This is real comfy,' Thomas whispered. I snickered, from the nerves swimming through my body but Brenda urged us to be quiet.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to focus on my hearing. At first the silence was so deep it was ringing in my ears but then came the Crank noises. Coughing, random shouts and lunatic giggles. They came closer by the second and suddenly I wanted to run away. We were stupid to trap ourselves like this. The best thing we could do was finding our way above the ground and find the others.
I felt a sudden stab in my heart and I realized how much I missed the little chats with Dawn. I missed Minho's sassy remarks and Newt's calming voice. Even the new kid Aris crossed my mind. Then I frowned. Since when was I this sentimental?

The Cranks were close. The swishes of shuffling feet, grunts and heavy breathing. Someone banged on a wall, sending a series of haunting echoes into the air. Arguments broke out, just like frantic exhanges of giggles. One of them coughed and spit violently like he was trying to rit himself of an organ or two, I winced.
I felt how Brenda reached out and took Thomas his hand. I bit my lip and tried to supress the urge to scream at them to stop their little romantic moments.

Then a Crank entered the room outside our compartment. And another. 'Little booooooy,' aman voice said, taunting and creepy. 'Little girrrrrrrls. Come out come out and play. I want your noses.'
'Nothin' in here,' a woman spat. 'Nothin' but an old table.' The creak of wood scraping against the floor sliced through the air, then ended abruptly. 'Maybe they're hiding their noses under it,' the man responded. 'Maybe they're still attached to their sweet little pretty faces.'
I shrank back against the wall when I heard a hand or shoe scruff along the floor just outside the entrance of our little hiding place.
'Nothin' down there,' the woman said again. I heard her move away and relaxed a bit. More shuffling of feet then hauting whispers as if they were having a little moment to strategize.
It scared me to think they were still able to make a plan. That was what made them different from anything I could ever imagine. Cranks passed the gone still had their minds, although they did the most terrible things they were always aware of what they did. They planned it all out. And it scared me, it scared me so much.

'No!' One of them cranks suddenly shouted. 'No! No no no no no no no...' The words quieted into a murmered stutter.
The woman cut him off. 'Yes yes yes yes yes.'
'Shut up!' A third voice screamed. 'Shut up shut up shut up!'
I felt my insides turn into ice. 'I'm leaving.' The woman said, her words broken by a sob, she sounded like a child left out of a game. 'Me too me too,' the man said.
'Shut up shut up shut up!' The third screamed again.

I tried to block out their scary voices. Shuffles of feet and swishing of clothes outside. Were they leaving? The sounds decreased in volume when they entered the tunnel. The other Cranks seemed to have already left. Soon it became silent all over again. Still I didn't dare to make a move or say a word. We waited in the darkness. The silence stretched out and turned back into a buzz. We had to be absolutely sure they left before we could move.

Several minutes passed, several more. Nothing but silence and darkness.
'I think they're gone,' Brenda finally whispered. She flicked on her flashlight.
'Hello noses!' A hideous voice yelled from the room. Then a bloody hand reached through the doorway and grabbed Thomas by the shirt. A scream escaped my mouth.
One was still here!