Wicked Atmosphere | Aris Jones [2]

10 || Attack of the Cranks

All of us took off running, not even waiting for Thomas and Minho to catch up with us, our backpacks on our shoulders. The sounds of what looked like zombified people echoed throughout the building, making it pierce my ears. The cries made me want to cringe. The flashlights we all had were bouncing all over the place as we ran faster.

"Let's go, go, go!" Thomas yelled as he and Minho caught up with us.

"Thomas, Minho, what the hell are those things?!" Winston asked as we ran up broken escalators.

"I don't know! Just keep going!" Thomas replied.

Those had to be the Cranks that Janson mentioned.

"Move! Move!" Minho added.

"Where do we go?" Winston questioned in panic.

"Just keep moving!" Thomas repeated.

As we turned a corner, we were stopped by a Crank coming towards us. That was when Aris grabbed a baseball bat from his backpack and ran towards the Crank.

"Aris, no!" I shouted.

Aris ignored me and slid on his knees, using his bat to knock the Crank off his feet. The creature crawled towards us, trying to grab us with its creepy and bloody hands. It trapped Thomas and Teresa on the escalator, while the rest of us had no choice but to run around and meet up with them on the other side, as more Cranks showed up.

"Go around!" Thomas shouted at us.

So we obliged and ran over to the other side, where there was another set of escalators there. Everyone was able to climb up to the next level, but I was quickly cornered by a couple of Cranks.

"Piper!" Aris cried out at me.

"Keep running!" I shouted back.

With no weapon on me or around me, I prepared to be eaten alive by these disgusting creatures.

BANG! BANG!

I widened my eyes at the fallen Cranks, my heart pounding. But what really shocked me was when I saw two familiar faces grabbing me.

"Come on, you bloody stick!" the familiar British accent ordered me.

"Maeve?!" I asked in shock. "What...what are you--"

"We'll explain later," the other girl on my right spoke up.

"Lillie?!" I shouted. "What the hell is going on?!"

"Just keep running! We'll hold them off!" Maeve shouted. "Lillie, get ready to shoot at these bloody Cranks!"

So the two got their guns ready to fire as I ran ahead of them. The others were not too far up, which made it easier for the three of us to catch up. Newt was lagging behind when a Crank broke through the glass wall and pinned him to the ground. Thomas came to the rescue and pushed the Crank off of him, the Crank falling to its death.

"Newt, you good?" Thomas asked, helping him up.

"Yeah, thanks, Tommy!" he replied.

"Shit! I ran out of bullets!" Maeve shouted, throwing her gun down.

"Me, too!" Lillie added, throwing it as well. "Let's go!"

So we followed the rest down a narrow hallway as more Cranks trailed after us. I was concerned that this would lead us to a dead end, and with no decent weapons, we would be dead for sure which also meant the escape from WICKED was a complete waste.

"Guys, where are we going?" Newt asked in a worried tone.

"Go! Go!" Teresa shouted, pushing the others to not stop in front of her.

As the Cranks found us, we all turned and screamed, running faster. I could feel Maeve and Lillie breathing heavily behind me as we kept going. The snarls of the Cranks got louder and closer.

"It's a dead end!" Minho yelled.

"I knew this would happen!" I added, then looked at my two friends. "How are you guys here? Where are the others?"

"Piper, this is not the time to explain all of that!" Maeve retorted.

"But I need answers!" I protested.

"Do you really need them right now?!" Lillie shouted.

"Get us out of here, Thomas!" Teresa cried out, making us snap out of our conversation.

"Maeve? Lillie?" Aris spoke up as he saw the girls. "What are--"

"Let's focus on getting out of here and then we'll explain everything!" Lillie shouted.

Aris nodded his head, focused on the Cranks, and then held up his bat as Winston pulled out the gun he took from Winston and shouted, "I'll hold them back!" He began to shoot at the Cranks, some of them falling to the floor.

The others were banging on the locked door, trying to get it open before we were mauled to death by the Cranks. No matter how hard we threw our bodies against the door, none of us were strong enough to bust them open.

"Get that door open!" Winston yelled in frustration.

"That's it! Move!" Frypan yelled at the rest of us, preparing to run into the door.

"Come on, Frypan!" Minho shouted as we all got out of his way.

Sure enough, with the first try, Frypan busted the door open, and he was the first to get out. We all followed after him, ready to go run and hide, but we were stopped when Winston was pulled back by a Crank.

He screamed as he was hanging onto the door. "Help me!"

Frypan, Newt, and I grabbed Winston, trying to pull him free of the Cranks, while Minho and Thomas held onto the door. I wanted to look away as the Cranks clawed their hands into Winston's side. His screams were getting louder and louder. I was able to tell that he was in a lot of pain.

We finally got him away from the Cranks, relieved that we didn't lose him. Frypan and Newt picked him up and dragged him away. I followed behind and didn't look back, knowing that Thomas and Minho would get away. Sure enough, Minho caught up with the rest of us, then Thomas following suit.

As the building got darker, we hurried to find a hiding spot. Luckily, Maeve and Lillie took us to a spot that was just right outside of the building. We hid under what looked like a giant, broken piece of cement, leaving us some shelter so that the Cranks wouldn't find us.

For the rest of the night, we stayed quiet and had a few weapons on hand. I wasn't sure how any of us were able to fall asleep, especially me, when the echoes of the screeching and snarling of the Cranks was repeating over and over in my mind.

A/N: Yoooo, I'm back.

School is officially over for me, which means there will be more writing.

Who's happy that Maeve and Lillie are back?!

Song above is Cranks! By John Paesano.

Comment, vote, more soon!

-A