black veil ◦ scorch trials || thomas

07.

SEVEN ; NOCTURNAL CREATURES

     She felt nothing but fear.

     Nothing but horror was coursing through her veins, nothing but time on her mind. Would they have enough time to get away, enough time to avoid them? She thought not – her thoughts were right. That which had been her fear ever since stepping foot in the Scorch had become a reality. That which she had been so afraid of was right behind her. And it scared her like nothing else had ever had.

     Evan was falling behind. Despite the light weight of her knapsack, she was falling behind. All of the boys, including Teresa, were a little ahead of her and it scared her. Evanna could hear the screeching zombie-like creatures come near. She didn't even want to know what these Cranks looked like. All she wanted was the escape their sharp nails and gurgling sounds.

     This is all wrong, Evan thought, all of it. Cranks were supposed to be infected people, hungry and wild, but nothing close to how zombies behaved. They were supposed to be slow, have some kind of rational piece of their brain left. And even if they were past the Gone, they wouldn't be this bad. So what the hell happened that caused these Cranks to act like this

     Although her legs felt like lead, Evan pushed herself to move faster. Her side ached and her wrist burned as it scraped against a piece of metal that stuck out of a broken cement wall. But she was not going to die today, and she was going to outrun sprinting flesh and bones. After all that happened, after all she's been through, Evanna refused to let it go down that way. She wasn't going to be anyone's snack.

     Evan broke out of her trance when she felt a hand on her back, she tensed even more and whipped her head to the side. Thomas' mouth was moving, shouting at her. She could feel his hand press down more, but she couldn't make out his exact words. The blood in her ears was blocking out any clear sounds, and all she could hear were thumps of feet coming in contact with the ground beneath them and the muffled screeches of the Cranks.

     Not giving up, Thomas pushed her forwards with his hand – much like he had done back at WICKED – and leaned closer to her ear, shouting for her to move faster. To hurry up. All sarcastic comments were stuck in her throat as she tried to breathe in oxygen. She could taste blood in the back of her throat, but she wasn't bleeding.

     "Thomas, Minho, what the hell are those things?!" a muffled shout came from Winston as he climbed up an escalator.

     Said boys yelled back a response, but Evan didn't hear it. The hand on her back helped her go faster, causing her to pick up her feet and take two steps at a time as she climbed the escalator. She thought of how much more convenient it would have been if they still worked. Everything else worked; the lights, the air-conditioning. Why not the escalators?

     All of a sudden, the hand on her back moved to her shoulder, yanking her back. The single motion was enough for Evan to snap out of her stupor. She blinked rapidly as Thomas' fingers curled around the material of her jacket. She swallowed thickly as she realized one of the Cranks stood in front of them. As everyone made a move to turn around and run the other way, Aris twirled a bat he must have taken earlier around in his hand and advanced on the creature.

     "Aris, no!" The warning escaped her throat before she could fully comprehend what she was thinking. Evan held her breath and watched in horror as her friend walked closer to the gurgling Crank and took a swing at it.

     The breath escaped between her parted lips as he hit the Crank in the neck, causing it's neck to snap and stumble backwards, disoriented. Evan pulled the boy back by his sleeve and let herself be dragged away by Thomas, who turned to climb another escalator.