One Of Us - A Gally, Maze Runner Fan Fiction

Chapter 9 - Friends or Foes?

Song - Enemy (Imagine Dragons)

The outline of a shadow sashayed through the swarm of cranks screeching and lunging for them. As they came closer, I could finally make out their face... a girl. She didn't even flinch as a crank almost bit off her face. She prowled towards us into the light, and I could see she had short brown hair, tan skin, and a particularly smug look on her face.

"Stay back! Stay back!" Minho hissed as she came closer. Although she didn't seem like a threat Thomas grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind them. The girl trailed her eyes over all of us as she stopped only a meter in front. Her eyes halted on me. I stared at her back. She smirked,

"You guys look like shit... come on follow me," She instructed while turning to start waltzing out. When none of us followed she turned back and smirked again,

"Unless you want to stay here with them..."

The boys stood frozen for a second and I met the girls' eyes. She seemed young. Probably older than me but only by a few years. But she still seemed to hold this strong and bold demeanor. Someone who wouldn't take anyone's shit. She continued to look at me while waiting for the boy's response. I don't know what it was about this girl, but I liked her. Or maybe just intrigued, because that's why I whispered into Thomas's ear,

"It's fine... come on,"

Tom glanced back at me before nodding to the others, and we followed behind the girl through the cranks.

The girl led us through what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse, that wasn't very abandoned anymore. We passed men and women in every corner, warming their hands by small fires in metal barrels.

"Come on, keep up. Jorge wants to meet you," She declared as she swaggered through the warehouse. I looked at Newt, he looked very uneasy with his eyes darting in every direction. Tom also looked concerned with the new revelation as we headed up a flight of stairs.

"Who's Jorge?" Thomas asked. The girl in front of us looked over her shoulder.

"You'll see,"

Tom glanced at me; I gave him a sideways look in return.

"No one's come out of the scorch for a long time. You've just got him curious... and me too,"

I heard a growing noise behind us and glanced back to see a swarm of menacing men following behind us. Thomas grabbed my wrist while glancing back.

"Anyone else starting to get a bad feeling about this place?" I heard Newt murmur under his breath as we turned a corner. I wasn't sure, part of me agreed with him but I wanted to trust this girl.

"Let's just hear him out, hear what he has to say," Tom affirmed before we were led up yet another flight of stairs into a large room that seemed to be on the top floor. On the other end, there was a collection of lamps surrounding a desk where one man sat, facing away from us. He was leaning over a radio system.

"Jorge, they're here," The girl announced before plopping onto a nearby couch. We slowly filed in.

The man, or Jorge, fiddled with the machine as it made static and various beeping noises.

"Damn it," he breathed before turning it off completely. As he looked up from the machine at the window in front of him, a massive lighting strike lit up the glass. Perfectly timed to make him look even more intimidating. The other men filed and guarded all the exits and stood behind us.

As the man turned around to face us, he placed his hands on his hips and sighed,

"Do you ever feel like the whole world is against you?"

We all looked at each other, unsure whether to respond, I could get a proper look at him now. Dark skin, grey stubble, and a head of brownish-greyish curls. He walked over to a nearby table with a collection of bottles and glasses. He picked one of each and poured a clear liquid inside the cup.

"Three questions... Where did you come from? Where are you going? How can I profit?"

His voice was husky and dark by the end of his sentence. I swallowed. The others remained silent.

"Don't all answer at once," Jorge snickered.

Thomas swallowed,

"We're heading for the mountains. Looking for the right arm," He murmured. A wave of chuckles came from the men.

"You're looking for ghosts, you mean," He muttered with a chuckle. I looked at Newt and he glanced at me with a concerned expression. Jorge took another sip and started walking towards us,

"Question number two... where did you come from?"

Minho behind me said firmly,

"That's our business,"

I watched Jorge, his face going from completely blank to a tiny movement of his head and then there were hands on me. I felt the presence of Newt, Minho, and the others disappear behind me as they were pulled back. Tom and I  were pushed to our knees by a group of men.

"Hey! Get your fucking hands off me!" I barked as they grappled onto my legs and held me to the ground.

"Get the hell of me, man!" Thomas hissed from beside me.

I heard the shouts from the others behind us.

"Get the hell off them!"

"Get away from her!"

"Don't you dare touch her!"

From the corner of my eye, I saw the girl grab a little machine off a table and stride towards me. I tried to wrestle away from the men, but they held their grip firmly on my arms behind my back. She pulled it to the back of my head and for a minute I thought she was about to pull a trigger, but a beeping noise came from the machine.

Thomas tried to break free but was restrained back,

"Get your hands off of her," he growled,

"Oh, shut up you big baby," The girl sighed while stalking over to him and doing the same. Another beeping noise.

"What is that?" He shouted, just as I felt the man's grasp loosen and I quickly got to my feet, bringing up my fist to one of the men but Newt grabbed my arm and pulled it down as he ran to my side.

"You were right," The girl gasped while handing Jorge the machine.

"Right about what? What is she talking about?" Thomas hissed.

Jorge smiled,

"I'm sorry hermano... Looks like your tagged... You came from WICKED. Which means you're very valuable... especially you... and the little lady here," he snickered while pointing his finger at me. I took a step closer to the other boys,

"WICKED really wants you two," he whispered, and just like that I felt the growing presence of the men around us, like predators stalking their prey. Thomas gripped my wrist as my heart started to thump in my chest.

What have we gotten ourselves into?