ACT II   SCENE XXXVII
ALCMENE

   AFTER THE last of the Cranks were put down, Minho bent down and wiped the blood off his knife. "Well, that was a good workout," he commented. "We should be good to go now, right?"

"Where are we anyway?" Frypan asked as they gathered around Jorge.

"Zone B," the man replied. "This is where they burn the bodies."

"Sounds perfect," Newt said sarcastically.

"Where we just came from was Zone A," he explained quickly as he started down the road. "This part's around the middle of the city, everything that's salvageable has already been salvaged. And that's good for us—"

"How is that good for us?" Minho interjected snappily.

"Good because we won't run into any Cranks around these parts," Jorge said before grunting out a laugh. "Any living ones anyway."

"So where are we headed?" Cassandra asked.

"To Zone C, on the other side of the city," he answered. "You're headin' to the mountains, right? I'll get you there to the safe haven."

"Wait, how do you know we're goin' to the safe haven?" Newt asked him suspiciously.

"Your friend Thomas told me everything."

"Always said that boy had the largest mouth I've ever known," Cassandra groused.

"What about Thomas and Brenda? We lost 'em back there," Frypan said worriedly. "Are they gonna be okay?"

"They're tough kids and Brenda knows her stuff," Jorge reassured them. "We'll try looking for them but if we don't, I trust Brenda to meet up with us outside the city."

They continued down the road and turned on their left due north. Cassandra couldn't see the mountains from deep within the city but the tall buildings on either side of them provided ample coverage from the sun. As they moved onto the main street, the overwhelming stench finally hit them and the Gladers started gagging simultaneously.

"Oh, God, what is that?!" Aris cried out.

"I told you this is where they burn the bodies," Jorge replied with a sardonic smirk then wrapped a piece of cloth around his face.

A plume of dark grey smoke could be seen further down the road on their right. Cackles and the sound of breaking glass permeated the air. Streaks of blood ran down the cracked cement and desecrated bodies were piled up high in the back of trucks. Most of the buildings were all broken into and complete disarray surrounded them. Cassandra felt her stomach clench, scrunching her face up in pure disgust at the sight before her. The fetor hung in the air all around them with every side street branching down to more pyres in the distance.

They trudged on for about an hour down the middle of the street before Jorge motioned for them to enter a dead end. A couple of questions sounded, along with a sarcastic comment, before the man shushed them. He stopped by a door and grabbed the handle, trying to pull it open but it seemed like it was wedged stuck. He cursed quietly under his breath.

"What's wrong?" Newt asked.

"I think it's locked from the inside," he replied. "Cutting through here would save us at least two hours from circling the entire block."

Minho moved forwards and tried throwing his shoulder against the door. The old lock budged slightly but it wasn't enough force to break the shuck thing open. Cassandra looked around and pointed towards a small window on the opposite wall from the door. It looked big enough for a person to crawl into but it was too high for her to reach on her own.

"Help me up there." She pointed, standing underneath it.

"Cassie, are you sure?" Minho looked around warily. "What if there are more Cranks inside? I can't let you go in on your own."

She lifted her head up and squinted at the window. "Well, follow me if you want to."

He nodded and turned back to the others, waving his arm. "Arch, Fry, c'mere and help us out!"

Minho climbed up first, since he was taller and could throw the window open. It was times like these that Cassandra wished she was taller than her 5"5 frame. He managed to wriggle his way through the tight fit of the window and dropped inside. She could hear the thud of his boots hitting something hollow, a box maybe, and then his face popped back out. He waved her up with a hand and she climbed onto Archie's shoulders with Frypan helping to steady her.

"Hold on." Newt came over and handed her back the flashlight. "The both of you better not be smackin' lips in there and forget all about us."

"Oh, my God, Newt!" she exclaimed in disbelief as the other boys snickered.

Minho reached out to grasp her arm and pulled her into the building. It was dark, the only light source was from the open window and it reeked of mould. Her observation had been right; a few wooden crates had been stacked up against the wall underneath the window. They clicked on their flashlights and shone it around the room, jumping at what they found in the corner. There was a decomposing corpse slumped down there on the left, a huge splatter of blood on the wall behind it and a gun in its hand.

Her eyes immediately flicked to the silver firearm and she darted forwards to pick it up. Minho raised a questioning eyebrow at her as she smiled smugly and pocketed the pistol. They started towards the door together. Its rusted hinges squealed noisily in the silence and they peeked out of the room cautiously while shining their torches into every corner.

When they didn't see anything, they stepped out into a reception area that led down a narrow corridor. Minho started when his light landed on another corpse behind the counter. He took a step closer to examine it.

"Whoa...look at that," he told her. "It looks like she clawed her own eyes out."

"Uh, no, thanks." She immediately left and Minho had a stupid grin on his face.

"Are you scared of the creepy dead people?" he teased.

Cassandra rolled her eyes. They reached the end of the hallway and turned right into another one. Broken glass crunched underneath their feet and busted ceiling lights hung above them. Some of the doors were opened and they took a peek into each one to make sure that everything was clear.

There was a creak as one of the ceiling lights dropped down a little lower behind them. They continued down the corridor again before reaching a larger room. It looked like it used to be a storage area. Numerous metal shelves were arranged in neat rows throughout its entirety but they'd all been plundered long ago. They found the back door and Minho knocked on it.

"You guys still there?" he called.

"About bloody time," Newt answered from the other side. "You were smackin', weren't you?"

"Geez, Newt, were you like watching us?" Cassandra replied while shaking her head.

"I shucking knew it." The blonde sighed in dismay.

The lock on the door was pretty old. She used her knife and managed to get it to snap open with some precise force. There was another creak, coming from the ceiling right above them and Minho flashed his torch up. A second later, there was a loud bang as both the door and the ceiling gave way at the same time.

Cassandra felt something heavy land on top of her and she was suddenly staring up at a deranged face. She cried out in surprise and lashed out with her limbs.

"Get your hands off my Cassie!" Minho yelled angrily and kicked the Crank off of her. He then crouched down and stabbed it in the chest.

"Oh, not this again!" Frypan complained from the doorway.

"They must have been chased in here by some other group." Jorge grunted and swung his bar at another man's head. "C'mon, let's take 'em out quickly and get out of here."

Cassandra lunged forwards at a third Crank. She knocked him to the ground and slit his throat before rolling off as a woman rushed in her direction. Minho stepped between them and grabbed her arm, swinging the woman over his shoulder and onto the ground. He dispatched her as well and the others managed to put the rest down. Jorge quickly crossed the room towards another door and kicked it open noisily.

"Come on, hurry." He waved them over and they ran through the next corridor.

They exited the building through the side entrance and the evening sun greeted them with a loathsome glare. Cassandra squinted and shielded her eyes with a hand as she scanned the street for any more Cranks.

"Okay." Jorge turned around and stepped up onto a pile of rubble to take a better look around. "There's a hideout nearby where we can lay low for the night and and refuel."

He hopped back down onto the street and started off to an alleyway opposite them. Minho looked at the others with a raised eyebrow before following him. This part of the neighbourhood seemed a lot quieter than the previous one. They cut through another building before Jorge stopped by a crumbled ruin. He kicked away some of the debris in front and moved a slab of rock with a loud grunt to reveal an opening.

"Welcome to my humble abode." He grinned at them before getting down on his knees and crawling through the hole. "Make sure the last of you move that back in place."

Minho went after him, then Cassandra. The others crawled in behind her carefully and Newt was the last to roll the block back in place. There was light ahead of them and she could smell a fire starting as she emerged at the end of the short tunnel.

There was a small cosy-looking room with a threadbare carpet covering most of the dusty floor. A bed was pushed into a corner and a couple of old sunken sofas were against the wall. All around  them were crates and boxes of supplies piled high in neat stacks.

"You...live here?" she asked hesitantly.

"Found it while scavenging around the place," Jorge said.

Cassandra frowned and looked around again. There was a small generator and a fridge with electricity actually running the thing. Frypan walked over and opened it before exclaiming loudly, "Holy shuck, is that ice cream?"

"Whoa, are you serious?" A few of the Gladers went around to take a look and they stood there staring at it in awe.

"Help yourselves, muchachos." Jorge waved his hand as he busied himself with rummaging through some boxes.

There were hoots of delight as Frypan started distributing the packets of ice cream around. Cassandra poured herself a cup of water from a large bottle on the table. She walked around the room and examined the rest of the boxes while the Gladers helped themselves to more food.

She'd been looking inside a box that was littered to the top with brown packaging paper when she paused. There was something at the bottom of the mess and she cleared it to reveal a black box. A shiver went up her spine, just as a red-hot knot appeared in her belly. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder with hard eyes.

"So...how long have you been out in the Scorch?" she asked carefully.

"A few months," Jorge replied distractedly as he lifted a crate and dropped it to the ground.

Cassandra drew her knife and marched across the room to press the blade against the man's neck. He stiffened and turned to look at her warily. The others froze in place as they watched her with apprehension.

"A few months?" she repeated suspiciously. "And neither of you have succumbed to the Flare yet? We've been fighting off Cranks and not once have I seen you look anywhere near infected. In fact, you're as calm and sane as the rest of us."

"I guess it hasn't hit me yet." His lip turned up in a small scowl.

"Cut the crap!" she yelled. "I knew there was something suspicious about you. They sent you here, didn't they? What's your purpose?!"

"Cass, what are you talking about?" Newt asked her but his voice suggested that he knew otherwise.

"The Flare doesn't take months to kick in," she said. "It takes hold of the brain almost instantly. The best you would have is a couple of weeks before the symptoms start and then it's a degenerative progress to complete insanity. You saw the others, they're animalistic. It switches off the humanity in you."

"Cassie, what makes you so certain he's one of them?" Minho asked.

"The box in the corner over there," she said. "There's a radio inside."

She heard his footsteps cross the room to the box she mentioned and there was a scrape as he pulled the object out.

"WICKED..." he murmurred aloud after a moment. All at once, there was a clamour as the Gladers stood up and started questioning Jorge at the same time. "Okay, everyone shut up! You better start explaining yourself right now, shuckface."

Jorge sighed in frustration and raised his hands in a sign of surrender. "We were sent here to guide both groups through the Scorch," he started to tell them. "Make sure the elements or the Cranks don't kill you before the Trials started."

"Half of us are already dead," Newt said heatedly. "What are you talking about?"

"They don't need all of you," he said. "Just enough."

An uncomfortable silence fell around the room and Cassandra frowned angrily. WICKED was just playing around with them again. "What are they going to do with us?" Frypan asked.

"I don't know, man." Jorge shrugged. "I'm not part of their research team, I'm a pilot. I just do what they tell me to do and that's all I know, I swear it."

"You said both groups," Aris started. "Where's Group B now?"

"They've already made it out of the city," he answered. "We went through the tunnels, but your group is meant to cross the surface through the city."

Cassandra finally lowered her arm and looked down with a bitter expression on her face. WICKED was always up to something.

"We still need to find Tommy," Newt spoke up. "But he could be anywhere."

"Don't worry, hermano, that's why I've been looking for this," Jorge explained and picked up a handheld device from the box he'd been searching through. "WICKED has trackers on all of us. I didn't expect him or Brenda to get separated, that's why I had to bring you guys back here so I could track them down."

"How are they keeping tabs on us?" Cassandra asked him.

Jorge shrugged again. "The chips in your brains, I guess."

"So we find them and get out of the city, and then what are you going to do?" Frypan asked warily.

"We follow the plan," Jorge said. "We bring you to the safe haven."

"And we'll get the cure, right?" Newt raised an eyebrow. "They promised us a cure."

"If that's what they said." He shrugged again. "Let's just focus on the present for now and get your friend back, capiche? Go eat and rest or whatever, we'll set out again in the morning."

"We don't exactly have time to be resting, you know?" Minho frowned. "They gave us a timeframe to reach the shuck mountains."

"Trust me, you don't want to be out in the city at night." Jorge looked up at them with a serious expression. "Cranks will be crawling all over the place."

"I wouldn't mind getting some proper rest," Frypan said and some of the others agreed.

"Okay, fine." Minho rolled his eyes. "Do whatever you want."

"Cass...are you okay?" Newt started in mild concern "Your nose is bleeding."

"Huh?" She reached up to touch her top lip then looked down to find a smear of blood on her fingers.

"Are you okay?" Minho turned to her.

Everything around her started to dissolve, like sand slipping through her fingertips. The events of the day blurred together and swirled as if someone poured too much water on a canvas. It slipped away from her but she tried to hold on to her faint memories.

But the black abyss swallowed her whole.