***EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!***

"Shhhh!" A voice hissed in her ear.

Newt. It was just Newt. His hand let go of her mouth with a yelp.

"Why are you the way that you are?" He whined, wiping the slobber onto his pants. She had licked his hand.

"Shucks sake man! Trying to give me a bloody heart attack? And next time keep your hands to yourself." She scolded with a little smirk.

"Sorry for scaring you." He stood awkwardly in front of Alex."Umm...so..what's up?" He asked, rubbing his neck.

"The sky." She sassed. She put her hand on her hips, "Newt, spit it out."

He sighed "I just want to say..I'm..I'm sorry. You were right. About WICKED and everything else. I just really wanted to finally be free. And safe. I guess I was wrong. I won't doubt you again, sis."

Alex pulled him into a hug. "I know Newt. I want to be free too. Soon. Just gotta make it through this scorched desert with something called Cranks and a disease called the Flair. What could go wrong?"

She pulled away with a smile. Lights flicked on, making Alex blink from the sudden brightness. Once her eyes adjusted she noticed Newt's forehead scrunched and his eyes narrowed.

"ALEX?! What the shuck is that on your neck?" He yelled.

"I'm now a vampire." Alex smirked and rolled her eyes. Her stomach gave a backflip and released a bunch of butterflies when she remembered how those marks got on her neck. She walked back through the door, to the others waiting in the wide open hall.

"No way Alex! You don't get to walk away! Get back here!" Newt followed, nagging her, "I told him! Where is he? Imma punch his bloody face!"

"Who? That attractive vampire I had passionate bathroom floor sex with? He disappears during the day. That's how vampires work." Alex rolled her eyes.

The rest of the Gladers giggled, watching Newt attempt to scold Alex who just rolled her eyes and had a snarky comeback for everything.

"Alex! Seriously? Do you have no filter? Or self respect?" Newt blanched.

She gave him a look, "Shuck no. I thought that was obvious."

"Doubt it." A.J shrugged.

"She does not." Clint agreed.

"Have you met her?" Fry asked.

"Thank you boys. Now, where the shuck are  Tommy and Minho?" Alex nodded seriously.

"I need to have another word with that shuck face!" Newt gummed beside her, glaring at her.

She spun in a slow circle, still ignoring Newt. She heard a commotion from down the hall. Alex turned to see the 2 boys sprinting around a corner towards them. They were shouting, but their words weren't distinguishable. The group turned and watched them for a second. Minho was screaming and Thomas was waving his arms. Apprehension rose inside Alex.

"That can't be good." Clint muttered.

"Is it ever good?" Leo asked apprehensively.

When she heard IT her face lost its color, and her palms went sweaty. She heard them. They came lurching and stumbling around the corner. They were chasing the boys. The monsters. The creatures, just like Chris. Just like Ben. These were Cranks. Her blood froze. Her hands went numb, her breathing stopped.

She vaguely felt a hand wrap around her arm, pulling. Her frozen limbs slowly started working when she was spun around and pulled forward. She blinked when she saw Clint pulling her forward.

"RUN!" he was screaming.

She finally heard Minho screaming, "RUN! GO GO GO! MOVE!"

Alex's feet finally decided to work. The screaming was getting louder. Meaning closer.

Running. They were running for their lives. Again.

Thomas and Minho caught up to the others.

"The shuck did you guys do now?!" Alex yelled at them.

"Told them their hair sucks and mine's better!" Minho yelled back.

"Well you just told the truth!" Alex yelled, she gave him a quick smirk as they sprinted for their life.

"WHERE DO WE GO?" Frypan yelled.

"UP! Alex yelled, she pointed to the broken escalators.

"Thomas, Minho, what the hell are those things?" Clint yelled.

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

"Those must be the Cranks we were warned about!" Alex yelled back. "We should have brought some Snickers chocolate bars!"

"What? Why? How is that helpful?" Thomas yelled back.

"Maybe they're hungry?" Alex called.

"CUZ THEY AREN'T THEM WHEN THEIR HUNGRY!" Minho hollard.

Even running for their lives, Alex and Minho had to be sarcastic. Alex saw Newt open his mouth to say something to them but shut his mouth and shook his head. The Gladers ran for the broken escalators. Alex and Minho arrived first but stopped and waved them all up. She wasn't going to leave anyone behind. She had already lost too many friends.

"Move! Move!"

Minho grabbed her wrist, pulling her, "COME ON!"

Alex started up the stairs, Thomas right beside her and the decaying humans right behind. She could smell them now. The screaming was loud, sounding like dying angry animals.

One of the things launched itself at them, from somewhere beside the group. It grabbed onto Alex's ankle taking her down, ripping her hand from Minho's. She crashed into Thomas, making him trip too. They both crashed back down the stairs.

"ALEX!" Minho screamed.

Alex landed on her back, the backpack breaking her fall. The human-like monster screamed at her, while she tried to scramble to her feet.

It pounced with imaginable speed. It was snapping its black and rotting teeth, trying to rip her face off. Blood spraying from its mouth. It smelt like rotting meat and flesh.

The creature had no hair, its flesh was rotting in spots, and black veins wrapped around its body. Its hands were bloody claws. Alex had one hand on its chest trying to hold it off. Her other one was reaching for the knife on her thigh. Bile rose in Alex's throat.

Don't shuckin throw up now.

The creature was strong, slowly pushing closer to her. The rotting black and bloody teeth were only a few inches away from her neck when her fingers found the handle of the dagger. She wrapped her hand around it, and with a scream of her own, she pulled it free and plugged it into the Cranks neck. Blood splattering everywhere. The creature screamed and shuddered.

Thomas shoved it off and grabbed Alex, hulling her to her feet. He pulled her forward. They ran up the stairs after the others. The pack of cranks right behind them. The rest of the Gladers had made it to the second level and stopped, waiting for them.

"GO! WAITING FOR A SPECIAL INVITATION? MOVE!" Screamed Alex.

Her lungs and legs were working overtime. The creatures were crawling up the stairs and railings and walls, defying gravity. One jumped from the railings beside them, and grabbed onto A.J.

Alex spun around, scrambling back towards him. A.J screamed when teeth sunk into him. The crank and A.J fell back down the stairs and into the midst of a horde of Cranks.

"NOOO! A.J!" Alex screamed.

ALLLEEEEEEEX! HELP!"

She heard his terrified and pain riddled screams until it was abruptly cut off. Cranks had converged on the boy. All Alex could see was blood. Clint had lunged at him at the same time as Alex. A crank threw itself at Clint, pushing him over the railing of the stairs.

"CLINT! NOOOO!!" Alex screamed and lunged for him. She managed to grab his wrist, and the railing with the other, keeping her from both of them slipping over the edge. Clint was dangling over the edge, and the only thing keeping him from falling was Alex's sweaty hand.

"Clint! No!" Alex cried.

Clint looked at her with fear. He glanced down under him and then back up at her with determination on his face.

"No! Clint! Don't you dare! Don't you shucken dare!" Alex pleaded. "Please!"

"I love you. Thank you Alex. Save them." Clint choked.

"NO! CLINT! PLEASE!"

Alex let go of the railing with her hand and tried to grab his wrist with both hands. Clint had wriggled and twisted his wrist out of her grip. Before Alex could fall over the railing herself, Minho grabbed her backpack and pulled her back.

"NO!" Alex's scream ripped from her throat, "CLINT! NO!"

Bile rose up and she couldn't hold it back, she threw up over the railing. She watched as another brother fell to his gruesome death. He hit the cement ground with a nasty sickening thud. He didn't move. Cranks jumped on top of his still body.

Is that what Matt looked like at the bottom of the casim of the Grievers? Broken. Bloody and splattered. Alone.

They had to keep running, more cranks were coming up the stairs. Alex was shaking and her stomach felt like throwing up again. Minho had to pull her away from the railing.

"Where do we go?" Winston yelled.

"Come on, keep moving!" Thomas yelled, running in front, leading the group to the other set of stairs.

"Aris, no!" Someone screamed.

A crank had jumped over the railing and landed in front of the group, screaming at them. Aris picked up a long piece of metal and ran at it. He smashed it in the head, sending it back over the railing. A group of cranks jumped on it. Alex's stomach twisted in disgust, making her gag.

The group made it to the second set of stairs. A couple cranks cut off Alex and Teresa from the group.The girls had to run to the broken escalators.

"TES! Give me your hand! Don't let go!" Alex yelled at the terrified girl.

She grabbed Teresa's hand and pulled her, making their way up the broken steps. She saw Minho stop and hesitate, turning in their direction.

"No!" Alex yelled at Minho, "GO AROUND! MEET AT THE TOP!"

Alex had to let go of Teresa's hand and shove her up the stairs in front of her. Alex could feel the crank right behind her. She could smell the rotting flesh. She grabbed a knife from her belt and swung around, slashed her dagger at the cranks face, giving it another gash on its already bloody face. This one was missing an eye, a dark bloody fleshy hole in its rotting face. Her knife slowed it down enough for Alex to kick it in the chest, sending it crashing down the stairs, tripping a few others. Alex kept running up the stairs, shoving Teresa to keep going.

The girls made it to the top on the next level with the guys. They were both panting. Alex's heart was beating at such an irregular rhythm she thought it was going to explode.

"Go Tes! GO!" She had to shove Teresa forwards again, and duck as the same crank lunged at her.

THESE THINGS ARE LIKE COCKROACHES! WHY DON'T THEY DIE?!

Alex spun on her knees and drove her dagger up into the creature's stomach with a yell of defiance.

I'm not dying tonight you shucken bloody mother of a Griever! I didn't escape Rat Man to be eaten for dinner!

She pulled the knife out and stumbled to her feet.

"Minho, come on!" She grabbed his hand as she ran past. He had turned to help her.

"Come on! Never stop running!" She pulled him.

"Where the hell are we gonna go?" Frypan yelled.

"We gotta find a way out of here!" Thomas yelled.

"NO SHUCK YOU IDIOT!" Alex screamed back, frustrated with his obvious statements.

"THOUGHT WE COULD MAKE A HOME HERE. HAVE SOME COZY TEA PARTIES WITH THE LOVELY NEIGHBORS WHO WANT TO EAT OUR SHUCKING BRAINS!"

"Enough Alex!" Newt screamed, "your not being helpful!"

"Ya well, neither is this shank!" Alex snapped back, as they sprinted down yet another hall.

"Go! Faster, faster!" Minho yelled, between his panting.

Alex was looking for an exit, a door, a window, something. A crank flew from above them and tackled Newt to the floor. It's rotten teeth snapping at him.

"Newt! NEWT!" Alex screamed.

"GUYS! HELP!"

Leo tried. He had taken a swing, but the creature was faster. The crank grabbed him. Leo screamed. He tried to twist away from it. The crank was stronger, it hung on tight. And the crank flung Leo over the railing. Alex heard him screaming. Until the awful thud of his body breaking on the cement floor below. Alex screamed. The crank had turned back to Newt.

She ran towards her brother still fighting with the creature. She jumped forward at the same time Thomas flung himself at the creature, together Alex and Thomas sent the Crank crashing through the glass railing.

"Newt, you good?" Thomas had pulled him up.

"Yeah. Thanks, Tommy. And Alex. Thanks."

Alex was frozen at the smashed railing. Alex's stomach emptied itself again. She could see Leo's broken bloody body on the ground, and couldn't rip her eyes away. Her chest hurt. It was hard to breathe. She choked back a sob.

"Come on Alex! We gotta go!"

Minho pulled her away from the smashed railing. Leaving another dead friend behind. They ran down the hall.

"Anyone see any exits?" Winston yelled.

Thomas took a sharp right turn. Everyone followed. It was a long skinny dead end hall. A few doors at the end. Each one locked and not budging. They were trapped. Alex could hear the undead diseased humans coming closer. Their screaming made Alex's blood feel like ice in her veins. If she was going to die, she was going down fighting.

I guess better eaten then back in WICKED. What a shuckin wonderful life I live to have eaten alive versus a human guinea pig.

She sheathed her knife, and pulled her bow off her back. She nocked an arrow.

"COME ON! OPEN!" Minho yelled.

Thomas and Minho were slamming the door, trying to open the last door in the hall. It had a broken EXIT sign above the door. It was their only hope. The Cranks had reached the hall.

Alex planted her feet. She would protect her boys until she was out of arrows and then fight until her last breath. She stood in between them. She pulled back on the string, and let it go. The arrow hit a creature in the chest. It dropped. She had another one ready to loose when Winston was beside her with a pistol. He nodded at her. She nodded back and they shot at the group of cranks.

"HURRY UP! Get that damn door open!" Winston yelled.

Frypan was now trying to get it open too. Slamming his large shoulder into it.

"ALEX?" Newt yelled.

Alex yelled in frustration. She shot another arrow and spun towards the door. And with a running start and a surge of adrenaline, she kicked the door. It banged open.

"Just loosened it for you babe." Minho sassed.

"You would be dead meat without me!" She yelled back, furious.

Everyone rushed through. Winston was the last to make it through. A crank had grabbed onto his backpack. He fell back, and a few more of the bloody hands clawed at him, hoping for a meal. They pulled him back. Alex grabbed his hands, Minho grabbed him too and pulled. While Thomas and Frypan held the door closed. They played a deadly game of human tug-a-war.

Winston screamed in pain as the Cranks clawed at him, ripping and shredding his torso; leaving him with huge gaping wounds covered in blood. The decaying human-like creatures screamed, wanting their meal. Alex screamed right back and with another surge of adrenaline she pulled Winston free. Minho and Thomas slammed the door closed, leaning on it with their backs, holding it closed.

"GO! GET HIM OUTTA HERE!" Minho yelled at her.

Alex pulled Winston up, and threw his arm around her shoulders. Newt grabbed his other shoulder. They followed Frypan, Teresa, and Aris. Alex and Newt pulling Winston. Minho and Thomas followed. The door held shut for a little, giving them enough time to scramble away. They found a part of a wall that had fallen, shivered in sand making a little cave. Perfect for hiding.

Everyone scrambled inside and huddled together. Alex laid Winston down. Her and Teresa tried their best to clean and wrap his bloody wounds in the dark. They didn't dare turn on flashlights. Alex had to shove an extra shirt in Winston's mouth to keep him from screaming.

"I'm sorry Winston! I'm sorry!" Alex kept repeating in a hushed whisper, tears sliding down her face.

The girls sat beside him holding his hands.
When he had finally passed out from pain, and exhaustion, she took the shirt out of his mouth and crawled to the front of the cave, beside Minho. She could hear the screeching and screaming of the creatures, trying to find them.

Alex was so uptight and tense, there was no way she was capable of sleeping. She insisted on taking the first watch. Minho tried to convince her to sleep, but she couldn't. She wouldn't. She just shook her head. He eventually gave up, and laid his head in her lap. She ran her hands through his hair. Alex felt him drift off to sleep. Once everyone was asleep, she mourned the deaths of three more brothers.

She felt guilty. She didn't know Leo or A.J. well. She knew Leo was a slipper, and that was about it. And she felt incredible guilt. A.J had looked after Bark when Chris had attacked her and when she took that hit from a Griever. She would always be grateful.

But Clint... Clint was a friend. She worked with him everyday. She had known him. He had trusted her and confided in her some of his deepest secrets no one else knew. They had many serious talks along with Jeff when it was a quiet day. They had laughed and joked in the MedHut, at bonfires and at lunch tables. And she could do nothing. He sacrificed himself. Why? Because he knew she couldn't save him?

Because she was weak. Because she was slow. And because she wasn't good enough. She did nothing, and let another brother die.

She had now lost Bark, Alby, Matt, Jeff, Chuck and now Clint. Her core group of boys, her brothers. She loved each of those boys so shucken much, and it hurt just as much. She clapped her hands over her mouth to stifle her sobs. She cried over everyone she had failed to save. Her heart felt like it couldn't possibly break anymore.