THEY CARRIED MINHO INTO THE
building. The door slammed shut behind them and someone switched on a flashlight, so they could see Minho's unconscious face.
Evie squinted from the blinding light and then looked down at Minho.

"Minho!" she shouted loudly, shaking him.
There was no response.

"MINHO!" Thomas shouted even louder and shook him by the collar. Evie's heart began to beat even faster, if that was even possible.

"Come on Minho!"
"Minho!"
"come on!" She saw Minho's eyelids twitch, then he groaned and they all exhaled in relief.

"There he is again!" Frypan commented and the black-haired sat up.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You were struck by lightning." Thomas, who was visibly relieved, explained to him. They were not prepared to lose another member of the group.
Minho groaned:

"Ah." and dropped back down.

"Huh, don't think you'll get rid of me that quickly." he said and then grinned amusedly towards Evie.
The girl shook her head.

"Slinthead! Seriously, I think you either have a superpower or a dozen angels around you." she said with a grin and Minho grunted.

"Hey!" Teresa drew attention to herself.

"What's that smell?" The others didn't hear her. Evie stood up.

"What do you mean?" she was about to ask when she smelled it too. It smelled like rotten meat and something else she couldn't identify. She knew the smell though, it was familiar.
Like opening a full fridge again after decades.

Evie stood next to the brunette and tried to make out something in the darkness. She could only make out Teresa's figure from the light of the boys and saw her turn her head towards Evie. Her body was tense and she looked forward again.
Then Teresa switched on her flashlight and suddenly shrieked when she saw something behind the blonde girl.
Evie's gaze was still on Teresa when she saw the person behind her out of the corner of her eye.

They stumbled back and Evie shrieked when she saw the crank. It looked like a disfigured doll as the diseased man screamed at the girls.
Evie was pulled back by the arm and Newt stood protectively in front of her. The crank couldn't move far from the spot. He was chained by the neck. Evie briefly lulled herself to safety.

"BEHIND YOU!" Frypan then shouted to her and Evie felt something pull her ponytail and her back arched backwards.

She stumbled back and felt the disgusting, wet fingers around her neck. The blonde's breathing fell shallow.
She could barely breathe from panic and tried to squirm out of the Crank's grip. The disgusting decaying smell reached her nose and Evie felt sick when she felt the Cranks breath on her ear.

The others turned to her in horror and rushed to her aid.
Evie managed to wriggle out of their grip, turned around and kicked this something away from her. It was a woman. For a moment, Evie felt pity for her, but it quickly turned into disgust.
One of her eyes was missing and her hair looked like that of a doll whose hair you couldn't control when you were a child.
Evie's breathing was rapid and she could still feel the cold, damp hands around her neck. Every muscle fiber in her body was tense.

The woman wanted to pounce on her again, but there was also a chain around her neck. As disgusting as she was, she looked familiar to Evie in a way.
It was the eyes that were missing, that flashed images of a man in her mind. Also with one eye missing.

Evie couldn't follow what was happening before her eyes, nor the images in her head, as numerous screams from other Cranks rang out. It sounded terrible. All these decomposed people were all chained up.

Who did this?

"So you've already met my guard dogs."
They turned to the female voice. It was a girl. She was maybe their age, had short-shaven black hair.
There was something about her. The way she walked so calmly through the Cranks who were trying to attack and probably kill her. There was a hint of madness in her gaze, something arrogant about her attitude.

She looked down on the group, which was hardly possible as she was not particularly tall.
Then she walked past the last of the Cranks as if it were nothing and stopped in front of Thomas and Evie.

"Y'all look like shit," she said, crossing her arms and scrutinizing them.

It's not as if they'd been walking through the desert for three days and had almost been eaten by mad people.

"Follow me," she said, turned and left. When she realized that no one was following her, she turned around again.

"Unless you want to stay here, of course?" She then asked. Thomas looked at the screaming Cranks around him and then looked at Newt. He seemed to weigh up their chances and decided that they would follow the girl.

—

They ran into a large warehouse. Hammocks were hung between the steel posts that held the whole thing together, it reminded Evie of the clearing. People looked at her group. Some with curiosity, others with disgust.

"Come on, stay together! Jorge wants to know you," the girl said and Evie looked at her more closely.

The top she was wearing had holes in it. She looked like a homeless person, which she seemed to be. She was thin, but still looked quite strong.
She walked confidently, ignoring the looks people gave her.

"Who is Jorge?" Thomas asked.

"You'll see." He got a curt reply. Jorge had to be the head of the building and this troop.

"No one has come through the scorch for a long time. You've made him curious," she said and a few men joined them.

"And me too." the girl added. Evie looked nervously at the men behind them.

"So does anyone else feel uncomfortable here?" asked Newt next to her, who had his arm around her. Evie freed herself from his grip and walked forward to Thomas.

"Thomas, what kind of people are these? Do you think they're the right arm?" she whispered so that no one but Thomas could hear.

"I have no idea."

"Jorge, they're here," the girl said and for a moment Evie wondered if she was his daughter or his niece.
They came to a halt in a kind of workshop. A man, maybe around 40, was sitting at a table, tinkering with something.
The man raised his index finger to indicate that they should wait.
The girl dropped onto the sofa in the room.

"Damn!" muttered this Jorge and then turned to face them.

"Do you ever got the feeling, the whole world's against you?" he asked, putting his hands on his hips.

You don't say.

He didn't seem to expect an answer from them and continued talking.

"Three questions," he said and walked over to a table.

"Where did you come from? Where are you going?" he asked, reaching for a jug and a jar.

"How can I profit?" he added. For Evie's taste, these were too many questions for the fact that they knew so little.
They exchanged glances, arguing indirectly about who should talk and so didn't give him any answers.

"Don't all answer at once." Jorge commented and poured himself some water.

"We're heading for the mountains.. looking for the right arm." Thomas took over the talking. The men around them burst out laughing.

"You're looking for ghosts, you mean!" Jorge said over the laughter and spread his arms playfully. He then took a sip before his features became serious again.

"Question number two. Where are you from?" He walked towards them. Never would they tell him they were from WCKD. If they weren't the right arm then it could be highly possible, they were from WCKD and therefore after them.

"That's our business," Minho said. It was obviously the wrong answer. Jorge looked past Evie and nodded to someone. Barely half a second later, Evie felt a harsh hand on her shoulder and the girl was roughly pushed forward.

"EY- Get the hell off me man!" She cursed and kicked around.

"Ey get off her!" shouted Thomas. Evie's people immediately went into an uproar, but they were all restrained and unable to help her.
Evie quickly found herself on her knees as she tried to fight back. The holeyshirt-girl came into her vision. She ran towards the blonde girl with a device. Shortly after, Evie felt a hand on the back of her neck, yanking her head down.

"What the fuck!" Evie hissed between clenched teeth.
She doubled over and gasped in shock as her neck was exposed from behind and began to ache as if an electric shock was being sent through it.

"What are you doing?" She heard Minho's angry voice.

"What is that?!" asked Evie, trying not to sound too panicked. The girl let go of her and Evie was released.

"You were right."
She handed the device to Jorge. He put on a pair of glasses and looked at it.

"Right about what? What is she talking about?!" Thomas asked in panic.

"I'm sorry, Hermano, looks like you're tagged!" He looked at Evie.

"You came from WCKD. All of you!" he looked around. Evie noticed how Minho took a step closer to her, and shortly afterwards her arms were grabbed, so she was pulled up to her feet and towards the boys.

"And that means.." Jorge continued and walked over to Evie.
She looked at him hostilely. Her heart was racing with anxiety.

"You are.." he placed two fingers on the blonde's chin.

"Very, very valuable!"
Evie snatched her chin from his fingers and took a step backwards. A smirk crept onto the man's lips.

"I like you, Hermana." he said with a smirk.

"Take them away."

—

"Great plan Thomas. Just hear what the man has to say! Really working out for us!" said Minho, who finally had to comment on the fact that they were now hanging upside down from the ceiling.

"Shut up Minho!" Thomas snapped back in frustration and tried to reach for the rope at his feet.

"Enjoying the view?" Jorge asked, coming towards them.

"The hell u want?" Thomas asked him.

"That is the big question." Jorge replied and began to walk around them.

"My men want to sell you back to WCKD. Life has taught them to think small. I'm not like that. And something tells me that you're not either." He said. Evie's head was buzzing with too many question marks.

"Is it the blood rushing to my head, or is that shank not making any sense?" Minho asked. Evie grinned, because even at the worst moments, he always had to have a line.

"Tell me!" Jorge now said, turning to Thomas and pointing at him with his stick.

"Everything you know about the right arm." He said and leaned on the stick again.

"I thought those were just ghosts?" Newt asked, confused. Jorge looked at him.

"I just happen to believe in ghosts!" He then said.

Was he trying to fool them? After all, they were also hanging upside down in the air.

Jorge now ran to a lever.

"If you tell me what you know, maybe we can make a deal." He said.

And what if not?
Would he then sell them to WCKD? Why did he even want to know?

"Well," Thomas began.

"We don't know.. very much."
Jorge didn't seem to like that answer. He pushed the lever away from him and they were dropped half a meter down.
A scream escaped Evie's throat. After all, her life was still worth something to her.

"OK! Okay, okay! All right. They're hiding in the mountains. And they attacked WICKED! They saved some kids that's all we know!" Thomas shouted in panic.
Jorge wanted to say something, but was interrupted.

"Yo! Jorge!" said one of the men who had run after them and grabbed Evie so roughly.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"My new friends were just getting acquainted," Jorge replied. Evie would have laughed at his boundless sense of humor if he hadn't been the one to hang her upside down from the ceiling.

"We're done now." He said with one last look around, then turned to leave.

"Hey wait wha-.. you're not going to help us?" Thomas asked indignantly. The man looked around suspiciously, then grinned hideously.

"Don't worry, Hermano. We'll get you back where you belong. Hang tight!"

Oh really funny!

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