Chapter Twenty One: Beautifully Broken

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

"Alright, so curfew started hours ago." Gally explains. "They've upped the security around the city due to your arrival just outside the walls, so we need to be quick and remain hidden. If we get caught-"
"We're shucked." I finish for Gally, one hand on my hip as I look down the sewage hole.
Sighing softly, Gally nods.
"Got it." I mumble, pulling the clean, cream colored hoodie over my head that Gally had given me. "Quick and hidden."
"Are you sure that we won't be found while we are hiding away in your supposedly abandoned shelter, hermano?" Jorge asks.
"We've had it secured for three months now. I think we'll be alright."
"It took us six months of planning to save Minho the first time, and we still failed. Time doesn't mean anything." Brenda says, arms folded.
Gally averts his eyes to her. "You can trust me on this one. Alright?"
Thomas, adjusting his pack, takes a deep breath. "Alright, Gally." He mutters hesitantly. "We're following you."
Gally nods, tossing the hood of his grey hoodie over his head before swiftly sliding down the ladder.
Thomas, gesturing towards the entrance, looks to Brenda and Jorge. "You two, go next."
Nodding as a small smirk tugs on her lips, Brenda quickly climbs down after Gally, Jorge following behind.
"Fry, (y/n)." Thomas looks to us.
Newt gently rests his hand on the small of my back. "I'll be right behind you." He whispers reassuringly, just like when we had to go across the zip line when escaping from Jorge's hideout.
Frypan quickly climbs into the sewer, and I follow behind.
Jumping down to the ground, filthy water splashing onto my legs, I cringe, stepping out of the way as Newt hops down onto the sewage floor behind me.
"Ewgh." I hear Newt mutter in the dark. "It's still gross."
Thomas, before he climbs down the ladder, pulls the metal door over the entrance and then slides down.
"Alright, everyone," Gally says, turning on his flashlight, "follow me." We that, he treads through the water down the tunnel, turning the corner.
Exchanging a hesitant glance with Newt as he turns on his own flashlight, I take a deep breath before following after the group.
The filthy water slushes with each step we take, and the stirring from our feet seems to make the stench worse, causing me to scrunch up my nose in disgust.
As we follow Gally around the left turn, he stops in his tracks and grasps onto a switch in the wall, turning on a long string of lights along the left side of the tunnel, illuminating the sewers and unveiling the small stream of sewage water that we're standing in. "There we go." He says, standing tall as he turns off his flashlight and struts down the corridor. "This way." He calls back to us, not looking over his shoulder.
Newt turns off his flashlight and puts it in his satchel.
"How long is this stretch?" I ask as we follow behind Gally.
"About a ten minute walk." He says. "We enter into a railway at the other end, just to warn you." He says. "Luckily, this time, the railway won't be active."
I distort my face in confusion. "'This time'?" I repeat. "What the shuck do you mean by 'this time'?"
"When we got out on the other end of the tunnel and began to make our way along the tracks, a train illuminated the path from in front us, and we were forced to run for our lives." Thomas mutters from the back of the group. "Thanks to Gally's perfect timing."
"You are alive and well right now, so I don't see why you're complaining, Greenie." Gally calls back from the front. "Besides, I don't hear Newt complaining, and he's the one with the bad leg."
I don't have to look back at Thomas to know that he is rolling his eyes.
• • •
The minutes felt longer due to the tension radiating off of Thomas, but, luckily, we arrive to the ladder at the other end of the sewer.
"Thomas, take the front. I've got to shut off the lights." Gally orders.
Clearly frustrated, Thomas treads through the filthy water to the front of the group and climbs up the ladder, pushing off the metal cover above his head and revealing the dimly lit tunnel of the train before climbing out. Brenda and Jorge follow behind.
Gally, walking to the left wall, pulls down the lever with a grunt, the string off lights shutting off and leaving us in the pitch black dark, excluding the faint, blue light from above.
I climb up the ladder after Fry, and Newt follows behind me.
Once Gally is out, he slides the metal circle back over the sewage hole, standing tall and dusting off his hands before strutting off down the tunnel without a word.

The group slowly makes their way down the subway tunnel, cautiously walking along the rails.
• • •
After about fifteen, maybe twenty, minutes, the tunnel opens up to the room where people can board.
"It's funny how much faster we got here the first time because we were running for our bloody lives." Newt manages to chuckle.
The walls in the room are aligned with screens that display various informational ads such as 'Know of an Infected? Call WICKED Offices and Make a Report' and 'Remember the Signs: Headaches, Ill-Temperament, Darkening Veins, Cannibalism'.
I can't help but laugh as I read the screens. "Headaches and cannibalism. Those have quite a gap between them."
"Good that." Fry nods in a soft voice, examining the screens in somewhat disbelief as we step up off of the railway and onto the boarding platform.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Newt fidget slightly.
Furrowing my brows, I give him a concerned glance, and he shifts his eyes to mine, forcing a weak smile.
He must be thinking about my bite, or could there be something else I should be worried about?
Brenda looks to Jorge. "You hear that? Those are the signs of Cranking-out, so you can check me for those instead of looking at my bite each day." She says in a snark, though kind, tone.
Gally, lifting a brow, looks back at Brenda as he leads us along the platform. "You were bit, too?"
She nods. "No need to freak out. I haven't shown signs in a long time."
Thomas nods, pursing his lips together. "She's telling the truth." He tells Gally.
Shifting his eyes to Thomas, the tall boy nods before turning ahead and stepping back down onto the railway as the tunnel narrows down again, leaving the boarding area and leading us through the dark corridor.
As we follow behind, Gally guides us to a door along the concrete wall of the dimly lit subway tunnel labeled 'Staff Only'. "Alright, now is the time to speak as little as possible. Got it?" He whispers.
We all nod.
"Silence is safety." I say softly, sending a pang of pain through my heart as I think of Aris. I can only imagine how he, Sonya, and Harriet felt when they woke up this morning to see that I'm gone.
Gally nods. "Good that." He whispers, and, with that, he slowly opens the door, peeking inside before stepping through.
We file in behind, entering a stairway that is illuminated by a single, flickering light, and we quickly rush up the flight, doing our best to take quiet steps on the steel stairs.
Stopping us at the next door, Gally peers out through the doorway as he slowly opens it. "Stay along the wall." He whispers before stepping through.
Following behind, I walk out into the vast, concrete building, resembling the bottom level of a parking garage, but, by the screens lining the upper walls around us and the various entrances and exits aligning the side walls, I can tell that people are the only thing that come through here.
Standing close to the left, Gally rushes alongside the wall, running along the long stretch of the building before stopping just before we reach the end of room, where the building opens up to the city.
"Alright, everyone." Gally whispers. "Lay low. Run swiftly. Stay hidden." He orders before running out into the open, looking back and forth as he rushes across the road.
Without hesitation, I sprint after with as light of steps as I can take, but I slow down to a stop as my jaw drops at my surroundings.
The towering buildings glimmer around us, countless windows illuminated from lights inside the rooms. The streets are glowing in a bluish tint from the pale streetlamps, and massive screens take up the center portion of different buildings, creating such intense light pollution that it is impossible to see a single star in the night sky.
"(y/n)!" Newt whispers in an urgent tone as he rushes past, grasping my arm and yanking me behind. "Gally said stay hidden, not stand out in the middle of the bloody streets!"
"Sorry! This is just so much different than, both, the Maze and the Scorch!"
"Shh!" Newt whispers, though laughing lightly as he pulls me behind the next building with the others.
"Sorry!" I whisper, clasping my bandaged hand over my mouth as I snicker.
Gally looks around the corner of the building before waving us over and turning the corner.
Running behind the others, I follow them out onto the next street, Gally slowing to a jog down the center of the road.
Brenda, looking up at a sign on the building directly beside us as we make our way down the street, scoffs. "They act like they're doing work for the greater good," she mutters, shaking her head, "but they are only doing what they can to save themselves."
I look up at the screen to see what she was talking about, reading the white text on the bright blue background: "'WICKED wants you'?" I roll my eyes. "This entire city screams propaganda and brainwashing."
"You've got that right." Gally mumbles as he makes a sudden left turn, the rest of us doing our best to keep up.
As we make our way down the block, Gally suddenly stops in his tracks, putting his arms out to make us do the same. "Wait, wait..." He whispers, scowling as he listens to the sounds of the city.
As we all fall completely silent, holding our breath, the faint sound of sirens can be heard in the distance.
His face falls. "Get to the left!" Gally orders.
Without a moment of hesitation, I sprint to the building to our left, slamming my back against the glass wall, the others doing the same, panting heavily as we struggle to keep quiet while the adrenaline rises in suspense.
The sound of sirens can still be heard in the distance, but the volume increases as it approaches us at a rapid pace. Within seconds, a black vehicle with bright red siren lights zooms into view, passing us as it heads down the road we were approaching.
"Holy shucking klunk..." I whisper breathlessly, watching it with wide eyes.
Once it drives out of sight, and the alarms begin to fade in the distance, Gally looks towards the group pressed up against the wall. "Told you. Security is up because of you shanks." He mutters, a slightly cocky tone cloaked within his voice. "Now, come on." He says before sprinting across the street the car had just driven past on.
• • •
Panting heavily from all of the running and adrenaline and several close-calls with nearly being caught by the security patrolling the streets, Gally runs to a building that, although it is tall, is much shorter in size when compared to the towers of the city. As I slow to a stop, I put my hands behind my head, doing my best to fill my lungs with as much oxygen as possible, and I crease my eyebrows together as I examine the abandoned brick building, all of the doors and windows boarded up. "How the shuck do we get in?" I ask, exasperated.
"This way." Gally says, jogging to the alleyway to the side.
Groaning in exhaustion, I rush after the boy, following him into the dark alley with the others.
He stops in his tracks, turning towards the side wall, staring at the various steel balconies on the side of the building. He runs to the wall, jumping into the air and pushing off of the brick with his foot, grasping onto the bottom of a ladder and using his weight to slide it down to the ground. Its rusty metal creaks loudly, hitting the ground with a loud crash, and Gally hops to the concrete, gesturing to the ladder. "Start climbing."
"Good job, hermano." Jorge mutters, lifting a brow. "You've woke the entire city."
"That gives you more of a reason to hurry." Gally says in a snark tone. "Now, go." He orders in a low voice, nodding towards the ladder as he folds his arms.
Without hesitation, I run to the ladder and climb up as fast as I can, climbing onto the first balcony.
"Keep going until you're on the roof!" Gally calls up in a whisper.
I nod down at him before scrambling up the next ladder, passing the boarded windows on the way up.
I hear Gally ushering the others behind urgently before stepping up the bottom ladder last.
By the third level, I reach the last ladder, climbing up and hopping onto the roof. I turn and look over the ledge to see Brenda climbing onto the roof after me, the others following behind as Gally pulls the bottom ladder back up onto the first balcony so that no one can follow us.
As he begins to climb to the second balcony, a flash of light glimmers in the distance, causing all of us to look in the direction of a Berg flying over the city, scanning the ground with it's bright beams. It's heading in our direction.
My eyes widen. "Shuck..." I rush to the ladder and offer Newt my hand after Jorge steps up onto the roof, pulling Newt up frantically. "The Berg's coming this way! Hurry!" I whisper anxiously, reaching down to Fry and pulling him up as he climbs onto the concrete of the roof.
Gally, finally scrambling onto the roof after Thomas, rushes past us and towards a door on the center of the concrete ground. "Here's how we get in." He crouches down and pushes down on it, but his face falls.
"What? What's wrong?" Newt asks nervously as we circle around the door.
"It's jammed." Gally grunts as he hits the door.
"It's what?!?" Thomas snaps. "You mean to tell us that you brought us all the way out here only to not be able to get inside!"
"Oh, just shut it, shank." Gally retorts flatly, pounding his fists on the metal door, but it doesn't budge.
"No! I'm not going to shut it, Gally! You brought us out here, and now a shucking Berg is going to catch us!" Thomas exclaims.
As the two bicker, I watch the approaching Berg with wide eyes. "Uh...guys?"
"Now is really not the time to be bloody aruing, you two." Newt attempts to intervene, rubbing his temple.
"I didn't think we would have this problem!" Gally says defensively.
"When do you ever think, Gally?!" Thomas snaps, aggravated.
"Guys?" I call, looking back at them over my shoulder.
"Says you, Greenbean!"
"He's got a point..." Brenda adds.
"Thank you!" Gally exclaims.
"But you also said you knew what you were doing, hermano."
"I do!"
"Do you really, Gally?! Do you really?!" Thomas snaps.
"Hey, shuck-face! If it weren't for me, you'd all be dead by now-"
"GUYS!" I scream, stomping my foot, causing them all to instantly fall silent, darting their eyes to me. "Stop screaming at each other and get that door open before I push you off the shucking roof! I swear on all that is good to you, I am losing my patience with you shucking slintheaded klunk-for-brained shanks!" I shout angrily. "So get the shucking door open!"
That obviously puts them in their place because, shockingly, Thomas helps Gally push against the door, and the others stare at me in awe-filled respect, Newt gaping.
I turn back around, the Berg scanning the block just in front of us now. "It's almost here! Hurry!" I call, turning on my heels and running to the group.
"Wait, I got an idea! Everyone step back!" Gally orders, and we all do as he says.
He stands up, and, without a second more, he suddenly jumps onto the door in the ground, causing it to jolt slightly. "Yes!" He exclaims, jumping on the floor door again with as much force as he can.
Looking over my shoulder, I watch the Berg now hovering over the road, the light beams touching the edge of the building that we're on.
"Tommy, help him out!" Newt shouts as he stares at the Berg, too.
I watch Gally jump on the metal door again, grunting angrily.
Averting his eyes from the aircraft to Gally, Thomas quickly waves him away slightly. "Step to the side a bit!" He orders as he steps onto the door with the tall boy. "Alright, ready?"
Gally nods.
"One, two, three!" Thomas shouts.
Perfectly in sync, the two jump as high as they can and land onto the door with all of the power they have, and, suddenly, the door beneath them swings open, and the two fall through with a panicked shout.
"Thomas!" Brenda exclaims, leaning over the edge as they disappear into the building.
"There's no time to check on them, just jump!" Jorge shouts, jumping into the opening, disappearing into the darkness. Brenda, taking a deep breath and darting her eyes at the Berg that is now nearly directly above us, the beams only a few yards away, jumps into the opening with a yell.
Fry jumps in afterward, and, Newt, grabbing my hand, shouts, "JUMP!" before hopping into the darkness below, pulling me behind.
I yelp as my body leaves the ground and falls for a split second before colliding into someone, and the two of us hit the floor below with a loud thud, sending a burst of pain through my body from the impact. "Awe, shuck..." I grunt, sitting up as my eyes attempt to adjust to the darkness.
Someone groans in pain from beneath me. "Okay, maybe pulling you with me was not the brightest bloody idea..." Newt chuckles weakly.
"Oh, shuck, I'm sorry!" I exclaim, scrambling off of him and getting to my feet, offering him my hand.
Chuckling weakly, I feel his hand grasp mine tightly, and I pull him upright.
"Get off of me, Greenbean!" I hear Gally shout, followed by the sound of frantic scurrying about.
"Yeah, buy him dinner first!" Brenda shouts from somewhere in the dark, laughing, and Fry's snickering joins in as Jorge chuckles.
Thomas stutters in offense. "It- It's not like I wanted to fall onto him!"
I can here Newt giggling childishly with the others, and I can't help but join in.
After a few moments, I hear Gally jump up and slam the door in the ceiling shut. There's the sound of stumbling about before he exclaims, "There it is!"
Suddenly, the room illuminates a dim golden color from string lights lining the walls, unveiling a grand staircase that leads to the bottom two levels. We landed a mere ten feet away from where the stairs start.
"Shuck." I mutter, folding my arms. "If one of us tumbled any further, someone would have went toppling down the stairs."
"But no one did, so there's no reason to complain." Gally says, stuffing his hands in his hoodie pockets and striding down the stairs.
We follow behind him down the flight, and I examine our surroundings curiously. Supplies, weapons, wracks of clothes, bookshelves full of novels and maps, doors lining the walls to other rooms, and so on.
"How come WICKED has never bothered to check out this abandoned shelter all this time?" I ask curiously.
"Because WICKED is the one that boarded up this building in the first place." Gally explains as he steps down onto the bottom floor, turning to face us and walking backwards. "This old building is spacious and has tons of rooms because special Immunes lived here."
Frowning in puzzlement, Newt asks, "What do you mean by 'special Immunes'?"
"Back before the city walls were built, there was a place known as Crank Palace."
"Crank Palace?" Thomas asks.
Jorge speaks up. "That was the place they would lock Cranks up to keep them away from the city, hermano."
Gally nods. "Exactly, and you cannot have just anyone keep them locked up and guard it's perimeters. You need people who won't get sick, so WICKED had Immunes assigned to work at the 'Palace'. Half worked in the day, half worked through

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net