'Sup shanks?

I also saw 'The Scorch Trials' on the 9th, and I must say, that it was amazing! No joke, it's actually better than 'The Maze Runner'!
Don't shoot the messenger until you've seen it, but I can promise you, you wont be disappointed!

So, enjoy the chapter!
Love you guys!

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"Let go of me, shuckfaces!" Lori screams at her captors. She manages to pull one lose, just enough to punch him in the side of the head.

Spinning on her heel she gets a good look at the people holding her. Both male, and both Cranks by the looks of it. The one she punched - who now lays huddled on the floor - is bald, with blistered skin and at least one layer of blood coating most of his visible skin.
The one holding her - also male - looks much worse for wear. He has hair, but most of it has been ripped from his skull by the looks of it, leaving oozing wounds across his blistered head. His face is an angry red, burnt from the sun. His eyes have a crazed look to them, and he wears a torn smirk. Literally, the left side of his mouth is torn nearly to his ear, revealing that whole row of teeth when he smiles.

"Not so soon, princess. We may be crazy, but we have our orders," he states with a small cackle. "Who else is here with you? Pretty girl like yourself would never travel alone."
She narrows her eyes and attempts to fight again, the man she assaulted rises from the ground, and another Crank from the group rushes over to help hold her still.

She goes to scream, and the men realize that she isn't going to answer them. With this in mind, they gag her with a rag - which made her feel sick at the thought of where it had recently been - , and bound her hands together with similar fabric. The leader of the small group prodded her back, and Lori obeyed, walking forward. They made her stop at the window to the building where the Gladers reside.

A man stands in the centre of the room, captivating them all as he speaks. "Lot of things people need to understand about how thinks work in this city. ABout the Cranks and WICKED, about the government, about why they left us here to rot in our disease, kill each other, go completely and utterly insane. About how there's different levels of the Flare. About how it's too late for you - the ill is gonna catch ya if you don't already have it."

That man seems very cheerful, Lori thinks to herself. She desperately wants to call to the boys, let them know she's there, but she's afraid of what the men holding her might do.
The man walks around the room, before stopping to stand before Minho.

"But that's not the way it's gonna work, comprende? Those who are at a disadvantage are those who speak first. I want to know everything about you. Where you came from, why you're here, what in God's name your purpose could be. Now."

Minho appeared to be chuckling at the man in front of him, "We're the one's at a disadvantage? Unless that lightning storm fried my retinas, I'd say there are thirteen of us and one of you. Maybe you should start talking."

The man was taken aback by Minho's statement, and said something in a low tone which Lori could not quite hear. Next think she knew, the stranger was counting upwards.
What has Minho gotten himself into?

Just when the man reaches the number nine, Minho quickly spit out a weak, "I'm sorry."

"I don't think you mean that," the man states, just before he kicks Minho in the leg. Lori cries out, trying to escape once again so that she could help Minho. They dig their fingers harder into her arms, and she stops, not wanting to provoke worse.

"Say it with meaning, hermano."
Who does this guy think he is?
The man kicks Minho again, putting more swing into it this time round.

The man smiles, and Lori can only assume that Minho did as he was told. Lori lets out a sigh of relief, satisfied that Minho is safe.
That is, until he punches the man in the leg, causing him to tumble to the ground in pain and shock. Minho is on him within in seconds, throwing punches left and right, all hitting home on the man's face.

Thomas runs forwards to attempt to stop the quarrel. "Minho! Stop!"
But it was too late. Lori looked up to see many more people descending from the roof of the building on long ropes. The men holding Lori also started to move, obviously taking that as their cue.

Thomas tackles Minho to the ground, grabbing him to gain his full attention, before screaming in his ear, "There's more of them up there! You have to stop! They'll kill you! They'll kill all of us!"
Lori did not doubt Thomas' words for one second.

The man who had been hurting Minho has gotten back to his feet, stumbling towards Thomas and Minho with a murderous look on his face.
"Wait!" Thomas shouts at the man. "Please, wait!"

Lori is continually pushed, made to walk into the group of Cranks. The ones holding her captive lead her through the man's gang of Cranks, until she is about two rows from the front, hidden from the view of her friends.

She wanted so badly to call to them, but the gag would not allow it was only muffled noise. She could hear Thomas' voice, but it wasn't loud enough that she could piece together what he was saying, the Cranks were talking much too loud.

Lori hears the leader of the Cranks spit before talking once more, "Won't do us any good?" Footsteps.

Suddenly, every Crank was moving, pulling weapons out from where they kept them on themselves. They also start to separate, and lead Lori to the front, just behind and to the left of the leader of the Cranks.

The man pulls a knife out also, walking towards Lori, before holding it to her throat. "It'll do me a lot of good. That, I can guarantee, hermano."

She heard all the Gladers go silent what the man had said. Lori feels a spark of fear light inside her, and her eyes search the crowd, finding Thomas among them, Minho close by. Thomas' eyes are wide as he looks at her, and at the weapons the Cranks are holding. She wants to tell him not to worry. She wants to tell him that everything's going to be fine. But she can't.

Her eyes then slide through the group, to land upon Newt. His eyes are not wide, they are angry. If he were a cartoon, he would have smoke fuming from his ears.
He looked like he was going to say something, but Lori started to quickly shake her head, insisting that he does not.
The boy with the blonde hair reluctantly nods his head, deflating as his jaw clenches and he bows his head.

"Listen," Thomas took a small step forward, looking back to make sure that Minho didn't go anywhere. "There's something about us." Thomas gestures to them all, then points to Lori, "And her. We're not just random shanks who showed up on your doorstep. We're valuable. Alive, not dead."

The man seemed to calm down, slightly intrigued as he looks at them all, "What's a shank?"

Thomas looked almost amused, before running a hand through his dark hair. "Me and you. Ten minutes. Alone. And you let her go. That's all I ask. Bring all the weapons you need."

The man made a sound, which Lori assumed was his attempt at a laugh. "Sorry to burst your bubble, kid, but I don't think I'll need any."
No one speaks for a moment. The Crank seems to be making a decision.
"Ten minutes," he concludes. "Rest of you stay here, watch these punks. And let the girl go." He nods his head towards Lori, before lowering his blade.
"If I give the word, let the death games begin." He look to Thomas, "And if that happens, the two girls are the first to go."

Lori looks across the room, to see Clara shaking in the corner, sitting beside Minho.
The man leads Thomas out of the room, escorting him down a hallway.

Newt walks up to Lori, grabbing her arm. When the two Cranks holding her don't make any move to let her go, Newt looks up at them expectantly. The two men look at each other, as if mentally communicating together.

At last, they release her, and she runs into Newt's arms. He wraps his arms around her and holds her tight. She doesn't cry, she just stands there, her arms still tied behind her, staring at the wall behind Newt.
"Bloody hell, you just can't stay out of trouble, can ya?"

"Guess not," she mumbles, her face against his shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

Lori pulls back to look at his eyes, "As good as I can be in this situation I guess."

Newt spun her around, untying the material which binds her hands together. "Well, you're safe now. I'm not going to let any of them touch you. I promise." Newt gives her a small smile, and she feels her heart shrivel and break.

His words meant so much, yet so little. She didn't know how to feel about it. It was like a part of her was wanting to grip onto to the words and never let her go, while the larger part wanted to ask why he would say such a thing.
She decided to go with the latter.
"Newt, I- I don't know if I can do this," She says under breath, yet knowing he can hear her.

His eyebrows crease, "What do you mean?"

Lori sighs, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the corner of the room so no one overheard them. "I can't have you doting on me, when I don't even know who you are. I'm sorry to bring this up when we could be about to die, but I don't want to hurt you, Newt. You seem like a really nice guy, and I can't do that. So, until I either figure out who I am, or remember who I was, I can't do this."

Newt's eyes start to flicker as he gulps, "Look, Lori, I get what you mean, I promise. I just can't help it. I know what I'm doing, and I'm sorry, but I thought I had lost you, and you're back, I don't know how to act when my girlfriend can't even remember me." He takes a deep breath, regaining his posture.

Lori, however, sits there in shock. His girlfriend? I was his girlfriend in the Maze? I thought that we had only had a one time thing. That's what they had made it out like, at least.

Newt looks up from behind his hair, his face puzzled as he looks a Lori. It takes a moment, but then his whole face is washed in mortification, and Lori knows that he figured out what has her so spooked.
"Oh my God, I can't believe I bloody said that," he mutters beneath his breath, probably not planning for Lori to have heard him.
Lori feels as if she should say something to lower the tension, but seconds later, Thomas is returning, and Newt is standing up.
"We should, uh, we should get back to the group before one of those buggin' Cranks tries to rip our faces off or somethin'"

Lori gives a curt nod, and joins him, walking towards the group. Thomas and the man enter the room, and Lori finally asks Newt who he is.
"His name is Jorge. He runs this place."

Jorge steps into the middle of the crowd, ready to announce to the group their plan, "All right, everybody listen! Me and the bird-face here have come to a resolution."

Lori has to bring her hand to her mouth to stop from laughing at Jorge calling Thomas bird-face. She notices Newt smile at her attempt to hide her giggle, and she can't help but smile underneath her hand. Maybe it is possible to find her those memories of Newt. If she tries hard enough.

The man continues, turning in a circle to look at everyone, "First, we need to get these people food. I know it seems crazy to share our hard-earned grub with a bunch of strangers, but I think we could use their help. Give 'em the pork and beans - I'm sick of that horse crap anyway. Second, being the grand gentleman and saint that I am, I've decided not to kill the punk who attacked me."

Minho. Thank god, one day, he wont be so lucky.

The Cranks within the circle groan in disappointment at the announcement. Lori looks over, to see Jorge point to Minho, who was smiling and waving to everyone who surrounds Jorge. This did not surprise Lori in the slightest.

"Pretty happy, are you?" Jorge asks with a grunt in his voice. "That's good to know. Means you'll take the news well."

"What news?" Minho asks with spite running the veins of his words.

Jorge straightens up, attempting to look more condescending towards his opponent. "After we get you stragglers fed so you don't go dying of starvation on us, you get to have your punishment for attacking me."

As Minho questions Jorge on the nature of his punishment, Lori pushes her way through the crowd, until she is sitting right beside her friend.

Jorge stares at Minho intently, yet a blank look cloaks his face. "You punched me with both your fists. So we're gonna cut a finger off each hand."

Lori's stomach drops, as the voices in them room rise. Minho goes to charge at Jorge, when a girl comes out of no where, holding a blade to his neck, which was already beginning to stain with drops of his blood.