|I ran so far away

|Song: I ran, Hidden Citizens

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Lisa's P.O.V.

'Lisa!' Someone shouted my name and shook my body.
I groaned and turned around, trying to hold on to my sleep.
'Lisa!' The person hit me in the face.
I yelled and sat up. Dawn's face hung above me.
'You don't have to hit me shuck-face!' I yelled at her.
She rolled her eyes and pointed at the sky. And suddenly I noticed the blowing wind. It was even louder than before I fell asleep. The gusty air tore at me, and a thick layer of dirt seemed forever baked onto my face and in my hair.

The sky was dark grey, just like the morning in the Glade we woke up with no sun. It scared me to death. What was going to happen now?
Most of Gladers were up and about, probably talking about the sudden change in weather. But I couldn't hear it, there was only the roar of the wind in my ears.
I stood up and felt the wind trying to tore off my clothes.
'What's going on?' I yelled at Dawn.
'Don't know, I woke up and it was like this,' she yelled back.

The other Gladers were looking around, terror in their eyes. The wind became stronger and louder by every second that passed and I had to say that it made me scared as well.
'You don't look good,' Dawn yelled in my ear.
'What do you think with a wind like this?!' I yelled back.
Dawn looked surprised. 'I meant-'
'I know what you meant! But we don't have time for this!' I yelled back.
'You're angry at me,' Dawn screamed, obviously not letting the subject go.
'Am not!' I replied, staring at the sky.
'Yes, you are! And I know why and I'm sorry. I just needed some time.'
I finally turned to her, the wind turning up to hurricane-strength gales of terror. The world was lost in the sound of roaring, screaming air.
'You know what. It's fine. Let's just...' I noticed Minho waving his arms to get everyone's attention. 'Let's just go to him!' I said and pointed at Minho. Dawn took my hand and together we walked toward him, fighting against the wind.

The Gladers gathered around him. Minho pointed at the city. The closest building was maybe within half an hour away if we ran at a good pace. With the way the wind tore at us, the way the clouds above thickened to a deep purple, almost black, the way dust and debris flew through the air, made reaching that building seem the only choice.

Minho started running.
And we followed him.

As we approached the city, it became harder to actually see it. The dust in the air had thickened into a brown fog, and I felt it in every breath. I was still holding Dawn's hand, scared to lose her in the fog.
The large building we were trying to reach had become a looming shadow behind the cloud of dust, towering taller and taller, like a growing giant. The wind had gained a rough edge, throwing with sand and grit until it hurt.

Every once in a while a larger object would fly by, scaring the hell out of me. A branch.
Something that looked like a small mouse. A piece of roofing tile and countless scraps of paper. All swirling through the air like snowflakes.

Then came the lightning.

We'd halved the distance to the building when the bolts came from nowhere, and the world around me erupted in light.
The thunder fell from the sky like bars of white light, slamming into the ground and throwing up massive amounts of scorched earth. The crushing sound was hurting my ears, tearing my heart and took all my courage away.
I kept on running, or actually it was Dawn who kept running while dragging me along. She was used to running a great distance a day, but I wasn't and this thunder around me didn't made it much better.

People around me fell and got back up. I stumbled but caught my balance.
Once Dawn stopped to help Newt regain his feet and now she was holding his hand as well. I felt sorry for him. It must be really hard to run like this with a limp. We were now running in a line with three people, desperate not to loose each other.
I helped Frypan stand up but he didn't want my hand and ran away into the fog. A stab of sadness went through me but I ignored it and kept on running. There was not much else I could do.

Then the lightning hit into the ground only a few meters away from me. I screamed and realised it was only matter of time before one of the thick daggers of lightning would struck someone and fried them to a blackened char.
I felt someone pushing me in my back, making me run harder. I looked over my shoulder and saw Thomas. I gave him a brief smile although the chance of him seeing that was little. At least he hadn't lost faith in me.
The sky darkened further, the dust cloud thickened.
I couldn't see everyone anymore just a few directly in front of me and Dawn and Newt on my right. In blind panic my eyes started to search for Minho. But I didn't see him. The thought crossed my mind that he was a quick runner, maybe he already reached the building.
But then the lightning took me out of my thoughts. A bolt of pure white zigzagged from the sky and exploded right behind me.
I stumbled and lost my balance. My body hit the ground, letting go of Dawn's hand in the process. I heard her scream but couldn't see her anymore. I coughed, taking in a huge amount of sand. Tears gathered in my eyes. Slowly I stood up, my body aching, the wind pushing me to the right. Suddenly a weird smell hit me, and I couldn't place it immediately. I turned around, stumbling on my feet. Then my eyes widened. The lightning hit someone...

It was Jack.

A kid I once helped with a broken thumb back in the Glade...He lay on the ground, inside a small crater, groaned and yelling as he clutched his knee. There was nothing below that, shin, ankle and foot had disappeared by that burst of pure electricity from the sky. His clothes had burned up, injures spreading across his whole body. He had no hair. And it looked like his eyeballs had...
'Lisa!' Someone turned me around before I could see it all.
It was Minho and I felt a sudden rush of relief. He screamed something and I leaned in closer to make out of the words above the roaring wind. 'Dawn and Newt lost you in the fog!'
'I'm okay, but Jack...'
Minho threw a look over my shoulder, his eyes wide, then he turned back to me, shaking his head. I felt tears burning behind my eyes but pushed them back. I wasn't going to cry, not here, not now and especially not with Minho here.
He took my hand and started to run again, and I let him take the lead.

We had lost any hope of organization or staying together. It was each Glader for himself and we could only hope everyone would make it.
Minho kept on holding my hand in a firm grip, it almost hurt, but I ignored it and kept on running after him. Searing white light kept falling from sky, thrown down from the heavens. And suddenly it hit the ground right next to me, my hand burned and I had to let Minho go.
A scream left my lips as I flew backwards again, but although my back hurt like crazy and my hand was red and hurt I got up and stumbled forwards.
'Minho!' I screamed, getting even more sand in my mouth. I couldn't see anything in the dark purple light and the thick brown fog but I had to find him. He came back for me...

Then I saw flames and my eyes widened. It took me a second to realize what I saw. Fire. Dancing around like magic, hot flames whipping to the right from the wind. Then it all collapsed to the ground and I finally understood.

It was Minho.
His clothes were on fire.

For just a second, a very tiny little second I wanted to laugh but the desire was gone as soon as it came.
Suddenly someone else reached me, taking my arm firmly. Thomas. We looked at each other and ran towards Minho at the same time. I kneeled down and took great amounts of sand and threw it on Minho's clothes, trying to kill the flames. Thomas understood and helped me. We made progress as Minho helped by rolling around and beating at his upper body with both hands.

I felt a tear crawling down my cheek but didn't care anymore.

In a matter of seconds the fire went out, leaving behind burned clothing and countless angry wounds. Somehow I was glad I couldn't hear the screams of agony that appeared to be coming from Minho. But Thomas didn't gave him anytime to rest. He grabbed our leader by the shoulders and dragged him to his feet.
I helped him and threw Minho's arm around my shoulders as Thomas did the same. Minho coughed, winced, but then nodded. Together we moved as fast as we could toward the building. Thomas and me doing most of the work.

All around us the lightning continued to fall down like arrows of white fire. I could feel the impact of the explosions, each one tearing my skull, shaking my bones.
Even more fires had sprung up, two or three times I saw lightning make direct contact with the ground and one time with the buidling before us, sending a rain of bricks and glass falling to the streets below.

Then the darkness began to take on a different tone, more gray than brown. The wind had lessened slightly, but the lightning seemed stronger than ever.
Gladers were to the left and right, all heading in the same direction. They seemed fewer in number but I couldn't see well enough to know for sure.

Suddenly Minho lost his balance and fell, slipped from Thomas's grip and pulling me with him to the ground. Thomas turned around and pulled Minho back on his feet and swung his arm back over his shoulder. I stood up as well and helped Thomas with carrying Minho, ignoring my aching body. A blinding arc of lightning went right over our heads, shattered the earth behind us.

I groaned, blind panic pushing through my veins.
Faster! We had to go faster!
A Glader fell on my left side, I couldn't see who it was, didn't hear the scream I knew must've come. Another boy fell, but got back up. A blast of lightning just ahead to the right. And another one to the left. We had almost reached the building.

Almost.

Sand was being thrown against my body, my whole skin aching. My back was hurting from being thrown aside by the lightning. But I kept my eyes focused on the building before us. 

And then we were there. The first building of the city. In the growing darkness of the storm, the structure was all gray. Massive blocks of stone, an arch of smaller bricks, half-broken windows.

Aris reached the door first, didn't bother to open it. It had been made of glass that was mostly gone, so he carefully smashed out the remaining shards with his elbow. He waved a couple of Gladers past, then went in himself, swallowed by darkness.
We made it at the same time as Newt and Dawn did. Dawn her ear was bleeding but Newt seemed okay. They took Minho over from us and carried him inside. Thomas and I were the last to follow. They lay Minho down on the ground and I sat down next to him, not even bothering with looking if the rest had made it.

'Why...are...y-you cryin-crying?' Minho whispered.
I looked at him and violently wiped my tears away.
'I'm not crying,' I said.
Minho just smiled before he lay down and fainted. I smiled through my tears, taking the scarf Dawn handed me. Carefully I started to clean his wounds, while the lightning set the world outside on fire.

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Hey guys!

I really loved writing this chapter! This scene in the movie was amazingly done and it was one of my favorite chapters from the book. So yeah, I loved trying to describe what I think it would feel like to run through a storm like that.

Don't doubt to leave a vote or a comment!

xxx
-Me