𝙇𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙢

𝘼 𝙨𝙪𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 loud crack whips through the air as Blake and the others flinch once more. A sudden bolt of lightning flashes to the ground, instantly making the small girl's heart thud against her chest.

"Let's go. We gotta go." Thomas' voice shakes as he bends down to grab his gear. The others mirror the boy, all leaning down to grab their packs as another crash of thunder whips through the air.

Blake shakes her head and finally grabs her pack as a hand wraps around her upper arm to pull her into a run.

Between the pants and the thunder getting closer, Blake turns back to look at the lightning trailing behind them, striking in their footsteps. Blake's eyes widen as she whips her head back in front of her, kicking her legs faster.

Another crack whipping through the air makes the teenagers flinch and duck their heads from the bolt of sizzling electricity hitting to their right. "Keep moving! Come on!" Thomas shouts over the continuous loud booms.

"We're getting closer!" Minho shouts as he once again latches his hand onto Blake's arm, keeping her at his pace.

The sky flashes a mixture of neon blue and white as the lightning flickers in every direction around the sprinting teens—keeping their adrenaline high and hearts pattering against their chests.

"Keep going!" Thomas shouts as the teens let out a mixture of grunts and pants, pumping their legs to sprint faster.

The group splits into three separate groups as they approach an abandoned vehicle—all shouting and flinching back as one of the lightning bolts strikes the vehicle. Sparks fly as the electric current meets the rusted metal, causing another crack to whip through the air.

"Get inside! Go!" Thomas yells

Blake and Minho both follow behind Thomas, pushing themselves to sprint faster. The boy latched onto Blake's arm and let his grip loosen as he looked above and around him—mesmerized by the deadly storm.

"Min, come on! 𝙃𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙮!" Blake shouts as she grabs a hold of the boy's jacket, yanking him with her.

"Oh shi-" Minho starts as he notes the bright light above them.

Before Blake can even question what the boy is talking about, a bright surge of electricity rips down to the ground—sending the two separate ways as they fly through the air.

Loud ringing buzzes through Thomas' ear as he kneels on the ground, trying to recover from being thrown a few feet ahead.

Muffled shouts and yells call from behind him as the boy turns his body back to face Minho and Blake, who both lay unconscious—feet away from each other.

Steam rolls off of the two ex-runner's figures as they lay motionless—instantly worrying Thomas. The boy's eyes widen with pure terror as he screams out for the two, not being able to hear the way his voice cracks from the ringing sound in his ears.

Stumbling to get up, Thomas wobbles on his legs to the closest person. "𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙝𝙤!" The words scream out of his mouth as he shakes the boy.

Thomas' eyes then cast over to the girl lying a few feet away. Tearing up, Thomas then stumbles over to the girl, reaching his arms out to take her head in his hands. Fumbling with Blake's face, Thomas screams desperately, attempting to wake her.

The high-pitched ringing of his ears finally comes to an ease as a voice calls for him from behind. The blond rushes to Thomas' side as Fry and Aris rush to Minho's. Both boys grab onto the unconscious boy and slump him over their shoulders.

Newt lifts the girl into his arms, slightly readjusting his grip before yelling for Thomas to follow.

Once the group gets moving to escape the deadly storm, another bolt of electricity cracks down behind them, causing another set of sparks to fly as the boys haul their friends to safety.

As Teresa makes it to the entrance of the building, she swings the door open and holds it for the boys as they all push their feet to move faster.

"Move!" Teresa shouts, voice filled in panic. "Come on! Hurry up!"

The boys all pile into the building with their unconscious friends in their arms as Teresa pulls the door shut behind her.

"𝙋𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣." Thomas' voice shakes as he orders the boys. Hands shake as the boy watches Newt lower the girl to the ground.

"Watch her head." Thomas barks out before turning his attention over to Minho, "Set him down by Blake."

"Who's got a light?" Thomas' shaky voice questions as Aris slips an object into the open palm of Thomas' hand. Fiddling with the flashlight, Thomas' finger finally lands on the button—clicking it on, the beam lands on Minho before the boy whips the light over to Blake, noticing her eyes fluttering.

"Wha-what the hell?" Blake grumbles as she lifts her hand to cover her eyes, groaning at the pain surging through her body.

"Oh, thank god." Newt breathes out a slight sigh of relief before Thomas grabs onto Minho's jacket. Shaking the boy with the material clutched in his hands, Thomas screams, "Minho! Wake up!"

Blake blinks in confusion as she pushes herself to sit up. Emerald eyes widen two times their size as she takes in her unconscious best friend beside her. Panic settles into the small girl as her breathing picks up.

"Mi-Min!" She stutters in a shaky voice, moving her legs underneath her to kneel over the boy. "Min. Minho!" Blake shouts as her body shakes from a mixture of pain and panic. "Wake up, you shuck face!" Blake screams again as tears blur her vision.

𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦

"Come on, come on." Newt begs

"Come on, Minho. Come on." Fry also pleads as Thomas continues shaking the boy.

"Min, please." Blake begs in between panicked breaths, "Don't leave me."

Suddenly, a groan of pain escapes the surrounded boy, earring a chorus of sighs to escape the teenager's lips as they all crack a smile in relief.

"There he is." Blake breathes out, tilting her head back to relieve the tension in her neck.

"You 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠." The girl curses as she brings her eyes back down to the boy in front of her.

"Are you okay?" Thomas asks as Minho blinks his eyes open, craning his neck to look at the pairs of eyes trained on him.

Thomas' gaze then shifts back over to the small girl falling onto her butt as she closes her eyes to let her heartbeat slow down.

"Blake, you good?" Thomas questions, relief flooding his veins. Blake only hums an answer as she nods her head slowly.

Minho pants as he finally catches his breath, scanning over the concerned features etched on the group's faces. "What happened?" The boy breathes out as he turns his head to Blake, who remains slouched with her hands on both sides of her hips—eyes shut as she barks out a dry laugh.

"You and Blake got struck by lightning." Thomas confesses in between breaths, eyes flickering between the two.

"Guess I can mark that off my bucket list." Blake mumbles as she rolls her head, cracking the bones in her neck before pushing her hands against the ground to stand.

Jelly-like legs make the girl wobble as Minho lets out a mixture of a breath and giggle. "Oh. Cool."

"Come on, let's get him up." Thomas orders as Newt chuckles from the side, shaking his head at the pair.

"You know, this is why you two are best friends." Newt's voice causes Blake and Minho to turn their heads to the blond.

"Both of you get trapped in the maze at night and then go right back in not even 24 hours later. Then you two get struck by lightning and think it's time to make jokes—" Newt pauses as he rolls his eyes, hands settling on his hips. "I can't with the both of you." He scoffs playfully as Thomas and Aris pull Minho to sit up.

Fry moves to Blake's side to steady the girl as she takes a step, almost tripping over as her legs wobble beneath her.

The girl feels a hand rest on her arm lightly as she shifts her eyes up to meet a concerned Frypan. A reassuring smile tugs on the corner of the female's lips before she softly whispers, "Thank you, Fry."

Lights flash and flicker through the windows of the abandoned building as the boys pull Minho to his feet. Once Thomas is satisfied Minho is fine, his attention whips to the girl who stands beside Fry, waiting.

The boy can't help as his lips tug into a wide smile; sighing, he walks closer to Blake and wraps the girl into a bone-crushing hug.

Blake stands frozen in the boy's embrace as a shocked expression flashes over her features.

Only a second after she became tense, she relaxed into his arms—soaking up the warmth and aroma of the boy wrapped around her. Small hands slip under the boy's arms and squeeze him back as she lets her heart slow from the adrenaline.

Blake pouts as soon as the warmth of Thomas' hand leaves the back of her head, wanting nothing more than to hold onto him till the end of time.

As the two unraveled and stepped back, Blake turned her attention to her best friend, stepping toward him as Minho muttered a "Thanks, guys." To the boys surrounding him.

"Can't kill the cockroaches" Blake teases as her eyes meet Minho's. The boy rolls his eyes at the girl's antics before gently pushing past the boys around him to wrap his partner in crime into a hug.

"Cockroaches: 10, Foot: 0." Blake giggles at Minho's joke as the boy releases the girl from his arms.

The two share a fist bump as Thomas stands off to the side, watching with a barely noticeable smile—a mixture of emotions swirling.

"Hey." Teresa breathes out as she sniffs the air. "What's that smell?" She questions as she narrows her eyes into the darkness.

Blake furrows her eyebrows as she turns her body to the other girl, wondering what she is talking about.

When a flashlight clicks, all of the teens jump back—flinching at a growl emitting out of a crank that launches toward them.

Hands grab onto Blake's arm and tug her back as the creature snarls and claws at the teenagers. Wide emerald eyes glance from the chained creature to the hand holding hers.

Wide Brown orbs stare back at her own for a split second before Teresa shouts, "Behind you!"

Thomas moves his light beam to the right of him, immediately tightening his grasp on Blake's arm as he backs them up closer to the group. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

Blake then moves her flashlight around her at the growling and snarling, eyes widening with panic as more cranks try to claw their way to them.
"What the—"

The mixture of screams escaping from the teenager's throats and growls emitting from the creatures fills the room as the group huddles closer together in panic. Flashlights flick from one creature to the other as the beams of light flash to a room filled with nothing but chained cranks.

"𝙊𝙝 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙩!" Thomas breathes out as he continues backing himself and Blake further into the group—keeping his flashlight on the creatures in front of him.

"I see you've met our guard dogs." A feminine voice yells over the screeching—making the group whip their heads in the direction.

All pairs of eyes widen as the woman's silhouette walks out of a doorway.

The chained creatures snarl and growl as the woman walks between them, a clear and narrow path free from hungry claws.

"Stay back! Stay back!" Minho warns as the woman comes into view, revealing her short brown hair and doe eyes.

"You guys look like shit." The girl says as she scans over the terrorized group.

Blake glares at the woman as their eyes connect, letting out a mix between a scoff and a laugh. "Thanks, very kind of you." Blake mutters, unamused.

An elbow juts into the girl's side, making Blake flinch as she whips her head around to see Minho shooting her a glare.

The woman standing in front of the teens lets out a small laugh before nodding for them to follow. "Come on."

The group remains frozen as Blake narrows her green orbs at the woman.

"Unless you want to stay here with them." The woman teases as she spins back around.