05 | The Safe Haven

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      Strange, yet it wasn't a terrible adjustment. Thomas was starting to become one of the girls. He didn't understand most of the inside jokes they had, but the boy's company was a nice addition to Group B. For the most part, it was like having Aris back for most of the girls.

Tori often noticed, whenever Thomas was having a conversation with Ellie, the crush that began to blossom. Pushing strands of her hair back, bashfully laughing and stealing glances at him. Treating his wounds as she silently bit her lip with her cheeks turning pink. And not from the hot sun.

His feelings in return didn't seem to match, but it was something for Tori and some of the other girls to smile in this life or death situation. A younger girl having a little obsession for a boy much older than her seemed silly yet comforting.

Furthermore, Ellie had been through so much from just being the youngest.
Seemed to be around 13 or 14. Seeing a smile on her face didn't happen very often. This crush may have been a reason to chuckle but it was something Ellie deserved. To feel some form of emotion besides fear.

In the Glen, too many times the other girls would treat her like a baby. But Tori saw potiental in her youthful innocence as a sanctuary and her simple wisdom. To the point that Tori requested countless times to make Ellie a Sprinter. Everyone disagreed and called her crazy for the suggestion. Justifying that Ellie was only a kid and it was too dangerous.

But weren't they all still only kids? Forced to grown up in a fallen world?

A part of her hoped they would show these Makers they are much more than lab rats. Including the boys of Group A
No teenager should be stuck in this filthy Scorch. None of them asked for this reality.

Nightfall created an indigo haze and a three-quarter moon to its place in the sky. The lack of light made it harder to see the steps Tori took in front of her, but she had to admit this was a nice break from the burning sun.

Passing through the canyon, the flat terrain awaited them ahead. A few groans were muttered amongst the group of girls from the lack of progress.

"If the Safe Haven could appear, then I would believe Ratface that there actually was one." Kat retorted, wearing an obvious mask of disappointment over her face.

Tori nodded with a long sigh. "You said it Kat."

The promised cure became just as real of a fantasy as the story of a fairytale. Even wishing on a star seemed much more reliable at this rate.

"I'm sick of it. Sick of all there stupid lies." Tori sighed under her breath and rubbing her forehead. "This must just be part of their stupid game."

Jane nodded in response as she added. "Now I know how a dog chasing it's tail feels."

"Well be dead by tomorrow by the heat and starvation alone if we don't get the cure." Kat chuckled, further acknowledging this was all pointless.

However, the conditions of the the Scorch itself was the least of Tori's worries. The crazies lurking in every corner is what scared her. Or if her group and the boys didn't get the cure, they would all join the Cranks sooner or later.

"Hope your buddies are doing okay, Thomas." Ellie said stated.

Tori turned to look at the boy, but he wasn't there. She spun all the way around and frantically searched for the boy in the dark night.

"Where is Thomas?" 

Ellie and few others scanned for the missing boy. All of them not finding a trace of him, except for footprints from the direction they came.

"I knew it! I knew that boy was trouble from the start!" Snapped a voice, everyone turning their heads to see a furious Jo. "We should have never trusted him!" She yelled in frustration.
Burning eyes striking into Tori's skull.

"Don't look at me! I was just trying to help-"

"You're stupid idea to play nice?" Jo proceeded to poke Tori's shoulder. "It gave him the chance to escape when you weren't looking!"

"Oh really Jo!?" She challenged, getting flashbacks from their fights in the Glen. "Well my stupid idea sounds much better than living as a murder for the rest of my life!"

Jo clenched her jaw. "If it means that we all can get a cure from a virus, then one kill to get it would be worth it in the long run."

"Do you even hear yourself!?" Tori shot back.

Jo crossed her arms. "What's so wrong with making sure we all survive?"

"Nothing!" Tori scoffed throwing her hands in the air. "But your forgetting who promised us a cure? Those finching Makers who trapped us in a maze!"

Jo opened her mouth to speak but Tori wasn't finished.

"Eh, but I'm not suprised that you would carless about Thomas or the others. Classic Jo always being selfish!" 

"I'm not selfish!"

"Yeah you are!"

"Girls wait." Sonya intervened.

"You didn't even bat an eye when we lost Rachel. Ironic for your tattoo being the shield you barely protect anyone-"

"Wait!" She screamed louder, breaking another argument between the two hotheads.

"Where's Teresa? She's gone too." Sonya stated, as everyone looked around for the girl from Group A. But she was no where to be found.

Tori and Jo both lost their train of thought as their heads curiously looked to see what Sonya was referring to.

Jo glared at her, ready to strangle Tori. "Which, this further proves my point. He could have kidnapped her."

Tori shook her head. "There's no way he would volunteer to be whack in the head over 10 times just to kidnap her."

"There she goes, using that stupid voice of hers because that's what her tattoo says." Jo scoffed. "What are you going to bore us with now? Let's hear all about it-"

"Don't you two start!" Harriet yelled, stepping in with a scolding finger. as if she were a mother stepping in between her two children fighting over a toy. "Regardless of our situation, we need to keep moving. We have a few of hours left until the deadline. I hear you two argue again and we are leaving you both in the Scorch!"

Tori and Jo shared another deadly glare before both responded in unison.

"Fancy that."

-|-

"This. This is it?" Kat scoffed.

Sharing the same disappointment Tori and the other girls felt. Standing with similar reactions to what they found in front of them.

An orange sign, waving in the wind and barely hanging on to the stick that was firmly standing in the ground. On it, where 9 letter in bolded black words that read:

THE SAFE HAVEN.

This joke. Feeding them hope as if it were giving mice cheese. Only to be falling for the same trap over and over again. Subjects for a deadly science experiment and she could imagine them in their lab coats behind a holographic screen like the did in the maze. Just observing and letting them suffer without thinking the harm they are leaving. Was this entertaining?

"I knew we couldn't trust Ratface." Tori mumbled under her breath as her eyes remained glued on the sign.

A sarcastic groan came a few girls away from her. "Oh Bravo, Tori is trying make herself important."

Tori closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. Hated the condescending and riducling comments coming from Jo.

"Congratulations Tori, nobody cares-"

"Well you know what Jo! You can stuff it!" Tori snapped, making the older girl go quiet. "We listened Ratface and now we have to figure what the finch we're supposed to do. You see any sign of a cure? I'm 100% sure a flag isn't the deal."

"Yeah but pretending you're a savior isn't going to help us either-"

Two hands place on both of their shoulders and pushed them away.

"Remember what I told you two!?" Harriet said as Jo and Tori were reminded to hold back their words. Possibly punches too as Tori was ready to strike Jo at any moment.

"What now?" Ellie asked as she continued to stare at the orange banner with the rest.

Harriet sighed before she looked around at the group. "Beats me."

"We can wait for Thomas and Teresa to catch up." Sonya suggested, realizing the possibility of that happening. "That is if Teresa didn't leave him for dead."

Tori saw something in the distance, a silhouette peaking over a short hill below the mountains. She squinted her eyes in the darkness, trying to make out whoever it was. A few more figures emerged from the skyline. One more feminine than the rest, next to an older man.

"Look," Tori's voice stopped all conversations that she managed to ignore.

Harriet came next to her and followed Tori's pointing finger. Seeing for herself the cluster of people heading in their direction.

"Group A, huh?" The wise leader of the Glens said.

All the girls broke into more conversations and theories of what would happen next.

"Maybe no one gets a cure and this is all just another survival of the fittest." Ellie commented an idea.

"No. There has to be a cure! Janson promised us." Said a different girl.

"But what if there isn't." Said Jane.

Jo chuckled. "Maybe we are enemies to the other group and we have to prove which Group deserves the cure more."

Tori rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to protest.

"Yeah, because said enemies also have tattoos on their backs from the same people." Kat scoffed, pointing how ridiculous that idea was to fight to the death. "Wooo so scary Jo."

Jo glared at Kat who only rolled her eyes. Being the only one in the group to only state her opinion without worrying about the threatening eyes.

Tori watched as the group approached close and closer. "Maybe we just wait and see. If they start attacking then we do too. But if they don't mean any harm, we work together." She sugguested.

"And why should we listen to you crackface?" Jo spat, chiseling Tori's nerves as if she wanted to start a fight again.

"Her tattoo gives a pretty good clue. You did mention that earlier. The Makers may be sticks, but our labels must have some significance." Jane stepped in as she crossed her arms and glared at Jo, before Tori could talk back. "She may not always be a leader, but she does have a strong voice."

Harriet rose her eyebrow as she titled her head. "What do you mean Jane?"

"Think about it," Jane said. "When Rachel first came up and ran into the maze as a Bloomer, it was Tori's decision to recruit her as a Sprinter. If that never happened, we wouldn't have been able to escape. Tori also convinced us to trust Aris, a suspicious boy who was just a scared teenager like the rest of us."

"You're right," Ellie nodded. "When Mary went through the Transforming, I thought there was no hope for her. Girl was wacko and screaming like crazy. When we all agreed to send her out into the Maze, Tori noticed Mary had gotten better and was only experiencing a few panic attacks."

Kat let out a sigh. "And we found out Mary was only trying to cope with her trauma, and Tori was right."

Tori didn't deserve this. To be treated like she had saved the day when the world was currently in pieces. She remembered her contributions to those moments, but didn't consider herself a hero. Yet she was supported her as if her voice mattered, like she was a leader in a sense.

Before any more accusations or comment could be made, Group A approached as they were only halfway down the slope of sand. The setting sun casted a golden glow on the group of boys, a man and a girl.

Tori spotted the boy she encountered a few days prior. His hair remained unaffected, even with the dessert wind brushing against it. Next to him was the blond kid with the accent. The two of them leading the group across the plains.

"Well, we are running out of options. I say we remain civil. If they raise any suspicion, then we will kill them on the spot." Harriet declared as Tori and other girls nodded in agreement. Everyone except for Jo as usual.

"Fancy that." Jo huffed as she rolled her eyes at Tori, with sarcasm dripping in her words.

Tori looked back to Group A. Back at the boy again leading in the front, wearing a black short sleeved shirt. The boy Thomas told her about who was in charge.

Remembering the name Thomas mentioned during their chat.

The name of Minho.

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Hey!!

Sorry for the slow update, but I'm back! It might keep being slow since I'm not super motivated to write this story right now.

But leave a comment for ideas or just your thoughts!! That usually gets me more in the mood!

Hope you do like it so far though!

marie