the scorch [marygold and wxnderlust]

winnie

Protesting summer
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
Posting Speed
  1. Speed of Light
  2. Multiple posts per day
  3. 1-3 posts per day
  4. One post per day
  5. 1-3 posts per week
Writing Levels
  1. Adept
  2. Advanced
  3. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
Genres
fandom, slice of life, modern, fantasy
minho

Minho couldn't keep track of how much time they had all been out in the Scorch. They'd just been walking, in search of... what? They didn't even know what they were going to find. They hadn't come across people, and they'd lost people from their group already. They were all tired and they wanted to rest and get something to eat, but there were only abandoned buildings and no food for miles.

For a while now though, they'd just been walking with nothing surrounding them, and night was fast falling. Minho figured it was probably best they found some shelter before it became completely dark because they didn't want a run in with cranks. They had no clue which of them were immune to this and they had to be cautious because of that.

After so long in the maze, Minho found it rather strange to be outside in the real world where there were no walls or mazes or grievers. Of course, there were Cranks, which were probably worse than grievers, but Minho was a little let down considering he had expected the world to be full of people. Though now he supposed that he was a little grateful for the maze since it had been what had kept him and all the others alive and away from Cranks.

"Is it just me," Frypan piped up, causing Minho to look up from the ground and at him. "Or is it getting dark really fast?"

Minho had hardly noticed that it was getting dark so fast. He had been so lost in his thoughts, trying to think of what they could do once they found shelter, and where they could go from there, acting as a pro tem leader of sorts. He cast his gaze to the sky, noticing that it was overcast. And then he turned around, everyone else around him doing the same, only to see the oncoming storm.

"That doesn't look too good," Frypan murmured and Minho nodded in agreement.

"Run!" He yelled out to them before turning on his heel and running forward. In the distance he saw a run down building, which he was hoping would act as some sort of protection so they could wait out the storm.


cameron

"Storm's coming," Cameron called out to Lisa from her post. She wasn't with the other girl and was instead doing her turn with guard duty, closer to the front of the building they had claimed as their hideout of sorts. The pair had been staying there for a while now, waiting to gather as much resources as they could carry before they were going to set off again in search of the Right Arm. There were posters about it everywhere and Cameron had been glued to the radio they carried where she heard a couple of announcements. From what she gathered, they were a little far, but that was their aim. They probably had more resources and a bunch of people that weren't cranks. It would be nice to see different, civilised people for a change.

As guard, she was just reporting what she saw that she felt was important. The two did it whenever the other was in charge, just in case it was necessary. She had her knives strapped to her leg and a gun in hand. When they had escaped the WCKD compound, she had been sure to snag as many weapons as she could, knowing she would need to use it.

Something in the distance alerted her and she rose to her feet from the edge of the window she had let her legs dangle over. Cameron squinted slightly as if it would help her see better, only to see a couple of figures running away from the storm that was fast approaching. For a second she thought they were cranks and was getting ready to shoot them before they could make it. But as they got closer, she realised that they were people. Actual people, trying to evade certain death. She couldn't help but feel like some of the faces were familiar but she couldn't tell from so far up.

"We've got people!" She yelled up to Elisa before she slid down a pole that was standing in the middle of the floor, having come out because of the building broken down in certain areas. She got to the ground floor with ease and pushed open a door before heading outside, gun in hand. She couldn't help them run faster but she could sure as hell prevent any other trouble.

And as if on cue, three cranks came out from another small shed close to the building, running straight for the group heading toward them. Cameron aimed and fired, taking out two of them in seconds before pausing to beckon the others to try and hurry up.
 
n e w t
"Bloody hell!" Next yelled over the rumbling of the thunder. He only looked up once mid-sprint to see the flashing lighting in the clouds and then see it strike not far from them. The storm was definitely unnatural, or at least extreme from the ones they've experienced in the Glade. It didn't take an expert to know if they were stayed out underneath those clouds for too long they'd up struck and dead.

Yet, the storm wasn't the only danger they had to worry about. He heard the cranks before he saw them. Seeing them always made him feel sicker than more scared. To think those things were people once upon a time ago and now they were crazies who only wanted to rip the living sane people apart. And at the moment they were the ones the cranks wanted to tear up.

He ran straight for the building, though, his eyes were on the fastly approaching cranks. Just when he was sure one was about to grab Thomas by the arm it dropped presumably dead after a loud bang. His head snapped in the direction of which the noise came from.

Newt saw the Red hair before anything else, he stopped without thinking for a split moment. There was a person? No, a girl. She had saved them from the crank.

Bang!

The second gunshot snapped him out of his stupor and he was sprinting once more, or as best a sprint he could with his limp. There was no time to stop and think who this person was or even if she was a danger to them as well. Yet, by her help and gesture for them to hurry they had to assume she wasn't going to turn on them. Besides, there was no other place to run.

Lighting struck right by him, luckily not striking him, the power of it blasted him forward along with dust and it struck.

"NEWT!" Thomas fell back and helped him up from the ground.

"I'm okay," he promised and with Thomas's help limped ahead. Unfortunately, when he looked up the remaining crank was running towards them and closely too. At times like these, he really hated his bloody leg. But in an instant, there was another bang and the crank fell dead, though, he didn't know who shot this time. Thomas helped him run past it and into the building.

They fell back against the wall and slid to the floor in a sitting positioned, panting.
"I suppose we should thank you." He said, looking up at the redhead.



l i s a
"I suppose you should," Lisa announced from the top floor, gathering the group of boys attention. They looked up just as she put her gun back in its holster on her hip and slid down the pole with ease, their eyes following her every move. Clearly, they did not expect or notice there was another person besides Cameron.

Of course, she was the one to shoot the last crank the moment it tried to grab Thomas and Newt from the windows. Honestly, from the distant, she couldn't have known if the were real people or not. She most likely would have shot them too if Cameron didn't tell her beforehand they were actual people. With that knowledge, it was easy to distinguish the humans from the cranks.

Lisa landed on the floor with a thump and glared down the newcomers. She observed each and one of them over quickly and subtly. The more she looked at them closer, the more familiar they became to her. Almost as if she had met them before, some more than others. The only place she could have seen them before the Scorch was WICKED. That scared her a bit, and she tried not to dwell on it any longer, afraid to bring back bad memories.

Her facial expression softened, but only by a little. Some of them were hurt, such as the blonde boy who had nearly got struck by lightning. He was bleeding from a small gash on his head had got from the impact of the strike. As a medically trained person, she couldn't but itch to patch him up, all of them.

"I can fix that if you want." She told him, pointing to his bleeding head before tying her curls back with a piece of fabric. "Which one of you is the leader?"
 
minho

Minho had ushered the others inside the run down building before getting inside himself. His priority was making people safe. Considering he had the most experience with running, he could have easily made it to safety quicker than most, but he wasn't going to abandon his team. They hadn't gotten this far with all the troubles they'd faced for nothing. They only did it because they were together. Like they were now.

Still, Minho found it a little hard to believe that the group of five or so boys had been rescued by a girl. Having not been around one for so long, he wasn't really sure how he felt.

Then another girl made her presence as she slid down a pole, offering to patch up Newt. Good. They didn't really have many medical supplies on them as it was, and if these people were willing to help, who were they to turn them down?

Nobody really piped up when the brunette asked who their leader was, and everyone was looking at Minho, so he caved. "That would be me," he said with a slight nod, still panting slightly. He glanced back out where the storm had now arrived. It was loud, but they were still safe. He was hoping.

"We should get them underground," The redhead girl spoke to her companion before sticking her gun back into the holster and rising to her feet, moving to the back of the group. Minho took that to mean that they were supposed to walk first, which he understood. They may have helped save them, but the two girls were obviously still wary. It was a smart move.

So, Minho nodded to the others and began to take the front, not really sure where he was going. He figured the other female would let him know if he was going in the wrong direction.


cameron

Cameron felt a lot better at the back because that way, if someone made a run for it, she could easily catch up, and also, considering she was rather small in height, from the back at least she would be able to tell if something was up or if someone was acting funny. She was a highly suspicious person, and paired with her impulsiveness, it didn't usually make for a good combination. For other people, that is. For her safety though, it was vital.

As she surveyed these people, she felt like she knew them, or had at least seen them before. And considering neither her nor Elisa had seen anyone since they left W.C.K.D...

"You guys have names?" She asked curiously, her British accent showing somewhat. It had been years since she lived there but the accent had stayed somewhat, mixing with her average American accent every now and then.

"I'm Minho," the leader piped up, and as soon as he did, Cameron found herself wishing she hadn't asked. Yet, the boy continued to introduce the rest. "That's Thomas, Frypan, Newt, Winston and Jack." He had turned around while walking momentarily to point out each member of the group as he named them.

Cameron knew immediately who they were now and why they were so familiar. She couldn't not remember the boys that her father had been responsible for sending into what was called The Glade. She had seen them being taken. Not all of them, but a few. Among them were the blonde and the brown haired guy named Thomas. She knew the latter because he had been working with the scientists too. She had never known that they sent him in as well because she and Elisa had left long before that.

As for the blond, Newt, she was sure she had even spoken to him a couple of times after learning his sister was also within the compound. She had looked after her too, till she was put into the other maze. The second experiment. She wondered if these people knew anything about that.

Cameron glanced at Elisa, giving her a knowing look, but said nothing. She had to have realised this as well.

"I'm Cameron," she introduced herself. "That's Elisa. We're pretty much the self proclaimed owners of this place," she explained, figuring it was only fair they shared a bit as well. Cameron glanced at the blond beside her. She, unlike Elisa, usually did the talking. Sometimes it went well, sometimes it didn't. It highly depended on Cameron's mood. Either she was bright and welcoming or she ended up scaring people off. Both times because she intended for it to happen that way. But that was back in the W.C.K.D base. "Where did you lot come from?" She knew the answer but she couldn't very well let that on, could she?
 
n e w t
"Now, that is a long story," Newt grunted as he limped along with the group. He stuck to the back of the group beside the girls only because he hadn't any choice. He was the slowest out everyone with his prominent that only worsened after being blasted by the bolt of lightning that could have very well killed him. He supposed he should count his blessing. They were lucky to come across these girls when they did otherwise they would have been crank food for sure.

Still, he was wary of them as they were of them. they were still strangers outside of their group and the only other people outside of their group they knew were scientists who endangered their lives without consent for experiments. WICKED was good? There was nothing good about them from his point of view. If it wasn't for them, Alby and so many others would still be alive and none of them would be in this godforsaken land.

Yet, to tell her the full story would take too long. Did she even know of WICKED, let alone understand it all? He would have to put it in simple but honest terms. "
We escaped from WICKED. Some organization working to find a cure by using us as lab rats ..." He answered and watched as her partner visibly grimaced. From her reaction, he guessed they knew of them and must have felt nothing positive about them either.

"Somehow, we ended up here ... there was a lot of us before ..."
his voice only got quieter as he thought of the others. He swallowed down a lump in his throat and tried not to think about it or else it would crush him. He had to be strong. "What's your stories?" It was written on his face that he no longer wanted to dwell on their histories.


l i s a
Lisa was more than happy to allow Cameron do all the talking, she preferred it that way. The redhead was a better talker than her anyway. Lisa tended to rub people the wrong way with her faulty honesty. Besides she didn't like talking to strangers, she liked to keep to herself, the only person she felt okay with was Cameron. It had been that way since she had first met the girl and they escaped, she was the only person to talk to and she had to talk to.

And upon discovering the truths about the boys she wanted to distance herself as far as possible. The more she heard from Newt the worse she felt. Why did Cameron have to ask them that? She recognized each and one of their faces almost immediately. How could she not, she had worked and talked with each one of them. She hadn't exactly been close with them, but she still knew them and knew of the experiments and worked the people who put them through so much suffering.

She walked ahead of Newt and Cameron, trying not to overhear them. She only slowed her pace when she was standing away from them and coincidentally beside Minho, their leader. She couldn't help but glance at him from the side curiously. These boys really didn't remember a thing after being put in the maze, not even them?

It was somehow relieving, knowing they wouldn't know their involvement and saddening because they couldn't recognize her and Cameron. Their friends, their colleagues. It was better this way, though, they had a clean slate. At least, that's what she told herself as a way of comfort.

"Here," She said once they made it to the underground.

Lisa moved to a corner where she kept her bags which held her supplies. Including her medical supplies.
"We have water and some food too if you want." She was almost certain that they would want - need - some.
 
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minho

Minho let Newt do the talking for them. Even if he was de-facto leader for this, Newt had been second in command back in the Glade. He knew how to take the reins and he'd been there as long as Minho had, so he knew that whatever he said would be the same things on Minho's mind. In the mean time, he just surveyed their surroundings.

The sounds of the storm faded as they moved further down, to the underground. He wondered how long it took these two girls, who couldn't have been much older than themselves, to establish this safe house. They seemed to be alone, with nobody else. He had to admit, he was a little impressed. A bunch of them together hadn't been able to survive too long without trouble and danger finding them. He supposed their mistake was continuing to be on the move.

But they had to. Or they'd never find a place they could call a haven, of sorts. Away from WCKD, and hopefully, toward soem proper answers.

Minho, good at reading people, also noticed that the girls both seemed to tense up a little once WCKD was mentioned. He raised an eyebrow but said nothing. They were being helpful, and the last thing he wanted was to bring up unwanted questions that would get them all kicked out, so for now, he kept it to himself.

"Thank you," Minho found himself saying as they finally reached, and were given access to food and water. His fellow comrades didn't hesitate to sit down, all waiting their turn to get something. They had all gone so long without food.

"So, yeah, what are your stories?" he repeated Newt's question, quite curious. He still couldn't get it out of his mind when they'd both shown reactions to hearing about WICKED. Maybe it was nothing, but he still kept it in mind.


cameron

Cameron looked up when the two of them were asked what their stories were. How was it that she or Elisa could break to them that they were part of the organisation that put them in the stupid Glade? How could they explain that they had helped those bastards back at WICKED? She didn't really feel like sharing that information. Besides, they were no longer with them, so what did it matter?

"We're just like anyone else you'll find out in the Scorch," she explained once they came to a stop and the boys all sat down. She leaned against a wall, absently fiddling with the gun in her hand, repeatedly opening the magazine and removing the bullets before doing the same and putting them back in again. It was something she did when she first acquired a gun back in the WICKED base, to help distract her. Now she was an expert and the move could be done in seconds, but it still helped soothe her, so she kept at it every once in a while, for want of something to do. It was impossible for her to sit still for too long.

"We're separated from our families," she explained because that wasn't a lie. She wasn't going to lie. She was just going to creatively explain the truth. She was rather good at that, even as a child. "Managed to stick together and survive this far. Now we're just trying to figure out our next move." She didn't even know if she was immune yet, so leaving the place and encountering Cranks wouldn't be ideal. But they couldn't stay there forever. They needed some course of action.

"Where do you guys plan on going from here?" She asked them curiously, now wanting to change the topic to shift focus from the two girls and back onto the boys. It was better that way.
 
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n e w t
Newt carefully lowered himself onto the floor and leaned his back against the wall, happy to be off his feet. Even before the storm and cranks came their group had been walking for quite a while. It was nice to finally stop and rest. It was also a bonus they had run into, not only shelter out of the harsh sun but the two girls.

He was still wary of them but as they talked his walls started to fall slowly. The fact that the brunette, Elisa, the red-head, Cameron, had said, was passing out food and water only made him drop his guard even more. For now, he had no need to be cautious but his walls could just as easily come back up. They had yet to show any signs of danger.

The girls were just survivors. Arguably, that could make them just as dangerous or even more so than WICKED. If they were on their side, though, or worked together, they would be extremely good allies and companions he was sure. They did save their lives after all and getting to know them a little more made him feel considerably better.

He looked up at Cameron and clicked his tongue. Where had they planned on going? They had no idea, they were too focused on escaping from WICKED they hadn't planned any further ahead. Was there even anywhere else to go? They had no memories and barely knew anything about the world they lived in today except that it was messed up beyond belief. A complete nightmare.

"To be honest, we haven't a clue," admitted Newt, his English accent thick and his voice low. "Is there anywhere else to besides here?"

He truly was curious. It didn't seem like there was anything outside of the dried up and practical desert they had been walking in for hours on hours. Knowing that they had screwed the world over he wondered if everywhere else was like the Scorch too.


l i s a
"Of course there is," Lisa answered instantly, passing out the last bottle of water to Newt as she did so. She hadn't meant to say anything but it slipped out as soon as she thought it. Why? It was obvious that there were other surviving cities and places outside of WICKED. At least it was to her and Cameron. They still had their memories, they weren't thrown into the Glade.

She wanted to shrink away from the conversation. That would not be happening however now that she had opened her big mouth. Their eyes were on her, waiting for her to explain further. As much as she wanted to stay quiet and disappear into the shadows, she refused to show any sign of weakness. Because shyness could be mistaken for weakness and she was adamant to show any of that.

Lisa was not weak and she was not shy. She was simply reserved.

Clearing her throat, she continued as if she hadn't paused for at least thirty seconds. Her back straightened and she spoke, her voice clear and loud enough for them all to hear.
"There are a few surviving cities all around the world." She clarified, swiftly grabbing the medical supplies she would need to treat the hurt few of them.

She started with Newt seeing that he was evidently the most hurt one. He winced as she cleaned and dressed his wound but was otherwise quiet. Doing what she did best, doctoring, put her at ease. It also happened to be a nice distraction.