Everyone took off running, not even waiting for Thomas and Minho to catch up with them, their backpacks on their shoulders. The sounds of what looked like zombified people echoed throughout the building, making it pierce Piper's ears. The cries made her want to wince. The flashlights everyone all had were bouncing all over the place as they ran faster.

"Let's go, go, go!" Thomas yelled as he and Minho caught up with the others.

"Thomas, Minho, what the hell are those things?!" Winston asked as they ran up broken escalators.

"I don't know! Just keep going!" Thomas replied.

Those had to be the Cranks that Janson mentioned.

"Move! Move!" Minho added.

"Where do we go?" Winston questioned in panic.

"Just keep moving!" Thomas repeated.

As they turned a corner, they were stopped by a Crank coming toward them. That was when Aris grabbed a baseball bat from his backpack and ran toward the Crank.

"Aris, no!" Piper shouted.

Aris ignored her and slid on his knees, using his bat to knock the Crank off his feet. The creature crawled toward the others, trying to grab them with its creepy and bloody hands. It trapped Thomas and Teresa on the escalator, while the rest had no choice but to run around and meet up with them on the other side as more Cranks showed up.

"Go around!" Thomas shouted at them.

So the group obliged and ran over to the other side, where there was another set of escalators there. Everyone was able to climb up to the next level, but Piper was quickly cornered by a couple of Cranks.

"Piper!" Aris cried out at her.

"Keep running!" she shouted back.

With no weapon on or around her, she prepared to be eaten alive by these disgusting creatures.

BANG! BANG!

Piper widened her eyes at the fallen Cranks, her heart pounding. But what really shocked her was when she saw two familiar faces grabbing her.

"Come on, you bloody stick!" the familiar British accent ordered her.

"Maeve?!" she asked in shock. "What...what are you--"

"We'll explain later," the other girl on her right spoke up.

"Lillie?!" Piper shouted. "What the hell is going on?!"

"Just keep running! We'll hold them off!" Maeve shouted. "Lillie, get ready to shoot at these bloody Cranks!"

So the two got their guns ready to fire as Piper ran ahead of them. The others were not too far up, which made it easier for the three of them to catch up. Newt was lagging behind when a Crank broke through the glass wall and pinned him to the ground. Thomas came to the rescue and pushed the Crank off of him, the Crank falling to its death.

"Newt, you good?" Thomas asked, helping him up.

"Yeah, thanks, Tommy!" he replied.

"Shit! I ran out of bullets!" Maeve shouted, throwing her gun down.

"Me, too!" Lillie added, throwing hers as well. "Let's go!"

So they followed the rest down a narrow hallway as more Cranks trailed after them. Piper was concerned that this would lead us to a dead end, and with no decent weapons, they would be dead for sure which also meant the escape from WICKED was a complete bust.

"Guys, where are we going?" Newt asked in a worried tone.

"Go! Go!" Teresa shouted, pushing the others to not stop in front of her.

As the Cranks found the group, they all turned and screamed, running faster. Piper could feel Maeve and Lillie breathing heavily behind her as they kept going. The snarls of the Cranks got louder and closer.

"It's a dead end!" Minho yelled.

"I knew this would happen!" Piper added, then looked at her two friends. "How are you guys here? Where are the others?"

"Piper, this is not the time to explain all of that!" Maeve retorted.

"But I need answers!"

"Do you really need them right now?!" Lillie shouted.

"Get us out of here, Thomas!" Teresa cried out, making us snap out of our conversation.

"Maeve? Lillie?" Aris spoke up as he saw the girls. "What are--"

"Let's focus on getting out of here and then we'll explain everything!" Lillie shouted.

Aris nodded his head, focused on the Cranks, and then held up his bat as Winston pulled out the gun he took from Winston and shouted, "I'll hold them back!" He began to shoot at the Cranks, some of them falling to the floor.

The others were banging on the locked door, trying to get it open before they were mauled to death by the Cranks. No matter how hard they threw their bodies against the door, none of them were strong enough to break them open.

"Get that door open!" Winston yelled in frustration.

"That's it! Move!" Frypan yelled at the others, preparing to run into the door.

"Come on, Frypan!" Minho shouted as everyone all got out of his way.

Sure enough, with the first try, Frypan busted the door open, and he was the first to get out. Everyone followed after him, ready to go run and hide, but they were stopped when Winston was pulled back by a Crank.

He screamed as he was hanging onto the door. "Help me!"

Piper, Newt, and Frypan grabbed Winston, trying to pull him free of the Cranks, while Minho and Thomas held onto the door. She wanted to look away as the Cranks clawed their hands into Winston's side, his screams getting louder and louder. She was able to tell that he was in a lot of pain.

They finally got him away from the Cranks, relieved that they didn't lose him. Frypan and Newt picked him up and dragged him away. Piper followed behind and didn't look back, knowing that Thomas and Minho would get away. Sure enough, Minho caught up with the others, with Thomas following suit.

As the building got darker, the group hurried to find a hiding spot. Luckily, Maeve and Lillie took them to a spot that was just right outside of the building. They hid under what looked like a giant, broken piece of cement, leaving them some shelter so that the Cranks wouldn't find them.

For the rest of the night, they stayed quiet and had a few weapons on hand. Piper wasn't sure how any of them were able to fall asleep, especially her, when the echoes of the screeching and snarling of the Cranks was repeating over and over in her mind.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Yoooo, I'm back.

School is officially over for me, which means there will be more writing.

Who's happy that Maeve and Lillie are back?!

Song above is Cranks! By John Paesano.

Comment, vote, more soon!

-A