It was dark all around in the cave, dust and dirt floating around in the air after the building that had once been full of people was now collapsing to the ground after it had been exploded by one of the people that lived in it and ran the place. The sounds of coughing could be heard within the cave by three people as their bodies laid down on the dirty and dusty ground after they had slid down the ropes they had grabbed ahold of on the elevator shaft that was now full of debris and rocks, blocking the pathway of letting the three climb back up the shaft.

Y/n moved to sit up from her laying position, bringing an arm up to cover her mouth as she let out raspy coughs just when a light came on, letting her see. Brenda was holding a flashlight as she checked on the couple before moving the light to shine on the elevator shaft they were just in, seeing all the rocks and debris covering them from going back up. As Thomas and Y/n followed her gaze where she was shining the light, both thought if the others had been able to run off after the building exploded.

Y/n gulps. "No, no. How are we gonna get back to the others?"

"Relax. I'm gonna get us out of here." Brenda assures.

Grabbing the bag she had on her beforehand, she opens a pocket and digs her hand inside, tossing both of them flashlights. There was a moment of silence as both turned their flashlights on, looking around from their positions on the ground before the couple found themselves exchanging a glance with each other, uneasy expressions on their faces as they look to the girl with confusion.

"Why are you helping us?" Thomas asks.

"Trust me, it's not my idea. Jorge seems to think you guys are our ticket to the safe haven." Brenda tells them, receiving confused glances. "You know, paradise. Safe from the sun, free of infection. Supposedly, the Right Arm's been taking kids there for years. Immunes, anyway."

Y/n raises a brow, watching as she stood up. "And you know where that is?"

Brenda shakes her head. "No. But Jorge knows a guy. Marcus. He used to smuggle kids up into the mountains. If Jorge made it out, that's where he'll be taking your friends."

"If he made it out?" Thomas repeats in panic.

"You ask a lot of questions." Brenda points out.

Throughout their conversation, they had all gotten to their feet and looking around the cave while Brenda had moved a wooden piece out of the way, revealing a vent door. When she asked for them to help her lift it up, the couple crouched down and grabbed ahold of the vent, all three of them pulling it off and pushing it off to the side. As they all crouched down around the hole, shining their flashlights down through it, a loud yet distant shriek could be heard, something that Y/n gulping nervously.

"Well, that doesn't sound good." Thomas comments.

Brenda nods. "Yeah. Down here they'll be full term. Let's go."

And with that, she jumped down into the hole while the two exchange a glance. They could only assume when she referred to 'full term', that she was talking about the creatures they had encountered when they had escaped WICKED. Y/n remembers one of the guards calling them cranks after they had left the helicopter once escaping the maze. Seeing Thomas motioning for her to jump down, Y/n follows behind Brenda, hearing Thomas land down just behind her while the three of them shined their flashlights down each of the sides of the tunnels they were in.

Bending down a bit, Brenda shines her flashlight through a smaller tunnel before she was walking through, bending her knees since it was smaller than the spot they had previously been standing in. Noticing this, Y/n trails behind her as she holds Thomas' hand from behind her, fear coursing through her from the tunnels they found themselves in. The sounds of their feet hitting the ground could be heard when the jumped out of the small tunnel, now standing in a much bigger one as each of them looked in the two directions they could go in.

The sounds of water dripping down from the pipes and hitting the puddles on the dirty ground echoed throughout the tunnels, the sounds of distant wind adding to it as Brenda walked in the direction she thought was the right way, something that had the couple sharing a glance when she told them she thinks. As they all walked together, the two teenagers held hands as Thomas made sure Y/n stayed close to him, making sure he'd protect her from any of the threats that were to pop up and out of nowhere.

"Do people live down here?" Y/n questions, her voice echoing throughout the tunnel.

"The Solar Storms forced people underground. Jorge says there's settlements all over these tunnels." Brenda informs.

Y/n furrows her brows. "So, what about Jorge? Is he your father?"

Brenda shrugs. "Close enough. Truth is, I don't really know what he is. He's just always been there. And I've always done what he's asked me to do, no matter how stupid."

"So you don't think the Right Arm is real?" Thomas asks.

Just when the girl opens her mouth, a rather terrifying sound echoing from behind them had all three of them spinning around, stopping in their tracks and shining their flashlights towards the darkness of the tunnel as they waited to see if something would come out of the darkness. However, nothing was in sight, making them feel relief and uneasy at the same time.

"I think..." Brenda begins, turning back around and beginning to walk again. "...hope is a dangerous thing. Hope has killed more of my friends than the Flare and the Scorch combined. Just thought Jorge was smarter than that."

Eventually, they came to a stop at the end of the tunnel they had been walking through, looking to their right and their left to see that they had more than one way to go. Y/n steps forward, walking through one pathway while Thomas and Brenda went a different way, the boy making sure to stay close to his girlfriend just in case. The girl shined her flashlight against the walls, seeing words printed in different colors. Graffiti. When she heard Thomas' voice calling out hers and Brenda's names, Y/n turned back around and walked back as she called back, meeting up with the boy.

Thomas grabbed her hand as they moved in the direction they heard Brenda's voice coming from, following her gaze when she told them to to see vines scattered over the walls, something very unpleasant. While they were stepping forward, their gazes moved along the way to see way more vines all over, some bodies laying along the ground and connected to them. They looked like cranks, Y/n noticed. The group of three narrowed their eyes at the sight in front of them, wondering what all of this was since they had never seen anything like this before.

"What the hell is this?" Thomas mumbles in question.

"I don't know." Brenda murmurs back.

Just then, a shriek sound coming from the small tunnel beside them had their heads snapping to the tunnel, flashlights shining on it. As they waited to see what would come out of it, a rat was suddenly running out after a couple of seconds. This had Brenda scoffing underneath her breath, relief filling her when she realized it wasn't a crank. They watched as the rat fell to the ground, landing on it's back before turning on it's feet as he ran around and moving closer to them. In disgust, the short haired girl kicks it back lightly while all three of them stepped back and away from the smaller animal.

Their lights followed the rat, watching as it moved further down the tunnel and away from them. All of a sudden, an arm reached out and grabbed ahold of the rat, causing them to step back in shock, quiet gasps escaping the girls. Their now wide eyes looked at the crank connected to the vines as it disconnected it's head from the vines, taking a rough bite on the rat's head, stopping it's squeaks of fear and killing it immediately when it bit off it's head. The three teenagers took another step back a couple of more cranks were crawling and running out of some places.

Knowing they needed to leave as quick as possible before they were noticed, they froze in their spots when they spun around to see a crank stumbling towards them, croaking and gargling. This looked a lot different from the ones at the abandoned mall. Seeing it was getting to close and a weapon laid on Brenda's bag, Thomas grabbed the weapon and hit the crank with it slightly as they quickly moved around it when it came to a stop, twitching and letting out a loud sound that had the other cranks finally looking over. All the cranks were now moving towards them as the one Thomas had hit let out a roaring sound.

And with that, the three were spinning around and running off in the direction of the pathway Thomas had found light coming from, hearing the cranks chasing right after them. Adding to their roars and gargles, the humans were shouting to each other, trying to see as good as they could while their flashlights shined against the ground while they ran. Much to their luck, they could see light at the other end of the tunnel they were running down. Thomas made it out first, quickly holding his arms out to stop the girls from going forward when he noticed they were now on an edge, a long drop that would kill them right in front of their eyes.

Y/n snaps her head up, seeing a building leaning against another one as the sun was now out. Hearing the cranks, the three spun around to see they were getting closer and Brenda quickly ushered them to begin climbing up the debris and rocks to their left, starting to already do so. Knowing that was there only way, the couple were right behind her. Hearing the cranks, Thomas glances over his shoulder to see some were now out of the tunnel as one pushed another over the edge before climbing up after them. It wasn't long until they were moving through a small hole made of concrete.

The e/c eyed girl noticed they were now inside of a building, having more to climb to get away from the cranks. Brenda was still at the front as they were climbing, jumping over a pipe. Just as she was stepping over it, Y/n felt her foot slip when it touched the pipe as she looked behind her, Thomas doing the same to see a crank running in through the hole. Their voices could be heard as they continued climbing up and further away from the creatures that were still chasing them.

"Watch out!" Brenda shouts.

Looking up, Y/n and Thomas quickly moved out of the way when they saw a metal box falling down towards them, their gazes following it when they moved to the side as the box hit one of the cranks, sending it down and hitting a large glass window. The heaviness of the box had the glass breaking as it and the crank fell down the long drop while they kept going upwards as there were still some chasing them. They climbed through another small hole, concrete laying on top that was crushed a bit as it fell down a bit, not enough to crush Thomas, who was the last to climb through the hole.

Seeing lots of staircases heading upwards that were now broken, continuing upwards. When they were halfway, Y/n stumbled back against the wall when a crank had reached up to their height, reaching out towards her as it was able to grab ahold of her ankle, trying to pull her towards it's mouth but she was struggling against it's grip that had her ankle preventing from moving closer towards it. From a bit above, Brenda swung her leg and kicked the crank in the face, causing it to spiral downwards, banging into the metal while the other crank kept climbing up to them.

When they reached the top, Brenda grabbed ahold of a handle of the broken stairs, only for that to break off that had her falling backwards and against a door that opened. The short haired girl was sliding along the ground, sliding towards some glass windows below while she let out a cry until her body landed right on the window, creating a slight crack in the glass. Leaning by the doorway, making sure to not fall down either, the couple stared down at her with wide eyes, already figuring out a way to try and bring her back up.

"Brenda! You okay?" Y/n calls down.

Brenda grimaces. "Yeah."

"Hang on, we're gonna find a way down." Thomas tells her.

The girl didn't say anything, slowly moving her gaze down to see the long drop on the other side of the glass, knowing that if the glass broke, she'd fall down there and lose her life. Deciding she could try getting off the window herself, fearing too much, she slowly leaned up and placed her hand on the glass, adding a bit of pressure that had the glass cracking a bit more. She ignored Y/n's warnings of not moving as Thomas began to slide down, Y/n following right after him while Brenda shakily moved to stand on her feet. Thomas slid down a bit more, holding onto the object he had grabbed onto so he would be on the window and holding it hand out to her.

Brenda reached her shaky hand out towards him, taking a feared glance at Y/n just when they heard roaring from the doorway. They snapped their gazes to the door, seeing the other crank was now there and it was immediately sliding down towards Brenda, knocking her back down while it began attacking her. While that happened, Y/n slid down to hold onto an object beside Thomas as Brenda kicked the crank off of her, shouting their names. The girl crawled towards them, holding her hand out to Y/n, who was now closest to her but the creature grabbed her ankle and pulled her back and away from them.

She pushed at it, preventing the creature from biting at her until she kicked it off to the other window, crawling away from it while Thomas ripped off a small pipe. Y/n slid down to place her feet on the other window, grabbing Brenda's hand while Thomas followed just as the crank took ahold of Brenda's ankle again, a cry of pain escaping her. Just then, Thomas slammed the pipe against the window, causing it to finally break as the crank fell down to it's death while Brenda dangled above the drop, her and Y/n gripping each other's hands. Thomas grabs Y/n's waist when he saw she was losing balance a bit, pulling her back.

"Got you."