Page 11 (1/2)

Newt and Minho had obviously seen the disastrous turn of events and given up on the plan They were running toward hi and disappeared up the hatch, but he carenades exploded into spouts of raging fire when they uards screamed as they erupted in flames, and the others pulled back a little because of the new threat

Tho his inability to help He knew he had to wait for the electricity to die down before he could grab her and start dragging her to the Berg, but he didn’t know if there was tione completely white; blood dripped from her nose and drool trickled from her mouth as her limbs spasmed and her torso seemed to bounce in place Her eyes were frozen ith shock and terror

Newt and Minho reached hi to the Berg Take cover behind the hatch door Wait until we start et there"

"Just corabbed Brenda by the shoulders, and Thoed bolts of lightning arced up his ary had weakened considerably and Minho was able to stand and begin pulling her along behind him

Thomas hooked his ars They backed their way toward the Berg The hangar was a world of noise and s: a hot score of pain, then oozing blood An inch difference and he ht’ve been hobbled for life or bled to death He let out a furious screained everyone in black as the one who’d shot hilance at Minho; the boy’s face was strained with the effort of dragging Brenda Thoe of adrenaline and took a risk, lifted his Launcher up fro in random directions as he used the other to help pull Brenda across the floor

They reached the foot of the hatch door Jorge irab one of Brenda’s arms Thoe yank her up into the ship, her heels thu

Newt started firing his weapon again, releasing grenades left and right until he ran out of ammunition Thouards in the hangar clearly knew that their time was about to run out, and a horde of theet reloading!" Thoo!"

Newt turned and scraht behind hi thuainst his back In an instant he felt the burning power of a thousand bolts of lightning strike him at once; he fell backward and tuar, his whole body convulsing and his vision going dark

CHAPTER 19

Tho No, that wasn’t it Brilliant lights arced in lines across his field of vision, blinding him He couldn’t blink, couldn’t close his eyelids to block it Pain washed over his body; his skin felt like it was ht off his muscle and bones He tried to scream, but it was as if he’d lost all control of his functions--his ars and torso shook no matter how hard he strained to stop them

The crackle and pop of electricity filled his ears, but soon another noise took over A deep, thru hum that pounded his ears and rattled his head He was barely on the edge of consciousness, felt hi in and out of an abyss that wanted to s hiines of the Berg had started up, the thrusters burning their blue fla him First Teresa and the others, now his closest friends and Jorge He couldn’t take any more betrayal It hurt too much He wanted to scream, all while needles of pain bit every inch of his body and the burning smell overwhelmed him No, they wouldn’t leave him behind He knew it

Gradually his vision started to clear, and the white-hot charges of heat dith and nuures dressed in black stood over him, weapons pointed at his face Guards Would they kill hi him back to the Rat Man for more tests? One of them spoke, but Thomas couldn’t hear the words; static buzzed in his ears

All of a sudden the guards were gone, tackled by two figures that seeh the air His friends, had to be his friends Through a haze of sar far above hione away, replaced by a numbness that ht, then rolled to his left, then leaned up on an elbooozy and weak A last few trickles of electricity skittered over his body and disappeared into the ceain, looked back over his shoulder Minho and Neere each straddling a guard, beating the living klunk out of the his fiery Launcher in all directions Most of the guards iven up or been disabled--otherwise Thomas and the others wouldn’t have uards were pretending, putting on an act, like everyone else in the Trials

He didn’t care He just wanted out of this place And escape was right in front of hiroan he shifted to his belly, then pushed hilass, the crackle of lightning, the boo metal filled the air around hi he could do about it He could only drag hi The ship’s thrusters huround underneath him as well The hatch door was only a few feet away They needed to get on the ship

He tried to yell soroan ca, he started crawling forward as quickly as his body would allow--he had to fight for every ounce of strength within He reached the lip of the ramp, pulled himself over it, inched up the slope His muscles ached and nausea climbed out of his stomach The noises of battle pounded his ears, put his nerves on edge; so could hit him at any second

He made it halfway Turned to look at his friends They were backing toward hi Minho had to stop and reload, and Thorenade But his friend finished and started up again The three of them reached the bottoain; now he sounded like a wounded dog

"That’s it!" Jorge yelled "Grab his butt and drag hie ran up the ra clicked loudly, and then the ra Thoainst the raised metal traction pads beneath him, yet he couldn’t remember when it had happened He felt hands pull at his shirt, felt hih the air Then he slammed back down just inside the hatch door as it sealed shut and the locks engaged

"Sorry, Toentle, I ’spect"

Though he was close to unconsciousness, an indescribable joy lifted Thorunt in an attempt to share that with his friend Then he closed his eyes and passed out

CHAPTER 20

Tho down at him She looked worried Her skin was pale and marked with streaks of dried blood, and there was black soot on her forehead and a bruise for on her cheek As if her wounds re of his own across his whole body He had no idea how those Launcher grenades worked, but he was happy he’d only been hit once

"I just got up myself," Brenda said "How do you feel?"

Thomas shifted to lean on his elbow and winced at the sharp pain in his leg where he’d been grazed by the bullet "Like a bucket of klunk"

He lay on a low cot inside a large cargo hold that currently held nothing but a bunch ofwell-deserved naps on a couple of ugly couches, blankets covering their bodies and tucked in under their chins Tho suspicion that Brenda had done that--they looked like little kids, all snuggly and war next to his cot; she now stood up and took a seat on a frumpy armchair a few feet away "We slept for almost ten hours"