The Scorch Trials - James Dashner [104]
“What?” she asked, the same hard look on her face she’d worn since the day before.
It was Harriet who answered. “We need to talk.”
Teresa looked confused, but went to the far side of the recess in the cliff with the rest of the group. Furious whispers immediately filled the air, but Thomas couldn’t make out a word anybody said. His stomach clenched in anticipation of the verdict.
From where he stood he could see that the conversation had started to get passionate, and Teresa looked as riled up as anyone. He watched her expression intensify as she tried to make some point. It seemed like it was her against the rest of them, which made Thomas very nervous.
Finally, just as nightfall was almost complete, Teresa turned, stomped from the group of girls, and started walking away from the camp, heading north. She had her spear slung over one shoulder, a backpack over the other. Thomas watched her go until she disappeared between the narrow walls of the Pass.
He glanced back at the group, many of whom looked relieved, and Harriet came walking over. Without saying a word, she knelt down and untied the rope securing him to the tree.
“Well?” Thomas finally asked. “Did you guys decide anything?”
Harriet didn’t answer until she’d completely freed him; then she sat back on her heels and looked at him, her dark eyes reflecting the faint light of the stars and moon. “It’s your lucky day. We decided not to kill your puny butt after all. It can’t be a coincidence that we’ve all been thinking the same things deep down.”
Thomas didn’t feel the expected rush of relief. In that moment he realized that he’d known that was what they would decide all along.
“But I tell you what,” Harriet said as she stood up, holding a hand out to help him do the same. “Teresa does not like you. I’d watch my back around her if I were you.”
Thomas let Harriet pull him up, confusion and hurt warring for dominance inside him.
Teresa really did want him dead.
CHAPTER 49
Thomas was quiet as he ate with Group B and prepared to leave. Soon they started making their way through the dark pass of the mountains, heading for the safe haven that was supposed to wait on the other side. It felt odd to suddenly be friendly with these people after what they’d done to him, but they acted like nothing unusual had ever happened. They treated him like, well, like one of the girls.
But he did keep his distance a little, hanging toward the back, wondering if he could fully trust their change of heart about him. What was he supposed to do? Even if Harriet and the others let him leave, should he try to find his own group, Minho and Newt and everyone else? He desperately wanted to be with his friends and Brenda again. But he knew time was running out, and he had no food or water to make it on his own. He had to hope they’d find their own way to the safe haven.
So he kept walking, staying close to Group B but not too close.
A couple of hours went by, nothing but tall cliffs of stone and the crunching of dirt and rock under his feet to keep him company. It felt good to move again, to stretch his legs and muscles. The deadline was fast approaching, though. And who knew what obstacle might spring up next? Or had the girls planned something else for him? He thought a lot about the dreams he’d been having, but still couldn’t put enough together to truly understand what was going on.
Harriet drifted back until the two of them were walking side by side.
“Sorry we dragged you through the desert in a bag,” she said. He couldn’t see her face in the dimming light very well, but he imagined a smirk there.
“Oh, no problem, it felt good to take a load off for a while.” Thomas knew he had to play the part, show some humor. He couldn’t trust the girls completely yet, but he had no other options.
She laughed, a sound that put him at ease a bit. “Yeah, well, the man from WICKED gave us very specific instructions about you. But it was Teresa who got all obsessed about it. Almost like killing you was her idea.”
This