Chapter 33 Chapter Thirty-Three A Flickering Shadow

They walked for an hour without seeing a single car, let alone a taxi.They met a few people here and there, and the police planes flying over from time to time made strange roars.Every few minutes, they would hear voices in the distance that reminded Thomas of his days in the Scorched Earth—a loud voice, a scream, a fit of strange laughter.As the sky darkened, he felt more and more creepy. Brenda finally stopped. "We'll have to wait until tomorrow," she announced. "We won't be able to find a car tonight, and it's too far to walk. We'll have to sleep so we can be refreshed in the morning."

Thomas hated to admit it, but she had a point. "There should be a way to get out." Minho retorted her. Jorge squeezed his shoulder and said, "It's no use, bro, the airport is at least ten miles away. Judging by the current situation in the city, we are likely to be robbed, shot, or beaten on the way." Die. Brenda was right—get some rest and help him tomorrow." Thomas sensed that Minho wanted to confront others as usual, but he stopped arguing and gave in.Jorge could not have said it more clearly, they were in a big city and at night, they were completely out of acclimatization.

"Are we near the hotel?" Thomas asked.He reassures himself that Newt should be able to stay alone for another night. Jorge pointed to his left. "Just a few blocks away." So they headed in that direction. With a block to go, Jorge stopped abruptly, raising one hand and putting the fingers of the other to his lips.Thomas stopped in place, and the nerve alarm automatically sounded. "What's the matter?" Minho asked quietly. Jorge turned around in a slow circle, looking around.Thomas followed suit, wondering what was suddenly making the older man so nervous.It was dark everywhere, and the few street lamps passing by gave little light.The world Thomas saw seemed to be made of shadows, and he imagined that there was something horrible behind every shadow.

"What?" Minho asked quietly again. "I've been thinking, I heard something, right behind us," Jorge answered him, "whispering, who else..." "There!" Brenda cried, like a flash of thunder in the silence. "Did you see that?" she said, pointing to her left. Thomas looked straight ahead, but saw nothing, all he knew was that the street was empty. "Someone just came out from behind that building and ran back and I swear I did see that." "Hey!" Minho yelled, "Who's there?" "Are you crazy?" Thomas whispered. "Let's go to the hotel!"

"Be careful, fool. Ever wondered if they wanted to shoot us or something, they might be doing it right now?" Thomas just sighed in exasperation, which he didn't like at all. "I should have said something when I first heard it," Jorge said. "Maybe there's nothing," Brenda replied. "If there is, there's no use standing here. Let's get out of here." "Hey!" Minho yelled again, startling Thomas, "Hey, you! Who's there?" Thomas patted him on the shoulder and said, "I'm serious, don't you want to do that?"

His friend ignored him. "Come out and show your face!" There was no response, Minho seemed to go to the other side of the street to take a look, but Thomas grabbed his arm. "It can't be like this, what kind of idea! It's dark, it may be a trap, and there may be many scary things. Let's sleep and see better tomorrow." Minho couldn't stand their persuasion anymore. "Okay, be a coward, but I'm going to sleep in bed tonight." When they finished talking, they went to the room, and Thomas couldn't sleep at all, wondering who was following them.But whatever he thought, he always thought of Teresa and the others.Where could they be?Could it be Teresa spying on them in the street?Or Gary and the Righteous Army?

Thomas hated that they had no choice but to wait an extra night before seeing Newt, what if something happened to him? Finally, the activity of consciousness slowed down, the problems receded one by one, and he fell asleep.