When We're Older- The Maze Runner (Newt)

chuck

double update

   I don't think I've ever turned my body around faster in my life. I had to hand onto Newt for balance as my leg tried to give out. But when I turned around, I suddenly wished I hadn't.

   Gally was standing there, with a gun in his hand. The first thing I noticed were his eyes. The black inhumanly void that they had turned into. How did he even get here? Did he follow us? So many questions were scrambling in my mind right now that I didn't know which one to hold onto at the moment. My eyes darted to every part of his body, and it was clear that he'd been stung. Newt very subtly pushed his body in front of mine, but as hard as I tried to fight him off, he wouldn't let me. Even Minho pushed me to his side.

   "Gally?" Thomas asked in disbelief, taking a step towards him.

   "Don't," Teresa warned, placing her hand on his bicep. Thomas looked back towards her, his brows furrowed in confusion, "He's been stung," She elaborated.

   We all looked back towards the tall boy with the gun in his hand. I thought it was sweat that was dripping down his cheeks, but when I squinted and took a step forward, that's when I noticed it had been tears. They were leaking from his eyes like a never-ending stream. Because that's what fear does to you sometimes. It eats you alive like it did Gally, and you'll do anything to stay alive. Even if that meant pointing a gun at every single one of your friends. Although he was stung and half out of his mind, the words he spoke told me that he had a little bit of his conscious left. And as Thomas tried to reason with him, I kept my eyes on the little boy standing next to him.

   "We can't leave," He whispered as the tears flowed down his cheeks. The gun was pointed at Thomas, who had his hands up in the air, almost surrendering to him.

   But he continued to talk against him, "We did. Gally, we're out," He sighed and shook his head. I could see his eyes narrowing on the barrel of the gun as Gally moved his finger over the trigger, "We're free." Thomas tried to reason with the boy.

   "Free?" Gally whimpered as he let out a depressing breathy laugh. He motioned towards the hall that we were so close to walking through, "You think we're free out there?"

   I tried to take a step forward, knowing that I could reason with the boy. But Newt and Minho kept their arms out in front of me, not allowing me to go any further even if I really tried. But I couldn't draw much attention to myself. I had to stay calm even though my insides were screaming for someone to push Chuck behind them so that he could be safe. I wanted to run towards Gally and push him to the ground, even if that meant sacrificing myself so that the others could get out. Get to safety.

   Thomas pursed his lips and sighed, not having a real response for the boy after the video that we just watched. But Gally did. He shook his head and clenched his teeth, like he wanted to say something else, but he was preventing himself from doing so, "No. No, there's no escape from this place."

   Just as he clenched his teeth to pull the trigger, I said the first words that came to my mind, "Gally, listen to me," The boy turned his head towards me, and his face relaxed, "Y-You're not thinking straight. Okay?"

   I tried to be as gentle as I could from my place behind Minho and Newt. I gently pushed their arms away, and moved in front of the boys, but I felt a small tug on the back of my shirt. I stopped in my tracks, but kept my eyes on Gally, trying to find new words to say.

   "You're not," I repeated, "Look...we can help you." I clenched my jaw as he let out a sob, but didn't drop the gun from it's position on Thomas. I knew it wasn't going to hit me, but if I could prevent it from hitting anyone else, then that's what I needed to do. I was ready.