In my Blood

CHAPTER 60 - Resistant

I warily eye the large cargo ship ahead of me. A long, narrow bridge separates  me and the entrance, with a handrail on only one side of the bridge. On the other, a long drop before dark, simmering waves. I look briefly over the edge. I cannot see the bottom of the water. 

"Shuck, that's a long drop..." I breathe. 

"What, after everything, you're gonna let a couple of waves stop you now?" Minho smirks. I shake my head, a smile forcing its way onto my lips. Brenda joins the group, nodding to me and smiling knowingly. Because of what she told Vince, Newt may have a chance at this new life. I smile back at her thankfully, before turning back to Minho to offer a retort.   

"Guess not. Thanks for the reality check, Minho," I smirk back at him, taking one step onto the narrow bridge, tightening the rucksack on my back. I grip tightly onto the single railing, feeling it sway ever so slightly under my feet as I make my way towards the ship. Looking behind me, I bite my lip as I look back to the long stretchers, and the rude boys carrying them, who earlier caused a fuss about Newt coming along. I don't trust them, and I especially don't trust that long drop into the ocean.  

"Hey, Fry!" I shout. He looks up to me, along with Minho. I gesture towards Newt and Thomas. Both guys look towards the stretchers, turning back to me and nodding knowingly. They begin to make their way towards Newt and Thomas, and I carry on along the bridge, Brenda following closely in tow.

I'm halfway to the ship now, the bridge swaying considerably more than before. Swallowing my nerves, I look straight ahead rather than looking down, and see Aris by the door. He waves, grinning widely.

"(y/n)! Didn't see you out there before!" he exclaims as I approach the door. 

"Hey, Aris!" I wrap him in a hug, noticing how the usually lanky boy's shoulders are quite a bit bigger than when I last hugged him. We pull away from the hug, moving to the side to let Brenda into the ship. "God, it feels like ages ago since I last saw you! It's only been, what, a week?"

He laughs. "More like, four days."

"Four days?" I shake my head. "Felt like so much longer."

"Yeah, Jorge got back here a couple days ago and told us where you'd all gone. What was it like, the Last City?" he asks eagerly. Sonya and Harriet appear behind him, smiling earnestly. I look to Brenda, her big brown eyes narrowed in thought. 

"It was..." I begin. I scoff, shrugging my shoulders. "Just as you'd imagine the Last City to be like. It was big, but destroyed by the time we left. Everyone was on edge. Oh, there were these billboards with our faces on them, and these nicknames?" I bite my lip. Almost forgot about those. 

"Nicknames?" Sonya questions,. 

"Oh yeah, I remember those!" Brenda chimes in. "What was it they called you... the Clue? Whatever that means."

"Yeah, that was weird."

"Did you see ours?" Aris asks. 

I shake my head. "No, we didn't actually. I guess, since you're not on WICKED's radar as much anymore, they didn't feel the need to. They knew we were there, though. Soon as we got to the city walls we were shot at." I shudder, reliving it. 

They all shake their heads, concerned expressions clouding over their faces. 

"Still, you're all here now," Harriet says, attempting to lift the mood. Well, almost all of us...

"Shucking... hey, (y/n)! " I hear Minho whine. I head back to the ship's door, seeing Minho and Fry carrying Newt's stretcher across the narrow bridge. I gasp. "Give us a hand, will you?"