Different - The Maze Runner: A Newt fanfic

23. Abandoned Mall

Play - I Wanna Be Yours by Arctic Monkeys - on repeat

As the group continued to trudge their way up the sand dune the sounds of guards orders mixed with the strong wind, continued to push the group further and further. "Alright, come on. Keep going!" Thomas encouraged.

As he looked back he saw quad bikes being pulled out guards at the steering wheel. "Shit" he stated as they started to drive towards them. "We'll lose them in the storm!" Coming closer and closer the group hid at the top watching the search for them go on. "Everybody, go, go, go. Stay low. Stay low!"

Running through the dark deserted the group stayed close together "I think we lost em!" Minho informed. Coming up to a building the group just watched as Teresa ran ahead. "Where are we even going?"

"What the hell is this?" Winston asked.

"Come on!" Teresa shouted as she stepped inside.

"Teresa, wait! No, don't go in there!" Thomas warned.

"Get down here!" she shouted back.

"Get inside!"

"Aris, get in!"

"Let's go Fry!"

Each of them all slid down the sand ramp and into the abandoned mall. Minho went into his backpack and pulled out a torch, as their heavy breathing filled the air around them they looked around at the mess in the building. "Where the hell are we?" Minho asked.

"Some abandoned shopping center?" Athena answered as she looked around.

"We gotta go." Thomas said.

"No," Teresa answered.

"We gotta keep moving."

"Thomas, stop!" she shouted, causing the boys to jump back slightly and Athena looked the girl up, down as she went through thought processes. "Tell me what's going on."

"It's Wicked." he replied, walking up to her. "It's Wicked. They lied to us. We never escaped. Me and Aris, we found bodies. Too many to count."

"What do you mean? Dead bodies?" Minho asked.

"No, but they weren't alive either. They had them strung up. With tubes coming out of them. They were being drained. There's something inside of us that Wicked wants. Something in our blood."

"Probably the fact we're immune. Like she said in the video." Winston suggested. As the group around him agreed Athena stayed silent and shifted uncomfortably, which only Newt seemed to pick up on from the girl standing next to him but didn't want to say anything right now.

"So we have to get as far away from them as possible." Thomas continued.

"Okay. So, what's the plan?" Newt asked, only to be met with silence. "You do have a plan, right?"

"Yeah. I don't know."

"Well, we followed you out here, Thomas and now you're saying that you have no idea where we're going or what we're doing." Newt snapped back his voice cracking a few times.

"Wait." Aris spoke up from the right side of Athena, "Janson said something about people hiding in the mountains. Some kind of resistance or army." he explained.

"The Right Arm." Thomas said. "The right arm. If they're really against Wicked maybe they can help us."

"People. In the mountains. Mountain people." Newt breathed out starting to get more annoyed. "That's your plan?"

"It's the only chance we have."

"Hey, guys." Winston exclaimed, grabbing their attention. "Check this out. Minho, give me a light" The group walked over to Winston who was bent on one knee looking at the ground. As Minho shined the light it revealed footprints. "Someone's been down here."