Subject B3 (newt x reader)

Chapter 14

(Happy birthday to Thomas Brodie Sangster!!)
(Also sorry this is so short I just thought it would be a good place to leave it)

"Hey guys, guys." I hear Thomas's voice say, but it sounds like he's saying it from a far distance- I'm not entirely sure if it's a dream or not. "GUYS!"

I snap my eyes open and turn over to face the boy as he rises to his feet, gently shaking everyone awake. It's still dark out, which makes me wonder how long I've actually been asleep for.

Newt's still fast asleep next to me, his hand gripping mine still as his chest slowly rises and falls. I smile slightly to myself and shake his shoulders gently, causing the boy to stir.

"Newt, wake up." I whisper. He slowly opens his eyes, blinking a couple of times before sitting up, letting go of my hand.

"What's going on?" He asks groggily, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Look. It's lights." The brunette boy says, pointing out into the distance. I follow where his arm is pointing and see at the end of it that there are, in fact, lights. A collection of them twinkle just in front of the horizon, not too far from where we are.

How did we not notice those before? I guess we've been too distracted to see them.

"I can't believe it." Gzi says in awe, "it looks like a town. Maybe there's people there?"

"Well there must be if the lights are on." Renee replies. "Come on, we better get going."

Running a hand through my hair, I rise to my feet and pick up my rucksack, slinging it over my shoulder as everyone in the group does the same.

"Wait, hold on." Renee says, just as Thomas starts to walk. The brunette boy stops and looks over his shoulder, waiting for the girl to finish. "Niamh..."

I watch as the girl slowly trudges over to the sheet-covered body, crouching down beside her head. She slowly brushes her finger across the area of sheet covering Niamh's heart. Her hand lingers there for a moment before she stands up and walks back to our group, keeping her head lowered.

Nat and Gzi glance at each other before walking over where Renee was just standing, staring down at Niamh. They don't move for a few seconds, until Nat extends her shaking arm towards Niamh's chest, but she pulls away at the last second, crumpling down onto her knees and burying her head in her hands.

"Oh Nat..." I say quietly, running over to the crying girl as Gzi bends down beside her, rubbing her hand in circles on Natasha's back.

"I'm fine.." Nat sniffs, lifting her head up and shifting her red-rimmed eyes towards me. "I'm fine..."

"Not you're not." Gzi says, taking hold of the girl's hand. Nat turns her head towards the blonde girl, who's eyes are shiny with unshed tears. "But... it's alright not to be alright."

My breathing hitches at the girl's words as the two of them stand up and walk back to the group, leaving me alone with Niamh's body.

It's alright not to be alright.

As I look at her body, I imagine her pale, lifeless face under the sheet, juxtaposing her once beaming smile, and her honey coloured skin that glowed under the evening sun back in the Coremeum.

I never thought I'd say it, but I would do anything to be back there now.

A single tear drop falls onto the sheet as I lean down and gently kiss Niamh's forehead through the cloth.

"Goodbye, Niamh. I'm sorry you only got this far, but I promise we'll see each other soon, in a another lifetime."

"Um guys." Frypan voice calls. "I really hate to interrupt but-"

The booming sound of thunder cuts the boy off, and causes me to jump slightly. I shift my eyes up to the sky and see a dark grey cloud looming over us, looking like it's about to chuck down rain on us any moment.

"I was going to say that it looks like there's a storm coming." Frypan finishes, "we should probably set off before we get caught in it."

"Ok. I'm coming." I reply, shifting my eyes down to Niamh one last time, before I rise to my feet, breathing heavily.

"Are you alright?" Newt whispers to me once I return back to the group.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." I reply. "Let's just keep moving."

And with that, we all set off walking towards the town, leaving Niamh's slowly rotting body under the sheet by the abandoned bridge as a symbol of how truly evil WICKED are- putting literal children through hell and not even everyone makes it to the finish line. Niamh's body is a symbol to any future WICKED subjects that WICKED are ruthless, and will kill anyone and everyone, no matter how young they are, in order to get what they want.

******
We trudge along the desert towards the town, and it turns out it's a lot further than it looked from the bridge. The weather isn't getting any better- in fact, it's getting a lot worse. The grey cloud has spread across the entire sky, eliminating any area of blue. Thunder continues to boom every few minutes, each one getting louder and more powerful than the last.

"This isn't looking good." Gzi mumbles from in front of me, glancing up at the sky.

"We'll be fine." Thomas dismisses, but I can tell from his voice that he's not so sure. "We just need to-"

But he's cut off by a sudden crack of lighting from far in the distance. I snap my head around and watch as forks of lighting hit the desert floor, and my heart starts to pound as I realise that with every fork, the lighting is getting closer to us.