"So when did you- you know- fall in love with her?" Thomas smirked, knowing he had him right where I wanted him, with his head in Fionaland.
"Woah," Newt defeated with his hands up, "What?"
"I may be slow to getting to know things around here, but...
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The sun was up, which meant that it was time for us to go. I had no idea how much time I actually fell asleep but it surely wasn't enough.
Aris and I lagged in the back, I pestered him with questions which he did his best to answer. It seems like we went from one world of confusion to another. Each is just one wrong step away from death.
"What the hell happened to this place?" Frypan asked us, ready for whatever theories we wanted to come up with.
"I don't know," Newt answered him, it was sinking in again that he was only ignoring me. "It doesn't look like anyone's been here in a long time."
"I hope the whole world's not like this," Aris spoke up, looking at a crumbling building high above our heads.
"Hang on, stop." Thomas froze, getting our attention. "Do you hear that?"
I listened closely, what I first believed was wind picked up. It grew louder and closer.
"Get down! Everybody, hide! Hide! Hide!" Thomas searched around, looking for cover.
"Get in here. In here, here!" Newt instructed, getting us all under a sheet of concrete that didn't seem the most stable.
Two helicopters and one large aircraft flew over us. They were all drawn in together, and diving low. It was clear that they were searching for.
"They're never gonna stop looking for us, are they?" Frypan wondered, seeing the machines fly out of view.
I looked up at the sky, double-checking that there wasn't a fourth coming, "Why are three aircrafts out for a band of kids?"
"They think our blood is the cure for those things," Minho told me. I knew exactly what 'things' he was talking about.
I narrowed my eyes, not seeming to understand how that was even possible. "I'm no scientist but those people have their eyes missing and black blood. I don't see much coming back from that. Not to mention the cannibal crazy part."
"WCKD seems to care too much about the gone and not enough about the living," Aris commented. Helping me up and back into the sun.
"If they are going that way. We should probably follow." I offered.
"You want us to follow the guys that are after us?"
"If they have already searched his area, they are less likely to come back to it." I was a bit of hope and guess though.
"She's got a point." Minho backed me up, readjusting his backpack and already walking in the direction.
Thomas agreed, following behind Minho as we got back to the most annoying, sticky, and long walk of all time.
About six hours later and one hour since we ran out of water, we had come back to only sand. If you looked to the right, sand. The left? Sand there too. And just when you think you can predict what comes next, you see more annoying ass sand. It was everywhere and at this point, I didn't know if anything else existed.
It was taking its toll on all of us, especially Winston. He collapsed when we first got out of the city. We have been switching off carrying him as the day went on. We got to the point where a break wasn't only wanted but needed.
I sat next to a sleeping Winston, wiping his hair out of his face along with the dirt and sweat. His lips were turning purple now, and although I didn't know the dirty details of the Flare Virus, I knew it wasn't a good sign.
The boys talked among themselves, looking out at the mountains.
"They look like they are getting farther away."
"We just gotta keep moving."
Winston's breathing started picking up again. I lowered my ear to one side of his chest, hearing the inflow of air but when I switched to the other I wasn't as fortunate. There was fluid in his left lung, killing him painfully and slowly.
He burst up, pushing my head out of the way as he did so. I jumped back, landing in the sand as I watched him. He reached down to his belt, pulling out the same gun that he had tried to fight the demons off with. He cocked it back.
"No!" I screamed, kicking the gun from his hand and letting it fall in the dirt.
Minho jumped to his side, holding him down from taking any more attempts at his life.
"Winston, what are you doing, man?" Frypan fired in shock.
"What happened?" Thomas entered with Teresa.
"I don't know." The only answer I could come up with was, "He just woke up and grabbed the gun, and then he tried to..."
"Give it back, please," Winston begged, holding out his hand for the gun that Newt now controlled. I blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out the next right thing to do. Winston lifted his shirt, revealing that the scratches were not just scratches anymore but holes in his body. His intensities were showing at some points and rotting in others. I closed my eyes, knowing that memory would be burned into my skull. "It's growing... inside me. I'm not gonna make it. Please. Please. Don't let me turn into one of those things."
Newt looked down at the boy, then back at his wound, and then glanced to the mountains miles away from here. He gave in, knowing the unavoidable truth. Winston was on a ticking clock, he handed him the gun. Thomas went to resist it, but he deep down knew what came next. Newt was the one to sadly fold the gun in his hand.
"Thank you." Winston weakly whispered.
Newt gave him a subtle nod, "Goodbye, Winston."
Minho knelt down next to him, not having the heart to say his goodbyes. Winston knew that too because he put on his bravest smile and said, "Go. It's okay."
Frypan was next, staring down at his hurting friend, "I'm sorry."
Teresa left with a sad look but not a word. I figured it must have been because they didn't know each other long enough but for me, it just felt wrong.
"After all this, in whatever comes next. We'll meet again." He promised me with a fake smile. "You'll have all your memories back and we can laugh about all of this mess over some of your moonshine."
I chuckled to hold back the tears for a boy I barely knew, "Until then, Winston."
I picked up my bag heading off in the line to the mountains, leaving Thomas to say his goodbyes.
I turned to the sand, feeling emptier than before, and not because I don't remember the last time I ate. There was a hollow hole in my heart and I didn't understand it, but I felt it. I couldn't grieve a boy I didn't know. WCKD took that away from me too. Now I had lost the opportunities for new memories too.
The gunfire went off, I jumped, closing my eyes in an attempt to hold back the reality. But different pictures first in my head. Suddenly, a boy with sunburnt cheeks and arched eyebrows flooded my mind. First, he was laughing, and then he was fighting me. He was mad, furious even, burst anger turned on someone else as he held me back. He protected me and whoever I was about to yell at. I saw him running through the maze, he was much smaller then. And then it all came to an end with another gunshot firing in my head. But I didn't see his face anymore, I saw a chubby boy losing the color in his face. There was a hole in his chest. He looked down at it before he collapsed onto a lab floor. My head turned to see the first boy with a spear in his chest.
