ʜᴏʟᴅ ᴏɴ || ɴᴇᴡᴛ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

{12} a last wish

We all make sure to lay close together, not wanting anyone further away from the group. I settle down on my right side, facing Newt as he does the same on his left side, our linked hands lying between us.
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I groan as I'm awoken by Thomas yelling at something to get away.
Grumbling, I keep my eyes shut tight and try to bury my face further into the crook of my elbow, but something tugs against my hand, keeping me from pulling my arm close to my body.

I groggily sit up, rubbing my eyes with my free hand before tiredly looking down at what was causing my earlier problem.
My eyes widen slightly at the sight of mine and Newts hands still locked together between the two of us.

He doesn't shift or anything as I slowly pull my hand out of his, carefully watching as he sleeps on his back. His soft blond hair hangs messily in front of his eyes and his chest slowly rises and falls as he peacefully sleeps.

I turn to my left and see Thomas and Minho already sitting up and staring at me.
Judging by their raised eyebrows, they saw how our hands were linked together.

"Whoa, holding hands all night." Minho slyly grins. "Always thought it'd be with me." he teases, chuckling.

I feel my face redden at his words.
"It must've been on accident in our sleep." I quickly deny, turning away to hide the blush from the two boys.
After all this time I've known him, Minho has never once failed to find a way to tease me. No matter the situation.

"Sureee." he grins.

Our talking causes the others to start waking up, everyone groggy from last nights events.
I scoot over as Newt sits up, not wanting any of the others to see us squished up together.

Newt rubs his eyes and looks up at Thomas, who's now standing and looking around. "Are they gone?"

"Yeah." Thomas mutters. "We should be safe for now."

Once everyone has actually woken up, Thomas starts grabbing his pack. "We need to get going."

I yawn, stretching as I reach for my own pack sitting beside me.
I stand and put my jacket that I used as a blanket back on. Thankfully it wasn't too cold last night so the small layer worked out fine.

Thomas is right, we need to head out now. We're still too close to Wicked and I'm sure they haven't given up on looking for us.
We need to focus on getting as far away from them as possible and reaching those people living in the mountains, someone that can actually help us survive.

I turn around when I hear Winston grunting as he tries to get himself up, but he's too weak and just slumps back to the ground with a huff.
My face falls as I watch Frypan help him up, Winston grimacing in pain the entire time.

Newt pulls my attention away from the two boys by tugging on my arm and motioning with his head to follow after Thomas, whose already climbing up the fallen cement.
Our group leaves the little shelter we hid in and starts making our way up the rubble after Thomas.

I squint and shield my eyes from the sun with my hand as I get to the top. Once my eyes adjust to the bright light, a small gasp escapes my lips, looking up at the towering, broken buildings. Last night it was too dark and I was too busy being chased by cranks to even notice how much everything has actually been broken down or completely destroyed by the elements.

We climb down to a main road that goes straight through the crumbling city, tons of broken structures covering the path.

"How could all this happen?" I ask, looking at the rubble covering our surroundings.

"No idea." Newt mumbles ahead of me. "But it doesn't look like anyones been here in a long time."

"What if the entire world is like this?" Aris worriedly asks.