Him || The Scorch Trials

Thirteen

He frantically waved across the floor, his scream echoing across the scorched world. Mara could hear the thick sting of his throat as he screeched and bellowed through the thrashing flames, and that was what snapped her into reality.

One of her best friends was burning, and she needed to do something. Fast. But she was paralysed; stuck to the spot in fear.

Mara watched as Thomas lunged forward to help him, shovelling dirt and dry earth onto his body to stop the fire. As he did, Thomas looked up at Mara, and his eyes were filled with fear and confusion. He was probably wondering why Mara wasn't doing anything, and she was too.

It took a few moments, but finally her body matched her state of mind. She managed to tear her feet away from the dusty ground and land on the ground next to the two boys.

By the time she got there the fire was close to extinguishing, and Mara was glad at least Thomas had the sense to help his friend. Minho flailed around on the floor, screaming in anger as Thomas and Mara took care of the last withering flames. It left behind charred clothing and quite a string of angry curse words from Minho.

Before Mara could do anything, Thomas had dragged Minho to his feet and shot off into the distance, only looking back to call to Mara.

"What are you waiting for?" He shouted, but it seemed more like a whisper.

Like the boy had done moments before, Mara threw herself against the wind and rain, hovering just behind the boys as they ran to make sure no one else fell behind. She couldn't lose the others.

They were nearly at the building, that's all Mara tried to focus on. Bolts of flashing white attacked them, but they narrowly missed each explosion. More fires blazed around them, this time climbing the sides of an upper structure and hurling bricks and glass falling to the streets.

Mara was shaking with fear, but adrenaline fuelled her with a determination to get inside and make sure everyone was safe. She could only hope the others would make it too.

The blackened surroundings in the sky seemed to take on a different course, changing to a thicker and sunken layer of clouds. There was less wind to battle against now as Mara ran, but it had been replaced with an intense flourish of lights from all directions, shredding the ground and sending sparks of dirt and electricity through the air.

Minho lost his footing, slipping on the ground. Mara rushed forward and pulled the boy upwards just as Thomas turned around to save the boy, who was clutching to his body to try and regain balance.

Both of them plucked Minho from the ground and were practically half dragging him to the building, too afraid to stop for too long and risk getting viciously blown to smithereens by high voltage electric bolts. Mara felt one bolt fly right over their heads, forcing them to duck down and avoid getting the top of their heads eaten off.

Someone to Mara's left tripped over, but she didn't see who. She wanted to help the boy who fell, but that would have meant leaving Minho, and no matter what her mind told her, she couldn't help everyone. A second fell to her right, but he managed to pick himself up and brush himself off. The boy to the left never came back into Mara's vision.

All she did was run. Her vision was dotted with spots and bright lights, but she still ran. Gladers around her were dying and being burned alive, but she still ran. Her sight began to fade, but she still ran. She just had to get inside; that was her only goal.

Mara was so out of it that it took her few seconds to realise that she stood not far from the first building, and the others were reaching it too.

The grey structure grew through the clouds, dotted with broken glass windows and masses of stone blocks. Aris was the first one to get there, but he didn't bother to open the door. It had been made of glass that was mostly gone, so instead he carefully smashed away the remains with his elbows. He allowed a few others to enter before him, but then let the building engulf him and shelter him from the storm.

Mara, Thomas and Minho made it just as Newt did, and a rush of relief flew through her body that Newt was there. She noticed the same look of relief on his face, but before saying or doing anything Newt and another boy took Minho from them and judiciously dragged him through the entrance to the building.

Just after the three of them had gotten inside, Mara and Thomas followed. As they stepped inside the rain fell in pits of sadness, almost as if the storm had finally decided it was sorry for what it had done.

Mara took a deep breath; the rush was over. They were safe. But she knew that not everyone had made it. Lives had been lost.

The room they had entered was barren. The only light they had came from the damaged windows, protruding like a single spotlight, only illuminating small spots in the room. Rain spattered itself into the ground, falling in torrents and bringing with it a somewhat soothing sound.

When they entered, Mara found her way to Newt, who hugged her tightly and promised her that it was over. She knew it wasn't. They had only just reached the city, and it didn't seem likely to get much better.

The world was a mess; why had the human race let it get this way? The scorch was probably caused by Global Warming, or some other problem like that. But this was it. This was the world Mara and every other Glader had looked forward to coming back to. If only they had known then...

For at least two hours, Mara lied by Newt listening to the sound of the rain, shaking in the freezing cold air. She snuggled into Newt, using him as a blanket of warmth, trying to bring her body temperature up in any way she could, and he did the same.

She was physically exhausted. Everything ached, especially her wounded stomach which twisted with an intense pain, almost as if Teresa had stabbed her again but left her weapon in her body. But lying there seemed to calm her body down, it helped to stop her body shrieking in a raging agony.

The rain grew louder and louder with every second, soothing Mara and comforting her. It lulled her deeper and deeper into a calming sleep, and despite everything, she let herself be pulled under.