Him || The Scorch Trials

Twenty One

They made it to the end of the corridor before they were stopped by Jorge and the other Gladers, who were piled around the damaged staircase.

Mara and Newt found Minho, Aris and Frypan nearby, but someone was missing.

"What's going on? Why'd we stop?" She asked with haste. They needed to get out of there as fast as possible, and hanging around wasn't going to help. "And where's Tommy?"

"Thomas was with the other Crank." Minho told her, a look of slight worry across his face but the dirt layer covered most of his expression. "Jorge thinks we can get up through the stairs. There's a crack in the wall he thinks we can squeeze through, so we're gonna try to move some of the debris to make it bigger."

"But the buggin' thing might fall down on us shank." Newt replied, a look of confusion across his face. Mara couldn't have said it differently herself, but there was something else on her mind.

"Wait, Tommy went with a Crank? How do we know that we can trust the Crank with Tommy's life?"

"Mara, we know this ain't exactly a great situation, but we haven't got any way of getting to the shank." Minho told her, pushing through the group of Gladers to get to the fragmented staircase. Mara followed with Newt and the others close behind, listening to Minho as he continued to explain his actions. "Jorge said that the only other way out is through some shuck Underneath place, said it's filled with Cranks way past gone. Now, I don't know about you, but I'd prefer to stick away from the Mad Hatters and their tea party. We'll look for Thomas once we get out."

If he's alive when we get out, Mara thought. What if that Crank killed him? Minho said the only other way out was in the Underneath, whatever that was, and that meant that Thomas was going to have to go that way. He was going to have some sort of encounter with Cranks worse than Jorge, and that scared Mara to death.

"M, he'll be okay." A hand clasped hers from behind, spinning her body around to face Newt. "He's one tough bloody shank, even if he whines like a girl sometimes."

She nodded, but she couldn't help but worry about him. So many things could go wrong, but Newt was right. Tommy was a strong person, and she just had to put her trust in him to get back to them alive.

Minho, Jorge and Newt were trying to make the whole bigger for them to fit into, not letting anyone else help so that it didn't get overcrowded. Mara stood back with Frypan and Aris watching and hoping that they could do it. If they didn't, then they'd be the ones travelling into the darkness of the Underneath.

It took a few silent minutes of watching the three boys work until Mara saw the light of Sunset peeking through a body-sized gap in the wall. It twisted weirdly, making the climb up awkward and intricate. For about half of the way up it was simple, but the gap twisted to the right in a such a way it meant one of them made a single wrong move the whole thing was going to come crashing down.

Once the others were satisfied that they could fit through the gap, Jorge decided that he was going to go first. Mara didn't quite know if he was doing it because he was bigger- which meant that if he could do it the rest of them could too- or if he just wanted to get out first to save himself.

Still, no one hesitated. The climb was dangerous, and no one was excited to push up onto the surface that way. But with that said, everyone wanted to get out of the underground tunnels.

Mara watched with tension as Jorge hoisted his body up gently onto a remaining piece of the staircase, shuffling his body right ever so slowly until every part of his body disappeared from sight.

Nothing. There was nothing but the anticipation that he had made it back up to the city grounds. But no sound came. They waited for a minute, and all Mara could hope was that he had made it. That nothing else had been there to greet him. That there was no one in their way.

"Come on up, muchachos. The coast is clear." Jorge's voice bounced down the gap, sending a wave of relieve through each and every Glader. Even Minho looked pleased.

Newt had pushed Mara to the front of the queue. "You go up first." He said, his hand resting on the small of her back. "I'm right behind you."

She wanted the others to go first, but she knew she wouldn't win that argument. The other Gladers seemed to agree with Newt, clearing the way for Mara to access the gap.

A wave of nausea swam through her stomach, a feeling of uncertainty running through her mind. Reluctantly, she nodded to Newt, accepting the role of following Jorge.

"Promise me that you'll be up after me," She turned to Newt. "Promise me."

It felt awful to put herself and her personal preference before the other Gladers, but she couldn't lose Newt. And as bad as it sounded, she wanted Newt up before the others so that if the structure did fall, he would be with her. She knew it was awful to think that way, but she couldn't help it. She loved him.

"I promise. I promise that I'll be right behind you, love." He smiled lightly, ushering her to the staircase as he stood by.

She looked up at the dilapidated stairs with a strangled gut of nerves. If she made a false move it would come down on her. But she could end up do something that would make it collapse on Newt.

Mara closed her eyes for a brief moment. Newt ran through her mind, his face with the fear of the unknown. His sweet smile followed, sending a calming rush through her body. Next she saw Minho running through the Maze, the look of adrenaline and courage expressed across his face. Then came Thomas. She saw him arrive in the Box and brush it off. She saw him taking order as if he had known them all longer than they had known each other. If they could be brave, so could she.

So when her body inched through the crack in the wall and scooted upwards, she reminded herself that it was her turn to be brave.