♡ Dark Paradise ♡ ; newtmas fanfic.

c r a n k

After my little talk with Paul, I walked back into the room my friends - and Brenda - were staying in. Everyone crowded around me, asking me what Paul had to talk to me about.

"He wouldn't tell us anything," Teresa begged. "Please, Thomas, just tell us what's going on."

"Yeah," agreed Minho. "That Shank just told us he was waiting until you woke up to make a plan. But I know that there's something he's not telling us."

"I can't tell you yet." I said, separating myself from the swarm of people around me.

"Not you, too!" Ben snorted. "Who even chose Paul as our leader? He thinks he knows everything."

"It's not that I don't want to tell you," I explained, "but I don't know anything either. All I know is that all of the rooms around here are the exact same. With no way of getting out."

Collective complaints came from the Gladers.

"I need . . I need to talk to Newt." I mumbled, attempting to change the subject. In a minute, Newt pushes pass the other gladers and is standing in front of me. I lock my eyes with his. I bit my lip anxiously. "Come with me."

I settled myself down into my makeshift bed on the floor. I pushed all the blankets underneath my body, hot from the humid air. Newt sat across from me and I sat up abruptly.

"Hey, Newt."

"Hi." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "What did you need to talk to me about?"

"Newt, you knew the code for the portal."

As soon as the words left my mouth, Newt rolled his eyes. "Paul put you up to this."

"Kind of, yeah," I laughed. "But what you need to understand is that we're trapped here until we find another portal. Meaning, we don't have a chance to find Alby until we find it. You're the only one that knows the code."

"You . . you don't know that."

"What are you trying to say? Don't you want to help find Alby?"

"Of course I do," Newt nods, sounding offended. "Just.. I don't trust Paul."

"But you trust me, right?" I asked. "Just tell me, Newt."

"Thomas . . You know I'm still upset with you." Newt shook his head slowly. "You know what you did is making it hard for me to trust you again. You lied to my face. How do I know that you're not just lying to me again?"

"I promise, Newt. I'll never lie to you again. Just . . just tell me the code. It will help us to locate the next portal."

"How?"

"We can enter the code on this tracking device Paul has, and if it's the right code, it will lead us towards the portal."

Next nodded. "Whatever. Okay. I'll help."

Newt and I found Paul wandering through the halls, opening every door he came across. "It's no use without the code," he muttered to himself. "I can't even see the portal if it's not activated."

"Hey, Paul," I called out. Paul turned around. When he saw Newt behind me, a smile spread across his face.

"You're here to give me the code, I assume?"

Newt nodded, annoyed.

"Well, I'm glad you've finally came to your senses . . Let's see, now . ." Paul fiddled around in his pocket in fished out another device. It looked like the compact one we used to open the portal the first time, but it was a bit smaller.

Newt snatched the device out of Paul's hand. He typed in the code quickly and then threw the device back to Paul.

"The code is CRANK, by the way." Newt said bitterly.

I hated that word. I hated to think of Newt turning into a crank. It made me feel sick.

"Perfect!" Paul grinned, like he was completely unaware of what a crank was. He studied the device for a moment, then his face lit up. "Hey! It's working! The portal is this way!" Paul pointed down the hall. "Get your other friends, and let's go!"