Him || The Scorch Trials

Twenty Five

His body lay across the ground, his blood trickling through the cracks of the cold stone floor. They couldn't do anything about it now; he was really dead. His breath was nothing but still, evaporating into the mist of the world around them.

This was their fault. Newt may have done the deed, but she was the reason he had carried it through. Adam was angry with her. But Adam was crazy.

Maybe he deserved it.

Mara rubbed her hands together as if trying to scrub away the guilt flooding through her body. She kept telling herself that if Newt hadn't killed him, that it would have been her. That in their situation, he really had deserved it.

He attacked her, she defended herself and Newt did what was right. So in that case, had they really done anything wrong?

"We better get back to the others." Mara spoke through a croak, forcing her voice through her lips. She had to be strong, she had to make sure that Adam didn't affect her too much. If he got to her, then it could tear her apart, and she wasn't going to allow herself to deteriorate because of one single crazy boy.

She watched Newt nod in agreement, yet he stood still, his eyes cast upon Adam. His face had shrivelled up and his skin had lost all colour it had once contained. He was physically trembling with his hands swinging madly by his side, soaking the floor with drops of blood.

He was in no fit state to act normal and pretend nothing had happened, but Mara knew that they had to get back to the Gladers. They couldn't risk Jorge or Minho or someone walking around the corner and seeing Adam's body sprawled out in a mangled form.

Mara made the first move, shuffling towards where the boy stood and locking eyes with him. She stood in between Newt and Adam, blocking his view.

"Come on," She whispered, carefully interlinking her hand with his despite the wet touch of blood that leaked between their fingertips. How he felt was more important than getting blood on her hands.

They walked hand in hand, silently rounding the corner of the building they knew the Gladers and Jorge stood behind. As they did, some of the boys' figures came into view, all of them facing away from the direction they came from. There were quite a few more of them now; there seemed to be only one or two Gladers left to climb up to the surface.

In a way, their undiscovered presence comforted Mara. It gave her a moment to compose herself, to try to etch Adam's dying eyes out of her head. Those blackened, death laced eyes had been haunting. She had watched every last shred of his life run from his body in a race to escape the darkness, in an attempt to avoid the oblivion that was to follow.

Mara didn't blame it; she had run away too.

Soon, they were standing behind the group of the only friends they had, watching Minho climb out of the hole. He stood and straightened himself off, brushing away the dust and grim he had collected on his trip.

"Where are you taking us now?" He turned to Jorge, who stood to his right. "Do we get the pleasure of visiting all of your shuckin' Crank friends or are we gonna leave that out of the tour?"

"Maybe if you stopped talkin' so much you'd find out." Jorge replied, their conversation ended by the scowl of Minho.

Jorge began explaining to the others which way they were going to go, pointing this way and that, but Mara really wasn't interested. Sure, she wanted to get to the Safe Haven, but she couldn't focus on that in the moment.

She started walking when they did, her and Newt tagging along behind the others. A silence had overtaken them, forcing them to keep quiet. It seemed to linger over the others too, leaving only the city's inhabitants' chortling and the smooth wind as their soundtrack.

To their luck, Jorge led them away from Adam, instead heading towards a different building opposite where he lay. The buildings were more clustered in the direction they were headed, but Mara didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

They walked in a clump, Jorge in the lead and Mara and Newt following in the rear. Their soaked hands never disjoined, they remained together the entire time. Mara was glad that no one was behind them because if there had been they would have seen the path of blood they had carved along the floor.

For some reason, Mara found herself tripping up constantly. At first she had just assumed that it was just a fluke, but maybe it had something to do with how tired she felt. Then again she hadn't slept long ago, so why did she feel so tired?

Her eyes were stained with images of blood and gore, her mind just wouldn't ignore it. It was just there, but her brain was producing images worse than reality. She could see him with his head smashed in, bent and broken. She could see him dowsed in red, painted with his innards. She wished she could say that it revolted her, but it made no effect.

Mara had come to the conclusion that Adam had deserved what he had gotten. He deserved to die. He had cheated death once, so this is what he got. He was dead and that was his problem, not hers. Why should she care that someone that had hated her so strongly had died? If anything it should have been good news.

Without noticing, Mara's hand had slipped from Newt's. She had pulled back, and was now stumbling along the street a short bit behind they boy, who seemed unaware of Mara's sudden disappearance and instead lost in thought.

She wandered aimlessly, with no rush to catch up with the others. Everything in her mind was discombobulated, just like the city. Mara imagined that her brain looked similar to how the city did at the time; used and broken. It felt as if she was in a place that embraced her, a place that seemed so similar to herself.

The buildings were made of rotting bricks and smashed windows, their edges ragged and dangerous. They rose up high into the sky, but seemed to lean in different directions, wishing to be on the ground. Perhaps they were scared of heights.

But one thing stood out of place; a large metal plaque. It was so similar, but Mara couldn't quite place where she had seen it before.

She stopped dead in her tracks, examining the plaque. The Maze, that's where she had seen it. The same plaque which had read World In Catastrophe-Killzone Experiment Department had been plastered along every wall of the Maze, making sure that they knew who they had to entertain. Except this plaque didn't have the same engravement.

Mara approached the rustic metal, running her fingers along its words. She didn't quite know what it meant, but she wondered if he had seen it, wherever he was. If he was alive. Still, someone had wanted to get the message to him, and this certainly was one way of doing it.

Again, she ran her fingers across the sentence, re-reading it once more.

It read: THOMAS, YOU'RE THE REAL LEADER.

-A/N

OMG GUYS ITS BEEN THREE WEEKS I'M SO SORRY UGH I DIDN'T REALISE THAT IT HAD BEEN THAT LONG SINCE I UPDATED.

Anyway, to make it up to you guys I'm gonna try to update again this weekend :)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter

-Lows