The Desolation (The Maze Runner)

21. Golden Gate crush

Salsa made her way to the ship safely and took shelter in an empty cabin. She needed time to be with herself, to think about the moment she had with Newt. His lips, his taste was still burning on her skin. She felt so weak around him, so vulnerable and helpless. He exposed her intimately, and yet she had never been happier than with anyone else. She headed back to the main cabin and saw Brenda sitting with Minho, laughing loudly.

"How is he?" Minho looked at her guiltily. "He's my friend, Salsa, I really care about him."

"He's fine, better than I expected," Salsa tried to avoid his glance.

She didn't actually know how he was. He nearly attacked her, said he was losing control and that every day it was getting worse. He seemed okay, but she wasn't a doctor. Janson could tell her more about what state Newt really was in and maybe she didn't want to know. She decided to stick to the hope that she had. To the way he remembered her and kissed her.

She walked around the ship until she found Thomas. He wasn't asking any questions, he might have read it all from her face.

"I'm sorry to ask, but can you just hug me?" she looked at him.

"Sure," he got up and walked to her, wrapping his arms around her frame.

She knew that she was ready to explode with pain and Thomas was the only remedy she had.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

"Approaching San Francisco!" Jorge's voice was loud through the speakers.

Salsa checked the guns behind her belt and the bag pack on her back. Her hair was perfectly tight in its ponytail. She looked out of the window and saw the huge bridge. Golden Gate was rusty but it was still there, the dark bay stretching out underneath them.

"What the..." Jorge cursed at the screen then a second later, the ship trembled as a torpedo hit it.

"We lost the engines!" Jorge shouted, trying to keep the berg in the air.

Another shot missed them but the ship begun to fall.

"Keep it above the bay, we're gonna need to jump!" Salsa hurried to the cabin and Jorge opened the ramp.

The air tore through the cabin and things from the inside started to fall out of the ship.

Brenda and Thomas grabbed a pipe and Minho clenched the back of Jorge's chair. Salsa fell over and grabbed the space between the ramp.

"Jorge, how high are we?!" she screamed.

"500 meters above the bay!" Jorge was still in his chair, trying his best to keep the berg from crashing.

"300!" he yelled out.

Salsa felt her hands were getting weak but she steadfastly held on.

"200!" Jorge turned around. "We can't wait too long!"

"We can't kill ourselves!" she screamed back, the wind storming around her.

"100!" Jorge looked at her.

"50!" he screamed. "We'll go down with the ship!"

"20!"

Salsa waited another three seconds.

"Now!" she screamed, letting go of the ramp. The air sped up around her. She felt the pressure and velocity, then she felt pain in her legs as she slammed into the water.

She resurfaced and began to swim as far away from the ship as she could. It crashed into the bay seconds later, creating a huge wave that was chased after her. Salsa took a deep breath and dived in, feeling the wave push her underneath the water. It felt like forever, her fighting with the wave, but then she finally reached the surface again. She turned around and saw Minho not far from her.

"Salsa!" he yelled.

"Where are the others?" she was out of breath.

"I don't know," Minho was pale.

She felt a shiver of fear and pain.

"We must swim," she said, swimming towards the shore.

Minho followed after her and they turned around, but didn't notice anyone. They swam for minutes, gasping for air till they felt the waves starting to help them move towards the beach. Fifteen minutes later, Salsa felt the stony ground underneath her. The waves spat her out onto the shore with Minho lying a few meters from her, breathing loudly.

She looked around but the horizon seemed to move, so she closed her eyes and rested her head against the stony ground to regain her senses.

Then she managed to sit up, her head still dizzy. She scanned the dark waters and spotted movement in the distance.

"There!" she pointed.

"Are they fine?" Minho sat up, still breathed heavily.

"I think they are," she replied.

They waited on the beach until the shapes moving towards the land got bigger. Salsa and Minho ran into the water to help them reach the shore. Jorge's head was bleeding, Brenda seemed rather pale and Thomas was exhausted but okay.

"What happened?" Salsa looked at them.

"They hesitated too long," joked Minho.

"Jorge got hit by a flying part of something from the ship and nearly drowned. So me and Brenda went to help him and escorted him here," said Thomas.

"Thanks," Jorge merely said.

"What now?" Minho got up.

"Let's catch our breaths," said Salsa.

But a moment later, they heard mad screams and turned around to see about fifty cranks running up the beach.

"Yes, I love WICKED," muttered Salsa as she got up and raised her gun to her chin. "Anyone who feels ready is welcome to help me."

She shot the first row of Cranks down.

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