A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt)

Chapter 19

Cally's pov

Two weeks had passed by since the campfire. Brendon had found his place with the Track-hoes and had his own bunch of friends now.
     Me and Gally on the other hand had developed some kinda weird frenamy relationship. We would challenge each other almost on a daily basis, mostly small things. Like arm wrestling or a thumb battle and so now and then a climbing contest. The score up until now was six vs seven, six was for me and he had won seven. I didn't really care about the score board, but Gally did, so sometimes when I was done with the challenge I would let him win. Although he was still beter then me in the battles that depended on strength. So that were a lot.
     Newt and I hadn't talked about the almost kiss at all. He acted like it didn't happen and I was glad he did. I didn't want to talk about it or anything else that involves my love life. Now I think about it, I don't wanne talk about any of my feelings with any of the Gladers. I didn't like talking about them at home and don't like to do it here.
     Since the last time I hadn't been out in the Maze alone. I didn't mind that much though, I enjoyed Minho and Newt's company. Even though one day I went with Ben, which was something I don't want to do again.
     Today I was with Minho, we had been running for hours and where on our last break of the day before we would reach the Glade again. I had just taken the first bite of my last sandwich when Minho started to talk, "hey Cally."
     "That's what they usually call me."
     "Ha, ha, very funny."
     I flipped my hair over my shoulder, "I'm fucking hilarious."
     Now Minho did chuckled a little before going back to a straight face. "Yeah, sure."
     I crossed my brows for a moment, "wow, why so serious all of a sudden, are you okay?"
     "I'm fine, I just wanted to talk to you about something."
     "Okay, sure, what you wanne talk about, Prettyboy?" I said while I took another bite from my sandwich. Minho never came to me with serious talk, so I was a little worried.
     "About Newt."
     I hadn't expected that to follow, but I rolled with it. "Okay, what about him."
     "You two are getting pretty close, right?"
     I shrugged, "I guess, I mean he's a good friend. Why?" I didn't know where he was going with this, but I already didn't like it.
     Minho rubbed his hands together letting out a quick sigh. "Okay, here it goes." He mumbled, making me even more uncomfortable. "I know you guys almost kissed an-"
     "God, you know about that?" I growled, throwing my head back. "Ugh! I was doing such a good job at avoiding the subject. Who else knows?"
     "Newt told me and I think Alby knows, but that's not the point. I just wanted to know if you like the shank, in that way."
     "I already told you, I don't like anyone in that way. But he told you? What did he say?"
     "That he made a mistake, but I don't know if he ment that trying to kiss you was the mistake or if it was not finishing it."
     I was really done with this conversation. I didn't want to think about it, I didn't want to talk about it. And besides it was non of Minho's business. "I don't care! Okay? It was a mistake and it won't happen again. Jeez, why do you even care so much? Are you jealous or something?"
     Minho seemed to be a little taken back by my reaction, "you know you're like a sister to me, right?"
     Minho had come standing in front of me, forcing me to tilt my head back to look him in the eyes. I was speechless. I really didn't think he would say something like that. "Uh... I... no, I didn't actually.... I just thought you saw me as, you know, a... a friend."
     Now it was Minho who groaned in frustration. "I know it sounds weird, bu-"
     I walked to him and wrapped my arms around him in a hug, making him stop talking. "Having a brother would be nice right about now," my voice started to crack up a little while I said that. My thoughts went to my siblings, I had been trying to suppress the memories, they were too painful.
     Minho wrapped his arms around me and placed his chin on my head. We stood there like that for a while, but eventually I let go of him and wiped away the water that had filled my eyes. "Let's stop talking about things like that, or I'm gonna cry. And I hate crying."
     Minho smiled at me, "you're such a baby."
     I glared at him and slapped his upper arm. "I'm not! I just don't like feelings."
     Minho laughed and didn't even flinch. "I thought that was a guy thing."
     "Well, Gally said I couldn't beat him 'cause I'm a girl and I beat him twice in the circle. And many times after that with other things. So stop thinking things like that."
     "If I remember correctly, and I do, you did take two days off from Running because of 'female problems'." Minho used his fingers to make quotation marks by the female problems part.
     "Okay, Prettyboy. Just for the record, my uterus was trying to kill me."
     "Yeah sure."
     "I was literally bleeding because there was a part of my body being rejected. I was entitled to my days off."
     "Are ya going to do that every month?"
     "Well, it's gonna hurt every month, so unless Clint finds some painkillers somewhere in one of those drawers of his I probably am."
     Minho put away his water bottle, "ready to move on? Gotta long way to go."
     I quickly drank some water before putting away the rest of it, "Yep, Alons-y."
     "You really need to stop saying that," Minho said as he started running.
     "I'm never gonna stop saying that!" I called out as I followed his example and started running too.
     After some turns I was getting bored. I was running a few feet behind Minho and decided I wanted to run faster. So I passed him by, "why the rush!?" Minho called to me.
     "No rush! You're just going to slow!" I called back.
     Minho caught up to me, he ran beside me for some time before starting to sprint himself, "who's slow now!" He called at me over his shoulder.
     "You really wanne do this, Prettyboy! Remember last time!?"
     Minho turned himself around and ran backwards, "last time you cheated!"
     "Watch out for the wall!" I shouted at him as I saw him almost crashing into one. He turned around just in time to take the right turn and not split his head open against the in ivy covered stone.I laughed, shaking my head before starting to run faster. I was catching up to him, but I still had to make sure we were going the right way. I did trust Minho with my life, but mistakes are made fast and I didn't feel like dying today.
     I ran faster and passed him by. "See you in the Glade!" I called out while laughing, this was something I loved. One of the few things that made me feel alive, running as fast as I could, feeling the wind blow trough my hair and stroke my skin. Feeling the adrenaline rush trough my body while my heart pumped my blood trough my veins, going faster with every heartbeat.
     I looked behind me to see where Minho was, he was a few feet behind me. I stuck out my tongue as I started to run even faster. I turned a corner and then another.
     Maybe it was because of the sound of our footsteps against the stone ground. Or maybe it was because I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings enough, or it was just bad luck. But when I turned the next corner there was a big, ugly Griever standing in front of me. "Oooowww shiiiit!" I called out while I tried to slow myself down.I digged my heels into the ground, almost breaking my ankles in the process. I tripped and stumbled forwards. The moment I re-found my balans and looked up, the Griever had spotted me. It shone it's lights on me and spon around. I wanted to run away, but before I could turn around I felt a body crashing into me. Of course it was Minho, I turned around and pushed him back. "Run!" I shouted at him, "go back! We need to run." Minho seemed confused for a few seconds, but the moment he saw the Griever approaching us he started running. I didn't think twice before following him. Instantly regretting the emergency stop I made when I felt a shock of pain going trough my left foot with every step.
     I could hear the metallic sounds of the Griever's legs against the ground. It wasn't far behind. I didn't dare to look behind me, if I made one mistake I was dead. Two weeks, just two weeks ago this happened to me and now it happens again! I should've worked on my positive carma points more instead of bing-watching Supernatural all summer.
     The pain in my foot got worse, I could feel the aching pain shooting through it. But I couldn't stop, I had to keep running.
     It didn't matter how hard I tried, I could feel myself loosing speed, I couldn't keep up with Minho anymore. Nonononono, keep running. Just keep running. Cally! Keep! Running!  I tried to mentally encourage myself. Suck it up! You have to do this! It's just pain... you've had worse...
     I'm faster then all the other Runners, I'm faster then everyone I ever knew. I was a street runner, I ran trough streets, over rooftops and even over cars before I started running every day in this gigantic maze. But today, this freaking day, I wasn't fast enough.
     I gasped for air as I felt the cold needle rip trough the skin on my back. The pain I had felt in my foot as I was running was nothing compared to the pain I was feeling right now. I could feel the venom stream through my body. It burned like acid.
     When the needle had left my body I fell to the ground on my knees. My breathing, that already was heavy from the running, had became abrupt. I couldn't control it anymore. I felt myself becoming dizzy, my head was spinning and I placed my hands on the ground in the hope I could get a hold on myself. But I couldn't. I squeezed my eyes closed, not wanting to see what was coming.

~.~.~

Minho's pov

The moment I couldn't hear her footsteps behind me anymore I looked over my shoulder.  What I saw made me want to vomit.
     The Griever was bending over Cally, one of it's needles stuck in her back. I turned around and stopped running. I wanted to help her, but running head first to a Griever wasn't going to solve anything. When it pulled his needle out of her she fell to the ground. I thought it was done, that the Griever would take her and tear her to pieces right in front of me. But it didn't. Instead it turned around and walked away, leaving her on the ground.
     "Cally!" I called as I ran at her. "Cally, can you hear me?" I knelt down by her, taking her shoulders in my hands. She had her eyes squeezed shut, I shook her, "Cally!"
     Now she opened her eyes, "Minho?" She spoke in a soft, terrified voice. The Shank looked right at me, but for some reason it felt like she couldn't see me.
     "Yes, com'n girl. Gotta get you back to the Glade." I said as I lifted her on her feet. She was leaning against me, not making any effort to stand by herself. "Can you walk?"
     "It hurts." She said in a soft voice, tears were streaming down her face now.
     "I know, Cally." I said as I put her arm around my shoulders. I started walking, hoping she would walk with me. I could feel her try, but her feet could barely carry her.
     This ain't gonna work. I though, "Cally, I'm gonna pick you up." I said, so she knew what I was going to do, but I had the feeling that she didn't hear a word from what I was saying.
    When I lifted her off the ground she didn't protest, her shaking body felt cold against my chest as I started jogging. "It's going to be okay Cally, I'll get you back." I wanted to run, get to the Glade as fast as possible, but even though Cally wasn't that heavy, running wasn't going to work. The Glade wasn't that far anymore, but I was scared that the Griever would come back. Every turn I took the hideous thing could just be standing there.
     Fortunately it wasn't. I took the last turn and saw the open door to the Glade. "Just a little longer, okay Cals? Just hang on." I said trough heavy breaths. Cally didn't react, she must've passed out.
     When I reached the Glade I didn't stop. I just ran into the Homestead and up the stairs. Skipping steps as much as possible. I busted trough the door that led to the Med-room and lay her down on the first empty bed I saw.
     "What happened?" I heard Jeff's voice while he took a syringe from one of the drawers.
     "A unicorn granted her wish. What do you think happened! A buggin' Griever stabbed her in the back!" I didn't have time for stupid questions, he just had to inject her with the Grieve serum and it would be okay.
     Jeff didn't react to my commend, he injected the serum into her vain and then turned her over to see her back. "Go get Clint." He said to me, I didn't hesitate and ran down.
     "Where's Clint!" I shouted trough the room. All the present Gladers looked up to me, before one of them came running out of a room. It was Clint.
     "What's going on?"
     I gestured him to come, "Jeff needs you. Hurry up!" Clint ran upstairs and I followed him into the room.
     "What's wrong?" Clint asked again while he joined Jeff's side. The moment he saw the wound on her back his expression became more worried then before.
     "It could have ripped her lung," Jeff said, Clint nodded.
     "Minho leave the room." The Keeper told me, but I wasn't planning on leaving.
     "What? No. No way, I'm staying."
     "No you're not! Leave and let us do our job." Clint bit at me, his tone of voice making clear there was no room for negotiation. I looked down at Cally again. Jeff was lifting her up so she was sitting, she couldn't do anything. She looked like a corps that was being held high against a wall, head hanging low against her chest.
     Clint and Jeff weren't paying any more attention to me, but I new I had to leave, so I walked out of the room, closing the door behind me. When I looked down I saw that Bark had followed me. I hadn't noticed before, but now I did. I didn't care though, she would've to wait outside the door, just like me and everyone else.

~.~.~

Edited: 17/05/2020