In my Blood

CHAPTER 14 - Rescue

I'm not aware of the men who marched into the room until I feel a pair of strong hands grab my arms, and forcefully drag me out of a door, with painful light bursting into the room.

My body feels numb as I stumble out of the room, half-dragged by the men. Soldiers; they have guns and masks concealing their faces. I don't hear Thomas' screams until I hear him yell Chuck's name, which sends another wave of shock through my body. I feel panic rising inside me as all of my senses hit me at once.

Chuck's dead.

Pain radiates from my knee as the soldiers push me towards the door. I scream; in both agony and in grief. More tears flow from my eyes, their bitter taste sinking into my lips. People surround me, soldiers and boys from the Glade, all yelling or snapping commands towards each other, and running. Running towards the vast door, the exit. Our  exit.

The smell of blood lingers behind me as I approach the door and stagger outside. My eyes sting as the light sears my vision. I hear the deafening sound of helicopter propellers close by, and see it atop of a mound of golden sand. That's when I realise just how much sand there is. Not just a mound, but an entire desert surrounds me, stretching out to the horizon, under a blaring sun. A world scorched by the sun, Ava Paige said. She was right.

Screaming echoes around me as I climb the mound of sand, the soldiers still dragging me with them, into the helicopter perched noisily at the top. I feel as though I could pass out any moment, but I try to fight it off, forcing my eyes open. I clamber inside the helicopter, breathlessly panting on the floor. The other boys sit in the helicopter, their faces filled with shock at what just happened. No one talks.

Newt sits on a seat in the corner, his hair sticking up messily and sand on his cheeks. He must've fallen over. He doesn't appear to be focusing at anything; he just stares, in a trance, at the floor. Then he looks up, towards me, and his eyes clear. He holds his hand out, expression devoid of all emotion, as he pulls me up from the ground. He budges up a little closer to the window beside him to make room for me in between him and Winston.

I see three guards pulling Thomas into the helicopter, shoving him onto a chair. The door closes and the propellers get faster. My stomach churns as I feel the helicopter lifting off from the ground, swaying as it gets higher and higher from the sand. That's when I look out of the window, and see it. The Maze. Wall after wall, forming an intricate, complex pattern. A sea of grey surrounding a patch of greenery in the middle: the Glade. It all looks so small from up here. So insignificant, yet I feel a pang in my chest as I look at the Maze from above. It was the first thing I've ever known, and right now, I'm wishing it was the last. 

I slump back into my seat, exhausted beyond emotion, my breaths becoming shallow. I feel numb. I didn't even know if was possible to feel like this. Newt's arm pulls me closer to him, my head resting on his shoulder and his on top of mine, our hands connected on my lap. 

"Relax, kids," a soldier declares. "Everything's gonna change."