In my Blood

Chapter 37 - Reality

Thomas is the first to step inside the train carriage.

He pushes the door open with force, then glances around the carriage. The rest of us pile through the door, scanning the rows of seats, filled with teenagers and my breath catches in my throat. I'm met back with a sea of weary, pale and gaunt faces, their cheekbones sticking out prominently and eyes devoid of happiness. Some teens are violently coughing and others have bruises on their faces. I look from face to face, then finally, I see people I recognise. I nudge Thomas. 

"It's Aris and Sonya," I whisper. He walks over to the two of them, putting his hands on their shoulders and muttering to them. Aris has a dark bruise all around his right eye and another on his cheekbone, and Sonya's lips are white and shaking. 

Harriet breaks past me and Newt to hug her friends. I smile weakly as I pass them, walking down the aisle while I continue to look through the rows of seats. I feel my heart sinking deeper as I get near the end of the carriage. Thomas stops next to the back door, and turns around. My face falls.

"He's not here," Thomas murmurs. "He's... not in here." 

I hear Newt walk up behind me. I spin around with an apologetic, dejected look. His eyes have clouded over with sadness and his forehead is creased with frown lines, his arms hanging limply by his side. I shake my head, walking back out of the carriage with an ache in my chest and a growing throb of stinging in my lower stomach. 

***

Aris winces as Sonya holds a damp cloth to his cheek, grimacing in pain. I'm sitting at the edge of the room next to the window, a blank expression on my face as I look to my feet. 

"Took you guys long enough to rescue us," Aris mutters with a weak chuckle, sipping water from a flask. Thomas crouches in front of him, examining his bruised cheek. 

"It's good to see you too, buddy," he smiles sadly. "What happened?"

Aris takes a breath. "I fought back. Well, tried to, anyways." 

I look up to where Aris sits, to see Newt looking back at me worriedly. I try to force a smile, but it never comes, and I look back down at my feet, pursing my lips together. 

"You're lucky you found us at all," Sonya says with disbelief laced in her tone. "They had us moving a lot, going from compound to different compound. I felt like something big was happening." 

"Do you know where they were heading?" Newt asks sombrely. 

"All I know is... they kept talking about a city," Aris explains thoughtfully. From the corner of my eye I see Thomas and Newt exchange a worried and curious glance. Harriet shakes her head. 

"I didn't think there were any cities left?" she says questioningly. 

"That's because there aren't," Brenda chimes in from the doorway. "Not still standing, anyway."

I clear my throat and look up to Aris and Sonya. "What about Minho? Why wasn't he on the train?" 

Aris and Sonya look at each other with unreadable expressions. Aris looks to me. "I'm sorry, (y/n). He was."

I open my mouth to speak but no words come. I stand up with shaky legs and a spinning head, my vision becoming partial. "Excuse me a minute..." I murmur, walking out of the room in a dream-like state, my legs becoming numb. I break out in a run, down the corridors, out of the main door and towards the shore, faces becoming blurred as I stumble past them with my eyesight rapidly declining. I eventually reach the hill by the beach, collapsing on the crisp yellow grass and closing my eyes. I listen to the crashing waves, choppier today than yesterday, when I suddenly feel a sharp pain erupting in my lower stomach.