Promise Me ➵ Newt [3]

EIGHTEEN | please, tommy

I ran with Minho and Gally, Brenda right behind us as we dove into the war raging around the city. We ducked as bullets flew dangerously close to us, their cool, metal casings zipping by with a whoosh. There were explosions  everywhere - they seemed to set off in every direction. Cranks littered the area, their shrieks and moans piercing through the thick smoke and chaos of gunfire and flames crackling. Guards from WICKED shot at them, retreating behind broken cars or fallen buildings, desperate to stay alive and uninfected. 

A Crank spotted me and threw itself at me and before I could react, someone tackled me from the side and we collasped to the ground with a grunt. The Crank tripped over us and fell, its veiny, bloody fingers reaching out in vain to grasp us. The person who had tackled me - Minho - snatched up a brick from the ground and smashed at its head - the Crank screamed, then stilled.

"You alright?" Minho asked, rushing to my side.

"Get down!" I pulled him down and we covered our heads as another explosion sounded a few metres away from us. We scrambled behind a flaming car and hid there, covering our heads. I grabbed Minho's shirt and pulled him so that he was facing me.

"Where's Newt?" I demanded. "Where were you guys before you got separated?"

"I-I don't remember-"

I shook him, fury flaring up in me suddenly. "WHERE'S NEWT? TELL ME, DAMNIT!"

"I said I don't remember! The last I saw him and Thomas was back there at the street junction-"

"Which one? Which direction?"

With shaking fingers, he knelt up and pointed to an alleyway somewhere across the warzone we were stranded in. I let go of his shirt and pushed myself to my feet, determination now fuelling me.

"Rose, wait! What're you-?"

But I shoved him away and sprinted straight into gunfire, dodging explosions as I ran. I heard my friends screaming after me, their voices hoarse and full of panic, but I ignored them all - I had to get to Newt. 

A Crank threw itself at me but I shoved it away, anger fuelling me with energy. A WICKED guard aimed his gun in my direction, probably mistaking me for one of the Cranks due to the bulging veins on my skin, and I darted behind a truck before he could shoot me. I ran again, leaping over flaming debris and pushing past wrestling figures. Bullets whizzed past me from all directions - I continued running.

I disappeared into the alleyway Minho had pointed to and stumbled over the concrete ground, eyes flitting left and right for any signs of Newt or Thomas. I staggered down the alleyway, my limbs aching and head pounding, and emerged into a wide tunnel, where streetlamps lined either side. 

There were two figures in the middle, wrestling and pushing each other, and I realized with a jolt who they were.

"Newt!" I called out. 

His head shot up and I nearly gasped.

His eyes were dark and bloodshot, looking nothing like the warm honey brown I was so used to seeing, with a certain wildness in them. Black and red veins crawled up his neck and creeped along his cheeks, bulging out from under his skin with a horrendous black-bluish tinge. His usually bright blond hair was pale and lifeless and black goo dribbled down his chin. Instead of greeting me or showing any signs of familiarity, he shrieked at me, and the sound was enough to pierce a hole through my heart.

Newt had turned into a Crank.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" He demanded, spit flying from his mouth. "Didn't you remember what I told you? You broke your bloody promise again, didn't you?!"