I Prefer Those Odds

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The day had been slow. The Gladers were brought to the cafeteria for meals, but were forced to stay in their room for the rest of the day. Thomas, of course, couldn't take the silence or sitting still.

That was what now led to him crashing through the air vent, the metal skittering across the floor as he scrambled out from beneath one of the bunks. Everyone in the room was in a frenzy, Thomas couldn't speak clear and Aris was frozen like ice. He'd obviously seen something disturbing to make him act like this.

"They're coming. Come on. We gotta go!" Thomas was now pulling apart beds and frantically pushing mattresses up against the massive metal door with a small window. "They're coming for us."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Newt shouted. "What do you mean, 'we gotta go?'"

"Paige. She's still alive." Thomas said breathlessly. "The doctor, from that video."

Minho tried to jut into the conversation. "What happened in there?"

"Thomas, just calm down and talk to us." Newt forced, following the dark haired boy around the room as he jumped from one place to another.

"She's still alive," Thomas repeated.

"Who's she?!" Frypan demanded. "Teresa?"

"Dr. Paige!" Thomas restated.

From her bed, Y/N felt her body tense. Some kind of wave of a strange sensation made her body shudder. That name was familiar. Not just because she had heard it yesterday. But because the name had a distant familiarity to it. There was pain attached to that name. Newt must have felt it too, because he glanced at the girl warily before turning back to Thomas.

"Will you just turn around and talk to us?" Newt pleaded.

"It's WICKED!" Thomas finally snapped. Everyone went silent and stared coldly. "It's still WICKED. It's always been WICKED."

"What—" Newt huffed.

"They know who you and Y/N are. Janson just confirmed it with Dr. Paige and they're coming for you guys. For all of us." Thomas explained. Though confusing, mostly everyone understood.

By the time Janson had his guards break down the door, the Gladers had already escaped through the air vents. Then, they switched to racing down the bleak, empty, seemingly endless hallways far faster than they probably should have. Their minds were set on finding Teresa.

Even though a few of the boy's disliked the idea, especially since they believed she was a traitor after she let Y/N be beat up by the guards, Thomas overruled their complaints. They needed to find her first, and then they would leave. That, luckily thanks to Y/N, didn't take long. Teresa was in one of the testing rooms they had been taken to yesterday for bloodwork. She lay there, lifeless on the bed. While Thomas attempted to awaken her, Y/N, Newt and the others found a way to restrain the doctors currently in the room while blocking guards from coming inside. A barricade was made and it would give them some time. Not much, but some.

Y/N and Newt both picked up a stool. Together, they looked to the large pane of glass before them, shared a nod and then both thrust all of their strength into breaking down the window. Their first attempt failed, the stools simply ricocheted off to the window. The second attempt, however, was far from the same. It fell to a million pieces and covered the floor in sharp shards. Y/N jumped out first, scraping away the remaining glass on the windowsill so it'd be safe for her friends. Newt could see her palms bleeding. Most days, he loved her for her selfless nature and putting others before herself. Right now, he cursed her for it.

Newt turned to help others out of the window, handing them to Y/N on the other side. She stood guard carefully, a gun she stole raised at eye level incase someone had the nerve to approach her right now. In a moment like this, Newt found it far more difficult that it should have to pay attention to what he was doing. Y/N was a mess. A literal, bloody, dust and dirt ridden mess. But she looked beautiful and brave to him. That was hard to ignore. She was putting herself in the line of fire for her friends as if it didn't even phase her.

By the time he came to his senses, all of his friends had jumped out of the room and he followed close behind. The Gladers ran down more bleak hallways, all until they came across a T-intersection in the hallway. On either side of the hall before them was a guard. Both paths were blocked. That was, until Y/N and Minho locked eyes just as she and Newt had earlier.

Minho ran for the guard on the left, and Y/N sprinted for the one on the right. Of course, as if it was nothing, Minho slammed full speed into the guard, sending him back into the concrete wall. Y/N, on the other hand, didn't have quite the same leverage. Yes, she managed to cause the man to fall against the wall, and left him gasping for breath, but it wasn't enough to keep him down. The guard managed to get back up in a split second, taking Y/N and pushing her down the hallway he had come from.

Newt felt his entire body surge with a sharp pain. He wanted to cry out, but knew not to. He couldn't. That would put everyone in danger. Especially Y/N.

Unfortunately for the girl, she didn't hit the ground. She fell into someone's arms. Janson's, to be exact.

The Gladers stepped forwards since the guard Y/N had attacked wasn't moving. Down, at the other end of the hall, Thomas could see the main door they had to get out of. But, in the other hall, was Y/N and Janson. He held her roughly, a gun at the side of her head. Newt's heart rose into his throat and stomach dropped.

"Let Y/N go, open that door, and we won't shoot you." Thomas demanded, the gun in his hands raised up at Janson.

The grey haired man snickered at Thomas' childish plea. That wasn't how deals like that worked here. "You shoot, I shoot. Besides, you really don't want me to open that door."

"Open it. Let her go. I'm giving you one last chance before I shoot." Thomas quavered.

Janson smiled. "Like I said, Thomas. You shoot, I shoot."

"Right, but you wont want to do that." Newt warned, his eyes wide and cloudy. His hand shook as he held it out in hopes of Janson lowering the gun away from Y/N's head. Newt was now treading in treacherous waters and one wrong move could mean the end of Y/N, or worse, both of them. Maybe, even some of his friends.

"Why's that?" Janson tightened his grip on Y/N, very pointedly making his power in this situation obvious. Newt stepped past Thomas, making him lower his gun.

Newt shifted his weight and bit his lip. Y/N shook her head, warning him not so say anything. She already knew what his plan was. "Y/N and I," He began. "We know what we're worth to you."

Janson narrowly eyed Newt. "So, you'll understand why we can't let you go."

Newt sighed. "There has to be another way—"

"I'm trying to save your lives." Janson said. "The maze is one thing... but you kids wouldn't last one day in the Scorch. If the elements don't kill you, the Cranks will."

"I prefer those odds," Suddenly, Y/N thew an elbow upwards while kicking upwards with her heel. Janson's arm fell away from from Y/N's head and he whimpered in agony. Y/N threw one clean punch right at the mans nose, leaving him doubled over in pain while she took his gun. Minho and Frypan had already taken care of the other guard by the time she was done. "Over letting you torture us in here like you did before the maze."

"How'd you—"

"I got some memories back," Y/N glanced to Newt quickly and then back to Janson, her arms outstretched, holding the gun shakily. "I know what you did to us before you threw us in the maze. I remember the day you—" Her voice broke. She was falling apart and Newt could feel it. "The day you sent me up."

"Y/N, you need to understand—" Janson pleaded, holding his bloody nose.

"NO!" She cried, slowly backing away. "Open that door, stay away from us. Otherwise, next time, I'll shoot."

"Doesn't matter," Janson cackled. "You're not getting through that door."

If karma was real, this was it taking action. Just as those words left Janson's mouth, the door at the end of the other hall slid open. There, on the other side, was Aris and Winston with wide smiles, waving for them to run. 

Koev Halev (Newt x Reader)Where stories live. Discover now