The Maze In Her Heart (Newt, Minho ::The Maze Runner.) ✔

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: Serum & Stress.

I give up struggling when Newt's halfway across the Glade. He's strong for such a lean, slender male. 

I beat my fist into his back half-heartily and let out a sigh.Chuck was like a over-inflated balloon- only one more tragedy and he'll pop. And he was the youngest of us all, trying to help and leave so he can see his family like the rest of us. With a whole life in front of him, why was he the next one to get stung?

"Marie, stop." Newt says forcefully and I resist the urge to beat his back again, even harder. 

"Newt, put me down and you might save a limb." I growl. He chuckles, but it sounds strained. 

"You and what army?"

I hear a loud yelp and a dart of red and black flashes from behind a cluster of trees, attacking Newt's leg. His brown pants tear as the dog rips at it. He drops me and I fall onto my butt into the muddy ground, getting dirty once again. Newt yelps and kicks his leg around, trying to get the dog off of him. "Bark!" I shout, grabbing the dog's collar and grunting as I pull him away from the boy.

Newt's face reddens as he inspects his torn pants, revealing a large section of bare leg. "Bloody dog." he growls and I swallow a bunch of giggles. "That army.." I mutter.

I see Newt bend over and lift up a large section of ground in the corner of the Glade. I jog over to him, only a few yards, and watch as he brings out a little dusty box that looks recently used. It has decorative swirls and a little lock that Newt flicks open. The box creaks open, revealing several fat tubes of a blue liquid.

"This is what you used on me?" I whisper. 

Newt glances at me from the corner of his eye. "Yes. We got it with the new greenie- I mean, Sammantha. She brought a few tubes of these and I've been hiding them since... You'll never know who might try to take them for themselves." he says.

I knew he was talking about Gally before he even finished his sentence. With the Glade on such high alert, and everyone antsy to leave, it was hard to know who to trust. And a resource as valuable as this came once in a blue moon.

Bark walks up to me, darting between my legs like a limp snake with legs, watching Newt with a certain amount of protection.

"We should get back." I say. We start walking back to the Glade in a peaceful sort of panic. I can feel it building in every second. I feel close to a breakdown. Newt walks, silently, twisting the tube in his hand so that a needle pokes out of the end. 

"Our escape might be delayed another day. Either that or we have to leave Chuck behind.." I say to him, looking over him. 

"I know. I don't... I don't bloody know what to do." He sighs and stops, rubbing his temple. For the first time since the Maze, I can see genuine fear in my face, like the cracks were showing. So this was why he dragged me out here... to open up. I stay silent, staring at him.

"Marie, I don't want him to go crazy...Like Alby, like Ben, even like Gally... But so many people are already ready to go.." he pauses, biting on his nail, and I seize the moment.

"Who is Ben?"

Newt looks down at me. "Ben was a Runner. A Glader. He was out with Minho on a daily run, back when things were normal, and he got stung.. a few weeks ago, he tried attacking Thomas, and we had to banish him."

"Banish?" I interrogate. We had started to walk again, and he was messing with the serum again.

"I can show you how it works, if you fancy?" he says, his comment ending as more of a question than a suggestion.

"I'd love it." I say, knowing any distraction would be a good distraction for Newt. He was stressed, and I wanted to help him wait the long agonizing wait for Chuck. It wouldn't be like Newt to leave him behind, and I don't think any other Glader would leave him either. 

We were stuck here another few days, and it was even more painful to know that our escape was right around the corner.

 I open the door of the Homestead. The Gladers have resumed position, huddling in corners gripping regular household items turned into lethal weapons of destruction. I see Thomas coming down the stairs. He spots us and jogs over, his sandy brown hair blowing around his face. "Newt, Marie." Thomas says, sounding more relived than worried. "We need to inject the serum."

Newt hands the tube over to Thomas without hesitation.

"How's he bloody holding up?" Newt says. We fall into a line behind Thomas, making our way into a random room. The Glader's must have bustled Chuck into this room in a hurry. It's a moldy room, and it stinks of sweat and body fluids. The wood drips with recent rain water.

There's a retching sound and Chuck stumbles out of the bathroom, collapsing into the bed. A bit of blood was resting on his lower lip, his eyes droopy. I see Minnie run over, taking a seat next to Chuck. Thomas pushes past and I can see him stab the needle into Chuck's side. Chuck lets out a groan, then falls unconscious in the bed.

Only then do I realize that there are Griever sounds right outside the Homestead, getting closer.

Right towards us.

Not now. Anytime but now.