SACRIFICE {Newt | The Maze Runner}

iii. Rescue Party

Song: LOST WITHOUT YOU; freya ridings

     LEAVING the Right Arm was more difficult than I thought it would be; each sleeping person I passed, blissfully unaware of my haunted presence, had helped in some way.

Tommy walked silently in front of me, the pair of us quietly treading between the rows of hammocks, each of us with a packed bag in hand.

As we passed Brenda, he stopped, a ghost of a smile on his lips as he looked down at her sleeping form. But, my gentle hand on the shoulder, accompanied with my almost silent, "Tommy, we have to go." was all he needed to keep walking.

Guilt welled in me with each receding step I took, I felt like I was running away, as I always had done. Like a coward. And, as we exited the room, I pulled the brunet aside. There was one person I had to say goodbye to, even if it killed me.

"I owe this much to her, Tommy." was all I said as I lead him down towards one of the medical tents, knowing exactly where she would be: helping people.

Pushing the canvas doors apart, the pair of us filed in, the electric lamps that hung from the ceiling warding off the dark. I spotted her immediately, ginger hair messily tied back into a ponytail as she worked, cleaning the blood from the side of a man's face.

"Lu?" I called, one of the nurses taking over as she removed her gloves, walking over to me.

"Orla, what's going on?" she asked, spying the packs in our hands, arms akimbo with a frown on her face. Then, the realisation hit her and her face fell in despair, "You're going after Minho and Rach, aren't you?"

Nodding silently, I met her eyes, my little sister gesturing Tommy and I behind one of the blue, surgical curtains they had managed to scavenge from WICKED.

Immediately, she threw her arms around me, holding me as if she thought it would be for the last time. Maybe she was right, maybe it would be.

"I hope you understand, Lu. But I have to get them back, it's my fault the operation with the train went wrong, I have a duty to get them back."

Slowly, she pulled away from me, a smile tinged with awe pulled on her lips, "And I won't stop you, because I know what you're like. You're loyal, a fierce friend, and if anyone can get them back, it's you."

For a few seconds, my sister and I just chuckled with each other, our hands laced together. But, sadly, it had to end. And, as I pulled fully away from her, to leave the tent, the guilt built in me again.

Her hand around my wrist was the only thing that made me stop, "Orla, I have something for you!"

Her cry was almost desperate - final. Tommy and I exchanged a quizzical look as she produced something from one of the cabinets, before handing it to me: a well-thumbed and well-loved book, neatly tied in string.

"Before you went into the Trials, this book was your favourite," she explained, tears beginning to stain her cheeks, "you would read it to me every night before bed, you asked me to keep it safe for you. And I did."

"But why are you giving it to me now?" I enquired, touched at the gesture of piece of my former life being returned, however foreign it seemed.

"I was meant to give it to you tomorrow." her explanation made almost no sense, "I'm sorry! I keep forgetting all your memories were wiped."

Looking down at her watch, she smiled, before locking her eyes with mine once more, "Midnight."

"Midnight of what, Lu?" I asked again, still completely confused at her mere statement of the time. Perhaps the previous me, the untainted me before the Trials would know what's going on.