Meant to be / Book 2 / A maze runner story

Chapter 11 - Winston

Winston is on the ground, fighting for his life. He is breathing heavily.
- "Winston!" Says Minho, worriedly.
He loses conscience and Teresa tries to wake him up.
- "He's hurt pretty bad." Says Fry.
- "What do we do?" Asks Teresa.
We all look at Thomas, waiting for an answer. He looks at me.
- "Shit." Says Thomas, while getting up.
- "Winston?" Says Fry, grabbing his hand. "Can you hear me?"
Fry starts to cry and Winston is still out. Thomas looks at the mountains. Teresa puts her hand on Fry's shoulder.
- "Its ok." She says.
- "Thomas. What do we do?" Asks Newt.
Thomas looks back at us, not knowing what to say. He has no clue what to do.
- "Were going to have to carry him. We'll make something to carry him. It's our only option here." I say, helping out Thomas.
They all look at me.
- "Come on. Let's grab a few things and we'll figure something out."
I grab a few shirts and about 30 minutes later, we end up figuring out something. Winston is slowly waking up and he has absolutely no energy. We place him onto the thing we built. I squat down to Winston and grab his hand.
- "Hey." I say. "You're going to be ok. Take is easy and rest up."
I nod to Fry and Minho, who grab the pieces of wood, attached to the thing Winston is placed on. They start pulling and we walk.
- "Hang in there Winston." Says Minho.
Thomas is at the front of the group and he is quite far away from us. He is nervous. I can tell. I walk up to him.
- "Hes going to be ok." I say.
- "We don't know that."
- "I know...but we need to think positive. Winston is strong."
Thomas looks at me and sighs.
- "All of this, just everything, I don't know what to think. There's too much for me to process. I need to make sure our safety is guaranteed, your safety." He grabs my hand. "I cant lose you y/n. I cant. And Wicked and Janson..."
- "Forget about that. What's important is to make sure Winston is safe. That's our priority right now."
We continue on walking, hand in hand and get to the top of this little mountain and see a broken down bridge. We cross the other side of the bridge and as we head down the mountain, I help Minho carry the stretcher and the boys carry Winston in their arms. The wind starts to blow and we all cover up. I never thought things could get this bad. We are slowly walking into the storm, holding our faces, in order to protect our eyes from the sand.
- "We gotta find shelter!" Affirms Thomas.
We continue on walking for a bit. I see this little broken building. The perfect place for us to go.
- "There!" I say, pointing to it.
We run as quickly as possible and all sit down there, in complete silence.
The storm has passed and we are drinking water. Winston is lied down onto the ground. Newt sits in front of me. I look at Teresa and she is staring at Winston. He seems on getting worse. Thomas gets up and leaves.
- "Is he alright?" Asks Newt.
- "Yeah hes going to be fine. Just a lot to process right now." I say.
Teresa gets up.
- "I'll go check up on him."
She walks away and joins Thomas, who is standing on a mountain of sand. We can't hear their conversation.
- "What do you think they're talking about?" Asks Minho.
- "No clue." I answer.
Newt gets up and leans on one of the walls looking at them.
- "How's it looking?" Asks Newt, loudly, in order to be heard.
Teresa and Thomas both turn their heads to us.
- "It's a little further." Answers Thomas.
I roll my eyes. That's not very convincing. Newt turns back to us.
- "That's not very convincing." Says Newt.
I laugh and all the guys look at me.
- "Whats so funny?" Asks Minho.
- "I was thinking the same thing that Newt just said."
Minho hits his forehead in disappointment, which makes Newt laugh.
- "Is it just me, or am I the only one that thinks there's something fishy with Teresa?" Asks Minho.
- "What do you mean?" I ask.
- "I don't know. She just gives me a weird feeling. I never liked her from the start and I have a feeling she is hiding something from us."
- "I don't think so. I mean. She's just like the rest of us."
- "I just don't like her." Says Newt.
Minho and I burst out laughing. Fry looks over to Winston.
- "How are you holding up man?" Says Fry.
Winston looks at us and says nothing. I notice a gun in his hands. I hit Minho in the arm and he sees it too. I slowly get up.
- "Winston...drop it." I say.
Fry and Newt look at me confused. They haven't seen it yet.
- "I need too." Says Winston.
He is shaking his hand and the gun is not pointing to the sky. He is trying to aim to himself but can't, because it is too hard.
- "Winston!" Scream Fry.
I run to Winston and as I take the gun out of his hands he pulls the trigger. Luckily, it was pointing in the other direction so no one was hurt. Newt runs and looks at Thomas and Teresa.
- "Guys! Get down here!"
- "Winston! What are you doing man?" Says Fry. "Give me that." He tells me.
I give it to him and I see Thomas running to us.
- "Whats going on?" Asks Thomas.
- "What happened?" Says Teresa.
Winston goes onto his fours and he is looking down.
- "I....I don't know. He just woke up and grabbed the gun and then tried to..." Says Fry panting.
- "Give it back please."
- "Winston you ok?" Says Thomas.
Thomas walks up to him and places a hand on his back and as he does that Winston spits some blood. Thomas takes a step back and I grab his hand. This is exactly what we didn't want to happen. Winston falls onto his back and lies down. We all take a few steps closer and look at him. My heart tightens because I know how this is going to end. I let out a few tears and wipe them with my left hand. Thomas squeezes the other.
- "It's growing..." Winston pulls his shirt up and shows us.
I gag in my mouth. This has to be one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen and I can't believe it is inside one of my best friends.
- "It's growing inside of me." Says Winston, sobbing.
I look at Newt and I know we are thinking of the same thing. We need to grant Winston's wish even if we don't like it. I look at Minho and he seems completely broken.
- "I'm not gonna make it." Says Winston.
Winston puts his arm up.
- "Please. Please."
Fry looks down to the gun.
- "Don't let me turn into one of those things."
Newt and I both take a step to grab the gun from Fry's hand. I stop and signal to Newt to do it. He grabs the gun.
- "Wait Newt..." Says Thomas.
I put my hand on Thomas's chest to stop him. Newt squats down next to Winston and places the gun in his hand.
- "Thank you. Now get out of here."
- "Good bye Winston."
I completely break into tears. Newt walks away and so does Aris. Minho goes next to him and grabs his hand.
- "It's ok." Says Winston.
Minho looks down then back up to him.
- "Go."
Minho nods and gets up. Fry squats down. Fry and Winston have been best friends for as long as I can remember. They did everything together and this...this is breaking me. Teresa turns around and walks away. Fry gets back up, in tears and follows the group. Thomas and I are standing in front of Winston.
- "It's ok." He says to us.
- "I'm sorry." Says Thomas.
I squat down and grab Winston's hand. Thomas grabs his bag and walks away.
- "You should go. Don't get yourself lost now." Says Winston.
I giggle.
- "I'm sorry Winston. For letting you down."
- "No. You saved me. All that time in the maze. You saved me. Thank you. Now go."
I look at him before grabbing my bag.
- "Y/n?"
I turn back to him.
- "Take care of them, especially Thomas. We all look up to him but I know he's just a kid like the rest of us and he needs you."
I nod, looking at him for one last time, before running to join the others. We are all walking in complete silence, broken of the situation. And then I head it. The gunshot. Winston is gone.