ᴼᵇˢᵉˢˢᵉᵈ || ᵀʰᵒᵐᵃˢ || ᵀᴹᴿ

𝟬𝟮𝟮. 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗟𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦

Fry and Minho carry Winston while I walk next to Thomas. "I'm sorry." He says and I look up at him. "What?" I ask and check on Winston. "I know you don't handle death well." He says and I shake my head. "He's not dying." I say and look down. "Emily-" "He's not dying Thomas." I say interrupting him. "I can't.. I can't let him die." I say and keep walking. "I know, but this isn't your fault." He says and I shake my head.

"Thomas, grab his legs." I look at Winston and Thomas gets his legs. "I got him, I got him." He says and we walk further.

Eventually we are past the bridge and need to cover our eyes and face if we don't want to get hurt by the sand and burning sun. We've been walking for hours now and I didn't notice how hard my head is hurting until now.

Maybe it was Thomas making my head hurt. Maybe it was Teresa, maybe both. I don't know, but it was killing me. "Here, let's settle down here," Thomas says and we do what he tells us.

Seeing Teresa and Thomas walk away wasn't something I was happy about, but I let it go. I sit down next to Fry and Minho, looking at Newt who is standing and leaning against the wall.

"How's it looking?" He asks and I hesitate before answering. "A little further," I say and Newt looks at me before looking at the other boys. "Well that's not very convincing," he says and I sigh. "Does it matter? All we need is to get there and... maybe everything will be alright," I say and look down, tears ready to spill.

I look at a passed out Winston, smiling dumbly. "He'll make it, and this hell will be over," Newt slowly walks towards me and I don't look at him, afraid that if I do I can't hold back anymore.

"Emily," he mumbles, ready to say something else. Suddenly Winston wakes up and grabs the gun, me being close to him I want to pull the gun out of his hands, but it shots. The ringing in my ear is unbearable, I cover my hands while I'm trying to hear what they are saying.

"I-I don't know! He just woke up and grabbed the gun!" Fry says panicking. "And then he tried to-" Winston is on his knees and arms, trying to get the gun back. "Give it back please," I shake my head. No, this wasn't happening.

"Winston? Winston are you okay?" I ask and kneel down, along with Thomas. Suddenly he starts to throw up blood, and lays on his back, coughing.

Staring at him blankly I look at Newt, biting my lip. "It's growing..." Winston starts and lifts up his shirt. "Inside me," my eyes widen at the sight. His veins are clearly visible and its infected, its all black blood. That's not a good sign.

"Oh," I whisper.

I didn't even notice the tears falling, and I didn't notice Thomas' hand finding mine. His fingers brush against mine, and his hand connects with my fingers, holding it tightly. "I'm not gonna make it," he whimpers, making me look down.

"Please, please, don't let me turn into one of these things," he says reaching out for the gun in Fry's hand. "Fry no," I want to scream, but it came out as a whisper. Newt walks past me and Thomas, towards Fry. He takes the gun out of his hand and Thomas' hand let's go of me, that's when I noticed he was holding me.

For a second I felt happy, he cared.

Then reality shot up and I was reminded that one of the few friends I have is going to kill himself, or my brother is going to kill him.

"Wait Newt," Thomas says and I watch him kneel down, handing Winston the gun. "Thank you," Winston whispers and I close my eyes, taking a deep breathe. "Now, get outta here," he says, maybe even making a joke out of it.

"Goodbye Winston," Newt whispers and I turn my head to Minho, when he looks at me I give him a comforting look, the one that says 'I'll be there for you'

Newt stands up, taking the bag and me with him. With small protest I start walking. Newt holds my hand tightly, as if I am next. When we are going downwards in the sand we hear a shot. Another gun shot. Stopping I look at Newt biting my lip, holding back tears.

Suddenly feeling unwell, I fall on my knees and throw up, causing Thomas to speed to me. "No, no, Emily keep it in," he says and I shake my head. "I can't," I whisper, but he hugs me, magically causing me to calm down.

"You can't throw up the little food you have in you," he whispers and I close my eyes. "We're gonna stand up okay?" He whispers in my ear, making me nod. Slowly raising from the ground I lean into Thomas for support.

My legs were barely working, my knees trembling and everything bad that has happened in my mind. It was horrible.

But I kept walking. I kept thinking, once we were at the mountains, with the mountain people, everything will be okay, we're gonna make it.

Newt occasionally looks at me to reassure I'm fine, the entire time until we arrive at out sleep spot for the night. Settling down the boys make a fire, while Thomas stays with me for a while.

"I'm sorry Thomas," I whisper. "What?" He whispers back, looking at me. It's all going so fast and I didn't before know but now... with Winston... Chuck, Gally. I don't want to lose you to while you're still alive." I stop and look down.

"It's been hard giving you space and I get that you don't want to get back together... or even be friends with me, i wouldn't want to be friends with someone-"

"I don't," he says interrupting me. "You don't?" I ask while my voice breaks. "I don't want to be friends with you Em," he says and lifts my chin up. "I can't be friends with someone I'm in love with," with that he kisses me, slow, but passionate.

I kiss him back, closing my eyes and letting me melt into the kiss. Never has a kiss felt so good. "I thought we were supposed to be immune," Minho suddenly says, causing us to break the kiss.

"Not all of us, I guess," Teresa says, and I look down. "If Winston can get infected, we should assume so can the rest of us," Newt says who is sitting  next to Teresa.

"I never thought I'd say it, but I miss the Glade," I smile and nod. "To the Gladers," I whisper and raise my hand, pretending to hold a glass. "To the Gladers," Minho says, then Fry, Newt, Teresa, even Aris. "To the Gladers," Thomas whispers.

~1170 words~