I Promise | The Maze Runner

Chapter 17: Shooting Lessons ✔️

"Spencer, you got shot!" Newt argues, looking at me. "Go see Mary!"

"What if I don't want to!" I say, looking at him.

"I will drag you over there. Come on." Newt picks me up and carries me towards the hospital tent. Newt moves the flap and steps inside where the woman, Mary, is. She looks up as we enter.

"She got shot in the leg." Newt says, placing me on one of the cots in the room.

"Let me take a look at it." Mary says, walking over.

-----

"Alright, I suggest you should still stay off of it, though." Mary says, straightening up.

"Thanks." I say, about to stand up.

"What did the doctor just say?" Newt asks, stepping forward to pick me up. 

"He's a keeper." I hear Mary mumble. 

Newt picks me up and carries me outside. Most of the guys are around the campfire where Aris is telling Sonya, Harriet, and Toby about how we escaped WICKED. 

"Hey, Sonya?" I ask as Newt places me down on one of the chairs. 

"Yes?" Sonya asks. "Oh, no."

"What?" I ask, confused.

"I know that face." She says, pointing to my face.

"What face?" I ask, now very confused.

"The 'I want to build something' face." Sonya says with a laugh.

"How'd you know?!" I ask with my own laugh.

"Oh, wait, that's just how you always are." Harriet says, joining in.

"But, do you actually have some stuff I can tinker with?" I ask.

Sonya rolls her eyes. "Be my guest." She pulls an entire box out of nowhere and hands it to me. "Have at it."

-----

"So, are you going to tell me what you're making yet?" Newt asks, looking at me.

"I'm not going to tell you, I'm going to show you." I say, looking down at the leg brace I had made. I slip it on my leg, fixing it to fix my leg a little better. I stand up and Newt immediately is about to grab me. "Hey! I made this so I don't need you to help me." He freezes before lowering his hands.

"Oh." He says, quietly. It's like something in him lost it's warmth and he sits down again.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean like-"

"It's fine." He cuts me off.

"Hey, look, you're not trying to kill me!" I look over as Edmund walks over.

"Hey!" He pulls me into a hug. "So, you didn't leave me?" I ask.

"I was actually going to come back for you guys, if that's what you mean." Edmund replies with a laugh.

"No, Ed left you guys." Toby says with a laugh, walking up.

"And that's why you wanted to tinker." Harriet says as she and Sonya walk up, joining Toby and Edmund. "We're heading out. We have to patrol."

"Ooh, I wanna come!" I say, stepping towards her.

"Uh, no. You just got shot today." Sonya says, shaking her head. "You need to heal."

"The reason I made the brace is so I don't have to sit around healing!" I whine.

"And this is why you won the 'most whiny award' and not Pip!" Harriet says, as the four walk away.

I huff and sit back down in the chair. "I need a distraction." I sit for a second, thinking. "Do you know how to shoot?" I ask, glancing at Newt.

"I mean, I guess?" He says with a shrug. "Why?"

"I'm gonna teach you how to shoot." I say, standing up.

-----

I glance at the target I placed. "Now try." Newt lines up the sight with the target and pulls the trigger, hitting bullseye! "Nice!" I say, high fiving him.

"Well, I got a pretty good teacher." He says with a light laugh.

I smile back at him as we sit down, taking a short break. "Newt?"

"Hmm?" He asks, looking up at me.

"Can I tell you something?" 

He looks at me and nods. "Anything."

"When I was escaping my maze, I got stung by a shade. Aris gave me this...cure, I guess. After somebody gets stung, they usually get some of their memories back." I say. "I had this memory, my first memory. My brother wanted me to get away from WICKED. He told me to leave because they were sending me into the maze." I look at Newt. "My second one I...I gave Ava Paige the layout for the maze. And I also gave her the beetles I created. Then-then the third I..." I voice trails off as I try not to start crying. Newt pulls me into a hug.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." He whispers.

I get out of the hug and step away. "No! It's not okay!" I yell. "You said it before and it wasn't okay." I whisper, looking at Newt. 

He looks at me, confused. "What? I said it before?"

"I gave Paige the idea for the Grievers and Shades! Then I tried to make it up to Thomas and he shut me out!" I yell. "You were the one to comfort me." I whisper the last part.

Newt looks at me, confused. "Spencer, I think you should rest, you're not making any sense-"

"No!" I yell. "It's my fault, Newt! If I had just kept my stupid maze ideas to myself then none of this would of happened! We would know each other, not...this!"

"What do you mean?" Newt asks after a second. "We would know each other?"

"We knew each other before the maze." I whisper, looking up at Newt. "You were the one to comfort me after Thomas shut me out." I repeat what I said from before.

Newt looks at me. "Thomas' your brother." He says, quietly. I nod. "Are you going to tell him?"

"He's already got enough to worry about. He shouldn't have to worry about me too." I say.

Both Newt and I stay quiet, not knowing what to say. I hear the roar of a car engine in the distance and perk up, looking to where I hear the sound.

"That's not one of our guy's trucks." Newt observes.

I nod. "Let's go figure out who they are."