Him || The Scorch Trials

Nine

The group headed across the dusty land, heading in the direction of the run down city. It was still quite far away, but they had walked far in the time Mara had re-joined her friends. The building they had left Teresa was only just visible from where they walked.

Mara struggled to walk the whole way; she had used up most of her energy running the day before. It was going to take time for her to heal, but she knew that she would never get the time she needed. They had too much to do; surely if WICKED had prepared this second phase to be as bad as the Maze they weren't going to get much rest.

The Gladers walked in pairs, only just covering each other from the scorch above them with white sheets. Newt walked beside Mara, checking that she was okay to keep walking pretty much every few minutes. It was sweet that he cared so much, but there was only so much care Mara could take.

Every so often they would stop and take break, eating and drinking to replenish themselves. Some of the packs which had been carrying supplies became available to use as protection from the sun, so some Gladers started to walk alone. Despite that, Newt stayed by Mara's side, walking in time across the acres of land. He hadn't really spoken much, but he kept glancing over at her every so often and from Mara's peripheral vision she could always see the smile across his lips, and it made her happy. Even though they were in the middle of nowhere, walking towards what was phase two of WICKED's stupid plan to save the world, seeing even a trace of a smile on his face made her happy.

They kept walking, closing the gap between themselves and the city. It didn't seem that far away now, maybe they'd get there tomorrow or the day after, but surely it wouldn't take long until they got there. Knowing that made Mara think; she had only been walking for a day, but they had been walking longer. How long had they been out in the scorch? All she had been told was that they had two weeks to get through the most likely to be crank filled town and over the hill behind it, and it had already been a few days.

That town seemed like a bad idea, there was something off about it and Mara also didn't feel like being attacked by cranks, but she had heard some of the Gladers talking about the low amount of supplies. They had to go through the town to find water and food and possibly a bit of shelter.

The journey was agonising; heat beat down on them and spread across her body, squeezing out sweat like a sponge squeezes out water until nothing is left. Her stomach rumbled and squealed in hunger, but it wasn't anything she hadn't felt before. Teresa had hardly fed her when she was locked up, the most she had was a rotten apple a day, and that hadn't exactly settled her tummy.

When night finally came, it was cool and a slight breeze wisped its way through the air. It was refreshing and pleasant on Mara's skin, contrasting with the intense heat she had been walking through all day.

Minho eventually decided to stop and let everyone get some rest at midnight. The wind was more intense as it whipped and lashed around them and the town was closer than ever.

Not long after they stopped, Mara and Newt found a slight dip in the ground and settled into it, their heads at the top and feet at the bottom. They slept together, letting the other Gladers sleep separately with their own covers from the night.

It took longer for Mara to fall asleep than Newt, who had his arms and legs intertwined with hers. She looked over at the other Gladers sleeping peacefully, all except Thomas. He was lying there, looking up at the sky, an image of glee on his face. Mara couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking.

He seemed to fall asleep within a few minutes, but Mara found it harder. She was exhausted, but her body didn't want her to sleep. The winds around her seemed to get more violent, hurling through her body and sending an awful chill up her spine. Everything around her was darkening, becoming twisted and terrifying.