You Expect Me To Carry On? (A Newtmas Fanfic)

Chapter Seventeen: A Chance

Again and again and again.

She kept hitting him, again and again and again.

Brenda had knocked Minho flat onto his back and straddled him, one hand pinning his chest against the sand and the other slamming into his face.

Again and again and again.

For a moment, the boys could only stare, totally shocked by the turn of events. Newt was the first to leap into action.

He darted forward, grabbing Brenda's shoulders and trying to catch her flailing arm.

'A little help guys?!' he yelled

Thomas and Frypan rushed to join him.

Brenda was writhing in Newt's grip, twisting her arm desperately to try and free herself- but Newt was strong, and he clutched her wrist mercilessly.

Frypan had lunged down to grab Brenda's other hand when she had began to slam it into Minho's chest. As he did, he tried desperately to soothe her, to reason with her.

'Okay- Okay Brenda. Hey? Bren? You can stop now. You-'

'LET. ME. GO!'

Thomas encircled Brenda's waist and managed to pull her off of Minho. She thrashed and screamed, flailing out and catching Thomas's jaw with her fist.

Ignoring the lance of pain that flashed through his face and the voices that had resumed their muttering in the back of his head, Thomas tried desperately to calm his friend down enough to talk to her.

Frypan was crouched by Minho, who had rolled onto his side, groaning.

Slowly, Brenda's breathing slowed, and she stopped fighting Thomas's grip. She relaxed, slumping against the back of the cave wall, her hands flopping to her sides, her cheeks flushed, sweaty.

'Okay' Newt sighed with relief, and walked over to Brenda, crouching down in front of her.

'That should have rightfully been my job, what did you do that for?'

Newt met Thomas's gaze, and they exchanged a look of confusion before turning back to Brenda, who was slowly straightening up.

She cleared her throat.

'I was never in the maze.' she began, wiping a hand across her forehead and meeting Thomas's gaze.

'But my brother was. WCKD found the place where my family was living.'

Newt's eyes widened.

'Your brother was a Glader?'

Brenda nodded.

'Yep, I guess so. My dad, my brother and I were camping out in this abandoned village. It was deserted and crank- free, so we assumed that it was safe. We knew about WCKD, and we knew what they wanted- but we were so off the grid- we thought they wouldn't find us.'

Thomas felt a jolt of sympathy. He knew what that felt like.

'One night, they just... jumped us. Broke down the door, barged into our house with their guns and their high tech armour. We only had a couple seconds before they found the bedroom but my brother managed to... to...'

Brenda trailed off, her eyes drifting to the floor.

Newt took one of her hands.

'It's okay.' he said, smiling gently

'Nothing bad is gonna happen if you tell us.'

Brenda took a deep, shaky breath.

'My brother helped me out of our bedroom window, and my dad pushed a shelf against the door. George was supposed to follow me through, but my dad couldn't hold them back any longer. When they broke the door down, my dad ran at them. My brother slammed the window shut. I watched from the roof. I saw it all. Watched them shoot my dad in the chest, twice. Watched them sedate my brother and drag him away.
The window didn't open from the outside.
I was totally helpless.'

Thomas's eyes were sparkling with tears, and Newt's face was tight with concern.

But as Thomas watched, he saw Newt's features clear, realisation clearing his frown.

'Oh.' Newt sighed, looking down.

'That's why.'

Thomas didn't get it.

'What?' he asked
'What's why?'

'That's why Brenda was so angry with Minho.' Newt turned to Thomas

'She never had a chance to see her brother again. She knows what it feels like to have your family stolen from you.'

Brenda nodded slowly

'If there was even a chance that George was still alive- even the tiniest possibility- that hope would consume me. And if someone- if someone took him from me- again- that would break me. No one should have to go through that.'

Thomas nodded.

He got it now.

Brenda smiled weakly at Newt.

'You have a bigger heart than any of us here.'

Her eyes drifted to Sonya's body- lying abandoned in the centre of the cave.

'I'm so glad that you forgive Minho. But he deserved what he got. I'm sorry for your loss, Newt. I'm sorry for your broke hope, for this chance that was stolen from you. But I'm not sorry for punching Minho. Not even a tiny bit.'

'Neither am I.'

The group turned their heads.

Minho was standing in the cave entrance, leaning against the wall of stone.

'I deserved that.'

His left eye was a deep purple and swollen shut, his nose was bleeding, his lip was split and there was a graze of his neck.

Frypan emerged from the sunlight to stand next to him.

'He sustained a lot of superficial damage, but he'll be fine.'

Minho managed a weak smile.

'Newt?' he said
'Can we talk for a sec?'

Newt stood, and crossed to the entrance.

'Yeah.' he said

The two boys just looked at each other for a second, before Newt led the way out into the desert.

Brenda propped herself up, rubbing her knuckles gingerly.

'Ow.' she said dryly

Thomas wanted to smile, but his eyes had settled on the corpse.

We need to do something

Frypan seemed to read his thoughts.

'Let's say our goodbyes.' he said

'That way, Minho and Newt can say theirs when they get back, and we can cover her face and move on. I don't think it's worth moving her, it's just sand for miles.'

Thomas nodded.

His sister

He had known it, deep down, for a long time.

They were so similar, their mannerisms, their appearances.

Thomas stood up, stopping and crouched next to Sonya, and looked down into her lifeless face.

She had looked so much like him in life.

And she looked just like him in death, too.