The Sinister Scorch (The Girl Glader Part 2)

Chapter 3

Y/n's POV

I wake up to the sounds of scuffling around me. Shifting my position, I open my eyes. Newt's arm is still around my shoulders, keeping me close to him. I turn my head to see Minho and Thomas sitting up, whispering to each other, presumably making plans on what to do.

I relax into Newt's embrace, relishing its warmth. A shiver runs through me and I know it's not from the cold. In fact, it isn't cold out; it's scalding hot and only getting hotter by the second. I gently move Newt's arm from my shoulders and sit up, head pounding and ankle throbbing. Slowly getting to my feet, I grab my crutches and make my way over to Thomas and Minho, careful not to wake the others. Wincing slightly, I sit down, laying my crutches beside me.

"Morning, y/n." Minho whispers softly. "How are you feeling?"

"Like klunk." I reply. "It's a wonderful way to wake up." This earns a snigger from Thomas. He lightly touches my pant leg at the ankle.

"Do you mind if...?" He trails off but I understand and nod. He carefully rolls my pant leg up to reveal a very bruised, very swollen ankle, wrapped in new bandages. He touches it lightly. "Does that hurt?" I nod. He moves his hand and touches another spot. "How about now?" I nod again. "That's going to take a while to heal."

"Well, I'll be fine." I reply. Slowly, I turn around, my back facing them and I lift up my shirt. "How's it look?" I feel a calloused pair of hands gently run their fingers over the cut, sending a shiver down my spine. Surprisingly, it doesn't hurt much.

"It's looking a lot better." Minho replies. "It seems to be scarring up nicely. It will be healed up in a day or so, I'd have to say." Rolling my shirt back down, I feel a finger run over the back of my neck.

"What was that for?" I cry.

"You-you have something on the back of your neck." Thomas responds.

"He's right. It says something..." He moves my hair further out of the way. "It says A10, The...Key? What the shuck does that mean?" I shrug, turning to them. I see a dark spot on Thomas' neck.

"Thomas has one too!" I tell them, reading it. "It says...A2, The Saviour. What does that mean?"

"I don't know. Maybe that's why he's so important?" Minho shrugs.

"There's got to be more to it." Thomas says. Mingo turns around.

"Do I have one?"

"Yeah." I say, sitting up taller to read it. "It says, A7, The Shuckface." I chuckle and so does Thomas.

"Oh come on! Stop being a shuckface!" Minho exclaims. I hear shifting behind me, indicating the others are waking up.

"Fine. It says A7, The Leader."

"The leader? I like the sounds of that." Minho says wistfully.

"What are you shanks talking about?" I hear Newt ask.

"What's his say?" I ask and Thomas goes to check.

"It says A5, The Glue."

"Makes sense, seeing as how he's basically the glue that holds us together." Minho remarks and I agree.

We take a few moments to check everybody else's. Most people didn't have a title, as I call it, they just have the number. Teresa and Aris had numbers too but instead of A like everybody else, they had B. Probably because they were in a different Maze.

We make our way through the heat, through the sand trying to find a spot to rest. We come to a sand dune and at that moment, I realize just how hard I am going to have it. Here goes nothing. I think to myself, using the crutches to pull myself up the dune. It hurts and it's hard work but I'll manage. Newt, Minho and Thomas offer to carry me on their back but I decline. I'll make it. About halfway up the dune, I start sliding back down towards the bottom of it.

"Aww shuck." I mutter to myself, trying ten times harder to climb. I'm not the person in the worst shape though. Winston looks terrible.

We finally make it to the top of the dune, pausing to catch our breaths. That is when Winston collapses. He leans forward and stumbles a few steps before completely collapsing. We rush to him, running (or in my case, sliding) towards him, checking for a pulse.

"We need to make a stretcher or something." I tell the others. "We can't just leave him here."

"Y/n's right. We need to do something." Newt agrees. I carefully get up, trying not to fall down the dune and take the makeshift bag off of Newt's back. It looks to be made with a bedsheet so I take the food out of it and hand it to Minho, who places it in his bag. Taking one of my crutches, I tie the sheet around it, making sure it is secure. I do the same with the other crutch.

"That should work." I say softly, handing it to Minho, remaining seated on the ground. The others get Winston loaded onto the makeshift stretcher. I keep panting, tired, hungry, head and ankle pounding, arms barely able to move anymore.

"Hey, you okay?"Thomas asks, sitting next to me, handing me some water. I take it and sip it gingerly, the feel of it soothing the dryness of my throat. I nod.

"Yeah, I'm doing great." I reply with a smile.

"Time to go!" Minho calls. Thomas stands up and pulls me to my feet. I take a step, gasping slightly at the pain. Thomas tries to help but I push him away. I take another step and then another, each step hurting more than the last.

We walk for a few more hours before finding shelter under an abandoned structure. It provides a small amount of shade from the sun, not that it does much for the heat. I move away from the group for a bit, taking the bag of medical supplies the others must have grabbed upon escaping. I put a sheet over my head to block out the sun as I try to rewrap my ankle. Aris comes up to me.

"Need some help?" He asks. I look at him and he nods at my ankle.

"Oh, um...yes, please." I say quietly. He sits down and gently takes the bandage from my hands. He starts wrapping the bandages around my ankle tightly.

"You don't like to ask for help, do you?" Aris remarks as he works.

"What makes you say that?" I ask.

"Well, you haven't-" he gets cut off by the sound of a gunshot. I quickly jump up, ignoring the pain in my ankle and run towards the others.

"What happened?" I ask.

"Winston tried to shoot himself." Fry replies. Winston looks straight at Newt.

"Please," he begs. "You can't let me become one of those things." Newt hesitates then gently takes the gun from Frypan and places it in Winston's hands. We all say our goodbyes and I thank him for being such a good friend. We quickly pack up our supplies and start walking. Aris comes up and I use his shoulder as a support. We hear a gunshot in the distance and we all stop, my heart clenching in my chest. How many? I ask myself. How many more people do I have to lose? We keep walking and I blink back tears.

We find more shelter after walking a bit further and we stop for the night. I find myself seated between Newt and Aris. Aris takes this time to finish wrapping my ankle.

"Thanks." I whisper, leaning my head on Newt's shoulder, my mind thinking about Winston. We all sit around the fire.

"You know, I never thought I'd say this but I miss the Glade." Frypan states. I nod slightly in agreement. The other mumble a chorus of agreements. Newt runs his hand in circles on my back. His eyes are glossy like mine but, just like me, he isn't letting them betray him by letting out tears.

"We-We'll be alright...right?" I ask Newt. He looks down at me and smiles softly.

"We are going to be just fine." He assures. "We are both going to make it to the safe haven and we are both going to live, I promise."

"I love you, Newt."

"I love you too, y/n." He responds, leaning down to kiss my lips.