Disconnection • Newt • Maze Runner

30 - Death's Door

Aspen stalked through the building in a panic, the alarms blaring and guards rushing past him quickly.

Thankfully in their frantic pursuit of Thomas and Newt, they'd bypassed Aspen without a second thought, not noticing the blatantly obvious way the material of his uniform sagged.

The man he'd taken it from was not the same size as him.

Aspen knew Newt and Thomas had been caught, if not from the alarms making it blatantly obvious, but the chatter that could be heard over the radio attached to his hip.

Chatter of subject A this and subject A that.

Aspen planned on leaving the building, trusting that they could find their way out of this, and hopefully with Minho by their side.

Aspen hoped with all his heart that they'd found Minho, seeing as he'd never made it to the medical wing himself.

He quickly exited the building undetected, slipping through a fire escape, thankfully since the alarms were already blaring, the opening of the door alarm was concealed.

Aspen inched his way around the side of the building as Newt, Thomas, and Minho came into view, soaking wet.

Aspen ran towards them quickly, wrapping his arms around Newt as the four Gladers hid behind a concrete wall.

"How far are the tunnels?" Thomas questioned to Gally as the group caught their breath.

"Uh, maybe 12 blocks from here."

Newt gagged and coughed relentlessly beside them, Aspen choking down his own coughs as he clutched the boys hand.

Death was knocking at their door, and Aspen had half a mind to just open the damn thing.

"Newt, how ya feeling?" Minho asked warily.

"Terrible. It's good to see you though." He placed a hand to Minho's shoulder before turning to Aspen, who had teary eyes and a sorrowful expression.

He sniffled, holding in his cough and he breathed slowly.

"Come on, guys." Thomas helped Newt up, Aspen struggling to hold up his own body weight. He tried his best to conceal his pain though.

He hadn't told the others he was infected.

He was better at hiding it, or so he thought.

As the group walked along the roads, hanging close to the walls surrounding them, Gally closed the gap between him and Aspen and began waking alongside him.

"You know, don't you."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Gally questioned quietly.

"I told Newt."

"Yeah, well, Newt doesn't have very long. And clearly neither do you," He motioned to the darkened veins sprouting up the boys neck. Aspen quickly pulled his shirt up higher in an attempt to cover it.

"It'll be fine." Gally spoke reassuringly, slightly out of character for him. He was, after all, a bit of a pessimist.

"No, actually, it won't. But that's fine." Aspen looked to the gun strapped to his waist, knowing if it came down to it, Gally would do what had to be done for him.

"If it comes down to it, don't let Newt see. Please." Aspen practically whispered.

Gally merely nodded as the two walked in tow with the others.

When suddenly, an massive explosion rang through the air. Yelling and screaming, cheering, blared following, along with W.C.K.D.'s alarms.

"They're supposed to take down W.C.K.D. not the whole damn city." Gally spoke with his mouth agape.

"Come on."

The group trekked on, though slightly fearful of the leering threat of Lawrence's goons.

The group ducked behind a wall, angry mobs of people raiding the streets, raising hellfire in their wake, and W.C.K.D. failing to hold them back.

"We gotta go. We gotta go!" Gally urged the group forward as they tucked themselves to the walls closely to avoid getting seen and fucking shot by the mob.

They ducked into a building as Thomas warned Brenda.

Newt clutched Aspen's hand, Minho sitting beside him staring into his eyes, practically watching as the life drained from them slowly.

Minho turned to Aspen, his brows furrowing as he spotted the blackened veins on his neck. He turned back to Newt in realization, almost letting out a tearful laugh at the irony.

The group had left as quickly as they'd come, ducking behind yet another wall.

Newt wasn't looking so hot.

"We gotta go!" Thomas urged.

"Go without me. You should just-" He'd begun coughing up black fucking sludge.

Aspen fought back tears, though he could feel the same sludge building up in his own throat.

Impeccable fucking timing, if I do say so myself.

Newt took the necklace from around his neck, with a small vile at the end, as Minho and Gally left.

He pushed the necklace into Thomas' hand quickly, urging the boy to take it. "You gotta take this! Just take it!" He fought back against Thomas' urges for the three to move. "Please. Please, Tommy. Please."

"Alright. I need you to give me everything you've got. You, me and Aspen, right now. Let's go. You ready?"

Thomas helped the boy up and they stumbled through the streets, Aspen stumbling particularly hard as he held his arm to Newt's waist in support.

The three managed to make their way into a clearing before Newt crumbled to the ground.

Aspen stared in bewilderment, before turning to Thomas, "I'll meet Minho half way. Keep him alive, please Tommy."

Thomas nodded as Aspen took off running.

By the time he caught up with Minho, Gally, Frypan and Brenda, they group ran back towards Thomas and Newt.

Aspen stopped dead in his tracks.

A gut wrenching sob escaped his lips as he crumbled to the floor alongside Minho and Fry.

He threw himself over the boys body, shaking him with all his might. "No, baby. No! Come back to me, please! Newt? Newt, please! No, I can't live without you, no!" He sobbed wholeheartedly over the boys body, his head lying over the boys heart.

Right beside the blade.

As his throat dried up, his eyes still welling with tears, he worked up the courage to lift his head, turning it towards Gally.

Death's door was opening.

A/N
I cried while writing this I can't believe it's ending