To The Shucking End

Chapter 39

The toll of taking down WICKED, putting Newt out of his misery, being poked with needles and a million other things finally hit Tanya as she stayed unconscious for two days following their escape from the Last City, which had burned to the ground.

And Gally hadn't left her side once. Even when he was helping finish up some things in preparation for their journey, he always made sure that she was in his line of sight.

He was relieved when she finally woke up though. Frypan, Minho, Brenda, Jorge, Aris and even Vince were relieved to see her as well. Vince, however, masked his excitement of her being ok by shoving all the problems the ship still had at her and what they couldn't figure out for weeks, took her a few days before they were ready to set sail.

Her first boat trip was actually rather fun. It felt a lot like flying, especially when she stood on the railing at the front of the ship, Gally holding her hips as she spread her arms and basked in the sun, free at last.

Thomas had been unconscious for a few days after being patched up and he'd missed out on so much.

For one, they'd left the Scorch, the Cranks and whatever was left of WICKED in the dust.

They made it to Safe Haven.

And it was beautiful.

Vince had refused to let Newt be buried on the island, seeing as his body was still infected with the virus.

It killed all of them on the inside, but Newt was going to make it to the Safe Haven one way or another.

They were waiting for Thomas to wake up before spreading his ashes though.

Tanya on the other hand was doing better and most of that was because of Gally. Having him back made working through her grief and guilt easier and vice versa. He made her able to live life no matter how much pain she was in and not just survive.

And that pain lessened every day they spent in the Safe Haven, especially when Vince put both of them in charge of building and construction. Frypan got to cook naturally, and Gally was even given the ingredients he needed to make his famous moonshine, a big bonfire being planned for when it was ready.

It was their third day on the island and Tanya was just sitting in her hammock as she gazed out at the sea, her hand clutching the necklace Newt gave her as she taught herself to mourn him but not feel guilty over it, and Gally approached her.

"Can I join you?" he asked, and she smiled at him.

"Of course," she answered as she scooted over a bit and Gally carefully climbed in next to her as she lay on his shoulder.

When she'd made her hammock, she'd secretly made it to Gally's measurements rather than hers seeing as he almost crawled into hers before going to sleep and he never would've been able to fit if she'd made it to her measurements. She did the same with the bed she'd built below her hammock. And it was a good thing because they'd both realised that their nightmares ceased completely when they slept in each other's arms. Vince was grateful for that too seeing as Tanya had screamed herself awake the first night there and startled half the people awake before Gally got to her and calmed her down.

"I saw you playing with that the other day. Where'd you get it?" he asked as he gestured to her necklace and she sighed as she pulled it off, holding the cord as the silver cylinder dangled.

"Newt gave this to me the day he died. It's all I have left of him."

Gally furrowed his brows as he held the cylinder in his hands.

"I think you have a bit more of him than you think," Gally replied as he pulled off one end and pulled out the rolled-up pieces of paper inside.

Tanya's jaw dropped as Gally handed her the pages that she unfolded, two of them marked with Thomas' name and two of them marked with hers.