the scorch runner

Chapter 7.

Chapter song: Never tear us apart- INXS

It had been months since Minho was taken by Wicked, and after thorough planning, we were about to get him back. Tomorrow morning, at 8am, we were going to hijack a train which would be carrying Minho, saving him before heading straight for the safe haven. If all goes to plan, in 24 hours we would be sat on a beachy shoreline, building our new home.

We had been living in a shitty little warehouse in the middle of nowhere to plan it out. Staying as low as possible as Wicked definitely were going to be keeping an eye out about them. I swung gently in my hammock, swinging myself by pushing my foot on one of the beams that hung it up and looked up to see Newt coming towards me, gesturing to a weird makeshift couch Harriet made. I jumped up, taking a seat next to him. Me and Newt had grown close within the last few months, don't get me wrong I had gotten closer to everyone, but Newt especially, he was my best friend. We sat in silence for a few minutes and I rested my head on his shoulder,
"You feeling okay?" He asked, taking a deep breath,
"Yeah I just hope we get him back" I told him and it was true, I didn't get nervous too often so it wasn't unusual for me to feel so calm about something this big, "Are you?" I asked. I could tell something was bugging him,
"I guess I'm just worried we might loose someone else" He said,
"Hey don't worry, I'll make sure we don't leave anyone behind" I comforted, or least tried anyways. I do have to admit the isolation I had been facing has definitely impacted how I interact with people now,
"And what about you?" He asked,
"I can handle myself" I told him making him go silent for a couple minutes. I sat in the silence, enjoying it for a moment. It was something I had gotten used to quite a lot, no cranks, no talking, nothing.
"You know, he would call you an idiot if he were here right now" Newt finally spoke out, breaking the silence. The last few months I tried to mot think about Minho all too much, and for the first time in my life, I had struggled to do so. I was great at not thinking about people, I mean that's how I got past Hailey's death, I preoccupied myself, blocked out thinking about her; but something was different with Minho, its like he was always there in the back of my mind,
"Hm?" I responded, lifting my head from Newts shoulder and sitting legged crossed, looking at the boy with s puzzled expression,
"You two have something, you know that right?" He asked, a small smile creeping onto his face,
"What do you mean 'we have something'?"
"You should see the way he looks at you, they way he talks to you. I mean just before they took him we were all stood in a group, the first thing he asked is if you were okay and then we saw you with Janson, it's like all rationality and thought just disappeared; he just ran" I stopped for a second, just to think. Did I like him? No. That's ridiculous. Completely and absolutely stupid, I mean I've never loved someone in my entire life and we're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, there is no way.
"I would've done the same if it were him" I sighed, pushing past the many thoughts racing through my head,
"Which is why you'd be so good together" He smiled, standing up before patting my shoulder, walking off towards Thomas and Vince, who were preparing for tomorrow, leaving me alone to bask in thought.
"No!" I shouted after him, "we would not!"

I ran through the plan one more time in my head, I only had one thing to do. I was going onto the train with Thomas and Vince, they were going to locate Minho and separate the carriages and all I had to was shoot any incoming soldiers, giving everyone else as much time as possible. It was only a little pressure but I deal with it pretty well so I wasn't too bothered. If I didn't give everyone else enough time, everything would basically go to shit but my aim wasn't too bad. I'm sure I would manage. I stood outside, firing my gun and an old dead tree which I had drew a small target on, hitting the middle of the almost every time.
"Remind me not to mess with you" I heard Thomas' voice echo from behind me as I reloaded my gun. I turned around to look at him,
"Ha, I had plenty of practice when the apocalypse started so, it's nothing special" I shrugged, placing my pistol back in its holster,
"No it is. Trust me, even with the same amount of practice, you'd still outgun most of us." He pushed, making me smile slightly. Whether he was just saying that to make me feel more confident for tomorrow, I don't know, but it's a compliment, I'm not asking questions,
"We're turning lights out in a second, you should come inside. You're gonna need sleep" Thomas urged and I nodded, following the boy back inside, slumping into my hammock which hung next to Thomas.
I had been laying silently for what felt like hours, Thomas was already asleep and by the gentle snores, I could tell everyone else was. Grabbing my machete, I stood up, being careful not to step on anyone who was unlucky enough to not get a hammock, making my way outside. I sat down on the dusty floor, placing my machete on the floor next to me, looking up at the stars which hung brightly in the sky. I missed doing this, just sitting outside alone in the darkness, waiting to kill any cranks who might find their way over to us. It was the sort of thing I would have to do at the old store, sometimes alone, sometimes with Hailey. We would never really talk though, we would just sit together in silence, admiring the sky.
"The hell are you doing out here?" A British accent spoke from behind me in a hushed whisper. It was Newt. His silhouette stood by the door and his voice husky, I could tell he was tired,
"Oh I'm just painting my nails" He stared at me, a blank expression lighting his face, "I'm kidding, just watching the sky" He brushed over my joke pretty quickly,
"Can't you sleep?" He asked, taking a seat next to me. I pointed at a star. shining significantly brighter than the others,
"It's mars" I pointed out and he hummed in response, "I probably could sleep if I really tried but I don't need to" I shrugged, looking around to point out any other planets or constellations. The only good thing about this apocalypse is less pollution has caused the night sky to shine brighter than ever, made it even more fascinating to look at. 
"You don't need to?" He repeated, his tone of voice clearly doubting me,
"I don't know, I guess I'm used to it. You don't usually get much sleep when you're out here alone, too many things tryna kill you." I gestured to a lone crank, who had been making its way towards me for the past five minutes or so. I stood up, taking my machete with me before slicing clean through its chest, turning around to look at the, now dumbfounded looking, boy,
"See" I shrugged before giving him a hand up, walking back towards the warehouse we were staying at, "You should probably sleep, you look pretty tired" I whispered, being careful not to wake anyone else,
"So should you." he deadpanned and chuckled slightly,
"Fine, we'll both just go to sleep" I suggested and the boy nodded.
It had been five more minutes at most since Me and Newt parted ways to go to sleep and as I looked across the room one last time, I could already see him, fast asleep. I lay back down, closing my eyes tightly, finally allowing myself to slip into a dreamless sleep.

word count: 1353
total word count: 10, 228