the scorch runner

Chapter 26.

Chapter song: Dream of you- Tyler Burkhart

When I woke up the next morning, Minho's arm was still wrapped around my waist. I felt safe as I lay there, not wanting to wake him. I turned around as I heard him moving, smiling at him as I saw his scruffy hair,
"Hey" I whispered as he rubbed his eyes, smiling back at me,
"Did you sleep okay?" He asked, sitting upright. I nodded, sitting up and cupping his face, gently kissing him,
"Come on you shanks, there's a 10 year old here" I heard Thomas' voice from above us. I pulled away, looking up at the boy, flipping him off as I saw him laughing at us. I stood up, walking to the hammock and grabbing the side of it, tipping it around, making Thomas fall flat onto the floor. Gally and Esme were awake by now, both laughing at Thomas, who was laying on his back on the floor.

I wandered through a forest with Esme, we were looking for any fruits that were growing and making sure there weren't any other survivors or cranks around. It was beautiful, the odd monkey swung from the treetops and all sorts of birds and bugs littered the ground and sky, it was almost like the scorch and flare hadn't even happened.
"Y/n look at this!" Esme shouted. She had ran ahead a little, following a stream of water we had found. I ran over, she stood beneath a coconut tree, looking up at the balls which hung at the top, "Can I climb up and get them?" She asked, setting her bag on the floor,
"Just be careful, throw them down to me" I told her. She did exactly that, I had never seen someone climb something so carefully. Once at the top, she began pulling at a coconut, one at a  time. Throwing them down to me to let me catch them as I began filling our bags. She threw the last one and I watched as she looked into the distance for a moment, placing her hand on her forehead to block the sun. She slid down the tree, landing on the floor next to me,
"Did you see something?" I asked as she brushed her hands on her trousers,
"I think so.." She began running, following the stream on the floor as it began to grow wider and deeper. I stopped behind Esme as we came into a clearing, a beautiful blue-green lake in the middle of it. On the other side, I could see a deer, drinking from the water, it look up, staring at us before running off,
"It's.. beautiful" I said, walking up to the water, dipping my hand in, swaying it around in the warm water. A distant horn could be heard echoing through the trees,
"Come on Es, we better get back" I turned around, looking at the girl who had a smile on her face,
"I'll race you" She said turning around and sprinting away from me,
"Hey!" I shouted, running after her as quickly as I could.

I ran into the camp a little in front of Esme, she may be like a sister, but I wasn't going to let her win,
"That's.. not fair... you're.. so much..... older" She managed to say in between breaths, I laughed at her, ruffling her hair as I saw the boys walking over. I walked up to Minho, he grabbed my hand, pulling me towards him for a kiss.
"Good day?" He asked, pulling me back and just looking at me for a second,
"Yeah," I said, looking back at Esme, "Yeah it was really good" I glanced over at Fry, who was already beginning to hand out food, "Shall we?" I asked, gesturing towards the boy. Minho looked at me for a second before smiling, pulling my hand as we walked on,
"Es come on!" I yelled over to her, she joined next to me, holding my other hand as we walked over to get the food. Fry didn't fail to make yet another delicious dish. We all sat around a fire and I told Vince about the coconuts and lake we had found, we said we could go back the day after.

It was the evening now, I sat alone at the top of the seats, looking down at my friends. Most of them sat by the fire, telling stories about the glade or the scorch whilst others listened or played music. My eyes darted to Minho and Esme. I watched as Minho kicked around a handmade ball, playing a type of football with Esme. I looked at the smile on her face, on his face and as I looked around the safe haven I realised I had made it, I made it home. I smiled to myself, jumping up, running down the steps, sitting down next to the fire as Minho and Esme also walked over. Esme sat by Thomas, trying to steal his food whilst Minho sat above me, wrapping his arms around me, holding me tightly. As I looked around the fire I realised Newt was right, everything did happen exactly how it was meant to, I was home now, and I was finally with my family. 

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total word count: 34, 845