EPIPHANY ✁ newt

7 , exitus acta probat

"What happened!?" Teresa called from behind us as Newt and I rushed over to the small huddle of boys around Winston, who was now on his hands and knees, looking horrible. Minho was right next to him, trying and failing to retrieve the weapon from his hands.

"I-I don't know! He just woke up and grabbed the gun and tried to..." Frypan said, trailing off.

"Winston, are you okay?" Thomas asked, kneeling down beside the boy and putting his hands on his shoulders as Winston made a chilling gurgling sound, spitting out pure black liquid as he squirmed under Thomas's grip. He kept on coughing as Thomas slowly backed away, finally falling onto his back, unable to move more. The gun had been taken from him, by who I wasn't sure.

After a few seconds of struggling to catch his breath, Winston moved his trembling hands to the hem of his shirt, slowly pulling it up over his stomach to reveal what must have been the most gruesome sight I had ever laid eyes on. Averting my eyes to my shoes, I clamped the back of my hand against my mouth, trying to stop myself from being sick.

"It's growing... inside me..." Winston gasped, his voice breaking as tears filled his eyes. What hurt the most was how young he sounded in that moment. How scared. "I'm not going to make it," he said in barely a whisper, reaching out as if wanting to grab onto something, "please... please. Don't let me turn into one of those things."

I felt Newt let go of my arm at that moment, not even realising he had been holding onto it till now. I met his eyes, giving the blonde a subtle nod, understanding what he wanted to do. It wasn't fair to Winston to make him suffer any longer. After everything he'd been through in the maze already... maybe this was when he finally got some peace.

Newt slowly took a few steps forward, gently taking the gun from Frypans hand, but before he could move forward, I suddenly stopped him, remembering something. "Wait, Newt, I'm sorry, can I have that for a second?" I asked, hating how weak my voice sounded. The blonde frowned slightly, but handed me the weapon.

Without looking at the others, I quickly unloaded the gun, only leaving two bullets in the body. It felt extremely heartless to be doing such a thing at the moment, but I'd be dammed if we lost anyone else. Within seconds, I had safely put the rest of the spare bullets into my backpack, we already had two other guns, so leaving one with Winston wouldn't be a problem.

Taking in a shaky breath, I dropped down to my knees next to the dying boy, handing him the gun cautiously. "I'm sorry we couldn't do more." he took the gun from me gratefully, lifting his arm up as best he could in preparation.

"Thank you... now get out of here." he rasped as I stood, walking to the back of the group as quickly as possible. I pushed past Teresa and continued on, knowing that if I stayed even a few seconds longer I wouldn't be able to keep going. And that was me. Someone who hadn't even known the boy, what, twenty four hours ago. My heart shattered for Newt, Frypan, Minho and the others to whom he had been like a brother I guessed.

Aris and Newt were close behind be, the rest following eventually. I could feel tears filling my eyes, but now wasn't the moment to cry. I couldn't allow myself to start feeling sorry for myself, no. I had to be there for the others at this moment - and that was all that mattered. Not seconds later, a deafening bang rang out, causing me to flinch. But we couldn't just stand around. We couldn't let Winston's death have been for nothing. Swallowing, I turned to look at Newt, who looked broken. There was no other way to put it. Slowly, I started moving again, feet dragging along like the had shackles attached to them now.

Hours later, we'd stopped to rest under a huge metal contraption of some kind, Aris making a quick fire under it as we sat around on whatever bits of rock we could find. It had fallen dark by now, the heat of the sun having been replaced by shivering cold winds.