Newt's POV
"No way!" Minho got to the room we had slept in first. Overcome with curiosity from his explanation-less exclamation, the other Gladers and me followed on his heels.
At first glance, there did not seem to be a big change in the room, but then it hit me. Solid, red brick walls stood behind the windows where not so long ago crazy people had tried to break into the building. "What in the bloody..." I mumbled, making my way through the room with big steps, making sure to check every barred window this shuck place held. I really shouldn't have been surprised to see that every single one of them now had a brick wall behind it.
Minho walked over to the one closest to him, reached through the bars and pressed his palm to the stones. "Solid." He said before stepping away.
Tommy did the same with another brick wall, "It doesn't even look fresh," the shank stuck his own hand through some bars as well, touching a wall to come to his own conclusion. "The mortar's dry."
I scoffed, "Even if they were quick with those bodies. I'm pretty sure they didn't have time to bloody throw up some brick walls. Pretty impossible if you ask me." I turned around, expecting Felix to make another retort after my statement, only to see he was not in the room. My heart sunk a little when I realized that neither was Cally. I couldn't keep my brain from jumping to conclusions about why both of them were not in the room with us, especially since Aris was, straining his neck to see what was going on from between the other shanks.
Still I was worried... no matter if she was off with Felix, Cals had been looking a little out of it. I could see her trying to hide it, but I'd noticed her stumbling on her feet a bit and her arms hovering over her wounded side.
"Somehow they've tricked us, that's all." Thomas stated, pulling me back to the moment.
"Tricked us?" Frypan asked, "How?"
Tommy shrugged, "I don't know. Remember the Cliff? We jumped through thin air and went through an invisible hole. Who knows what these people can do?"
The conversation continued, or discussion more like it. At first glance, the only thing different in the room seemed to be the bricked up windows and lack of loony's yelling at us. But on a little closer inspection, it showed that the beds were not only made, but also rearranged ever so slightly. So slightly that not everyone agreed that they had been bugging moved at all. What everyone seemed to agree on, however, was that they had switched out our discarded clothes from the night before for brand new ones, complete with a digital watch for every single one of us.
Part of me thought I should've participated in the discussion, but then again, what was the point? Weirder klunk had happened to us, especially in the past few hours. What did it matter if the beds had been slightly moved or not? Those bloody Creators clearly still had us trapped. Cally had been right. We weren't saved, just relocated to a much smaller cage. The idea made a wave of unease crawl over my skin, never thought I'd feel a sense of claustrophobia after being stuck in that shuck Maze for two years, but those bloody brick walls closing us off from the outside world did the trick.
I jumped when suddenly an elbow shoved me off balance. Cally. Embarrassment washed over me as I realized that it in fact had not been Cally, but Minho who had jabbed me with his elbow, suddenly very happy that, unlike Tommy and Teresa, no one could read my thoughts.
"All of this can't really get any more shugging crazy, right?" Minho's words were more a statement than a question.
I nodded anyway, "Yeah, ya can say that again."
Minho's eyes narrowed, looking at something behind me back in the other room, "I stand corrected."
"What?" I questioned, looking over my shoulder to see into the room we had just left, expecting a bloody unicorn to stand between the tables judging by the look on my friend's face. Only to see that Felix guy... singing some strange song to Cally, who sat on top of one of the tables.
She seemed annoyed at first, pushing away his hand as he stuck it out towards her as if he held some sort of microphone. Only for her to join him in the song a moment later, apparently knowing the words. I couldn't quite make out what they were saying, nor see the dark haired guy's face, unlike Cally's. The smile on her face grew into a big grin, laughing with him as they sang together.
Feelings of claustrophobia got replaced by a whole new kind of unease, this one leaning more towards a side of me I did not know I had. I should've been happy Cals was laughing despite everything, but instead, a feeling resembling a combination of anger and anxiety stirred in my stomach. I felt it before when she sat with him instead of us, and when he pulled his hands through her hair, when they hugged and-
Minho's hand appeared in my field of vision snapping his fingers. "Earth to Newt? Did you hear a word from what I just said? Or where you too wrapped up in that sorry little jealous head of yours?"
I swatted Minho's hand away from me, "I'm not jealous." I snapped at him, turning my attention back to him without fully turning away from the door so I could still see Cally and Felix from the corner of my eye.
"Sure," Minho rolled his eyes, "And I'm the Queen of England. Look, shank, if you want anyone to believe you, you really need to quit staring at the two like a kicked puppy."
"I don't do that." Minho snorted, but I continued, not letting him give another of his comments. "I'm just worried."
"Sure you are."
"Look at her! Does she seem alright to you?"
"Newt, buddy, no one is alright-"
A scream.
Cally screamed.
Without a moment of hesitation, both Minho and I shot through the door.
Cally had gotten up from the table, staggering on her feet to create distance between her and Felix, half crimped in to protect her side. Felix took a step closer to her, but he barely got to lay another finger on her shoulder before Minho had grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall. "What did you do?" He demanded, his jaw set, anger in his eyes. His protective side taking over within less than a second.
"Nothing!" Felix shot back.
"Bullshit!" Minho retorted, pushing him against the wall again. I didn't take the time to examine Felix's expression to see if he was being sincere or not. I couldn't care less about him right now.
I reached Cally's side right at the moment her legs gave in, I saw her trying to catch herself by reaching for something that clearly wasn't there and went tumbling to the ground. I barely had time to hook my arms under hers to keep her from hitting the ground. "Cals! Cally? What's wrong?" I lowered us to the ground, repositioning her so her head leaned against my chest.
"It's okay..." She mumbled, eyes unfocused, her skin damp with sweat. "He... didn't know..."
"Didn't know, what?" Felix asked with a raised voice. "What is wrong with her?"
"Shut your whole or I'll shut it for you!" Minho bit at the guy before turning back to me. "Newt, is she alright?"
I shook my head, holding my free hand against her forehead. My heart sunk, the heat coming from her close to how she felt when going through the Changing. "She is burnin' up." I looked up at the small crowd that had been attracted by the commotion. "Fred, go get Clint." The boy who had been standing closest to us nodded his head frantically before pushing his way through the group of Gladers and rushing to the other room.
"Cally? Can you look at me?" I tried to move her head in my direction, but she didn't respond to what I was saying. "Cals?" One moment, her eyes stared out in front of her, the next, they rolled back into her head. "Cally!" Her eyes closed, and I could feel her entire body weight sink into me.
"What's going on?" Clint rushed to our side, followed by Jeff. Both of them immediately fell back into their roles as Med-jacks when they saw Cally passed out. "What happened?"
"I don't know, she looked a bit out of it before, but I..." I trailed off. Why hadn't I said anything? I should've gone to her, asked what was going on, ask if she needed help. But I didn't. Too caught up in my own head about Felix, too scared she would drop me for him the moment we had a few minutes to talk. Bloody idiot, I scolded myself, she clearly needed help.
"She passed out after this shuckface," Minho bit the insult at Felix, tightening his grip on the guy's collar, "did something to her."
"I didn't do anything!" Felix defended himself. "We were just messing around, singing a song-"
"She screamed," I interrupted, unlike Minho I didn't yell at him, my voice was calm, but it didn't do much to hide the seething anger I felt towards him. "We heard her scream in pain and turn away from you. What did ya do?"
"I- I hit her-"
"You hit her?" Minho seemed about ready to throw the guy through one of those brick walls, and I would've given him a hand if I hadn't known Cally would never forgive us for it.
When Ezra said all those months ago he hadn't been a big fan of Felix, I had believed him, but now I really understood. The memory of finding Ezra on the ground after the Griever fight flashed through my mind, but I shook it and the chocking feeling it brought with it away. I couldn't do anything for Ezra anymore, but I could for his sister.
"Not hard! A little jab in the side! It was an accident! I turned around and my elbow just-"
"Her wound." I ignored the rest of his words as I realized what had happened and turned fully to Clint. "She has a wound on her side, one of those soldier guys closed it up with a burnin' iron, like she did with that Shank Gus back in the Glade. He hit her there, could that be it?"
Clint and Jeff exchanged a look, "move her to a bed. We're gonna have to see that wound."
"Minho," was all I had to say for him to know what I needed of him. With one last good shove and a threatening look, Minho let go of Felix and knelt down beside us, gently taking Cally from me. I would've carried her myself if it wasn't for my bad ankle still sending a stroke of pain through my leg whenever I put weight on it.
Minho carried her to the room the two strangers had slept in and put her down on one of the beds closest to the bathroom doors, making sure her head rested comfortable on the pillow. Clint ordered Jeff to rip off some pieces of fabric from the bedding and drench them in cold water. While he did that, Clint started unbuttoning Cally's shirt to reveal the bandages underneath.
"We're gonna need new ones to cover it back up again." Clint stated while he started to carefully undo the bandages from yesterday.
"Got it," Minho looked up, ready to rush into the bathroom as well to see if there had been left clean ones in there when he noticed the group of Gladers that had collected inside the doorway. "Don't just stand there gawking, go look for clean bandages in the other rooms, go!" With that, all the other Gladers rushed back into the other two rooms, giving us a little more privacy.
"Slintheads." Minho mumbled through an annoyed sign. In that moment, it showed why WICKED had given him the title The Leader, they listened to him without questions or hesitation. Making me wonder again what in the bloody hell they meant with mine.
No matter, that wasn't important right now. As the thought flickered through my mind, I already stood in the bathroom, scanning for a sign of bandages. There was a toilet, a sink, a shower with a big closet filled with towels, shampoos and whatever else needed for a bit of hygiene. My last hope was the mirror, which doubled as a cupboard. I opened the door and scanned the few shelves. The first things I saw were pretty basic, a scissor, pincer, another hairbrush, some toothbrushes, but then my eyes fell on a little box with a plus within a circle on it. I took the box and looked inside to see that it was exactly what I hoped it was, a first aid kid.
I took it and rushed back to Clint, who had taken off all Cally's remaining bandages, revealing a mess of skin. Blisters surrounded the very clear knife-shaped burn marks, some had burst open and smudged yellow-ish goo on the wounds. In all honesty, it was bloody disgusting to look at. And still, I couldn't look away.
"Well?" I asked Clint while he used some of the wet cloth Jeff had brought him to clean some of the goo away. At the same time, Jeff dabbed some of the sweat off of her forehead with another in cold water drenched cloth, leaving a clean one on top to try and cool her fever.
"Infected?" Jeff didn't even look down at the wound while he asked it, just continued his own task.
"Infected." Clint answered without looking up. "Newt, you were with her when that guy did this, right?" He gestured towards the burned knife markings.
I nodded, "yeah." Trying my hardest to focus on Clint's words instead of the sinking feeling in my stomach. Infections could be bad if not treated right, back in the Glade more than a dozen Gladers had died from them in those first two years.
"I need you to think, did the shank tell you anything else? About how to keep it clean? Or did he give you antibiotics or something else that could help?"
"Yeah, yes." I pulled my hand over my face, trying to remember where the salve went. "He gave her a salve. I think she put it in her bag? The leg one."
It really did not come as a surprise to me that Cally had slept with it bound to her. She had done the same thing when she'd first arrived at the Glade. She only started sleeping with it off after she had begun to feel safe with us. Or at least, that's how I liked to think about it.
Clint opened it, taking out one thing after the other, a water bottle, some bandages, the phone she had shown me before that was now broken.
"Hey! What are you doing?" My anger flared up again the moment Felix's voice sounded from right behind me. "That's Cally's, put it back!"
The guy tried to grasp for the phone in Clint's hand, but I blocked his way, pushing his hand back. "We're not takin' her stuff, we-"
"Oh yeah?" Felix send me a death glare, "Cuz I'm pretty sure that's her stuff, and that guy's taking it."
"He's looking-" He ignore me, trying to walk past me, but I blocked his way again.
"Let me through." He demanded.
I shook my head, looking down at the guy. At moments like this I found a petty satisfaction in being one of the tallest shanks around. "Not happenin'."
"Look, pall," Felix jabbed his finger on my chest, "I don't know what weird-ass fantasy you have about her, but Cally is my girlfriend-"
I scoffed, interrupting whatever it was he wanted to say next and trying to ignore the panic those words flared up inside of me. "Oh, slim it. This has nothing to do-"
"So you admit it?"
I could feel every shred of patience leave my body the more Felix talked. I crossed my arms over my chest, returning the guy's glare. "Admit what?"
"That you like my girl."
I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "She isn't your girl-"
"Oh, so she is yours now?"
"Enough!" Clint practically yelled to get over our voices that had grown louder and louder without me noticing it.
"Slim it! The both of you. Cally needs rest and I need to concentrate. So go have your bugging dick measuring contest somewhere else."
Shame washed over me hearing Clint's words. Again I hadn't been thinking about what Cally needed, only about not wanting to give Felix the satisfaction of getting the last word. I turned to look at her, skin pale, shivering and sweating, her wound sticking out like a sore thumb. I also only now noticed that Clint had managed to find the salve and had started to carefully apply it to her skin.
"No way, I ain't leaving." Felix protested, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.
"Yes, you are." Clint stood his ground, not intimidated by Felix's tone in any way.
"I am not leaving my girl with a bunch of-" he seemed to reconsider his words, then continued. "A bunch of strangers."
Before I could say anything, Minho spoke up. He had walked back into the room without me noticing and stood right behind Felix, who jerked around the moment he heard Minho's voice from so close. "We're not strangers, shank. You are. Now leave this room before I loose my patience and kick your butt on your way out, good that?"
For a moment it seemed like Felix would take his chances and fight Minho on this as well by the way the two stared each other down. Only for Felix to decide he couldn't fight all of us, and backed down. "Fine." He spat, turning to make his way out of the room.
"Newt." Clint's voice had a warning undertone.
I let out a defeated sign. "Yeah, I know. Sorry, I'll just-." I walked after Felix towards the door, hesitating in the doorway as my eyes went from Cally to Clint, "Please, Clint, take care of her."
Clint glanced up at me for the first time, sending me a half smile, "good that."
"Thank you." With one last sympathetic shoulder pet from Minho, I walked out, closing the door behind me. I leaned against the frame for a moment, eyes closed I pulled my hands over my face, signing deeply to calm myself down. Why couldn't I just control myself in there?
"Well done," Felix said sarcastically. That's why.
"You just had to go and pick a fight and now we're both banned from seeing her. You fucking happy now?"
A sound somewhere between a scoff and a laugh left my throat, not being able to believe my bugging ears. "Yu're kiddin', right? I picked a fight? Really?"
"If the shoe fits."
"Bloody hell..." I mumbled, not capable of understanding this guy's mind. "Clint is right. Cally is sick. She needs help. Us arguin' about absolutely nothing is not gonna help her."
My words were not completely ignored this time, but Felix did not seem to get the point I tried to make. "I wouldn't call your delusional ideas about my girl nothing."
"She is not-" I raised my voice, only to realize that I had and signed exasperatedly. I took a deep breath in an attempt to stay calm and tried to speak as clear as possible through my clenched jaw. "We are not- Look, shank, it doesn't bloody matter what you call Cally or what I call Cally if she doesn't survive her wounds. Good that? Are yu capable of lettin' that sink into that simple brain of yours?"
"Who you calling simple?" Felix retorted with crossed arms and the same glare as before.
"What's going on?" Aris had noticed the little uproar we were causing and joined our side, looking from Felix to me.
"Ask him." Felix gestured to me with a sharp jerk of his head. "He's the one trying to come between me and my girlfriend of over three years."
"That wasn't even bloody real!" It was out of my mouth before I realized. Immediately I regretted my words, watching his anger mix with confusion, only to become even more defensive in his stance.
"What you mean by that?" He asked.
Tired, I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands. "Nothin', just- forget it." I could hear Felix say something to me as I walked away from them, but I ignored him. Needing to get away from those two as fast as possible before I said something else I might regret later. Not that I could get far in this bugging prison. Even so, anywhere where that slinthead wasn't would do.
~.~.~
YOU ARE READING
Lost - Scorch Trials (♡Newt) 《Slow Updates》
Fanfiction"Who you are, is just what you've got. What will you become when they take from you almost everything?" - MCR ~ Sequel to A Way Back ~ Cally survived the Maze, only to find herself in yet another crazy chain of tests. Together with her friends she s...
