Lost - Scorch Trials (♡Newt) 《Slow Updates》

Chapter 6

Newt's pov

My nails have never been this well kept back in the Glade. Well, maybe except for the first few months after we woke up in that buggin' place- or the time Minho, Alby and Thomas got locked in the bloody Maze, and Alby had gotten back all jacked in the head.
     But here we were, trapped in a place that kept changing, no food, no way out, no way to get help, Cals knocked out with a high fever, and I could not shake the feeling that we're definitely being watched somehow. Biting my nails had become all I could do.
     Most Gladers had given up on trying to find a way out and had lain down on one of the many beds, either talking softly with their friends or taking a nap. Thomas had taken the lead with that one after he had a bit of a breakdown. No one blamed him, honestly, who hadn't at this point?
     Despite everything else that was going on, my mind could only focus on Cally. My chest felt tight whenever my thoughts wandered to the image of her laying there unconscious. Not even to start about the overwhelming panic I felt when those thoughts spiraled down to the possibility of her not waking up again.
     "There you are." Minho let himself fall on the bed beside me.
     "How is she?" It had been a while since Felix and I had been kicked out of the improvised medical room.
     "Not great." Minho said through a sad sign, the same worry that I felt sounded through his voice.
     Silence fell between the two of us for a short while before I spoke up again. "Why does she always bloody do this? Getting sick, passing out, and making us all bugging worry about her?"
     Minho scratched the back of his head, thinking for a moment, "She only did it twice so far."
     "Maybe, but after the Changing she woke up, only to pass out again! I count that as two, which would make this the third time- and that is not even counting the days she kept passing out because she just had to remove that buggin' thing from her wrist."
     "To be fair, that wristband did inject her with some shady liquids."
      I signed, rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands before letting them fall back on my lap. "Yeah, well, I don't bloody like it."
     Minho let out a sign, looking at me with a sympathetic half smile, "I'm worried about her too." There was a short pause before he continued. "Not just because of the bugging infection, but she ain't dealing with the whole Ezra thing very well either."
     I shrugged, the image of his body clear in my mind. And so was the image of Cally pulling him to her chest and begging him not to leave her. "Cals lost her brother yesterday, give the Shank some time. So what if she doesn't want to call you bro for a while, it's not the end of the buggin' world."
     My dark haired friend scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah? Well, what if she stops calling you Newton? Bet you would be singing a whole different song than."
     A joyless laugh came from my lips, "Doesn't bloody matter if she doesn't make it through the night now, does it?"
     "She will." Minho responded without hesitation or doubt sounding through his voice. Reminding me of a very similar conversation we had back in the Glade when Cals had been stung by a Griever. "That girl has survived far worse, you'll see, before you know it Cally will be back to bugging us about eating too sloppy or some klunk."
     This time I laughed genuinely, "Can't bloody wait." Somewhere during our conversation I had stopped biting my nails, I hadn't even noticed it until that point.
     Then, out of nowhere, Minho's stomach made the most deafening growling noise I had ever heard it make. At first, I thought he actually just made the sound himself, but no, it came from his stomach.
     "Don't look at me like that." Minho bit at me before leaning his head back against one of the iron bed pools. "It's been for-shugging-ever since we had something to eat."
     At first, I wanted to laugh, only for the joy to turn into more concern. A frown forming on my face. Cally's condition wasn't the only problem we were facing. We had to either find a way out or find food, neither of them had worked out so far, but if we didn't, well, it would just be cruel for Cally to survive her wounds and the fever only to starve to death short after.
     My eyes went through the room, taking in the Shanks around us. All of us survived so much... we weren't about to give up now, we'd find a way, I just had to figure out how.
     Then, my eyes fell on Felix. Of course the guy couldn't just have stayed in the other room. He sat on the top bunk of some beds on the other side of the space, talking with big gestures to Aris, clearly still upset about it all. While Aris seemed to be trying his best to calm him down, not that it looked like anything he did actually worked. From this distance, I could not tell what he said to his friend, but it did not seem very friendly. Not that I expected anything else.
     Looking at him, even from afar, I could see why Cals might think him good looking from some angles. But still, he was one of the most annoying shanks I'd ever met. Why would she ever fall for him? Even in a simulation. Sure, his eyes are very... present, and his hair is kinda shiny? But that was it. Nothing else except for his obnoxious personality. I really could not see what Cally ever saw in him... or still sees in him?
     "You're doing it again." Minho's voice pulled me back to reality.
     "What?" 
     "Staring at the Shank with that same mopping expression on your shug face."
     "I'm not."
     Yet again, Minho gave me the look that he did not believe a word I said. "Oh slim it, Shank. Why are you even so jealous of the guy? He and Cally are in the past, she likes you know. He just has to get it through that thick skull of his."
     My stomach twisted again, and even though Minho meant well, I started to feel annoyed with the shank. Sure he was Cally's past, but she said it herself back in the Glade. She thought he did not exist. He clearly does, so where does that leave us?
     Minho bumped into me with his shoulder, interrupted my thoughts again. He raised an eyebrow at me, silently asking me to continue. Eventually I let out a deep sign.
     "They never broke up"
     "Is that it? Dude, she's with you now!"
     "Sssh," I hissed, shooting a glance around the room to see if he had drawn any unwanted attention. I really did not need every Shank to know about this. "Not so loud, Slinthead."
     "Whatever," Minho waved it away, rolling his eyes at me, but when he spoke again, his voice was softer. "But still, she chose to be with you."
     "That's the thing, I don't know that!" I whisper yelled, not able to hide my frustration.
     "What do you shugging mean, you don't know? The Shank was all over you two days ago. I won the contest with Fry, he gave me his secret recipe! You two, are a thing, simple as that."
     "We never actually established anything! We just- well, kissed, a bit. But we never said..." I trailed off, part of me felt good to talk about this with Minho, get it off my chest, the other part of me really did not know how to say half the things I actually wanted to say. And he also wasn't the person I actually wanted to say them to.
     "But you told her how you feel?" Minho questioned eventually, not seeming to understand what the problem is.
     "Of course I bloody did!" I said, still in a hushed voice, pulling my hand through my hair in frustration. Thinking back to everything she's said to me between then and now, scanning through the words, seeing if I'd missed something. "And she said she thought she felt the same, which was enough for me at the time! But now he is here and I don't know what we are or how she feels and he is goin' around calling her his and I can't bloody stand it! But I can't say anythin' about it, not really. And maybe he is right! Maybe she still- maybe she... and him... and the only reason she was with me was because we all thought we were about to buggin' die fighting Grievers and I was just sort of there."
     "I'm gonna stop you right there, Shank." Minho interrupted me. "I don't believe for a bugging second that Cally only wanted you cuz 'you were just sort of there.' That Shank definitely has feeling for your scranny ass."
     I shot Minho a look, Scranny? Only to shake off the comment, realizing who said it and went back to focusing on what he had actually said. "Ya really think that?"
     "No doubt! You should see the way she looks at you, all big eyes and smiley. I swear if her pupils could form little hearts, they would, it's bugging disgusting."
     A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. I wanted to believe what he was saying and part of me really did. At least Minho definitely seemed sure of his words, which wouldn't necessarily mean that he was right, but beside from me, Minho knew Cally the best out of all of us Gladers.
     "Newt! Minho!" Jeff had decided that instead of just crossing the room to come and talk to us, it would be the best move to shout our names from the open door to get our attention. When we looked over at him he stuck one hand in the air and beckoned us over.
     "Well," I started, getting up from the bed "lets see if it's about Cals or if there is some new bloody crisis we gotta solve now."
     "Bugging Slintheads would be dead without us." Minho said through a sign while following my example, shooting me a smirk afterwards, making me laugh while shaking my head.
     Truth was, we would have been dead many times over if we hadn't had each other and many of our friends. Back in the Glade, we had a system, took a while until it worked properly, but still. Clint, Jeff and Cally fixed people up all the time, Slicers and Track-hoes made sure we had food while the Cooks processed it so we could actually eat it. Alby, the Keepers and me made the hard calls the others didn't wanne make and so on. We all had a clear part to play, all wheels in the same machine. But right now? I had no shuggin' clue how to keep us all together. It feels like the machine fell apart, main parts are missing and I ain't a bloody mechanic.
     When we passed the beds Felix and Aris sat on, I could hear Felix mumble to his friend, "Of fucking course that stick gets to see her."
     "They don't know us, Felix, and you are not making them like you."
     "Fuck that, I know Cally better than any of them, I should be with her right now."
     My eyes met Felix's for a moment as he said that, his eyes shooting daggers at me. I bit down on my tongue not to shoot back any kind of remark and turned my head away from him, focusing on my friends in front of me. Let it go, Newt.
     Jeff didn't say much as he waited for us at the entrance of the smaller dorm room. He just opened the door for us and closed it again after we had entered.
     The room was mostly empty beside from Cally. Without missing a heartbeat I made my way over to her. A blanket had been tucked around her, covering the wounded area, but I could see her shirt had been buttoned up again, so I assumed there had been no issue putting the bandages back on.
     I knelt beside her bed, softly pressing the back of my hand to her cheek. Her pale skin still felt clammy and way too warm.
     "Sorry Shank, had to send you out too, had the feeling that guy would've caused a whole lot more trouble if I hadn't." Clint walked into the room from the bathroom, I hadn't even noticed his absence before nor his entrance until he started speaking.
     I signed, eyes not leaving Cally. "Yeah, you're probably right."
     "I don't like the guy." Minho commented from his place beside Cally's bed where he leaned against the wall. "His face looks way too punchable." I snorted a laugh at his comment.
     "I don't think anyone likes him right now." Jeff sat down on one of the other beds where Clint joined him, placing a kiss on his boyfriend's cheek. "But just look at his perspective. If what he says is true, he went through the same klunk we did. And now he wakes up surrounded by a bunch of strangers, reunited with his girl-" Jeff stopped himself, glanced over at me, then rephrased his sentence. "Who he thinks is his girlfriend, then she passes out, and everyone blames him. That's a lot to deal with for one bugger."
     "Yeah, well, we're stuck with him. Might as well make the best of it." I let my hand go through the long part of Cally's hair, going back to brush a strand out of her face. When my fingers softly grazed her cheek, her head slightly turned towards my hand. Probably a coincidence, but that little response to my touch made a bit of hope jump through my chest. "Or at least tolerate him until Cals wakes up. Then she can deal with him."
      "I'll tolerate him," Minho commented, "but I will not be held responsible if something happens to that very breakable nose if that Slinthead gets on my nerves again."
     I looked up at my friend, "Cally will definitely hold you responsible."
     Minho let out an exasperated sign, throwing his head back against the wall. "Fine. Whatever. I'll wait until she wakes up." Then the guy turned to Clint and Jeff, "she will wake up soon, right?"
     The two Med Jacks exchanged a look, "Probably." Clint answered with a shrug. "An infection ain't good and with everything that's happened the past few days alone... I think her body was desperate for rest."
     "The hit from that guy was just the last bit of physical trauma needed to turn the lights off for a moment." Jeff continued, leaning against Clint's side. "Let's hope it's enough for her body to fight the infection."
     "And let's hope we can find something to eat in the meantime." I let myself lean against Cally's bed as I listened to Clint speak. "She's gonna need to eat when she wakes up. And in all honesty, I'm starting to feel a bit lightheaded myself."
     "Me too." As if on cue, Minho's stomach protested out loud once again.
     I agreed with a short Mm. It couldn't be that Wicked went through so much trouble for us just to make us starve right here, we just had to figure out what they wanted us to do next. There had to be some kind of solution, a way to find or earn food. But what?
      
    

~.~.~.~.~