Blank Spaces (A Maze Runner fanfic)

Chapter 18 (Alice's POV)

I can't process what's happening. Alcohol courses through my veins and thoughts flood my brain. What's happening? Why is this happening? I picked a damn bad night to get drunk. Lizzy pulls me out of my thoughts as she yanks me off the counter, running toward Newt and tugging me along. Newt gets the message and scoops me up bridal style. I finally find my words, but they're slurred and I'm not sure if Lizzy can understand, so I try something else. "What's happening?" I manage to get out. Lizzy decides to talk telepathically, but it pounds through my already aching head.

The Grievers are coming. Go with Newt and try your best to stay safe....in case one of us doesn't make it...I love you, sister.

It hurts to hear her say that and all I manage is a nod. I try to tell her I love her too, but I can't muster up the strength. Lizzy runs off and Newt begins to limp as fast as he can toward the Homestead. I feel bad for him, he has to carry me through this chaos with his limp. He suddenly stops and looks around, probably looking for a place to go. That's when the first full blast Griever call pierces the air. It's close...too close. Newt takes off running again, but doesn't seem to know where to go. The Griever calls out again, closer this time. That's when Newt falls. I go tumbling out of his arms, toward the direction of the sound. By the time he scrambles to his feet, it's too late. The Griever stands over me, oily slime dripping off its moist body. It lets out a deafening screech and raises an arm with a deadly looking needle on the end. It swings down and pierces the tender skin of my stomach. I let out a long and drawn out scream. Suddenly, another Griever calls out and the one hovering above me retreats. My limp body courses with alcohol and venom. My vision is fuzzy and I see Newt over me, tears streaming down his face. He scoops me up and I recoil from the pain in my stomach. He sets me down and begins yelling hoarsely, his voice cracking. "Medjacks," he repeats this over and over until Clint and Jeff appear. They lift me up, keeping my stomach taught, taking me to the infirmary. We arrive and they set me down on a bed. They strip my shirt over my head and I get a look at the wound for myself. There's a hole in my stomach, but it's not bleeding. It's oozing some sort of gel. The veins surrounding the wound seem to be popping out and are completely black. There's a sharp pain in my arm and I turn to see Clint injecting a blue liquid into my veins. Along with the venom and alcohol, this would be one hell of a hangover. Newt sits in a chair next to my bed and puts his face in his hands, crying. I want to comfort him, but I can't move or speak. Suddenly, Lizzy walks in followed by Minho. Newt seems to sense there presence. I hear his muffled words, but can make them out. "I could've saved her," he mumbles,"I could have bloody saved her!" He yells the last part and rips his hands away from his face, slamming his balled fists onto the arms of the chair. He begins to sob and moves his hands back to my face.

"Newt...." Lizzy starts, but he cuts her off.

"No. Don't even say it wasn't my bloody fault. Because it is. I was the only one that could've saved her from this bloody mess!" he yells. Lizzy doesn't say anything more, she just walks to the side of my bed and takes my hand in hers.

Alice? You're going to make it out of this. You're going to be okay.

I still don't have the strength to answer, but she seems to know I'm listening. She holds on to my presence, like a mental hug. I do my best to say conscious, but become unaware of my surroundings and eventually drift into blackness. The first memory I get is faint, but it's definitely there. Lizzy and I are sitting across from each other. Communicating a way I just found out possible between the two of us. Telepathically. We have small talk back and forth, when suddenly I hear another young girl speaking. I look to my right and am astonished by what I see. A younger version of Thomas and Teresa sit across from each other. Teresa is scolding Thomas about having to learn to use the gift. I look to my left and see another boy and girl, who's faces I don't recognize. They seem to be telepathically communicating with ease, just like Lizzy and I. This isn't a dream...more like a memory. I think it is. I just got a memory. The memory suddenly fades and another pops up. I then realize something. Maybe I can telepathically give the memories to Lizzy. I decide to try it on this one. There's Lizzy and I, again. We're standing in front of an older looking lady with blonde hair pulled back in a tight bun. She wears all white. She only repeats three words. Over and over and over.

"WICKED is good," she repeats. I focus, mustering up all the strength I can, I picture Lizzy's name and the memory and I shove it toward her. I feel as if a barrier had broken and I think I got it to her. I manage to get other hazy ones to her, of us with other Gladers, but out of the Glade. In the real world. Then I get a memory clearer than the others, I seem to know this ones important, so I gather all my strength and picture the memory as it plays.

~~~~~~~~

I'm absolutely sobbing, my face buried in a pillow. I'm laying on a bed that smells strongly of...Newt. I'm confused by this, but the memory keeps playing. A door opens and I keep my face buried in the pillow, knowing its Lizzy. I finally look up to see her. Her face is tear stained and her eyes are bloodshot. I break our gaze and bury my face in my hands. She sits beside me on the bed I'm in.

"He won't remember me," Lizzy says. "Everything we've been through will have meant nothing. It won't matter though, will it? Nothing will matter. Once we're sent up we won't remember anything." Why did he have to be first. I won't see him for 3 years. Those are my thoughts.

~~~~~~~~

I break back into darkness, somehow knowing I got the entire thing clearly to Lizzy. I suddenly realize what was happening. Lizzy was talking about Minho and I was talking about Newt. Minho and Lizzy had been together before the Glade, and so were Newt and I. What I didn't understand was where were we in those memories? More importantly, why were we there?