Marooned | Maze Runner | Minho

39. 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒹𝑒.

As the sun started to rise, heat filled the air. Viya stumbled down the sandy slope, her body colliding with the glass of the building. She frantically looked around for an entrance, but the majority of the building was covered in a thick layer of sand.

As a last resort, Viya used her elbow to ram into the glass, and after three attempts the glass finally shattered.

Viya was desperate to get out of the sun, she had been walking for almost a full day. There was sand all over her and even walking at night was still hot. The sun was starting to rise, and Viya knew she did not want to keep going in the heat of the day. Not to mention her lack of supplies and the fact that WCKD was still looking for her.

She had almost missed the abandoned gas station, from a distance it had looked like just another pile of rubble.

Coolness instantly hit Viya's skin as she crawled into the dark building, the sound of glass crunching beneath her feet echoed throughout the entire room.

The gas station was a mess, papers were all over the floor, there was more stuff on the ground than there was on the shelves and it smelt of mouse dung.

Viya slumped down onto the cool tile floor, throwing her backpack to the side. She brushed her long, sweaty hair out of her face, sand falling out of it. Her entire body felt tired, her limbs ached and her mind swirled. She had gone through all of her water faster than expected, she only had one can of food left.

Viya sat in silence for a while before she stood up to find some water.

All the fridges were empty, along with the majority of the shelves. The gas station wasn't huge, there were two shelves on either side with an aisle leading to the counter in the middle. The words on the price tags were long faded and the colors that were once vibrant reds and blues had been smothered with dust, turning them a dull greyish tan with only a hint that color used to be there.

Viya stalked towards the check-out counter, her eyes focused on the two doors behind it. One had a worn bathroom sign with outlines of a man and a woman. The other door had 'Employees Only' scribbled on it.

Viya put her hand onto the employees only door and was about to push it open when something caught her. She bent down to examine it, and to her delight it was a pack of plastic water bottles that had been shoved behind the counter. Viya didn't think twice about grabbing them, she swiftly broke the seal on one of the bottles and brought it to her lips. The water was sickeningly warm, but the feeling of her mouth being moisturized overpowered any feeling of disgust.

She soon found herself back up against the wall. Somehow, she had found herself a safe place to stay, a place where WCKD would not find her–and hopefully no one else would either. She planned to stay there for as long as possible until she needed to find food again, but for now, it would be enough.

She couldn't help but feel an odd sense of deja vu, she had been like this before–of course she had been being chased by grievers back then, but it was oddly similar. She had just happened to stumble upon a hidden "paradise", a place where she could survive and live alone in peace.

And after all that had happened in the past week, she needed some alone time. Viya was positive that she'd never have to see the gladers again, they had left her to die, but she got herself out.

She was all that she needed.

—----

The flames flickered off of the two boy's faces, the orange sparks danced up into the blackness of the night before extinguishing. Newt sat on one end of the fire, Nash sat across from him. The others had long gone to bed already, their snores could be heard in the distance.

Winston had died that day, and not many words had been uttered since.

Nash gazed off into the distance as Newt stared at Nash's face.

Newt liked Nash's presence, it would've been too lonely without him. The pair had walked together most of the previous day, making mindless conversation as sand spilled into their boots.

"Do you think she's alive?" Nash asked quietly, breaking the silence that had been going on for hours.

"Hm?" Newt asked.

"Viya, do you think she's alive?"
"Maybe," Newt shrugged.

"Is it bad that I hope she's not?"
"Maybe,"

"I can't believe she's even alive at all, she was supposed to die." Nash said bitterly. "That's the point of the banishment, it's not fair that she still gets to live after what she did. I was young, I didn't deserve that, and when she looked at me, I couldn't see even a hint of remorse."

Newt desperately wanted to comfort the boy, but no response felt appropriate, every phrase he thought of saying felt incomplete. He wanted to help somehow, he always wanted to help, that was his thing. It was what landed him as second in command despite the nasty gossip that surrounded him and his leg. But there was nothing he could do to help Nash, but Newt wouldn't accept that.

"I hope she's strung up right now getting drained of whatever fluid WCKD wants out of us, I don't care how much Minho defends her, she deserves it."
Newt held Nash's stare, watching how the firelight reflected off of his pupils.

"I don't think you deserved it." Newt sympathized, "I would give you my eye if you'd take it."
Nash let out a breathy laugh, "If only it was that easy."

"I'm sure you could figure it out, you are a doctor after all."
"Please, I'm nothing close to a doctor, the most I can do is bandage a broken arm and clean a wound."
"Still more than I can do."
"Can I tell you something?" Nash asked.

Newt nodded.

"I saw her through one of the windows as we were escaping, and I didn't say anything." Nash admitted, "And I heard Minho arguing with Thomas about going to find her, and I didn't even think about telling them where she was." Nash confided, "Does that make me a bad person?"
"No, I don't think so," Newt said comfortingly, "If anything it makes you a person, sure you could've been the bigger person, but do some people really deserve forgiveness?"

Nash looked down at his lap.

"Thanks Newt,"

"Anytime Nash."