❝The Maze Runner❞ || Thomas

Darkness

тнє мαzє яυηηєя
꧁⎝ 𓆩༺✧༻𓆪 ⎠꧂
тнσмαѕ

» » » » »

The next few days passed in a haze of exhaustion and unease. Sleep came in broken fragments, never lasting long before Kai's screams tore through the Glade, reminding all of us that whatever was happening to him was far from over.

      Jeff claimed the fever had started to break, and Clint insisted the purple veins weren't spreading the way they had before, but none of it brought much comfort. I still hadn't gone back to see him. Part of me told myself it was because the Med-Jacks had enough to handle without me hovering in the way, but the truth sat heavier than that.

      I was afraid.

      Afraid of seeing what the Changing had turned him into. Afraid he wouldn't recognize me. Maybe even more afraid that he would.

       I had been helping sort supplies near the Homestead when I heard my name being shouted from across the Glade.

       "Lynn!"

       I turned so quickly my neck protested, spotting Jeff sprinting toward me from the hospital, breathing hard, panic written all over his face. My stomach immediately dropped.

       "What happened?" I asked, already fearing the answer.

      "It's Kai," he managed between breaths. "He keeps saying your name."

      For a moment, I just stared at him.

      My name?

      A dangerous flicker of hope stirred somewhere in my chest before I could stop it. Maybe he was finally becoming lucid. Maybe the worst was over.

      Without another word, I bolted.

       The hospital doors slammed loudly against the wall as I shoved my way inside, my breathing uneven as I came to an abrupt stop beside Kai's bed.

      He looked horrible.

      His skin was pale beneath the sheen of sweat coating his body, his features sharper somehow, as though the last few days had drained something out of him. The purple veins still lingered faintly beneath his skin. His breathing came in shallow, uneven pulls, but for the first time since this all began, he wasn't thrashing.

      "He won't stop asking for you," Clint said quietly from the other side of the room.

       I swallowed hard, my heart pounding so violently I could feel it in my throat.

      Slowly, I stepped closer.

      "Kai?" My voice came out softer than I intended.

        He didn't move.

        I took another step, cautiously reaching for his shoulder as hope continued to twist itself into something dangerous inside me.

        "Kai, it's me..."

        The second my hand touched him, his eyes snapped open.

        Before I could even react, his hand shot out and wrapped around my throat with terrifying force. A strangled gasp escaped me as I was suddenly ripped off my feet and slammed hard against the wooden wall behind me. Pain exploded through my back, knocking the breath straight from my lungs as my hands flew to his wrist, desperately trying to pry his fingers away.

       I couldn't breathe.

       Panic surged through every part of me as my feet kicked uselessly beneath me, my vision already beginning to blur around the edges. He was impossibly strong—far stronger than he should have been in his condition—and the look on his face sent ice straight through my veins.

      It wasn't Kai.

      Or at least, it didn't feel like him.

      His expression was twisted with rage, his eyes wild and unrecognizable as he leaned closer, his grip tightening.

        "You did this to us!" he screamed, his voice so raw and broken it barely sounded human.

       The words hit me harder than the choking.

       I clawed at his wrist, my chest burning desperately for air.

       "Kai..." I choked out, barely able to force the word past my throat. "Please..."

       But he only screamed again.

       "You did this!"

        His hand suddenly shifted, releasing my throat just enough for me to suck in a painful breath before both hands grabbed the sides of my face with brutal force. I screamed as his fingers dug painfully into my skin, but before I could even process what was happening, he jerked me forward.

        The side of my head collided violently against the edge of the desk.

        A blinding burst of pain exploded through my skull, hot and immediate, swallowing everything else whole.

        Then darkness.