Free (Maze Runner fanfic Newtmas Newt x Thomas)

Chapter 17

 "Newt. Newt. Come on, you have to wake up so we can leave." Someone hissed at him. "Seriously, wake up! I'm not leaving you behind!"

Pain was everywhere, his head throbbed, and his mind was foggier than a blind man's vision; he could just about remember being enveloped by darkness and hitting a hard wall, but after that.. Newt opened his eyes to a shadow looming over him. "Tommy?" The shadow breathed a sigh of relief. "Where are we?"

He sat up and their heads collided. Thomas cried out in surprise and fell back onto his ankles. "Ow.. The WKD swallowed us, but I don't really know how we're alive.."

"You did say WICKED couldn't let you die. How nice of them to spare me too, but its teeth had blood on them so surely other people must be in here too? Even if.. yeah?"

"If they survived, and didn't find a way out, then they probably roasted to death. If this thing is still anything like I remember it, it lies in the sun and cooks the victims inside their body, kind of like how a snake digests its prey." Newt vaguely remembered him suggesting the snake figure, so now he just felt slightly angry at Thomas for being so easily influenced. "Guess I did steal quite a bit of your idea, huh?"

"Stop joking about it! Just tell me how we're getting out of this death trap before I have to think about how horrible being cooked to death is? I don't want to think about Caelan or anyone else right now."

"If we wait for it to lie down-" Newt heard scuffling as Thomas stood up, followed by a thump when he fell back down. "I think I need to lie down too. I can barely stand with his headache let alone walk straight. I don't know what WICKED are getting out of this, I don't see what me being in immense pain does to help them! Maybe they messed up the surgery.."

Newt reached forward and found his elbow, then followed his arm up until he found his face so he could stroke his hair. "I'm not going to leave you in here, nor am I going to let us die in here; Minho is alone out in that scorch and all he has is his sense of direction."

"He had most of the supplies, he'll probably be fine.. If- when, we get out of this thing, it's probably safer to head back. If we keep going forward we might surpass the middle completely."

Newt sighed, they were so screwed. Even if they did get out, who knew where in the desert they were; people who got swallowed by the WKD weren't supposed to survive. Not to mention their water supply was currently less than half a bottle between them, so either Newt squeezed it back or they both died out in the heat.

Thomas felt slightly better and got up to stumble around the place, walking into walls and tapping on them for any platforms or rough edges they could either climb or pull off. "There's a few loose panels here, and it's going to be painful but we'll be able to get out." Thomas spoke, breaking the silence.

"How do we know this thing isn't currently underground?" Newt stood up and felt around the walls to try and find him, but still managed to walk into him.

"I think these panels lead back up to the mouth. Unless WICKED decided to program this thing mathematically and we're actually moving without any acceleration.. we could be stationary anywhere. When it decides to move, or maybe it already is, we just have to wait."

Newt opened his mouth to ask a question but they both heard a male scream and suddenly light flooded where they stood, making both boys squint. The creature roared, making the floor shake. "Newt, you climb first, I'll be right behind you."

He looked cautious, unsure if Thomas would end up staying behind or collapsing halfway up and he wouldn't be able to catch him; but with one hand gripping a curled back panel and a foot resting on a stuck out screw, Newt pushed himself up and began to climb.