Free (Maze Runner fanfic Newtmas Newt x Thomas)

Chapter 22 - yes there's smut

A/N: it's about halfway but enjoy, you filthy minions of mine

Newt wasn't speaking to him. Once he'd gotten out of bed, he spent most of his time with Minho and others, scheming their escape plan. They were slightly worried Thomas would rat them out, but he'd been spending most of the days by himself, busy with his own plans. Now that he was on his own, he couldn't do his usual plan of going on a whim with everyone and hoping for the best, so he decided now he should really try to figure things out on his own.

He waited until night time to explore, not having to worry about climbing over Newt since he'd gone to his own bed instead of sharing, just to try and emphasise how grumpy he was. That was Thomas' theory, anyway. In a little way, Thomas had already convinced himself that nobody from his group was going to go on with him, willingly, so it was rather likely he'd never see Newt again, even after saving his life, there was no way to stop his brain exploding, or dying out in the real world, miles and miles apart.

Only the emergency lights were on at night, the entire room and hallway in a dark red glow. There were probably security cameras smaller than a fingernail scattered around, but Thomas could still explore alone and hide from actual people; he'd met most of the night guards anyway, and they fell asleep pretty often.

It was eerie, like something out of a horror. Thomas felt like he could well be in one, and anything could pop out at any given moment and attack him. For example, as he was creeping out the room to the hallway, somebody whisper-yelled his name. With a jump, he spun round and tried to hit whoever it was, but their hand flew up and caught his wrist. "You're terrible at sneaking, how did you ever survive the maze at night?" It was Minho, glaring at him. "Where do you think you're going, anyway?"

"Does it matter to you? You're all planning to leave so where I'm going doesn't concern you, so let's just say I'm helping my own case."

"Case closed." Minho let go of his wrist. "Newt doesn't hate people, it's not in his nature, and I don't want to hate you, but it really does hurt what you're doing, Thomas. I'm not going to try and change your mind, already tried, and we all know that the three of us are all individually very stubborn."

"Can you promise me something?" Minho raised an eyebrow. "Get your memories back. You're going to get the option at some point, and if you say no then you're going to die. Still around, it's truth or death out there."

"Right.. And I'm the queen of England."

"Minho, I'm serious! If I leave before you, then I at least want to know you're going to live at least for a little while out there."

"It's too late to discuss this, we'll talk in the morning with the others." A pause. "That's assuming you do come back by then." Minho turned and disappeared back into the bedroom, letting Thomas continue on his way.

Knowing that Minho and Newt were disappointed in him really hurt, but deep down he knew that was inevitable. It was only human to want to leave, to feel that way about his different choice, to leave to two completely separate places in the world; they'd probably travel to the nearest city, and Thomas would be reunited with the girl who helped create the maze, and many others he had yet to meet.

Up until about the age of six everyone was at school together, but after that WICKED separated them and things started changing. They were in three compounds; Thomas and the others were in A, the girl was from B, but Thomas had no idea who or what was in compound C. A and B were a gender difference, and as far as Thomas knew there was so definitive third gender out there.

A little into his journey across the facility, Thomas started getting the horrible feeling that he was being followed. He kept turning every now and again to check, but he couldn't see or hear anyone. They hadn't tried to stop him yet, so Thomas was going to stop them first.