Before Her

Newt 37

Newt
The shouts, the yells, the screams, they could all be heard echoing through the maze. Two grievers blocked our way to the greenie. The bloody greenie. He'd gone ahead and gotten himself stung. He'd been stung. Now we were all risking our lives to save his bloody life. Why couldn't he just stay put and listen to the bloody instructions? I'm gonna kill him after this.

The keepers and I, we did everything we could to get to the greenie, who lay frozen, face first against the ground, no doubt the poison was already spreading through his veins. Half of us were already bloodied up, some of us too tired or injured to keep trying, they sat by one of the walls, injured, defenceless and useless.

Everyone worked as a blur while we tried to battle the bloody grievers. They were slowly backing up, they were outnumbered, but they were still a billion times more powerful.

Suddenly, I was pulled from where I was standing, and thank god for whoever did because if he hadn't, I would've been dead. I looked to see that my rescuer, was none other than Minho.
'Don't get yourself killed before I do shuck-face. It's not nice to leave your mates behind.'
'Ditto.'
Together, along with those still standing we fought off the grievers, well tried to. I couldn't say how happy and terrified I was to see Minho here with me. I was scared to death.

What if he got hurt? How was I supposed to live in this prison then? But in those few minutes, maybe hours we were there, fighting the grievers, I had no time to worry about his wellbeing, but enough to just be thankful he was here with me.

With Minho here, rushes of adrenaline burst though my veins, like he had somehow triggered something in me. We fought better, together, if you could even call it that really. The grievers were all over the place, slowly backing up, but even then, waving their needles and metal arms and legs, injuring more and more of us. I wanted to turn and see the others, the ones who were injured, but one glance away and the griever would've hit me.

Then I heard her voice. A high pitched scream that obviously belonged to a girl, and there was only one girl in the glade. My eyes couldn't resist, I turned and my attention focused on her, Jane. Jane was here, in the most dangerous place known to us, to the people of the glade, Jane was here in the place that took my friends and my soul. She was here in my living nightmare. She was with the injured or passed out, and she had been obvious help, even without medicine, all injures were at least somehow covered up.

Our eyes met for a second and I was put under a spell, I couldn't break away. I watched her, a million thoughts racing through my head before it was cut off by something more demanding, and I was back into reality.

A sharp pain, an explosion of fire spread through my ankle, then my leg, then my whole body. The griever had stabbed my foot with one of its metal ones. A scream escaped from my lips. It took all my might to wrench myself away from it, that bloody thing, which turned out to be a mistake, since my bloody foot was bleeding itself to death.

I fell back.
My foot, bleeding. To say it hurt was a shucking underestimate.
Before I could register what was happening, it happened. The griever neared, faster than ever before, moving closer and closer to me and I was lying on the bloody ground, defenceless and bloodied up.

It's leg lifted, the same one that had stabbed me. I braced myself, I was finally going to die, I was finally going to leave this nightmare. It never came. I never felt the next shot of pain that would take my life. I didn't. Instead I felt something knock into me, just pushing me out of the way.

Jane. She was there, in my place. The griever's metal leg plunging through her stomach, and then it was gone. The griever's foot pulled out. I didn't look to see where it went. I didn't look to see what else was happening. Nothing but her.

A silent scream caught in my throat, threatening, but not coming out of me, and the tears fell like someone just decided to turn on a tap and leave it running. I crawled over to her. Where she lay, not so far away from me. Her eyes open with the same look of horror that she had had the first day I found her in the elevator, maybe even more. Her eyes softened when they found me, those beautiful brown eyes. She looked up at me, breathing heavily as I gently pulled her to my chest.
'It's okay... Newt, it's okay... I'm okay,' she managed through deep strangled breaths. She smiled up at me with a weak smile, and all I could do was look at her with the tears falling. I couldn't, she couldn't, I can't, I won't.
'Jane, Jane, stay with me, just keep your eyes on me,' my hand found the blood, the wound, where the griever had cut her, a wound too deep to heal, a wound that should've been mine and she let out a small whimper when I gently pressed my palm against wound.
'Newt, listen to me... It's not your fault, it's going... to be okay. You're going... to be okay.' Her hand reached up to cup my cheek. Her warm hand, small and innocent.
'No, Jane, no. Stay with me,' I begged her, I was begging. I wanted, I needed her to stay with me.
'I, I, I can't,' she was having trouble breathing, her eyes were drooping, struggling to stay open and look into mine. She took a long deep breath before saying, 'Newt, just be careful okay, and don't let Minho sass you too much, that shank will overload if you don't stop him now and then,' I laughed, a small forced chuckle, because I knew it was what she wanted, what I would have wanted, to see them happy before I went. And I seemed to be right, her face lit up, and her smile seemed to grow bigger.
'You have to tell him yourself, you have to be there with me.'
'I wish, I wish I could. Newt...'
She stared up at me, with her small, sad smile and like that it was gone. Her hand fell limp and my face was cold without her warmth. Her eyes no longer met mine, and when they did, they were cold and empty, no longer full of wonder, hope or love.

Slowly, I smoothed some of the hair that had fallen away from her face. Gently. I brushed my fingers over her eyelids, covering the once bright, happy and warm brown coloured circles of hope and placed a small, hesitant kiss on her forehead.

Just like that, I was pulled back into reality. The noise was suddenly there, everything else was suddenly back. The screams, the cold, the darkness. They were running, some rushing to pick up those who were injured. Someone screamed at me, I don't know who.

I was wrenched away from her, from Jane. I struggled, I screamed and fought. But they just kept coming. They dragged me away, faster and faster. I could see the grievers, they were coming for us. They were blocking my way back to her, to Jane.

They rounded corners, dragging me with them. I no longer struggled. I couldn't remember the way back to her. I was too far away. They tears trickled, and finally, the scream, it finally let go. A shriek, a moan, a cry, a scream, all in one, piercing through the glade and the maze.

I was gone, she was gone. Maybe one day, we would meet again, perhaps in another world, where her eyes would once again be filled with the same hope, wonder and love.

THERE WILL BE AN EPILOGUE AFTER THIS. And uhhh, you guys will probably hate me even more, how that happens you'll have to wait and see... Please Keep in mind that I wrote this as a prequel, so that it all fits as to the maze runner and you can actually go read the book after this.