In the Scorch (Newt x reader)

Nine

~ (y/n)'s P.O.V. ~

I hissed as we made it to the last step. The man led us to a small office, having the man with a gun stay outside of the door.  The man moved to his desk, sitting on the leather chair behind it. He gestured to one of the chairs across from the desk. 

"You can set her down, you know. Plenty of chairs to go around." Tommy moved me to one of the chairs. I groaned as a pain flared from the cut in my leg from the Griever. I had almost forgotten it was there until we had started walking up the steps. 

"Why are you here?" Tommy stepped away from the chair, looking to the man. 

"We were looking for shelter from the storm." The man nodded. 

"Looks as if you were. I guess you two were the lucky bunch caught in the rain. It does get pretty bad out here. I hardly notice anymore. I'm usually in here." The man gestured to me. 

"Why does he need to carry you around? Did something bite you? A Crank?"

"No, not in the Scorch, and I haven't been bitten by anything recently anyway." The man raised his eyebrows, looking between us. I looked away, not wanting to give his curiosity any satisfaction. 

"We were WICKED's experiments." I looked to Tommy, a frown on my face. The man growled. 

"WICKED?"

"We don't like them either." The man went quiet. 

"I would accuse you of this being an act, but I can tell the pain you feel is real by the way you move. You don't walk very well on your own." I scoffed.

"Yeah, hence why I needed Tommy's help up the stairs. I used to have a chair but the lightning blew it up." The man hummed, leaning forward on his desk. 

"I am curious though, on a few things. The first is, what in the hell could WICKED do to your leg that you can't walk anymore?" I swallowed.

"The first trial, in the Maze, we had monsters called Grievers. One got me in the leg pretty bad one night. Later, a boy named George threw a knife that went through my leg, further damaging my previous injury. When we were escaping the Maze, one of the Griever's claws cut deep into my leg when it shut down." The man looked between us in thought. 

"If you're WICKED's experiments and you escaped, what are you doing here?"

"Another trial. WICKED gave all of us the Flare, and we have to get across the Scorch to get the cure." The man scoffed. 

"Darling, there is no cure." I frowned at the man.

"Well, we have to try, don't we?" The man moved from his seat, moving to stand in front of his desk, leaning on it. 

"Why do you trust WICKED? It seems they've ruined your life. I mean, what are you even trying for? You can't walk without some sort of help. Don't you feel like a sort of..." the man waved his hand in the air, as if he was searching for a word. "A dead weight?" I swallowed, thinking briefly back to the tattoo on my neck. My hand touched it as my eyes trailed to the floor. The man laughed. 

"You've thought about it, haven't you? I mean, everyone else already seem to have their hands full, including your little boyfriend that interrupted my little pot of fun earlier." I looked back to the man. He had his head tilted to try to make better eye contact with me. 

"Leave her alone, man. (y/n) isn't dead weight. She's family and she's important to all of us, especially Newt. They're partners, bound by a connection you won't begin to understand." I watched the man's eyes flicker from me to Tommy. 

"Bound by a connection?" Tommy nodded. 

"And just because she can't walk doesn't make her worthless. She survived a shucking night in the Maze by herself, and then help both me and her survive a second night. That may not sound like a lot to you, but no one ever survived a night in the Maze because of the Grievers, and yet she did twice. She may seem irrelevant to you, but (y/n) is strong and we all need her. She belongs with us, and if you even think of hurting her, you'll be dead in a heartbeat." I felt my heart lift as I looked to Tommy. From the corner of my eye, I watched the man fully straighten up. He stayed quiet for a moment. 

"You can go back to your friends now. You all can stay, but I need time to think. When you get down there, tell them that Jorge asked them to send up Brenda." Tommy nodded, moving to help me up and out of the door. I smiled at him, letting out a shaky breath. 

"Thank you." Tommy sent a small smile back, slowly helping me back down the steps. 

Original Publish Date: May 14, 2017