Whatever It Takes ↠ Newt [The Scorch Trials] ¹

EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Reality

          MAE SAT IN the car, leaning her head against the window. She was more than happy that she didn't have to walk anymore to the mountains. The car ride was bumpy, but she didn't mind. After Jorge had managed to steal Marcus' car keys and threaten the man to tell him where the vehicle was, the group had all filed inside it.

Aris sat next to her, glancing at her every now and then to make sure she was okay, which annoyed Mae to no ends. Everyone had quiet conversations among themselves, except Mae. She stayed quiet, even when an opportunity presented itself to make a snarky comment.

This was it. Mae thought. They'd get to the Right Arm soon and they'd be safe. Just one little thing, it'd be without her friends. She'd have to live the rest of her life missing them and wondering where she went wrong in saving them. But then she thought about what Newt had told her; she wasn't alone.

Newt turned around, a smile plastered on his face. His friends mirrored his expression, happy they would finally get away from WCKD. His smile disappeared when his eyes landed on Mae, a frown had made its way to her lips and her eyes were glossy. After what happened back at Marcus' he wanted to talk to her and make sure she was okay, but he wanted to do it without the others around, he needed to know she was alright.

"Mae?" Aris called. No response. The young boy then waved his hand in front of her face. "Mae?"

Mae blinked and she snapped out of her little daydream. "What?"

"Here." The Group B boy offered, holding a water bottle.

"Thanks." Mae muttered before taking a few sips of the water. She gave the bottle back to him and continued to stare out the window at the everlasting sand.

A hand touched her shoulder and the girl jumped slightly to see Thomas' arm. She looked up, the corner of his mouth tugged upwards in a smile. "How's your arm?"

"It's fine." Mae replied, her thumb grazing over her injured arm. "What about you? You and Brenda seemed to have had quite the adventure."

Thomas coughed. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good."

Nodding, Mae let out a small breath. "That's great."

The boy opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it once he realised she was in no mood to talk and he slouched back into his seat. Mae harshly thumped her head back on to the window and ignored the stares she received from the others as she closed her eyes, not knowing what was waiting for her when she did.

Mae stood in the middle of a black room– the same black room she had nearly drowned in. The girl clenched her jaw and huffed. "You have got to be shitting me."

She looked down to the ground to make sure there was no water and sighed in relief when there was none. She turned around on the spot and stopped upon seeing a metal pedestal with a two blinking buttons on top of it– one was red and the other was blue. Mae tilted her head to the side, licking her lips before stalking over to the buttons. Small letters were carved into the pedestal and the girl furrowed her eyebrows as she read it.

Choose one. Be smart.

Hovering her hands over the two buttons, Mae took a deep breath before she finally placed her hand on the red one. "Here goes nothing." She pressed it.

A white screen appeared in front of Mae, who stepped back at the brightness of the large screen that soon filled with sentences. The girl furrowed her eyebrows and ran a hand through her hair before reading the screen.