The Boat On The Beach

Chapter Thirteen: Roulette

Thomas awoke on his back, somewhere shady and cool, with a dull ache coming from his collarbone. As his senses flooded back to him he heard yelling and shuffling. He tried to push himself up, but his arms were shaky and he couldn't gather the momentum. He settled for turning his head towards the source of the commotion, and was shocked at what he saw.

They were in some kind of small room, crumbling and unsteady. The sandstone had tumbled off of the walls and created small piles of debris against them. Also against a wall, was Newt. He was pinned to one of the unstable walls by Brenda, who was yelling in his face and had a gun to his face. The brit looked reasonably calm, but the girls eyes were alive with fury. He was clearly not putting up a fight, because although it would be a pretty fair fight, Newt would have her on the floor in about ten seconds flat. Minho, Teresa and Gally were trying to pry her away from him, but to no avail. Frypan was sat on the edge of the boys makeshift bed, looking reasonably concerned. Thomas's ears popped and he picked up the conversation.

"-YOUR FAULT" Brenda spat.

"Don't you think I don't know that?" Newt replied. The girl growled and dug her forearm into his throat.

"You couldn't kill one of them, because you are one of them! Your a fucking crank!" She spat.

"Brenda-" Gally tried to interject.

"And you know what we do to cranks?" Brenda repositioned her gun, a reminder that she had it and was clearly not afraid to shoot. Newt just slowly raised his arm and took the barrel of the gun in his hand, before pressing it against his forehead.

"Go on then." he challenged. She growled, as a final warning. Thomas knew he had to intervene. Although he trusted Newt to not get  himself shot, he knew how unpredictable and spontaneous Brenda could be.

"Bren'" Thomas whispered, his throat dry, from his corner. Everyones eyes rested on him, and he couldn't help but notice Newt visibly relax. Brenda, didn't meet Thomas's eye, just let go of the brit and stormed out of the small shelter. Teresa gave Thomas a small 'I'm glad your ok' smile and went after her friend. Newt slowly began to wander over to Thomas gently massaging his throat, and the others pretended to be busy to 'give them some space' although both boys knew they'd be all be listening, the boys lived for drama, especially Minho. He also seemed adamant about setting the blond and Thomas up.

Newt knelt next to the boys bed, which was just a pile of blankets and mats. "Tommy-"

"Don't say it Newt. You have no reason to be sorry." the boy sat up with a little help from his friend. 

"If i hadn't have frozen, I don't know what I was thinking.."

"I do. Newt you've been there, you've been in the place that cr- man..was in. Of course you felt bad, and I don't blame you. Fight or flight took over, and none of us have control over our instincts and conscience." Thomas murmured softly, aware of the people around him.

"I know..but thats not by instinct."

"Well what is your instinct?"

"To protect you." the brit seemed to hide behind his hair slightly. Thomas was glad Newt was looking at his face because he was pretty sure it was the shade of a tomato.

"W..what?"

"I protect people I love, Thomas. That's my instinct. I would do anything to protect you, and I..I didn't. And I don't know why. Something just came over me. I'm sorry." Thomas didn't really know what he meant by that, but decided to shrug it off.

"Hey, guess we're even now huh?" He laughed softly. Newt just scoffed.

"Guess we are. For now at least."

***

Thomas passed Teresa on his way to see Brenda, and he gave her hand its usual squeeze. He sat next to Brenda and looked at her.

"Thomas, if your here to tell me what I did was wrong and hypocritical, I already know." She grumbled as the scorching light settled on the frown residing on her features.

"No, I just want to know why." The boy shrugged.

"Why what?" she glanced at him.

"Why get angry at Newt?" 

"Because..it was his fault, and..and I guess I was just looking for someone to blame." she admitted.

"But why do you care what happens to me?' She scoffed.

"Thats a stupid question. Why wouldn't I care? You've saved my life on multiple occasions, and are one of the best friends I could ever ask for. Of course I'm going to get angry if some slinthead doesn't do all he can to prevent you getting hurt." She frowned at him.

"Your one of my best friends too." he smiled at her frowned. She nodded and they fell into silence, the conversation clearly over. Thomas gazed out at the miles of scorched sands in front of him, stretching for what seemed like forever. He gently ran his fingers over the bandage incasing his bite. The boy thought about how lucky he was to be immune. well, maybe not. It wasn't really a win win for anyone, but he supposed the people who had it the worst were non immunes who endured the maze trials. They had to deal with both sides of evil. Thats why the boy had such admiration for Newt, even if the blond could never admit that  he was anything special.

"Thomas, what are we gonna do?" It was the boys turn to frown.

"Find what we can, get back. Stick to the plan."

"What if we can't get back to the shore? What if we run out of supplies?" she countered.

"Theres one thing you have to know about me Bren'. I don't ever have a plan. But everything seems to turn out ok."

"Yeah maybe for you." she muttered.

"Are you not happy?" The boy used his hand as a shield from the light.

"I just want security."

"Then why did you come?"

"Because you need someone who has a plan."