A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt)

Chapter 69

Cally's pov

A lot of things happened after Minho had run after the Grievers. First, Thomas tried to follow him, but Newt and I stopped him. It didn't take long before Minho came back, though.
     Apparently, he wanted to see where the Grievers would go, turned out they ran straight to the Grieve hole and jumped through.
    Shortly after, the smoke caught our attention. It came from the Map-Room. Minho, Newt, and I made our way to the small building as fast as possible while Thomas went to talk to Teresa. Once we reached the room, we noticed Alby, lying unconscious on the ground. A big, gaping wound on his head with blood streaming out, seeping down his face and partly into his eyes.
     Newt started to use the white towel he had for his own wound to keep pressure on Alby's wound. Out of habit, I had slept with my beg strapped to my leg, so I pulled out another rag the moment Newt's rag was drenched in blood.
     It didn't take long before Thomas showed up again, he wanted to talk with Minho and Newt. So I switched with Newt, so I could do my job and he went with Thomas. I didn't really know what to think of all this. Of course, I was glad Newt had me and Minho switch the maps for fake once while the real once were hidden inside the secret basement turned weapon chamber.
     I was also glad that the Gladers who noticed the fire were able to put it out in time, so there only was a cloud of black smoke in the air. But I was worried about Alby, not knowing what happened to him and why he was slowly bleeding to death in my arms while I tried to stop the bleeding. One of the other Gladers had gone inside the Homestead to get Clint, together we fixed Alby up as well as we could before we brought him back inside, laying him down on a bed in the Med-Room.
     Directly after we were done with Alby, I made my way to my room. After all that, I needed a break from everyone. My room had been the one besides from the one we spent the night in. A group of Gladers had been staying there as well, and it was showing. The room was a mess of pillows and blankets, even my bed they had managed to make a bigger mess than it already was. I got the urge to clean it up, it was my room after all. But I realized it would be pointless, the same thing would just happen again tonight.
     I sighed deep, letting myself fall face first on the mattress. Bark jumped on as well, sniffing around my head to see if I was alright. Without looking up I used my arm closest to her to pet her.
     Less than five minutes passed when I heard a knock on my door. I let out a long, annoyed grown while I pushed myself up. "Come in," I said, half groaning. The door got pushed open, and surprise, surprise, there was Newt. Blood was still smudged on his forehead from his wound. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but when he looked at me, he changed his mind.
     "How you holdin' up?" He asked while closing the door behind him.
     I sighed, rubbing my eyes with both my hands. "Have been better," I mumbled, letting my hands fall down again. "How's your head?"
     Newt sat down beside me, "it hurts, but I'll be fine." I nodded, looking a little closer at the wound, it looked pretty ugly. Not as bad as Alby's, but still.
     "What did Thomas want?" I asked while I took a piece of cloth and water bottle out of my bag, put some water on the cloth, and started to carefully clean the remains of dried blood from his head.
     "Teresa. He wanted the bloody girl out, and yes, I let her out." I nodded, still looking at what I was doing.
     "That's all? You guys were gone for quite some time." I asked, glancing over at his eyes for a second.
     Newt sighed, "Well, the Shank had an idea on what to do with the maps. Said we had to compare the sections to each other." Newt fell silent for a moment, making me glance up to him again to see him staring at me.
     "And?" Another sigh escaped Newt's lips as he looked down for a moment.
     "The shuck-face was right. Not somethin' you would see directly. But he took some of that transparent paper from the kitchen, cut it into the same sizes as the maps. Used a marker to copy the maps of all the sections of the same day. Lined them up and it formed a bloody letter."
     When he said that, I stopped cleaning and leaned back, looking into Newt's eyes. "Seriously? Which letter?" 
     "An F. But that's just the first one. Minho, Tommy, and Teresa are workin' on the others right now. I was actually here to ask you for help, considering ya already knew 'bout the maps and all." I nodded, I already thought he needed something from me.
     Newt stood up from my bed, but instead of walking away, he started pacing. "I just don't get it." Newt mumbled, "apparently Teresa told Tommy when she got out of that coma that the Maze is a bloody code. And now here we are, tryin' to get a code out of drawing of walls. What's even the point in making an entire, giant Maze, if the only thing it's meant to be is a code! A code for what? Are we supposed to just know?" Newt continued his pacing, mumbling to himself. 
     "Newt... Newt, stop it." I said, my voice kinder than it was before. Only he didn't stop pacing, he did, however, stop talking.
     I knew everyone was on edge, especially Newt. Since Alby was knocked out, the burden of leading the Glade had fallen back on his shoulders. I mean, it already was, but now all the Gladers looked at him for a solution instead of looking at Alby while he made the decisions.
     "Newt, stop it, you're making me nervous."
     Now, he slowed down and looked at me, "I? I am makin' ya nervous? What 'bout the son disappearin'? And the walls not closing? Or those Bloody Grievers able to walk into the Glade at any moment? And all the things Gally screamed?" Newt was irritated and angry, but I knew he wasn't angry at me. He was just stressed out.
     "Yes, you are making me nervous. Now sit down.... please." I didn't raise my voice, I tried to stay as calm as possible. Newt looked at me for some time before sitting back down beside me on my bed. Almost immediately after he sat down, he started biting his nails.
      I took his wrist and pulled his hand down. "Stop it. It's bad f-"
     "It's bad for me, I know, I know. I just..." Newt interrupted me, but I smiled at him, hoping it was comforting in some way.
     "Yeah, I know. You're stressed out." I lifted my hand from his wrist, but before I could pull back, Newt took my hand in his.
     "That's not all, I-" he stopped talking. I looked up at him, wanting to meet his eyes, but he was looking at our hands.
     "Well, what else is bothering you?"
     Newt didn't react.
     "Come on, Newton." I said as I softly bumped my shoulder into his, "Get it off your chest, you'll feel better."
     He still didn't react, wow, this is really bothering him... I thought while I started frowning, biting down on my lip. "Whatever it is, you know I won't judge you, right?"
     He didn't look up when he answered me, "yeah, yeah Cals, I know."
     I lay my other hand on his, trying to show even more support. "Then tell me, I can't do anything for you if you won't tell me what's wrong."
     Newt led out a sad laugh, "I don't think ya can do anythin' about this." 
     "Just let me try, there's already so much klunk going on. I just- I hate seeing you like this."
     It stayed silent for a few minutes before Newt decided to say something, he took a deep breath and while breathing out he said: "I'm terrified."
     I hadn't expect him to say that, but then again. Being terrified right now wasn't that weird. I tried to look him in the eyes, but he kept looking down at our hands.
     "Terrified of what?" I asked, hoping to get more information from Newt so I could actually help him.
     "Everythin', I guess." Was all he said, making me more worried and curious. So I decided to push him a little more.
     "Everything is a lot, you know. Are you terrified of Bark?"
     Now he did look up at me, confusion on his face, "what? No."
     "What about Minho? Are you terrified of him?" 
     "No, no I'm not." I was getting on his nerves.
     "Then, what's terrifying you?" I asked again and Newt sighed in response.
     "I just told ya! Everything." 
    "The pigs? Are you terrified of them?"
     Another annoyed sigh escaped Newt's lips while he rolled his eyes. "Ow bloody hell, no!" 
     "Then what is it?" 
     "You!" He spat out, louder then I thought he wanted to. "I'm terrified of loosing you! 'cause I... because I'm in love with you! Okay? I bloody love you."

~.~.~

Newt's pov

I had said it, I wished I hadn't, but I had.
     Cals' eyes had widened the moment the words had come out of my mouth. She still hadn't said anything and it was crushing me.
     Finally her mouth opened, but she seemed to change her mind and closed it again. I could feel the tension getting stronger as we still didn't say anything.
     I couldn't take it anymore, so I let go of her hand and got up, "ya know what? Just forget I said it." I started walking towards the door, but Cally got up too and grabbed my wrist.
      "Newt wait... I-" I turned back to her, it was clear she didn't know what to say.
     "It's okay Cally. Ya don't have to say anythin', it's stupid. I shouldn't have said-" 
     "No, Newt..." she interrupted me. "It's not stupid, it's just-"
     Before she could say anything else the door opened and Clint came in, "Cally, we need you in the Med-room."
     We both looked up at him, Cally let go of my wrist and took some steps backwards, away from me before walking out of the room, pushing Clint out of the way with her shoulder while she passed him by.
     Clint looked at Cally for a moment and then looked back at me, "did I just interrupt something?" I sighed, closed my eyes for a moment while pressing my hands against my face.
     I let my hands fall down again and opened my eyes, "no Clint, it's fine. Just go back to work, okay? Make sure those Slintheads get all patched up."
     Clint nodded, "sure thing boss," he said while walking away.
     The moment he was gone I sat back down on the bed, pressing my hands to my face again, "why am I such a bloody idiot?"
     "Finally something we can agree on." My head shot up when I heard Minho answer. He was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame, one hand placed on his hip and a smirk on his face.
     "Just, slim it." I groaned while getting up.
     "What got you bugging?" Minho asked, pushing himself away from the frame and walking closer to me, his smirk now gone.
     "I did something stupid, again. Nothin' new and nothing that concerns you or your sarcastic comments."
     Minho scoffed, "okay men, something's clearly got your panties in a twist. Tell me what happened, we don't have all day and even though it hurts to say, we need you right now."
     Again I sighed, rubbing my eyes for a moment before answering Minho's question, not feeling like having a discussion with him. "I told Cally I'm in love with her. But I didn't mean to say it! She kept pushing me a- and it just bloody came out."
     Minho started to smile, a chuckle escaped his mouth before he responded. "I can't believe you actually did that! What did she say?" 
     "Nothing at first. But the moment she wanted to Clint came in, saying they needed her and she buggin' left." 
     "Just give her some time. She'll turn around." Minho said, "and if she doesn't, I'll talk with her."
     I scoffed, "yeah, okay. Let's just focus on the map thing for now."
     I walked out of the room, Minho walking with me. "Did you even tell her about the Map thing?" He asked me as we walked back to the storage room.
     "Of course I did. And she was interested, but I don't think she's commin' to help after all that." Minho nodded that he heard me, but I didn't think he fully agreed. 
     As the two of us walked back into the poorly lit room, Tommy and Teresa looked up from their work. "Where's Cally?" Teresa asked when she didn't come down with us.
     "The Med-Jacks need her. A lot of wounded Shanks whom need to be taken care of first. We'll have to do this without her. For now." Minho and I exchanged a look before going back to our own pile of maps. I know it's stupid, but even though we're in real mortal danger, I'm more scared of getting confronted with Cally than a Grievers right now.