WCKD 57 → Newt [1]

23 → Hope

Vera watched as Ava quickly hurried back into the ship, two guards following her.

The rest of the guards started to quicken their pace with collecting the subjects, but some managed to escape.

Vera followed Thomas, Jorge, and Brenda to the back of a rock and leaned against it, occasionally rising up to shoot incoming WCKD guards. As time went by, the number of guards shooting at them increased to the point where Vera was missing more shots than usual.

"Thomas, we have to go," Brenda told him. "We can't kill them all."

"And leave them?" Thomas questioned, looking at Newt, Minho and the other Gladers, who were struggling to hold their ground as well.

"We have no choice, hermano. We can't stay." Jorge said.

"No!" Vera exclaimed. "There is no fucking way we're leaving without Newt."

"And the rest of the Gladers!" Thomas added.

Vera watched as the WCKD soldiers started to close in.

"Fuck this. I don't care what you say. I'm not losing him too." Vera spat, standing up and making a run towards Newt.

He was on the ground, rifle knocked out on the side. Janson was standing in front of him, pointing a shotgun at him. Vera looked around to try and see if she could get any of the other Gladers' attention, but they were being attacked as well.

"Seriously?" Vera muttered as she aimed her gun at Janson and pulled the trigger. The bullet grazed his arm and Janson quickly turned around, firing his gun.

Vera's eyes widened and she heard someone yell her name. She tried to step to the side but wasn't fast enough. The bullet landed in her arm and screaming in pain, Vera staggered backward.

Janson looked like he was going to shoot again, but when someone shouted, "Janson!" he stopped and ran to the ship, where Ava was standing.

Vera saw white spots dance in her vision as she stumbled around, trying to find something to steady herself on.

She didn't know what happened next.

The first thing Vera felt was sunlight shining down on her. She opened her eyes to see a small group huddled around her.

"She's awake!" Newt called.

Vera frowned as she laid there. "What the hell happened?"

"You got shot," Thomas told her.

"Oh, that's so informative." She replied sarcastically. She waited for Minho to say something back to her, but it didn't come. Vera looked around at everyone and realized that Minho wasn't there. Maybe he was out getting things.

"So I hope you got the bullet out?" Vera asked.

Jorge stepped forward. "Yeah, we got the bullet out, hermana. But none of us are experts. Mary's dead. I'm sorry to say that your arm won't heal properly."

Vera smiled slightly. "Hey, that's no problem. It's a nice reminder that I'm not weak." She shrugged. That's when she realized the thick bandage around her wound. She looked at Newt and said, "Besides, I'm not going to be the only one that's injured."

Newt's eyes widened. Vera laughed. "I'm not stupid." She whispered. "I notice things." Her voice grew louder as she said, "Like how Minho isn't here. Where is he, anyway?"

It was as if that sentence was a thunderstorm.

"Yeah, uh, about that. We got shucked." Newt said.

"What? What you mean?" Vera asked, looking around and noticed that Sonya and Aris weren't there either.

"They took a bunch of the subjects," Harriet said. She looked tired and sad as if she had lost energy. In fact, all of them looked tired.

"And that's why we have to go back for him," Thomas said.

Vince looked at him before yelling, "We just got our asses kicked by WCKD and you want to go back?"

"Minho's with them. And so are Aris and Sonya. We have to go back." Thomas insisted.

"Tommy's right. Our friends are there. We can't just leave 'em."

"I would like a bit of revenge," Harriet said, twisting a knife around and around her finger.

"They took my memories, right? Don't you think I would like them back?" Vera asked.

Vince groaned. "Fine, fine. You kids and your determination."

They started to leave the room. Before leaving, Brenda told Vera to rest until she felt much better.

Newt stayed behind. "So you know." He said.

Vera smiled. "I know you have a limp. How you got it, I have no clue."

"I'll tell you the story sometime."

"That would be nice. Thanks for keeping me around."

"You're actually not that bad. Bloody...passionate about somethings, but not bad."

"I could say the same for you. Oh god, are we having one of these cliche conversations?"

"We already had that."

Vera didn't say anything and looked down. She felt a hand on her wrist.

"Don't worry. After all of this, we're going to be in a much better place. And we're going to get there together." Newt said.

She looked up at him and for the first time in ten years, she felt hope.

Ooh, this was very badly written. I'll pull up something afterward.

I'll make this short and quick haha. Thank you! We've reached over a two thousand reads! Thank you so much!

I'll skip the question of the update because I have two more updates to make before I officially wrap up this fanfiction!

Thanks for reading!

< Emily >