Maze Runner: Irregular

Chapter 14

We raced towed the box, and It was hard to keep up with Gally's long legs. There was already a small group of boys surrounding the metal box, all whispering to each other or looking nervously down the hole.

The Asian guy was at the front, and he was keeping everyone back. I think his name was Minho.

The alarm was already dying, and it left a ring in my ears that muffled everything. We pushed past the group of boys and stared into the abyss.

You could see a light getting closer and closer, and I realized I had never seen the box itself. From my short experience, it was terrible.

Newt arrived beside me, and squeezed my shoulder. I was shivering despite the warmth. It was my first time seeing this, and we thought I would be the last one. Considering I was a girl and everything.

The box arrived at the top, and Newt, Alby, and Minho jumped down into it. The walls shook.

There was a couple of crates, a lot of water jugs, and a large pole. Attached to it was a box with a note on it.

Everyone stared down at it, and Alby reached out to grab hold of the smooth metal. But Newt stopped him and whispered something into his ear. They took out all the boxes and jugs out first, then jumped back in. Newt inspected the pole, and then reached for the box.

It was small and metallic, with engravings on the side. There were swirls, and made the box look much smaller than it actually was. Newt jumped out of the box, and was gripping it tightly with both hands.

There was a click, and it pinged through the small area. A long thin arm came out of the box, and had a sharp stinger on the end.

Newt was frozen, staring at the arm as it slowly extended. Minho rushed to knock the box out of his hands, but was too slow. The arm pricked it's one long finger into the space between his pointer finger and thumb. The color instantly drained from Newt's face, and he breathed out once, then slowly fell backwards.

I caught him, and slowly lowered him to the ground. Someone kicked the box away, and some gladers we're beating it with sticks.

I looked down at his hand where the syringe went in, and the skin around it was pink, rapidly turning red. No blood was coming out, which scared me more than if it would have bleed.

I looked at his face, which was staring at me. He said something that made my blood run like ice water.

"You're really pretty, you know."

It was something a person with no priorities would say at their death.

But he wouldn't die. Not from a wound that wasn't even bleeding, right? My thoughts countered, Ya, but if he wasn't dying why was he acting like this?

I pulled the hair back from his face to see his eyes better. They were dilated, and had none of the sparkle they usually did. His cheeks had red splotches on them, and he was breathing shallowly.

The group of med-jacks were already tending to his hand. They knew I had some medical knowledge, and left me with keeping him conscious.

"Newt, hey. HEY. Listen. Stay awake. Just listen to my voice and stay awake."

It was no use. He nearly laughed softly, and continued.

"The first time I saw you, you were a little girl, devastated by your mom's death. I loved you since that exact moment when you tried to glare at me with your big, big brown eyes."

He smiled, and I was crying. I hugged him, until his last breath.

Then I was pulled away.

Pulled away from my best friend.

Away from Newt.