Maze Runner: Irregular

Chapter 16

I slammed the door open, and felt so happy at the sight of a certain chest rising and falling, I almost cried.

I slowly approached the bed to get a closer look. Newt's skin was a terrible shade of green and white, with every vein visible. He was huffing out his breaths, and was sweating so much it could fill a tub.

His mouth hung open, and they were moving like he was whispering words.

I bent down to touch his forehead, to let him know I was here. His hand and most of his arm were bandaged; you could see that the area around was pale yellow and blue.

I was so so relieved to see he was alive, but at the same time was worried that he wouldn't stay that way.

Jack stepped over to my side, and spoke to me in a low voice.

"He'll be fine. I promise. It's just a slightly more severe process than what you and Gally went through."

I nodded, and some hair fell into my eyes. It was really long now, especially my curly bangs. It was getting out of control, so I asked Rob for some scissors. He handed then over, reluctantly at first.

I stepped out into the night and cut my hair from the back. Then I ran some water through it and put it in a small bun.

When I was done, it was lighter and I could see the room more clearly.

"When do you think he'll wake up, jack?" I asked him.

Rob leaned over Newt and nodded.

"In a couple of days. It took you 6, and Gally about 8. This is much bigger, but should last the same amount of time."

"Ok."

I sat by his side the rest of the morning. Nothing changed, and I occasionally tipped water into his mouth.

I yearned to just lay down by him for just a minute, but that wasn't possible. He thrashed sometimes, out of the blue. He only said one clear thing, the rest was whispers or intelligible.

"Not yet! They aren't ready!"

I had no idea what he was talking about, and I thought about how easy it would be to just live day by day, not caring what was in the future. But I couldn't! If tomorrow I was going to be ripped from everything here, then I think about what I should do now. If I don't, then what matters?

Newt was so beautiful, even in pain. I still hadn't seen his eyes open, but could remember everything about them. They were a little bit lighter brown towards the middle, and darker toward the outside.

Some people visited, mostly to see how I was doing. I nodded and smiled, but meant none of it. I wanted to curl into a ball and hide, but put on a face like every leader has to.

Was I a leader? Was I the one in command in a past life? That's what I called it, my past life. Before the glade, the maze. I had only been here a couple weeks, but knew that we were sent for a very important reason.

At least, it better be good GD important enough to murder children, make them work to survive, and inject them with weird stuff.

I couldn't stay with him all the time, everyone was working extra hard to keep up, and I didn't feel right knowing I was just sitting here.

I kissed Newt forehead, and he flinched away. He also emitted a small groan. I looked hard into his face, and wasn't surprised. He didn't wake up.

I built some more shacks with Gally, and it was an excellent distracter. I hammered my fingers a couple of times because I just zoned out, but it was worth it. The peace, I mean.