A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt) UNDER EDITING/REWRITE

Chapter 78

Cally's pov

Newt and I stayed in the Deadheads for as long as possible. We sat on the ground, backs against one of the fallen trees. I lay curled up against his chest, arm around his waist while his arms were wrapped around me. We just talked about everything that had happened the past few months, stealing kisses from each other frequently.
     It was nice and peaceful, for as long as it lasted. The entire time, I couldn't stop thinking that this might be the only time we got to be like this. Soon, we would be fighting for our lives, and the odds that we both would make it out breathing were slim.
     I looked down at Bark, who was lying with us, curled up against my legs. I broke one of my arms free from Newt's hold and lay it on her back, stroking her fur. Even if Newt and I would make it out alive, this would be the last time I see Bark. The lovely brown Labrador who had been my companion from the first day I walked around the Glade. She always tried to help me, like the time she thought Newt was hurting me and she tackled him. I chuckled once at the memory. If Bark hadn't done that, Newt and I would've kissed way sooner.
     Thinking back to it, I started to wonder if we would have gotten together. Maybe we would have, but knowing myself, I would have tried to forget about it. I mean, I still thought I had an existing boyfriend that I can not deny I had been in love with at that moment. And even if he really did exist... I don't really know what I felt for him after everything that had happened since I got here. I changed so much... Besides, my feelings for Newt had still been almost entirely platonic back then as well.
     "What's so funny?" Newt asked after noticing my small chuckle.
     I looked up at him, his beautiful brown eyes looking at me with slight curiosity. I smiled at him, brushed some of his yellow hair out of his face, and planted a kiss on his nose, "Nothing." 
     Newt smiled back, planting a kiss on my forehead in return. "If you say so." We stayed like that for a little longer, just enjoying each others' company. But time passed by quick, and it was time to gather all the Gladers and test our luck against the Creators. 

Newt and Alby were the ones to gather everyone at the entrance of the West Door, the one that led to the Cliff. I was one of the first ones standing by the door, Bark digging in the earth beside me while I was talking with Teresa.
     The girl was nervous, I could tell. We all were. Everyone knew the only reason most of the Gladers agreed to come, was because they hoped the Grievers would only take one of us, just like they did in the past nights leading up to this, but I had the feeling that wasn't what was going to happen and it scared me even more. 
     "Are you sure you're up for this?" I asked Teresa. She and Thomas were going into the Griever Hole first, in order to push in the code and shut down the Grievers. "I mean, we don't know what's down there. Maybe there's a pool filled with alligators waiting for you to land in the moment you fall down the hole." 
     Teresa chuckled shortly, "Then we'll have to fight them." She joked a little with me. Teresa clearly thought I was trying to lighten the mood, even though I actually wasn't entirely joking about the alligators. 
     "You remember the Code, right? And in the right ord-" I let out a scream of suprise  before I could finish my sentence, somebody had grabbed me from behind and thrown me over their shoulder. The moment I had recovered from the surprise, I knew it was Minho.
     "Seriously, Minho?" I asked in an almost bored voice, even though I had to suppress my laughter. "You've done this way too many times, Shank."
     I could hear Teresa and Minho laugh while my chosen brother put me back down on the ground. Bark, who had been frantically walking around Minho while he held me, rushed to me to lick my face. Realizing again that this was the last day I would be with my dog, I let her continue while returning the affection by petting her. I could feel little tears stinging in my eyes, but the moment one left my eye, Bark had licked it away. 
     "Okay, okay! Stop it." Ezra, who had walked up to us together with Newt and Thomas, grabbed me beneath the armpits and lifted me on my feet. "Stop slobbering my sister's face. It's disgusting."
     I laughed while I quickly used Ezra's shirt to clean my face. Making sure my tears were gone before anyone could notice them. Ezra pulled his shirt out of my grip while letting out an annoyed groan. 
     "You Shanks ready?" Minho asked while Newt came standing beside me, sneaking his arm around my waist without anyone else noticing. On my turn, I did the same, leaning in to his side.
     "Thomas, this was all your idea, so it better work. If not, I'll kill ya before the Grievers could." 
     "Thanks," Thomas said. I don't know if Thomas noticed Minho was joking, but he seemed not to care. The brunet seemed very lost in his own head. Maybe he and Teresa were communicating in their heads? I looked from Thomas to Teresa, but when I saw Teresa looking at me and Newt with a raised eyebrow, I was almost positive they weren't.
     Once her eyes met mine, she glanced from me, to Newt, and back to me, silently asking me if her suspicions were correct. I smiled awkwardly at her, but nodded my head once, almost unnoticeable, but the dark haired girl saw it. A small smirk grew on her lips before her attention got drawn to Ezra. 
     "Is this everybody?" He asked Newt. 
     Newt nodded, "Yeah. I guess it's time to get bloody started." Without waiting for a reaction, Newt placed a kiss on my cheek and walked to the front of the group. Immediately after Newt walked away, I was met with three pairs of staring eyes. Not liking it one bit, I glared back, subconsciously rubbing my arm. "What?" 
     Minho and Ezra exchanged a look, before Ezra opened his mouth. "You and Newt, are you guys, like, a thing now or..?" 
     "Yeah... I guess..." I mumbled in response. We hadn't really talked about what we were now, but I assumed that together would be an appropriate description. I didn't know how I expected my friends and brothers to react, but Minho's reaction was the weirdest of them all. The Asian Runner looked around, until he found who he had been looking for. "Hey! Frypan!" 
     The cook turned his attention to Minho, "What?" He yelled back. 
     "Ready to tell me your secret recipe? 'Cuz I just won the bet!" 
     Before any of us could say anything else, Minho walked over to the Keeper of the Cooks and was out of our hearing range. "What was that about?" I asked no one in particular. The only responses I got were some shrugs. 
     In the meantime, Newt had made his way to the front of the group of Gladers and started to speak. "There are forty-one of us." He started, gaining the attention of the last few Shanks that weren't listening before.
     Newt threw his backpack over his shoulder and picked up his weapon, which existed of a wooden pole with barbed wire wrapped around the sharpened tip.
     "Make sure you've got your weapons. Other than that, isn't a whole lot to  buggin' say- you've been told the plan. We're gonna fight our way through the Griever Hole, and Tommy here's gonna punch in his little magic code and then we're gonna get payback on the Creators. Simple as that." I scoffed, but no one heard it. I knew Newt was trying to make it sound easy, but it we all knew it wasn't going to be easy at all. 
     "Shouldn't someone give a pep talk or something?" Minho asked, pulling my attention back to him. He wasn't standing with Frypan anymore, but in front of the crowd, a few feet away from Newt. 
     "Go ahead," Newt replied, not really seeming to care that much.
     Minho nodded his head before turning to face the crowd. "Be careful," He said dryly, as if he didn't care either. "Don't die."
     "Great. We're all bloody inspired." Newt said, I could almost see his mental eye roll. If I hadn't been as anxious as I was, I would've laughed at the two boys in front of us. But I was, and this really wasn't the moment to start laughing.
     "You all know the plan." Newt continued, pointing to the Maze over his shoulder. "After two years of being treated like mice, tonight we're making a stand. Tonight, we're taking the fight to the creators, no matter what we have to go through to get there. Tonight, the Grievers better be scared." 
     Brendon was the first one to start cheering, then Sten, then more. Soon the entire crowd was cheering and shouting their battle cries. Pumped by the energy around me, I joined in. My anxiety and fear faded away a little as I pumped it into my battle cry, and for a short moment, I felt like we could do this. We were going into the Maze, Thomas was going to enter the code, and we would get out. We were going to win this. 
    Newt thrust his weapon into the air, just like most of us already had done and yelled in order to get over our roars. "Hear that, Creators! We're coming!" 
     That was the last thing that Newt said before he turned around and ran into the Maze. I could barely see his limp as he led us. Minho and Alby were the first ones to follow him, followed by Thomas, Teresa, Chuck, and all the others. Adrenaline rushed through me as I joined in, only to be frozen in place by a single, high-pitched bark. My heart broke at the spot the moment I looked back at Bark, whose soft whining filled my ears. I can't do this. I thought, my throat clenched.  I couldn't leave her.
     "Cally, come on!" Ezra's voice broke me out of my daze. 
     "Goodbye, Bark." I mumbled, just before Ezra grabbed me by the arm and dragged me with him, after the others and into the Maze. Away from the life we built in this prison, and towards whatever horrors may follow.