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

Chapter 81

Cally's pov

Newt.
     That fucking idiot. The moment I opened my eyes, I saw him standing between me and the Griever. His back turned to me, facing the creature with a wooden pole, ready to stab it the moment it came too close.
     I wanted to scream at him to get away, to run. He wasn't going to be able to win from that Griever on his own. I could see him favoring his right ankle, it clearly hurt more than before. I wasn't able to see his face, but his back on itself was already ripped and bloody enough to tell me his front wouldn't be any better. 
     The Griever was only a few feet away when it happened. The creature stiffened in mid leap, less then a second later its legs pulled back and disappeared inside its body, Immediately followed by the lights that turned off. The creature collapsed to the ground, sliding forward on its slimy body until it crashed into the dead one I was trapped against. Newt barely jumped aside on time to not get crushed between the Grievers' bodies. 
     I stared at the Griever in disbelief. Still panting and shaking, I tried to wrap my head around what had just happened.
     "Cally?" Newt's voice got me to turn my eyes to him. 
     "Did they..." I started, but trailed off as I let my gaze go to everything around me. The Grievers that had been surrounding us just a few seconds ago had collapsed into themselves. The only ones still standing were the other Gladers, who were staring at the mess around them just as dumbfounded as I did. 
     "I think they did." Newt answered my unfinished question. There were a few seconds of silence while we looked at each other, until we both started to laugh.
     We did it! We made it through. Oh it felt so good to be alive! With a happy scream, I let myself fall on my back, not caring that I fell onto one of the Grievers. I was already covered in so much dirt and blood that it didn't matter to me anymore. All I cared about was that we were alive and not torn apart by Grievers.
     After Newt and I used what little strength we had left to push the Dead Griever off my legs, I engulfed him in a tight hug. I could still feel the slight tremble in his body as he pressed me closer. "We made it," he whispered in my ear, stroking my hair with one hand. I couldn't help the giggle that escaped my lips, I was so relieved and happy that we were still alive. Realization hit me. I let go of the hug and hit him on the shoulder.
     "You absolute idiot!" I bit at him. "jumping between me and that Griever like that. You could've gotten yourself killed! If Tho-" Before I knew it, Newt's lips had connected with mine, I didn't waste any time and kissed him back. 
     "Ugh! Just get a buggin' room already." Minho's annoyed voice made us pull apart. I would've given a sarcastic or witty comment back if I hadn't been so happy he hadn't become Griever food. With a big grin, I pushed myself off the ground and jumped at him for a hug. Minho groaned, probably because my sudden weight hurt him, but he tried to conceal it while he hugged me back, lifted me in the air, and spun me around once. When I let go, Minho scoffed. "What? Don't I get a kiss?"
     I rolled my eyes but still turned back and planted a quick kiss on his cheek before helping Newt stand up as well. I could see him tremble, his left foot, the one that he had broken some time ago, must've been overloaded during the fight. "Are you okay?"
     "Just bloody wonderful," Newt answered with slight sarcasm and a smile. 
     "I'm also fine, thanks for asking." Again, I rolled my eyes before hitting Minho on the arm, trying to suppress a laugh. "That's more than you could say about half of us." Minho's teasing voice had dropped drastically while he spoke. Immediately, anxiety started to take over my body, an uncomfortable prickly sensation at the back of my head. Something was wrong.
     "Where's Ezra?" I asked no one in particular as I started to look around me better. I could see Winston and Sten still standing. Gus, with his one hand, had also survived. I saw Fred, Micky, and Frypan. But no matter how many times my eyes scanned the faces of the Gladers around me, I couldn't find the brown curls that belonged to my twin brother. Minho and Newt didn't say anything, both of them also scanning the group of guys. When my eyes fell on the Builder that was fighting beside my brother before we got separated, I ran to him. 
     "Hey!" I waved at him to get his attention. At first, he didn't seem to notice me until I jumped in front of him. "Where's Ezra?" I didn't ask his name, how he was doing, or said that I was glad he was still alive and in one piece. Rude? Probably. Insensitive? Absolutely. But did I care? No. I just wanted to find my brother.
     The guy looked at me with his sad blue eyes. The moment my question got through to him, he looked down, avoiding my gaze.
     The uncomfortable anxious feeling in the back of my head twisted into something more painful, suddenly I found it hard to breath. I grabbed him by his arms. "You were with him. Where is my brother." I was trying not to yell in his face, but my tone of voice seemed to scare him anyway. When he still didn't say anything, I shook him harshly. "Tell me!" 
     "Cally-" Minho placed his hand on my shoulder, wanting me to calm down, but I shook him away.
     "Please... just say something." I practically begged the guy, my grip on his arms weakening. 
     "He-" The guy started, but he cut himself off. "He saved me..." 
     "What do you mean?" My heart pounded against my chest again. The way he phrased everything and avoided my eyes... It scared me more than any of the Grievers ever did. 
     If I had been paying more attention to the guy, I would've seen the tears that ran down his cheek as he nodded to the right sooner. Understanding what he meant, I jerked my head in the same direction. Frantically looking around me, until my eyes found him laying on the ground.
     My heart dropped. I could feel the blood drain from my face, my stomach turned, followed by a wave of nausea.
     "No..." I whispered to myself. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who had laid eyes on him. Minho and Newt both blocked my way, looking at me with pity and worry, but I pushed past them with very little effort and made my way to my brother.
     I choked back a sob, covering my mouth at seeing him like... like that. There was no sign of movement, no tweaking finger or a blink of an eyelid, not even the soft rhythmic movement of his chest I'd never before seen him without. His left arm stuck beneath a deactivated Griever, his right leg missing and empty eyes staring right into mine without seeing me.
     "Please, no..." My whispers were too soft for anyone to hear. My body had involuntarily started to shake. Not able to hold my weight anymore, my legs gave in, and I dropped down on the ground beside my twin brother. I didn't know why I did it, but I gently took Ezra's stiff body, pulled him on my lap, and hugged him close to me. His skin wasn't that cold yet... he couldn't have been dead for long. If Thomas and Teresa had been a few minutes faster, maybe he would still be... 
     A new feeling grew inside of me. A new kind of emptiness. Somehow, it was worse, far worse than anything I had ever felt before. 

~.~.~

Newt's pov

I looked over at Cally, only able to see her back. She was covered in blood. I couldn't tell if it was hers or Ezra's, it was all mixed together. But Cally didn't seem to notice, and if she did, she didn't care. All she did was sit there, holding Ezra's lifeless body tightly wrapped in her arms, half pulled on her legs.
     Minho and I exchanged a look. He was still panting heavily, sweat dripping down his neck. I knew I wasn't doing any better, maybe even worse, but without saying any words to each other, we both knew it should be me who should go to her. With one last squeeze in my shoulder from Minho, I made my way to her side while he went to the Griever Hole with the other Gladers.
     "Cals?" My voice was raspy, so I cleared it. Cally didn't react. Now I had gotten closer I could hear her whisper, not at herself, but at Ezra.
     "You're okay. You're going to be okay. It's- it's just a- a flesh wound, right?..." she chuckled, a sad, somehow desperate chuckle before she fell silent for a short moment. "I... Please don't leave me. Please come back... I- I need you, I need you. Please, Ez... Ezra..."
     A weird sound escaped her mouth, some sort of combination of a scoff and a sob. "You fucking idiot. You promised we would- you promised..." small sobs kept escaping her throat with almost every word.
      I could tell she was trying so hard to keep herself together, it broke my heart to see her like this. To see her and Ezra like this.
     Cally sucked in a few deeper, but stuttering breaths in an attempt to control her breathing, while using her free hand to brush some hair out of Ezra's face. His glassy, lifeless eyes were staring aimless in the sky as if there was something up there for him to see.
     "Cally?" I tried again, laying my hand on her shoulder while kneeling down to get her attention. From up close, Ezra's eyes were even more haunting and I looked away, not capable of looking at him any longer without breaking down myself.
     Cally didn't react in words. The only thing she did was glance up at me. In that split second, I was able to see the agony she was feeling inside. The loss and heartbreak. But even though I was able to see all of that, there were barely any tears in those same eyes. "We need to leave, Cals." I whispered at her gently. Immediately, she started to shake her head.
     "No." She said determined before sniffing. "No, no, no. I'm not leaving him."
     "Cally-" .
     "NO!" She screamed in my face, her voice raw and full of rage, echoing off the walls around us. For a moment, I couldn't do anything besides staring at her with wide eyes. Cally seemed to realize what she had done and quickly looked away from me, mumbling a "sorry."
     "It's okay." I said, trying to relax my muscles and sound as reassuring as I could muster. Getting her to come with us was going to be harder than I had thought. She didn't want to leave her brother, which I understood, but we had to go on. "We can't stay." 
     There was a short silence, until Cally spoke up with her shaky voice. "I know." 
     "We can't take him with us." I stated as careful as possible. Instead of saying anything, she nodded her head almost unnoticeable. Wanting to give her some more time to say her goodbye, we sat there in silence. I kept an eye on the others, watching them jump through the Grieve Hole one by one. Minho was still standing there, making sure everyone got through. 
     Once the last Glader went through, Minho locked eyes with me, nodding to the Hole as a sign that it was time for us to follow. 
     "It's time to go." I whispered at her, gently taking her arm and waist to help her up. 
     "Wait," Cally pulled her arm loose from my hand. She gently placed Ezra's body back on the ground before closing his eyes. It would've given the illusion that he was sleeping if he hadn't been laying in a pool of  blood that came from where his leg had once been.
     "Now I'm ready." She said, shooting me the smallest, saddest smile I had ever seen her give. It made me want to press her closer to me than I'd ever had. To wrap her in my arms and protect her from anything that would ever make her look like that again. But I didn't. Instead, I did my best to smile reassuringly back while helping her up from the ground. Her skin should've been hot after everything that had happened, or at least warm. But she wasn't. Instead, her skin felt cold, as if it had been her who had died instead of Ezra. And in a way, I think, a part of her had.