The Death Cure - Gally oc

Promise

Gally's POV.

"He's fucking taken with you." Finley says with a lopsided grin once we've left the room. Laurence wasn't what I expected, though I wasn't sure what that was. I could definitely see why he was in charge.

It didn't take long to get into the groove of things, which was mostly spreading anti-WCKD propaganda and trying to find a way through the walls and into WCKD.

I found myself almost always with Finley and growing more fond of her stupid comments every time she spoke. I also couldn't help but notice how different she seemed when we were with the group compared to just the two of us. She almost never called people by their name, though everyone seemed to know hers, and actively avoided anything past small talk with the others.

I let my curiosity get the better of me late one evening when we were up on the roof together.

"How long have you been with this group?" I inquire as I sit down next to her, letting my legs hang over the edge of the building.

"Met Laurence about 2 years ago, same time he started rounding up people to follow him." She answers looking up at me.

"You don't seem very close with any of the others..." I say not knowing how to phrase it as a question.

"So?" She looks away.

"I guess I just find it a bit strange, I means you've barely known me two months. You don't strike me as the kind to be so friendly with strangers."

"What, are you complaining?" She tries for a joke but her hearts clearly not in it. Refusing to look at me she's quiet for a moment. Finally she lets out a huff of air, "I'm being selfish." She says quietly.

I furrow my eyebrows, "I don't follow."

"I shot my best friend in the face, her name was Poppy." Her voices wavers slightly so she clears her throat. "She begged me to do it for days, I was too weak then. I only caved of course when she wasn'tPoppy anymore and she tried to kill me." Feeling weirdly still my eyes widen at the revelation. She clenches her jaw. "Then there was Mandy and Don. Poppy and those two were who I was with before these guys, we'd made a deal long before any of us showed symptoms, that we wouldn't let the others turn. I followed through, killed Mandy. Don of course cranked out the quickest, killed himself so we wouldn't have to." Finley still refused to look at me, but I could see her blinking rapidly, trying not to cry. "Getting close to anyone always ends badly. Sure it still sucks when anyone I know turns completely. Watching someone turn is always gonna be shit. This way it's a little less shit, plus it'll be a little less shit for them when its my turn."

I look down at her, not knowing what to feel. "Sorry Fin." She still refuses to look at me. "I don't see how it's selfish trying to protect yourself — or the others for that matter."

She shakes her head. "That's not it. I like you. You're a good person, you don't take any bullshit and the cherry on top of it all, you're immune. And that's just it, I can befriend you comfortably knowing you'll never end up begging me to put a bullet in your brain or trying to eat me." She finally looks up at me and the dark look on her face breaks my heart. "But I know that inevitably I'm gonna turn, and you're the one who's gonna have to sit there and watch."

I don't want to believe it but I know she's right. I suddenly hate than I'm immune and she's not. I hate that she's been through all that. I hate more than anything that I can't help her.

When I don't say anything she continues. "Soon as I feel any of the symptoms I'm leaving, don't worry."

I don't know why but that's the last straw. "Don't worry?" She jumps slightly at my sudden outburst. "How could I?" I look at her and feel tears well up in my eyes. "It's not selfish of you to be my friend. I'd never been so alone, hell when you found me I was almost dead. Now I'm actually..." I brush a tear of her cheek with my thumb without thinking. "Happy."

"Doesn't make it less cruel, letting myself get close to you." Her voice is barely above a whisper.

"You're not cruel." I tell her firmly. "You're one of the best things that's ever happened in this incredibly stupid shucking world." I stare into her sad round eyes for a long moment, one I don't want to end. "Don't leave." I start, knowing I'm asking too much. "Promise you'll stay, we'll fight together. When we break into WCKD we'll have buckets of the serum, we could keep going forever."

She studies me carefully, her expression flicking between too many emotions to count before she finally answers. "Okay, I promise —"

"Really?—"

"But only," She continues, "if you promise me, that the very second I get the flare if we don't already have these 'buckets' of the serum, you'll kill me."

"I promise." I tell her, hoping I never have to follow through.

"Good, it's settled then." She turns to look back out at the horizon, I do the same. She lets her head lilt to the side and rest on my shoulder, it feels right.

We stayed on the roof like that until the sun came up, talking for hours about what we'd do once WCKD was defeated. Being somewhere quiet with greenery instead of rubble, I'd build things for comfort like I did in the glade but this time without the walls, she said she would draw up plans to use tech for simple inventions that could be fun and helpful instead of refurbishing weapons. Living instead of surviving, it was a common dream.

Then I heard it, an odd rumbling sound so muffled I wasn't sure it was real. "Did you hear that?" I ask Finley.

"Yeah that's the train, it goes underground a few miles out so none of us can get at it before it enters the city." She sees the calculating look on my face and adds, "The entrance to the tunnel is insanely well guarded and runs the very likely risk of being flattened by a train so before you ask, no, it's not an option."

"But what if we found another way into the tunnel that was closer, like, through the sewage tunnels or something, we could get under the wall." I suggest. She smirks with a wild glint in her eye.

"Sounds like we've got some sewage tunnels to explore."

DW, The next part is the last part before the other gladers show up!