Two Turtle Doves

Six

Not three minutes later, a large search party had been sent to search for the Gladers. You hid on top of a small dune, watching them below. Sand dug into your hand, but it was nothing compared to the splintering grains being blown into your face. The wind was cool, and you shivered uncontrollably.

"We've got to go," someone whispered. It sounded like Aris, but the sound of your heartbeat was too loud in your ears. Adrenaline flooded your entire body, and you felt as if you could run for miles without stopping.

"Alright, everybody back up slowly," Thomas instructed. "And stay low."

You did as he said, crawling back in a plank position slowly. Once you were sure you wouldn't be visible to WICKED, you stood up and started to run with the group. 

The skies seemed to be raining sand, adding to the abundance of it already coating your legs and forearms, but you knew you had to push through it. You brought your shirt up to the bottoms of your eyes. Nearly instantly, you regretted exposing your stomach but you knew it was preferable to your face.

Newt still stood by your side, but you tried not to focus on him. He can take care of himself, you told yourself over and over. He'll be fine. But you couldn't stop yourself from glancing at him every couple of seconds. Whenever you did, sand whipped your calloused skin and you had to turn forward again. 

You hadn't been thinking much about the running. But when the slope of the dune increased significantly, you had to make yourself take larger strides to avoid tumbling onto the rough ground. Despite all the effort, you found yourself falling through the strangely damp air. You turned to your side moments before your shoulder collided with the ground, rolling to the side. You expected to roll for longer than you did, but you felt yourself press against something cold and solid. 

After wincing at the small cuts the sand had made, you turned to look at what had stopped your movement. A shiny, blue-tinted surface was all you could see at first. When you looked to see what it was part of, you realized it was part of a large building. Probably the roof, because there seemed to be nothing above it.

You placed your hands on the material, which you had identified as glass, and slowly pushed yourself up. Newt ran up to you, pulling you into a tight hug immediately.

"Y/n, are you okay?" he asked. You felt his arms slip to yours, where he brushed the sand off of you. Your skin felt dry, like it would crack if you touched it too much.

"Yeah, I'm fine," you whispered. When you closed your mouth, you felt sand in your teeth. You bit down hard, and the sound of it crunching filled your ears.

"You sure?" You only nodded in response. For a moment, you were unaware that every Glader was probably watching you. You looked into Newt's eyes, hoping to find something other than pain and loss. Instead, you could only notice that he looked worn out and miserable. But you could tell he put a lot of effort into his shoddy smile and so you returned a even less put-together one. 

With a sudden shake of his head, Newt scanned the other Gladers. You looked away from him, doing the same. Teresa was leaning against the glass, looking at something. You stumbled to her. There was a hole in the glass -- probably made by a person. Or a very large rock.

With almost no hesitation, she shouted, "Come on!" and lept inside. A few voices called out to stop her, but she was already gone. Thomas looked to Aris and shrugged, stepping into the hole and running down the side.

Not long after, everyone was huddled together inside of a large place. It looked familiar, but you couldn't recall a time you had been there. You tried to search your memory, to remember a smell or a sound or a sight. But all you could smell was a dull odor, all you could hear was the silence of the Gladers processing the strange land, and all you could see was a vast blackness that appeared to have swallowed the world whole. And not a single memory came back.