'Till Death Do Us Part

Chapter Twenty Nine - Ashes ashes we all fall down.

"Gally?" Thomas spluttered. He looked like he was going to be sick, his face ashen, eyes as round as saucers, his fists clenched.

Gally twitched, his face pale, eyes wild. "T-they're controlling m-me." He stuttered, through gritted teeth. "I can't-" He stopped halfway, and his face went slack. Like he'd given up fighting. He reached round to his back pocket, pulled out a knife, and aimed it at Thomas.

There wasn't any time to react. Gally was already aiming the knife. His hands were shaking like mad, but it wouldn't be hard to hit his target at such a close range. He wasn't in control of his own movements any more. Time moved in slow motion. Minho yelled and dashed forward, but he was too far away. Newt cried out in shock. Thomas just stood there, eyes wide. Riley watched in terror as the knife spiralled through the air, flipping over and over. She watched as Chuck dived forward.

And she watched as the knife hit him in the chest.

The boy fell to the floor, his body convulsing, gasping and coughing. Thomas cried out and dropped to his knees. Riley wanted to comfort him, but she couldn't. All she could see was red. She didn't think, she just acted - lunging towards the woman, who stood there with a content smile on her face, like killing innocent children was just a normal day in the office for her.

She started punching blindly, screaming in rage, her mind numb, her ears ringing. She wasn't attacking just because of Chuck. This was one of the people that had done this to her. And Chuck - Chuck was just a child. He didn't deserve a fate like that; he should've been doing normal stuff, being a normal kid, going to school and playing out on the street with his friends, not fighting Grievers and evil scientists.

As she delivered each blow, kicking and hitting mercilessly, she thought about a particular person. A blow to the face; for Chuck, for tearing a child away from his family and throwing him into this hell. A punch in the ear; for Newt, for all the suffering he'd been through, for all the heartache they'd made him endure. A sharp kick to her leg; for Minho, for tearing their family apart. Another punch to the jaw; for all the Gladers who had died trying to escape.

Suddenly, she felt hands pulling her back - it was Newt and Minho, yanking her away from the woman, who was now slumped unconscious, blood covering her face. Riley strained against them, and managed to pull free, running back towards the woman. She wanted to kill her, more than she'd ever wanted anything else before. "Riley, calm down!" Minho hollered, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her up, bodily dragging her away.

It was chaos. Absolute chaos. Thomas was sobbing on the floor, Teresa comforting him. Gally was beaten unconscious, probably by Thomas - wether he was dead or not, Riley couldn't tell. Gladers ran everywhere. A group of people in black clothing had appeared whilst Riley was fighting, and were ushering the scared and confused Gladers out of the door. But she didn't care who they were, where they had come from. She didn't care about any of that. All she could focus on was Chuck's body, sprawled out in the middle of the room, lying in a puddle of his own blood, a huge wound in his chest, his curly hair spread out around his face.

Riley collapsed, crying like she had never cried before. She cried for Alby, for all the fallen Gladers, and she cried for Chuck. She felt arms around her as Minho knelt beside her and hugged her. She felt numb. She buried her face in his chest, still sobbing. "C'mon, kiddo." He said, gently. "Let's get the shuck out of here." He helped her stand on her own, and pulled her after the men in black.

Riley didn't watch where they were going, but they walked for more than five minutes. Newt had found them amidst the chaos, and was now walking in silence by Riley's side. She could hear Thomas' muffled sobs at the back of the group, accompanied by Teresa's gentle, comforting mutterings. Before she knew it, they had arrived at a bus, Gladers beginning to file in to it.

Riley studied their rescuers. They seemed genuine - and, if they wanted to hurt them, they would have done it by now. Some were talking to the Gladers, explaining things, but Riley didn't want to talk to anyone. She didn't want to know more about this world then she had already found out.

Riley ended up sitting at the back, her head in her hands, Newt and Minho either side of her. Thomas sat across from them, face streaked with tears; him and Chuck were like brothers. Most of the Gladers sat in silence, probably still trying to protest the events of the past several hours.

Newt put an arm around her shoulders as the bus started to move, pulling her into his chest. "It's going to be alright." He said, after a long moment of silence. "I promised, right? Everything is going to be okay in the end."

Riley nodded, though she was unsure she could ever feel alright again.

When the bus reached its destination, everyone was shellshocked. They were taken into a large building complex, and given food, drink, the option of taking a shower or having a nap. The rescuers - that was the only thing Riley could think of them as - gave them pizza. Actual, honest to god pizza. No offence to Frypan, but it was a million times better than the meals he used to cook back in the glade. Everyone was joyous, smiles and high fives all round. Riley knew she should feel like that, too. But she couldn't. Such a display of death - how could it possibly be considered a victory?

When everyone had finished eating, Riley and Teresa were told to follow one of their rescuers to another room to sleep in. Minho gave her a quick hug and told her to be safe, and then Newt came over and wrapped his arms around her. "Don't forget my promise." He whispered.

And then they kissed. It wasn't gentle, it wasn't perfect. It was rushed. But it was perfect, it was meaningful. And, everything was almost okay agin.

And, for now, almost was good enough.

[a/n

That's it. The end. Nada. No more rambly a/n's that probably everyone hates, no more crappy chapters and long rants, no more fluffy Rewt moments. Bye.

Kidding, I'm gonna make a sequel haha. But it won't be released for a while, so, yeah. I guess it is goodbye for now. But, for old time's sake, one last rambling speech from yours truly.

It was a pretty bad last chapter, but idk Im really sorry. It was really hard to write Chuck's death (*sobs*) so I kinda avoided the whole dying scene. Oops. It's kinda weird to think that actual living people have been enjoying this story. So I'd like to say a big thank you to all my lovely readers, especially those who take time to comment and talk to me over DM - without you, this story would cease to exist.

The sequel is going to be called "To have and to hold." Unless anyone can come up with a more decent title, then yeah. Now for the big speech.

*dramatic voice* Thanks to my laptop, for always being there for me (even if the charger is rlly shitty). Thanks to my readers, for making this all happen. Thanks to JDash, for creating 98% of the characters. Thanks to my best friend, Wolfie, for helping me with the plot and putting up with my endless complaints during writers block.

Yeah, okay, I'm done now lol. Goodbye and goodnight, shanks. I'll update this when I've published the book. I may do a little extra sneak peak of the next book soon idk.

For the last time (in a while anyways),

-Delirious.