Book 2: Scorch of the Heart / Newt x OC

Chapter 6

They finally arrived at the bottom of the hill. The area was crowded with people, no way were they going to make it through in the truck. They all filed out of the truck and slowly made their way through the crowd. People were walking and shoving passed the group as if they didn't see them, or didn't care. Some people were seen piling body bags that had bodies inside of them onto a truck. People were shouting multiple things to each other, it was hard to focus on one voice. "This place has really gone through hell." Jorge stated.

"We just gotta stay together." Thomas responded. Skylar walked behind Newt, beside Fry. She started shaking her head as she looked at the people around her.

"I don't like this." She said, barely heard over the shouts around them.

"Don't worry, I'm sure....." Fry had started to say but was distracted by a loud voice heard over a speaker. They turned in the direction of the voice and saw multiple guys with masks armed with guns sitting on top of a truck as it drove past everyone. A guy sitting on the top of the truck at the front, had a walkie talkie of some sort and was yelling something.

"They hide behind their walls, thinking they can keep the cure for themselves, while they watch the rest wither and rot!" The man yelled. Skylar and the others backed up so the truck could go past them. As the truck went past, one of the men on the truck, who had a red mask over his face, saw Thomas and stared at him as they drove past. Skylar was now standing by Thomas and she saw the man stare at Thomas.

"Thomas-". She started

"I know." Thomas interrupted. They both looked up to see a couple of helicopters and a berg hovering over the wrecked city. Thomas continued forward, following a crowd of people closer to the Last City. They turned a corner and saw the massive wall that protected the city. "That's it. That's our way in." Thomas started to walk more quickly to the front of the crowd. Skylar and Newt took up the rear of the group as they pushed past the crowd that was shouting out at the walls.

"What the heck did we get ourselves into?" Fry asked from in front of Skylar and Newt. Skylar looked around and spotted the man that had stared at Thomas before. He was now staring in their direction as he walked behind them. She slowly turned her head to look in front of her but saw two other armed men walking to her right about 8 feet away. He was also staring at them. Skylar glanced over at Newt and knew he had realized the same thing she did. He was glancing around with his head down.

"We've gotta get out of here." She told Newt as she looked to the front of the crowd. Newt nodded as he looked ahead as well. Thomas and the others were at the way front. Newt and Skylar quickened their pace to catch up with them. Newt grabbed Jorge and Thomas by their shoulders.

"Hey, guys, we gotta go now." Newt advised. Skylar looked over her shoulder and saw two men getting closer to them. Thomas and the others spotted the men closing in on them and realized what Newt meant. Jorge pulled his gun out of his jacket as Skylar reached for her's in her holster. Suddenly, a low loud humming noise was heard. Everyone turned to the wall to see huge machines on top of the wall rising. People started to scream and run away. The men who had been closing in on the group started to flee as well.

"We gotta go, NOW!" Skylar shouted at the group. Just then, the machines started to fire on the crowd. The group quickly turned around and ran. Skylar put her hands over her head while she continued to try and find safety. The group turned a corner, Skylar in the lead. She continued to run, right into an armed man who wore a mask. He grabbed her by the jacket and started to pull her with him. She grabbed his hands, resisting his pull, and kneed him right in between his legs. He immediately let go as he hunched over on the ground. She turned to see Newt and the others being loaded into the trucks around them. She started to run and help but was hit in the back of the head with a gun, knocking her out.

Skylar looked around her. She was surrounded by a forest. She knew this wasn't in the maze. This forest had a different feel to it. Like the forest she was in during her "coma-of-sorts". She started to hear children laughing. She slowly walked in the direction of the voices. She found two kids running around and playing in the forest. There was one girl and one boy. They looked about a year apart from each other, the girl being the oldest. They were between 6 or 7 years old. They laughed and teased each other. The girl had long brown hair and bright green eyes. The boy also had brown hair but had blue eyes instead of green. Skylar had a small smile on her face as she watched them play. "SKYLAR! CHRIS!" Skylar and the two children jumped and turned to look in the direction the voice came from. A big man with broad shoulders and short black hair came walking quickly over to the two children. The man walked right past Skylar as if she wasn't there. The kids shared a look of horror as the man walked towards them. He reached the kids and grabbed the girl's arm. "What did I tell you about leaving the District?!" The girl didn't respond as she stared at the man, open mouthed and wide eyes. The man backhanded her across the face. Skylar flinched and touched her own face, as if she felt the slap herself. "It's never too early for them to add your name in that bowl!" He grabbed the boy's arm and dragged the two children away. Skylar stood there watching them until they were out of sight.

"Wait!" She yelled. She started running, trying to follow them. But she seemed to have lost them. She started turning around, looking at the trees. A voice started calling her name, but it sounded like it was coming from every possible direction. She frantically looked around, trying to spot the person calling her name. She covered her ears as the voice started to get louder and louder. She slowly fell to the ground, tightly closing her eyes, still covering her ears. She started screaming out of frustration. The voice was replaced by a scream.

Skylar quickly looked up. She was no longer in the forest. She kneeled in a huge courtyard covered with concrete on all sides. She saw multiple people standing around the edge of the courtyard staring at the same point in the middle. She followed all of their gazes to the middle while a sound of something slashing against another was heard and another scream followed, coming from the middle of the courtyard. She looked at the scene in front of her and her eyes widened with pain. A girl with brown hair that went down just passed her shoulders, was chained to a stone column. She looked no older than 14. Her front faced the column and her hands were handcuffed to the column while a man repeatedly whipped her back. Her blue T-shirt ripped with every whip thrust upon her back. She even had a few marks on her arms where the whip wrapped around her body and caught her arms. With another thrash against her back, the whip caught the top of her left shoulder this time. She screamed with even more pain than before. Skylar was breathing heavily now. She grabbed her own left shoulder, as if she felt the pain like she did when the little girl was slapped. Skylar started to back up, making her way to the back of the crowd. All of a sudden, she was back in the forest. She started looking around her, confused and on edge. "Sky." Skylar quickly turned around to see Chris standing a few feet away from her.

"Chris?" Skylar asked with a happy yet confused look on her face.

"Don't leave Newt's side. Watch his back" Chris instructed her.

"I-I don't understand. Wh-"

"Just trust me.......Okay?" Skylar looked at him for a moment.

"Always." She reassured him. He gave her a small smile before taking a few steps back, turning around, and heading deep into the forest. "Chris." She called after him. But everything started to go pitch black.

She quickly opened her eyes as she gave a small gasp. She sat up a bit to look around. She was inside a truck. She saw Fry sitting at her feet. She realized someone had been slightly holding her head up. She looked to her right and saw Newt sitting right next to her. "You alright?" He asked in his accent as he slowly retracted his hand from her head. Skylar nodded to him. She quickly sat up all the way. She continued looking around the truck as she started rubbing the back of her head. Jorge, Fry, Newt, and one of the armed men were the only ones in the truck with her. She glared at the armed man. She slowly turned her head to see that her gun had been removed from the holster on her leg.

Where are Thomas and Brenda? She thought to herself. She didn't want to ask any questions of the armed man so as to not make him think she was worried. She wasn't worried but she didn't actually know how to feel in this situation. She could tell these people weren't WCKD. But who were they then?