When We're Older- The Maze Runner (Newt)

cranks

long chapter—happy 12k!

All I saw for miles and miles were mountains of sand—they all felt like they were coming down on us at this very moment. I covered my mouth and nose with my bare arm while trying to keep up with the group. Newt stayed behind me, hastily pushing me along as the energy I had in me drained. Wind blew from every side, stinging my eyes and my cheeks as the sand hit them. The air was warm, and as hard as I tried to breathe into my arm, I always got dust into my throat.

"Come on, Maisy," Newt encouraged as we began running up another hill, "Keep moving!"

My legs felt like jello as I pushed myself up the hill, my feet sinking further and further with every step. The undefined blue liquid was probably getting to me now, just when I needed my strength. All of the vials they had emptied into my neck were finally moving throughout my body, making me weaker than I had imagined. But I kept moving, wanting to get as far away from that place as I could. As we moved up the hill, I swore to myself that I wouldn't tell anyone about what happened there. That would be something I kept to myself despite what it did to my mental health. I just had to put the past behind me and keep moving forward.

"Get down, get down." Thomas whisper-shouted to Newt and I as we ran up the hill. Everyone was laying on their stomachs, watching as the search party for us grew larger. I laid down with everyone else, finally feeling the relief in my muscles. I didn't think I was gonna be able to get up now. My eyes were becoming heavier with every moment that passed. I leaned down and coughed into my elbow, attracting concerned gazes from the people I laid next to. But Thomas didn't notice, because he was on his feet again, waving at all of us.

"We'll lose them to the storm..." He whispered. Teresa was the first one to get up and start running down the hill as Thomas motioned for the rest of us to follow, "Stay low! Stay low!"

"Where are we even going?" I grunted as I lifted my body to my feet with the help of Newt, who was growing more concerned by the minute. He threw my arm over his shoulder and helped me as we stumbled down the sandy hill, following Teresa who had now entered some sort of building.

Nobody answered my question, probably not having the answer either. I held my hand up to shield the sand from my eyes, then returned it back to my mouth as I coughed once more, trying to breathe with all the cardio that we were doing. I watched as Teresa entered some kind of building through a broken window, ignoring all of the other protests from the Gladers. They looked back at Newt and me, and I coughed again, waving my hand as reassurance to let them go through. They obliged, and Newt and I stumbled in, carefully stepping over the sharp glass and almost falling down another sandy hill.

It was dark, and it smelled of dust and mold. I removed my arm from around Newt and coughed once more, finally getting to breathe in air that wasn't full of dust. I ran my hands through my hair as I shut my eyes and tried to rid the dizzy feeling in my head. What the hell did they do to me? I thought in my grief.

"Are you okay?" Newt grabbed my shoulders, making me gasp and take a step back. He furrowed his eyebrows, and I immediately relaxed into his touch when I realized it was him. I slowly nodded my head, feeling the room spinning as I looked to the side and saw Thomas frantically moving around, scanning his flashlight over the building we were in.

I took a step away from the sandy-haired boy and to Thomas, who was now looking at Teresa with sympathetic eyes as she begged to know what was happening.

"It's WICKED," I answered before Thomas, who looked at me with a confused expression. I repeated myself, "It's WICKED. They lied to us. We never escaped."

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I flinched again before turning around to face Minho, who looked at me the same way Newt did. He was now on my right side, standing behind me as Thomas explained what made them want to escape.