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

mary

   All I heard was screaming as my bruised cheek pushed into the dirt, Newt's body on top of mine keeping me from hearing the horrors of what was happening at the camp below us. As much as I tried to scramble out from underneath him, his weight kept me plastered to the ground.

   "Newt!" I screamed, fear taking over my senses as I began to hyperventilate. "Get off me! Please! My...My mom is—"

   Before I had to finish the sentence, Newt grunted and pushed himself to his feet, holding his hand out as the rest of us did as well. As soon as I regained my balance, I moved to dart down the path that led to the camp.

   "No!" A large bellow erupted from beside me before an arm wrapped around my stomach, keeping me from running any farther. "We need to stay together, Mae!"

   I recognized him as I punched at his grasp. "Get the hell off me, Minho!"

   "I'm not letting you go—"

   Tired of being held back, I let out a grunt through clenched teeth, turning around in Minho's arms and pushing him as hard as I could off me. His arm loosened, and immediately I grabbed his wrist, dropping my body to the floor and planting my hand into the ground. I swung my legs up to wrap around his neck, and I let my momentum push him to the floor as well. As quickly as I could, I unraveled my legs from around his head and stood to my feet as I began to sprint down the hill into the sea of chaos.

   I ignored Newt screaming my name from behind as I immersed myself into the screaming people, only one person on my mind as I weaved myself through a group of people sprinting somewhere I didn't care about. I was being bumped into left and right, pushed as they tried to grab themselves a weapon.

   "Mom!" I yelled as I stopped near a flaming tent. My eyes darted in every direction, seeing people drop to the ground from other people wearing all black. They were holding some type of gun—a launcher. Immediately, I knew that WICKED had somehow found us.

   Just like that, the hour of rest and peace was gone. We were fugitives again, our temporary happiness replaced with a burning fire that never seemed to be put out. We thought we were safe from the organization that ruined so many lives, but we would never be safe as long as they still existed. And now they were rounding up all of the innocent people who were just looking to move out at dawn...hoping to start new lives where they didn't have to be running as well. But us Gladers would remain on the everlasting track until we were either captured, or we were dead.

   "Shit." I muttered as I turned around once again, running in any direction and occasionally ducking from a shot. My heart raced with adrenaline as I ran my fingers through my hair, confusion eating my mind. How could this happen? Why? What did we do to deserve all this?

   "Mae!" Someone else screamed my name. I looked up just in time for a body to slam into mine, causing me to lose my balance and stumble to my feet. Landing directly on my shoulder, I yelped in pain, closing my eyes and reaching for the body part. I groaned and rolled over onto my stomach, gathering my bearings as I tried to stand. Right as I did so, a loud explosion erupted less than five feet away from me, causing my legs to give out once more, and my hands to reach over my head as I buried my face into the dirt.

   I felt like crying, like screaming, like pulling my hair out until I wrapped my arms around my mother who was nowhere to be found. I laid in the dirt, almost waiting for a WICKED guard to take me and just do what they wished. But in the deepest part of my mind, I knew that I couldn't lay here while the world was falling apart around me.

    So, as hard as it was, and as much as my ears rang from the eruption, my shoulder feeling like it was going to be ripped out, I grunted and scrambled to my feet. A voice was still calling my name, but I could hear it as no more than an echo in the back of my head. A muffled tone as I turned around slowly and saw Vince sprinting towards me. He wore a horrified expression on his face as he approached, placing his hands on my biceps. He was speaking, but I couldn't hear what he was saying.