EPIPHANY ? newt

A full out war had broken out behind us within seconds. The cranks had bombs and WICKED had the guns. Glass and bullets along with a few stray bits of concrete rained down around us, and Thomas pushed himself off the ground, screaming "We need to go, now!" Him and I grabbing one of Newt's arms each, our group started moving forward, as best as we could while avoiding being killed, again. We turned into another alleyway that seemed to be out of the main kill zone for the moment, Thomas taking the opportunity to pull out his walkie and trying to contact Brenda.

"We're not going to make it," he started, trying to catch his breath through the smoke all around us, "Just take the others, get everyone else out while you still can." Thomas added after hearing Brenda's reply.

I leaned closer to the boy, hearing a crackly "I'm not leaving you, okay? So forget it." come from the other side of the line.

"Even though you should?" nothing but silence followed Thomas's words, but after a few seconds, Brenda's voice came through once again, this time her tone carrying none of the sadness it had been filled with just seconds ago, but a new sort of motivation laced in it.

"Don't worry, Thomas. I'm coming to you guys! Our ride is here!"

Thomas sat up straighter, a look of fear crossing his face as he held the walkie talkie even closer, as if that was somehow going to do anything. "Brenda, what are you talking about?"

"Just look for us near the tunnels." was the only rushed reply Thomas got from the girl before the line shut off. Leaving us in even more panic than before. The city was literally going up in flames before out eyes as we started moving again, Thomas and I taking our spots on either side of Newt and helping him up.

"We're almost there, Newt. You're going to be alright." I whispered softly as I pulled out my hand gun, shooting a crank that felt too close for comfort to where we were.

But instead of agreeing with my words mindlessly like he usually would, the blonde just groaned, "Just leave me." he gasped out, as if even speaking was hard for him now.

"NO! Are you-" I had to stop myself from saying the word crazy, taking a deep breath in as suddenly a car flew out of an alleyway on fire - landing in the middle of the road before us, with dozens of cranks running right behind it. I whirled on Newt, holding the boys shoulders as I forced him to meet my eyes. "No, Newt. I'm getting you out of here alive, alright? You-you know that cat I keep talking about? The one I'm going to get when we get out of this place? Well, I have no clue how to look after myself, let alone a pet, if I'm being honest. I'm going to need you there to help me, so you're not going anywhere, okay?"

A small, pained smile found its way onto Newts face for a second, before he fell into me once again, another fit of coughs overtaking him. I helped Newt to rest against the wall behind him as a sudden whirring filled the sky. Taking my eyes off the boy before me for a second, I looked up, seeing a burg fly overhead us. "Okay, thats them. We gotta go, come on." Thomas said quickly, kneeling down beside Newt and I to help the boy up, but Newt shook his head and I could see black liquid starting to dribble out of the side of his mouth.

"Go without me, man, just..." he broke off, falling into another fit of racking coughs as the rest of us watched. I swallowed, balling my hands into fists to try and calm my racing heartbeat that was making it hard to think, but it only got worse and harder to breath with every second.

I grabbed hold of Minho's arm, not taking my eyes off Newt as he gasped for breath as I spoke to the Asian boy, "Minho, you need to run ahead. Get the serum and get back to us as soon as you can." I almost whispered, but having the strength to speak normally. "Minho, go."

"She's right, I can cover him." Gally said softly, standing up, but I closed my eyes, a sharp pain blooming in my chest as I uttered the next words which were probably the most painful things I'd ever had to say.

"No, Gally, stay with Thomas and Newt. I'll cover Minho. You need to cover the two of them while Thomas sticks with Newt." I didn't want to leave. I wanted nothing more than to just hood Newt, if I was being honest. But I needed to do what was best for the boy, and I knew Gally was a better shot than I as much as I didn't want to admit it. They would be safer with him.

Newt grabbed hold of my hand with his burning hot one, shoving a small necklace of some sort into my palm, making me meet his eyes one last time before we started moving. "Take it, please. Thank you, Seph, Minho. Thank you."

I could feel tears running down my cheeks as I squeezed his hand. "Anytime, Newt. You just gotta hang on for me, okay? I'll be back before you know it, I promise. You hear me?" With one final look at the boy, I tucked the pendant safely into my pocket, turning to Minho and stabilizing myself as I stood up, ignoring the fact that every part of my body was screaming at me to just stop for a second as I pulled out my gun once again. "Come on, Minho, we gotta go."

We ran without saying anything for a few minutes, down one block, then another... we were almost halfway through the third one when I finally spoke up. "He's going to be fine, Minho. We'll get back in time." I wasn't sure who I was trying to convince with my words as I shot down another two cranks, but Minho looked over at me, nodding firmly as he turned back to aim at another lot of cranks trying to rush us.

If only I had that bloody vial I'd nicked from the Right Arm. How ironic that that was the one thing I had to lose. Out of all the things that could have fallen out of my pocket, it had to have been that. If I still had it, I wouldn't be standing here. And Newt would be alright.

My mind wandered to the strange necklace Newt had seemed so intent on making sure I took with me. What was it? Why was it so important?

The necklace.

The necklace was in my pocket.

"Sephora, what the shuck are you doing!?" Mingo suddenly called, grabbing my arm and pulling me to the cover of behind a wall, but I ignored him as I dropped my gun to the floor, pulling my jacket off in a blur of movement. "Have you lost it!? This is no time to be stripping in the middle of a street, Seph. We have to get moving!"

I had managed to fully pull the jacket off as Minho peered out of our hiding spot, shooting at some crank or the other as I started vigorously shaking my jacket upside down. It was a stupid thought, but I couldn't get Newt's expression of when I'd told him about the missed cure out of my head. I couldn't forget the conflicted face he's made when I'd spoken about it again, how he'd almost reached into his pocket to reveal something, only to think better of it. How he had kept repeating that Minho came before him. Hell - how pretty much everyone mattered more to him than himself.

The necklace reminded perfectly safe inside my pocket, no matter how much I shook it. "Minho, I have to go back."

The boy looked at me, a wild look in his eyes. "Seph, you've really gone insane. Have you forgotten about Newt!? The cure!? We need to get it for him! He could-"

But I cut him off, knowing we didn't have the time to waste fighting. "No, Minho. Thats exactly why I need to go back. See - Newt took my jacket off my when I'd passed out. He had full access to it before I came around. And he knew he's been bitten by then. Minho, I think he has the cure. On him."

Confusion was clear in the boys eyes as he searched my face, trying to make any sense of the jumble of words I was saying. "Minho, you have to trust me. If I know that boy at all, I know what he's bloody doing. You go on, get the cure and meet us back there. But I have to go back, I'm sorry." Without looking back, I ignored Minho's calls, sprinting out of our hiding spot alone, ready to start backtracking to where Newt was waiting to die.