The next morning, Y/N woke up alone. Newt's arms were no longer around her and he was nowhere in sight. Y/N sat up, going over her recent memory of working in WICKED. She stood up and walked to the door, recalling all the things that had happened. 'How could I have done those things?', the E/C eyed girl thought angrily to herself, walking slowly down the corridor while rubbing her temples. After every night of memories, the H/C haired Glader would wake up with pounding headaches. These seemed to stay throughout the day till late in the evening. Meaning Y/N would only get a few hours of relief before welcoming the pain again.
Y/N reached the door that lead to the main room and saw that everyone was gathered around someone. The former Runner limped over (Her knee was still not in it's best shape) to the muttering crowd and asked loudly, "What's going on?". Everyone silenced and turned around, their faces indicating something wasn't right. As Y/N continued looking on in confusion, Newt came out of the crowd and stood before her.
"Jorge has a device that can tell what the weather will be like. And in just a few hours, a massive sandstorm is coming and we need to leave. Now". Y/N's face grew into shock, she realised the Scorch was dry and full of sand but she never expected there to be a sandstorm!
The older, slightly tanned, boy known as 'Jorge' stepped forward to say, "Its true, mi amigos. We have been here for days and need to move now or none of us will reach the safe haven. So pack your things, we leave in 5 minutes". Everyone just nodded and split up to grab their gear. Y/N was sitting on the squeaky mattress in the medical room when the door opened to reveal a particular, tall blonde.
"Hey", Newt greeted softly, sitting down beside Y/N as she continued packing.
"Hey, you finished packing?", she replied with a warm smile, zipping her pack up.
"Yeah, just wanted to come see how you were doing. I mean, your knee still looks a bit 'iffy' at the moment. You definitely OK?". The E/C eyed girl just nodded and stood up, Newt following. Just as she was about to walk out of the room, Newt grabbed hold of her wrist, causing her to turn and face him in surprise.
"Newt? Is there something wrong?", the girl asked gently, trying to search his face to see any signs of distress. The brown-eyed boy shook his head and continued staring into her bright, E/C eyes.
"New-", but Newt had pulled her into a big hug, enclosing his strong arms around her tinier frame. He hadn't realised how slim she had gotten, it was probably that year of missing out on food and the past few days she had been beaten by her so-called 'friends'. 'I swear they'll regret it', he vowed silently, pulling his angel even closer to him. The two finally split, holding each other at arm's length.
"What was that for, Newt?", Y/N asked softly and full of concern. He loved that about her, she was just so caring about everyone. At least that didn't change over the year.
"I just missed you, Y/N... So bloody much...", the poor boy was choking on his words now, trying not to let tears pile up in his deep, kind eyes. Y/N just sighed and said, " I missed you too, Newt. Even if it was just for those few months, I still shuckin' missed you". The two stared lovingly at each other, only now just realising how much love they both shared for one another. So Newt leaned in slowly, hoping Y/N would pick up on what he was doing. The H/C haired Glader did and copied his actions.
Closer...
Closer...
Now their lips were just hovering over one another, not touching but the two could feel each other's breath. 'Oh my God...', was what Y/N was thinking right now, about lean in further and-
"Hey, guys!", the two split apart faster than saying 'Griever' and looked at the doorway. Minho stood in the doorway, pack on his back, and ready to go. His expression showed amusement and a bit of mischief, but his tone was all serious when saying, "We're leaving, let's go". The bulky Asian left the two lovebirds to sort things out, walking to meet up with Jorge to sort out the plan. Y/N and Newt looked at each other, a small blush adorned both their cheeks. Whether from embarrassment or the heat, they couldn't tell, but they couldn't care less. Newt cleared his throat and spoke, "Um... So...we should probably, you know, head out to them. Need to beat the storm before it hits, aye". Y/N just nodded quickly and quickly walked with Newt out to the group.
"Alright, shuckheads!", the dark-haired leader shouted to the group, "Here's the plan. We are going to head out and follow Jorge and Brenda to these underground systems they found a while back. We will travel through those as far as we can and possibly stay there when the storm hits, depending on where we are. If we are fast enough, we will get out of those tunnels and pop out in an old business building, which is close to the base of the mountains. We will stay there and then the next day, we will head for those mountains and to the safe haven. Is that clear, shanks? Alright, good. Take it away, Jorge". And they were off, following the older, tanned boy and the smaller, dark-haired girl into the dry, desolate land known as the Scorch.
~Time Skip~
12:30pm
Y/N sighed in annoyance and continued walking. The tunnels seemed to go on forever, always twisting a turning all sorts of directions. The group of Gladers and the two Cranks had found the tunnel systems soon after their departure from the building, quickly getting in and walking through them. But now they had been underground for about 3 hours now, Y/N was starting to think that the Cranks had gotten them lost. 'I'm just happy we haven't encountered any of those things again...', Y/N shivered at the thought of encountering one of the crazed people again. The first time was bad, the second time would possibly be worse. The Glader just kept walking, her flashlight on and lighting up the gloomy, dark corridors of the underground system.
"Hi", Y/N turned to see that Brenda had slowed down to walk alongside her. The girl just nodded her head and turned back to the front. Y/N was usually a talkative, interactive and friendly person and would introduce herself to anyone! But this 'Brenda' chick gave off a bad feeling, just like Teresa...
'I don't trust her', the E/C eyed Glader confirmed to herself, concentrating on walking without tripping.
"I, um, just wanted to introduce my self. We really haven't got to introduce each other because of the whole you being knocked out and everything. I just wanted to talk and get to know you. It would be good to talk to another girl, for once..". Y/N turned her head in surprise, she was not expecting that. Y/N looked at Brenda's face to study it for any lies or plans to deceive. But she saw none, only genuine hope in talking to another girl! So Y/N decided to talk with her, even if she didn't fully trust her. 'I'll keep an eye on her though...', Y/N thought to herself, happily chatting with the dark-haired Crank.
Newt was walking slightly behind the two girls and he smiled. There weren't any other girls in the Glade when Y/N came up and then she wasn't there when Teresa showed up. So to see her conversing with another female made him smile a happy smile. The E/C eyed Glader seemed to be enjoying herself, 'I'm just glad she's happy at a time like this'. But Newt was pulled from his thoughts when he suddenly heard a thud coming from behind the group. Everyone stopped and turned, silence deafening everyone's ears.
"Nobody...move", Jorge commanded, taking out his flashlight. He shone it down the tunnel they had been travelling through for the past few hours to see what had made the sound, but nothing.
"It was probably some old piece of stone thats finally broken off the wall", Jorge muttered a conclusion, turning back to the front and continued walking.
Everyone seemed to shrug it off and move on, but the same noise vibrated through the tunnel. Except, this time, it came from in front of them. Jorge flung his arms out to stop everyone, silencing them too. He looked to Brenda and Minho and flung his head in the direction in front of them. All three stepped forward with their flashlights and carefully started walking through the dark. Y/N, Newt and Frypan walked to the back of the group and flashed their lights like Jorge did only moments ago. More thuds, much louder now, erupted from both ends, causing the group to jump in surprise. 'What is going on...?', Y/N thought to herself, confused as to what could possibly be making those sounds.
Then there was scraping, terrible scraping that caused the group to shudder. Shuffling was heard and a figure scuffled out of the darkness and into the light of the torches. Y/N almost gasped as she realised what it was, 'Crank...'. But, unfortunately, this wasn't a Crank like Brenda and Jorge. It was one of those Cranks that attacked the dorm a few weeks ago. The Crank in front of Y/N, Newt and Fry looked to be a man, in a torn T-shirt that showed a scarred chest and his head was bald. All over his body was green and blue with sickly veins and scabs. His entire body was horrid to look at, but Y/N and the boys continued watching the crazed man to make sure he wasn't about to do something.
"They're Cranks, get back to the group!", Aris called from the huddle of boys. All of them hummed in agreement, huddling even more.
"Not until Jorge says to", Newt called back, his torch never leaving the Crank. The Crank started to twitch and jitter about, as if he didn't move sooner he would explode.
"OK, amigos", Jorge called, but not too loudly, to everyone, "When I count to 3, start sprinting for the corridor to your left, our right. Sprint as fast as you can and don't stop, understand?". Nobody answered but Jorge knew everybody got the idea.
So he started counting down, "1...". Everyone took one step closer to the corridor, ready to sprint off when called to.
"2...", another step, but this time, Y/N saw more Cranks show up from behind the still twitching Crank, ready to pounce.
"3! Go, go, go!", and everyone, absolutely sprinted for the corridor. Nobody needed to look back to know that the poor lunatics were chasing them, their shrieks of rage were indications enough.
The group sprinted around corners, twisted turns, through the tunnels of pure darkness as the monsters continued chasing them.
"Follow us!", Brenda called as she and Jorge ran to the front, "We know the way". As Brenda and Jorge took the lead, Newt came up beside Y/N and grabbed her hand, pulling her along with him. She didn't question it, just let him drag her along. Maybe later she would ask him about it, but right now wasn't a great time to do so. Just as Y/N thought her legs had had enough, Jorge called saying, "We're here, hurry and climb!". The teenagers had reached a ladder that lead up to a hatch that was closed. Aris was the first to obey and climbed swiftly, already unlocking the latch and climbing out. The Cranks had just come around the corner and were heading for them.
"Y/N, here", said girl turned to catch a small pistol from Brenda, who was already firing at the lunatics, "Start shooting while everyone gets up". The H/C haired Glader got over the initial shock and loaded up, quickly aiming and pulling the trigger. The bullet hit a Crank right in the head, causing it to fall to the ground lifeless. And another one fell, and another one, and another, another, another... One after the other Brenda and Y/N took down most of the Cranks when all the boys had climbed up.
"Brenda, Y/N, come on! Climb up, now!", Minho shouted down to the girls, keeping the latch up.
"Go!", Y/N called to Brenda, taking another shot then reloading, "I'll cover you". The dark-haired girl nodded, taking one more shot then sprinting for the ladder then climbing hurriedly up it. 'Keep going, Y/N, keep going...', the tired girl kept telling herself as she shot another one down. The thought suddenly occurred to her: Why was she killing? Why? They were only children. Teenagers, yes, but children! They weren't meant to be killing at the age of 16/17, they were meant to be having fun and playing with friends and going to school... 'WICKED!!', Y/N was now filled with new anger, quickly shooting and reloading as she went.
"Alright, Y/N, quickly now, Love", Newt called from the hatch above. The E/C eyed girl heard and so started walking back towards the ladder while shooting. She went to click the trigger again but nothing happened. She went to her pocket but didn't find any bullets left so she grunted in frustration, shoved the gun in her back pocket and started climbing the ladder.
Halfway up, Y/N felt a sharp tug on her leg that caused her fall down a step or two. A Crank had gotten ahold of her ankle and had his jagged nails digging into her skin, drawing blood.
"Ah! Let go!", Y/N cried, trying to kick the monster with her free foot. But it was way stronger and so held it's grip on her throbbing ankle, pulling her down with him.
"Y/N, lean forward!", Y/N obeyed as Brenda shot at the Crank and it let go of Y/N and fell lifeless from the ladder, landing on a couple of his mates.
"Thanks!", was the reply Brenda got as Y/N scrambled up the ladder and onto the dry, hard earth. Once she was out, Minho and Jorge slammed the hatch shut, locking it tight with the valve on top. 'Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out...', Y/N told herself, her chest heaving and her heart racing from the adrenaline.
"Are you OK?", Newt and Brenda both asked, coming over and kneeling down to her level.
"Y-Yeah, fine", she replied, looking at the hatch with wide eyes, "Thanks".
"No worries", Brenda responded, standing up and walking to Jorge.
"Where's the storm at?", she asked out of breath, crossing her arms over her chest and breathing heavily.
"It's close, real close...", Jorge trailed off as a strong wind picked up and blew in their faces. They all turned in the direction of the wind and their mouthes dropped. A big cloud of sand was coming right for them...and fast!
"Go! Hurry, to the building. Its coming!", everyone obeyed Minho's commands and sprinted for the nearest building. It was tall and looked like it used to have many floors, like an office place. It was a good few 500m or so, meaning that only the first would make it to the building safely before the storm hit. Newt had Y/N's hand within his own, holding it tightly as they both limped as fast they could towards the group. The winds had built up now, causing sand to fly everywhere, obscuring their visions.
"Hurry, shanks!", Frypan called as he reached the building, joining everyone inside it's sanctuary. The two didn't respond, only concentrating on running to the building.
The storm was on them, and Y/N and Newt were right in the middle of it. They were struggling to keep hold of each other as the wind so desperately tried separating them and the sand tried blinding them. But they held strong, pushing through the storm as if it was nothing. Newt reached out to grab a pillar that was holding up the remainders of the building and clung to it tightly. The blonde boy tried pulling his angel in but the wind was so strong it was basically impossible. Y/N saw this and felt like she was going through Dè ja vu. She was in the Maze and the boys were trying to pull her into the Glade while the Griever behind her was trying to pull her into the Maze. She remembered what happened last time, and she so didn't want to do it again. Last time she let go of Newt, she had wound up asleep for a year and didn't see him till months later.
Her legs were then ripped off the ground and into the air, also ripping one of her hands out of Newt's.
"Ah! Y/N! Don't let go!", Newt cried, not sure how long he could hold the both of them.
"I can't hold on, Newt!", Y/N cried back, her other hand slowly being pulled out of Newt's. Their eyes met, silently realising what was going to happen.
"No, Y/N! Don't let go!", Newt bellowed, his face a picture of pure fear. He had let go of her once and that had caused him to nearly kill himself after not seeing her for so long. He wasn't going to let her go ever, not again. But her tiny, sweaty hand was too slippery and so slid out fully. In a last call of help, the H/C haired Glader shouted, "Newt!", as she was flung around in the storm. The last thing she heard was Newt calling her name as she was swept up in the storm, sweeping her away from her friends and her Newt.