"Emily?"

Emily turned around and she was greeted by Brenda.

"Uh... Brenda, was it?"

The girl nodded. "Em, I have to tell you something."

"Wait." Emily looked down at herself. The brunette was wearing the clothes she was wearing in the Scorch but they were free of stains and marks. They were completely clean.

Next, Emily looked around her. The two girls were in the middle of white space that seemed to go on infinitely in every direction. Emily looked back to Brenda. "How are you talking to me? What is this?"

"I'm talking to you through your dream."

"Whoa man. That's kinda cool."

"Yes, yes. But I only have a short amount of time before they find me here..."

"Who?"

"They... it's irrelevant. For now." Brenda walked over to Emily and hugged her, tight. Unsure of what to do, Emily awkwardly put her arms around the girl and patted her back.

"Sorry." Brenda let go and brushed some imaginary dirt off of her snow white lab coat. "I just miss you."

A sad feeling wrenched in Emily's stomach, though she did not know why. "I.. I think I miss you too? I'm sorry... I can't.."

"Remember me." Brenda finished with a sad smile.

"Yeah... so what did you want to tell me?"

"Right, okay. I want to let you know that..." Suddenly, the ground rumbled and Brenda was terrified. "Shit! They're coming! Okay, okay. Newt is immune. Okay? And he's VERY important to WICKED so you HAVE to make sure they don't get to him. Okay? Please!"

Emily flinched at Newt's name. "What? Why --"

"I can't explain now. Just get him away from To--"

The ground's rumbles started to become more powerful, causing Emily to fall. Brenda kept muttering "Shit!" as she closed her eyes, concentrating on something.

"Bren--"

"I'll see you soon!"

********

Emily bolted upright but hit her head on a wooden log that was holding up the tarp she was under. She rubbed her forehead and looked around her. Her eyelids were puffy and her eyes felt dry, causing them to water, which hazed her vision for a bit but Emily knew where she was.

She was back at the camp.

A figure started walking towards her with something in its hand. Once she saw the unusually perfectly quiffed hair, she knew who it was.

"Hey Min." She greeted as he handed her a makeshift plate with scrambled eggs and apple slices.

"Hey Em." Minho replied with a mouth full of food. "Shuck. Powdered eggs are gross. Makes me miss the chickens back at the Glade. Although, seems like some of 'em came along." His eyes shifted to a group of boys who were surrounding a dead decomposing bird. Apparently some of them were dared to pick it up but they refused, making up excuses like, "I'm allergic to feathers."

Emily snorted and giggled as she munched on one of the apple slices. Minho started telling weird stories about the gladers and the Glade, which made Emily's morning slightly better.

She was working on the last few scoops of eggs when her gaze met Newt's. He was sitting alone with his hands wrapped around his knees and his sleeves rolled down to his wrists. The blonde boy turned away after their eyes met for a few seconds and stared off into the distance.

"... And that's why Frypan's name is Frypan." Minho finished his story with a burp. He looked to Emily to see her reaction but she was just staring down to the sand as if she wasn't interested at all.

"Hey... my story telling ain't that bad... is it?"

"It sucks."

Minho put his hand to his chest and dramatically gasped. "I'm hurt."

Emily rolled her eyes and scoffed as she rested her head on his should. "I'm kidding. It was pretty funny."

"Then... why do you seem like you're in a crappy mood?"

The girl looked to him and sent him a look that said, "Really?"

"Right. Uhm..."

"Min, I love ya, but I don't really feel like talking about this right now."

"Gotcha. But... I think you should listen to his side of what happened, y'know? He still cares for you, dude. It kinda sucks seeing him all torn like this." His head nodded towards Newt, whose head was in his hands and teeth clenched.

Emily combed her hair back and out of her face. "I... I don't like seeing him like that either and I'm worried but... he made his choice loud and clear last night."

"Just... see what he has to say." Minho replied sheepishly. "Shuck. Sorry, I ain't that good at this kind of stuff."

Emily put her arm around her friend and lifted her head off his shoulder to face his face. "Nah, you're good. Thank you."

"Anytime." He pressed his hand to his head and winced. "Sorry. Headache. I'm gonna go take a walk. You okay with me going?"

"Yeah."

Minho nodded and stood up, his legs immediately wobbling as he did so. He muttered something about 'stupid shucking balance' before he got up again and successfully walked away.

Emily watched the Asian boy go until he was out of her sight range. She set down her empty plate and sighed. Unanticipatedly, the sound of sand crunched beside her. The girl turned her head and Newt was beside her. By the looks of it, he hadn't slept the night before. His eyes were red and there were dark circles underneath them.

"Emily..." He started quietly and timidly. "I... I'm sorry. I'm so damn sorry."

Emily said nothing, for she didn't know how to reply. Newt continued with the same tone. "I... I hurt you. A-and it's tearing me apart on the inside and hurting me," He glanced down at his covered up arms. "on the outside. I don't know how to explain this..." he gulped. "Last night, the Newt you saw... wasn't me. I... felt like someone was bugging controlling me. I swear on my life that I would never do anything to hurt you on purpose. I wouldn't've went all physical against Tommy. I..." Tears started forming in his eyes. "I'm sor--"

"Newt." Emily interrupted with a soft voice. "P-please stop."

"But --"

"Stop. I... I understand that you're sorry. I'm sorry too... for how I acted. But... saying sorry over and over again to each other... does it really fix anything?" Newt stared at her, emotionless. Emily's shaky voice went on. "I care about you... and I'm sure you care about me. But what happened last night... kind of messed with our relationship with each other. How can we expect to have a normal relationship... a normal life... knowing that I could have a freak out at any given moment or that shucking WICKED could control us?"

"We can work through it. We could fight --" Newt tried.

"No. Newt, we can't. We're both too damaged, too broken to try to fight back. We spend so much time trying to fight battles for others that we don't have enough strength left to fight our own."

And with that, Emily got up and left Newt with glossed eyes and no chance to respond. As she walked away, tears slowly fell down her cheeks and a part of her already broken heart was cracked into pieces.

********

Author's Note:
Heh, new cover... again. 😂
What do you think?

Thank you so much for 800+ reads!

-Rach(: