"No way!" Minho shouted from the front. "You're not taking him anywhere!" Teresa either hadn't heard him or just chose to ignore his outburst altogether. She squinted at Thomas and smiled slightly.

"This isn't some stupid game! I'm going to start counting. Every time I hit a multiple of five, we'll kill one of you with an arrow. We'll do it until Thomas is the only one left, then we'll take him anyway. It's up to you."

You knew for a fact, none of the other girls had agreed to this -- and they probably couldn't shoot someone dead if they wanted to. But you guessed Teresa's glare was convincing enough, not one boy said anything -- or even breathed, for that matter. Everyone stayed completely silent, which was guessed wasn't want Teresa wanted.

"One!" she shouted after a few seconds.

Please, Thomas.

He stepped forward immediately, pushing past Gladers until he reached an open spot and stared Teresa right in the face. Minho and the others yelled protests, but Thomas brushed them off, not taking his hardened gaze away from Teresa, who looked slightly surprised.

"Fine," he said drily. "Take me."

"I only made it to one." 

You could have sworn her voice cracked, just a little. "Yeah. I'm really brave that way."

In that instant, any hint of remorse that had shown on Teresa's face vanished, and she brought her spear down hard on top of his head. Blood spattered onto the sand, and Thomas fell to the ground again, spitting.

"Bring the bag," Teresa ordered. Harriet stepped forward, the burlap sack still tucked under her arm, Sonya following close behind. Thomas pushed himself onto his hands and knees but made no move to stand, probably terrified of getting hit again.

"We're taking him with us!" Teresa yelled to the remaining Gladers. "If anybody follows, I'll hit him again and we'll start shooting you. We won't really bother aiming. Just let the arrows fly any old way they feel like." You shivered, hopelessly praying it wouldn't come to that.

"Teresa!" Minho called, and you suppressed a sigh. Leave it to him to speak up anyway. "You catch the Flare that quickly? Your mind's obviously gone already."

Teresa smacked Thomas again, and he fell onto his stomach. Minho looked instantly guilty, and shot her a hard glare, but didn't say anything else.

"Anything else you wanna say?" she spat, looking from one boy to the next. When no one answered, she nodded and turned back to Harriet. "Didn't think so. Put the bag over him."

Harriet and Sonya grabbed Thomas from either side and pulled him onto his back. Their hands dug into his shoulders and he let out a sudden cry of pain. The girls spun the bag around and held the open end over his head.

"Don't resist," Harriet told him quietly, probably just as sorry as you were. "Or it'll just get worse.

Thomas didn't answer, just stared questioningly from one girl to the next.

"Better to just go along and let us kill you. Doesn't do you any good to have a lot of pain along the way." Harriet muttered. With that, she pulled the bag completely over his head and down to cover his entire body, tying it tightly at his feet with a knotted rope. Then she stood up, the end of the long rope in hand.

"Teresa! Don't do this to me!" Thomas shouted, his voice muffled by the burlap. He squirmed in the bag and Teresa just rolled her eyes and brought the end of her spear down onto his stomach. He moaned and tried to double over, but just ended up falling onto his back again, his legs recoiling up to his chest.

"Since you obviously don't care about yourself," she said sternly, "talk again and we'll start shooting your friends. That sound good to you?" Thomas didn't respond, but you saw him heave and roll over, stifling a sob.

You felt awful for him, but you knew there was absolutely nothing you could do. It was either this or every girl in Group B.

"I meant what I said!" Teresa yelled, once more bringing her head up to glare at the Gladers. "There won't be a warning! Follow us and the arrows start flying."

She knelt down next to Thomas's head, setting her forehead on his and whispering under her breath. Neither of them moved until one of the girls shouted, "What're you saying to him?" Teresa looked up, annoyed.

"I'm letting him know just how much I'm enjoying my revenge. Do you mind?"

Maybe she really was starting to go crazy.

"Well," the girl said, "Glad you're having so much fun. But we need to hurry."

"I know," Teresa responded, looking back down at Thomas. She gripped both sides of his head and squeezed, then bent down to mutter one last thing. She stood up quickly and backed away to join Harriet. "Okay, let's get out of here. Make sure you hit as many rocks as you can along the way."

Harriet wrapped the rope tighter around her hand and pulled. The burlap sack moved easily through the sand, and the group of girls lurched forward. You saw Thomas arch his back as he dragged behind, and you furrowed your eyebrows worriedly.

Your only hope at this point was that this was some kind of test, and Thomas wouldn't actually be killed. He was strong enough to last for a while, anyway.

As everyone started forward, your feet stayed glued to the spot, and you could only stare as they walked further and further out.

You have to go with them. They're your.... Were they really your friends?

Minho would want answers, and you could provide them. It was the least you could do... right?

"We'll find you, Thomas! When the time is right and we have weapons!" You heard Minho calling after them. "Hang in there!"

They moved further and further away until they were swallowed up by the shadow of the mountain, and you knew there was no longer any point in running after them.

After a long moment of silence, there was clamoring, and it took a moment for anyone to notice you.

"Hey! There's still a girl here!" someone shouted above the noise. You froze, your back still to the Gladers. It took every ounce of energy to turn back around and face them. There were tears in your eyes now and you still couldn't bring yourself to meet anyone's gaze.

"(Y/N)?" You singled Newt's voice out instantly, and you felt sick.

"Newt." You wanted to hug him. To beg him to forgive you.

"What the bloody hell are you doing with them?" he shouted. 

You stifled a sob and shook your head, trying to speak around the lump forming in your throat. "I-I." But you couldn't, and you closed your mouth helplessly.

"(Y/N), just tell us what happened. Just calm down." This came from Minho, who took a few steps toward you. You recoiled like he'd just slapped you, and put your hands out in front of you.

"I-I didn't want to do it." you stuttered, wiping your eyes with the sleeve of your sweatshirt, that had been tied around your waist. "He-he's my friend."

It was pathetic, and you knew it.

"Calm down," Minho repeated, and you lowered your hands, taking a deep, shaky breath. "I need to know what's going to happen to Thomas."

They're going to kill him.

"I don't know exactly," you said instead. "I don't think they're gonna kill him. T-Teresa couldn't do that. She w-wouldn't." Minho moved closer to you, and this time you let him.

"I need you to tell me exactly what happened after we left you," he said quietly, and your heart skipped a beat.

They thought you were dead.

You let Minho sit you down and went on to explain everything. How you woke up in WICKED's headquarters, how you tried to escape and got stuck with those girls. How Janson had come to explain The Scorch Trials and that you needed to kill Thomas (but you'd quickly added that you doubted Teresa would actually do it). Your journey through the Scorch and how James had come with you for the Cure (he'd stayed behind too, and was keeping his distance from the boys). Finally, how you'd waited for the boys to come and readied to capture Thomas. The only thing you left out was what Teresa had said about not wanting to kill Thomas. You figured it was safer to let Teresa figure it out and just go along with the whole thing (since you were still convinced it was an act).

"Wow." Minho said once you'd finished. "That's... a lot."

"Teresa... " You started, then moved on quickly when Minho glanced up at you. "Teresa told me about... Chuck." His face fell and he nodded slowly.

"Yeah, he died nobly."

"I'm glad you guys got out alright," you told him after a moment of silence.

"You too. We were sure you were... well..."

"Dead?"

He chuckled. "Yeah."

"We should get going!" Newt called, and you looked up. He avoided your gaze and instead looked at Minho, who nodded and pushed himself to his feet.

"Yeah, we need to at least make it to those mountains," he agreed.

"Y-you're not going to go after Thomas?" you asked, looking up at the two boys in surprise.

"You heard the woman. If we follow them, she'll start shooting. I say it's best we continue and hope that you're right." Minho said, and you understood.

"Right."

"Let's move out!" Newt yelled, and the boys all got slowly to their feet. The pretty girl who'd been standing by Thomas earlier had drifted towards the back and caught your gaze. You quickly looked away and turned your back to her. Everyone moved forward, and you made sure not to get too close to any of the boys, especially Newt.

Newt.

You knew he'd be mad at you. You'd even been prepared for it -- but it was proving to be a lot harder than you would've anticipated.

As you walked, your mind wandered back to the dream you'd had -- of all things. You and Newt had... kissed, and you'd actually enjoyed it. You'd wanted more.

There was muttered conversation as you went, mostly about Thomas and what was going to happen next. You said nothing, just stared straight ahead at the huge mountains and kept your mouth shut.

Your whole body felt numb.

You wondered if Newt felt numb too.

He probably never wanted to speak to you again.