"How much time is left?"

"Four minutes." You sighed heavily, shifting higher up on the wall again. Your tank top was now completely drenched and was sticking your skin. You shivered and wrapped your arms tightly around yourself.

"We're getting out of here right?" you asked in a quiet voice. Newt sighed and squeezed your shoulder tighter.

"Of course we are. They wouldn't do all this and then just bloody leave everyone sitting in dark wet coffins in the end. There's a purpose for all of this."

He sounded so sure. And you wanted to believe him, you really did.

"I really missed you guys," you said after another long pause. Minho chuckled.

"We missed you too, little lady."

"It's weird... when I was down in the Maze, I felt like... I'd known everyone for a long time, even though I know I've never met any of you in my life."

"Well... maybe you did," Newt muttered thoughtfully. You raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"WICKED wiped all of our memories, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So there's a good chance we'd all known each other before the Maze."

"That's a scary thought," Minho said. "I wonder-" But the rest of his words were drowned out by a deep humming. It grew steadily louder until you could feel it with every inch of your shaking body. The pod shook too, and you clutched the sides, reaching out for Newt's hand.

"What's that?" Your words were barely heard over the noise.

"We're going to lift the lid up!" Minho shouted, sloshing around in the water until his hands were on the ceiling again. You stood up with Newt and raised your arms above your head, the pain in your shoulder numbing with the cold. You cursed under your breath and shifted over so Newt could stand up next to you.

"Ready? One, two three-" You all lifted upwards with so much force that the lid came flying off, the wind carrying it a good few feet before it fell to the ground. As you glanced around, you were pelted with big raindrops and gusts of wind with unbelievable strength.

Hovering in front of you, about thirty feet from the ground, was a giant... helicopter?

The word Berg came to mind.

The giant metal ship was flashing brightly colored lights, plenty visible through the wind and rain. Thrusters on the bottom shot up blue-hot flame, and it continued to lower itself to the ground, sending up large sprays of dust and water.

"Time's up!" Minho shouted through the noise, and you glanced over to see him staring at his watch incredulously. You looked up again to see the Berg touching down with giant metal claws and grasped the sand, the hollow belly of the thing swinging slowly open. In that second, you knew immediately what you had to do, and you tuned to Newt, who nodded at you, probably thinking the exact same thing.

You jumped into action, momentarily forgetting all about your shoulder as adrenalin filled your veins and pushed you forward, Newt and Minho quickly following. As you scrambled to get to the Berg, you tripped and fell face-first into the mud. You pushed yourself up again, spitting the stuff out and planting your feet on solid ground again.

Newt and Minho had jumped out and were now running next to you, faces scrunched up against the pelting rain. The doorway, now a gaping, well-lit hole in the ship, was completely opened, and dark figures with guns stood on the edge of the platform, making no move to run and help the struggling Gladers.

To your relief, it seemed like everyone else had caught on, and were all charging straight towards the Berg, mud flying in every direction, the sound of the thrusters drowning out everything else.

You slipped again, but caught yourself and pushed on, drifting towards Newt as you did so. He was running, a spear in one hand and a knife in the other, solely concentrating on the Berg in front of you, his limp more apparent now than ever. You gripped the hilt of your sword so tightly, your knuckles turned white. Suddenly, a large spray of dirt blew up from the ground, seemingly out of nowhere, and a dozen large figures rose up and began lumbering towards you.

"Go right through 'em!" you heard Thomas scream, and you numbly stuck your blade out in front of you, surprised at how little fear you felt. You just wanted to get this over with.

About five feet from one of the creatures, you thrust forward, hitting the largest bulb in the center of the thing's chest. It shuddered and backed off, but just for a few seconds, then it was back on you. You slashed at it with all your might, not bothering to jump away as it stabbed at you, narrowly missing your arm. You knew you couldn't risk being careless, but at this point you were just charging through to get to the other side, praying you'd get lucky.

"(Y/N)!" you heard someone shout, though you didn't glance up long enough to see who it was, too busy jabbing repeatedly at the creature. When you'd popped the fifth or sixth bulb you decided there was enough of a break to run past the thing.

With one last heavy blow, you hurdled your sword right at the creature's head. It hit, and stuck right in the center, vibrating as the creature squealed. It didn't break another bulb though, and you used the last bit of your remaining strength to burst forward, leaping over the creature's extended arm and continuing on towards the Berg. Rocks and sand and dirty water pelted your face as you ran. Deep breath. Aching legs. Your shoulder had started hurting again, the pain almost three times as bad as it had been before.

You were only ten feet away from the ship when the thrusters blazed to life again, and it slowly began to rise back up into the air.

"It's leaving!" you screamed. You didn't know if anyone had heard you. You didn't care.

All that mattered was that you make it to those doors.

Five feet. You were closing in.

Three feet. The Berg was steadily rising, looking about ready to zip away at any second.

You forced yourself to run faster than you'd ever gone before, reaching out to grab the edge of the door. You crashed into the cold metal, bracing yourself with both hands and wasting no time in heaving yourself up. The two figures in the doorway each held a hand out, and you took them, wriggling it the air as the Berg continued to rise. Your feet still dangled outside as you were pulled in on your stomach, gasping and blinking in the bright light. Others scrambled on after you, pushing and shoving. Harriet. Newt. Then Thomas and Teresa, swinging their legs up and over to roll all the way inside. Once Thomas had gotten a good grip, he reached down to help Teresa inside.

The Berg was still rising and had now begun to tilt to the side. You rushed over to help Newt and Harriet who were ushering people inside, the last few kicking weakly in an effort to pull themselves in. You stumbled back as the room tilted more, losing your footing and falling right into the wall behind you. You slid down, not bothering to get up again, your legs tingling and your shoulder flamming.

You heard some commotion over by the door and forced your heavy eyelids open. Thomas was arguing with one of the guards. Brenda and Jorge stood a little ways away, looking guilty.

"Somebody answer me!" the man was shouting, pointing a little black pistol right at a shivering Brenda.

"They helped us get through the city -- we wouldn't be here if it weren't for them." Thomas spat, glaring at him. The guard, who had dull red hair and grizzly facial hair returned his glower.

"You... picked them up along the way?" Thomas nodded slowly, and you pushed yourself to your feet, wanting to go over and intervene.

"We made a deal with them. Promised they'd get the Cure, too."

"Doesn't matter. We didn't say you could bring citizens!" 

You jolted again as the Berg climbed even higher into the sky, and a few stray metal boxes in the room slid across the floor with a hollow grating sound. You couldn't bring yourself you look back at the cargo door, which was still open, and the ground far below.

"Well, you told us to come here, and we did what we had to do!" Thomas yelled, struggling to his feet.

"Sometimes, I forget how little you people understand what's going on. Fine, you can keep one of 'em. The other goes." You froze and stared wide-eyed at the guard. He couldn't be serious?

"What do you mean... the other goes?" 

The red-haired man cocked his gun and moved it closer to Brenda's head. She quivered and stared at Thomas, pleading with her eyes. "We don't have time for this! You have five seconds to choose the one who stays. Don't choose and they both die. One."

"Wait!" Thomas shouted, holding two hands out in front of him defensively. He looked at Brenda than Jorge, both looked sickeningly pale.

"Two." 

You moved forward, opening your mouth to speak.

"Three." 

Still, Thomas stood there, his gaze flitting from person to person. He looked calm though, and you told yourself you had to trust what he was doing. He was smart.

"Four!" 

The guard jabbed his gun into Brenda's temple, the hand holding it trembling with anger. "Choose right now or they both die!"

Thomas stepped forward, shaking his head and met the guard's gaze evenly.

"Kill her," he said, pointing to Brenda.

What the hell did he think he was doing?

"Thomas!" you shouted accusingly, but still you didn't move. Just stood and watched.

The guard stuffed his gun into the waistband of his pants and reached over to grab Brenda roughly by the collar of her shirt. Silently, he dragged her towards the opening in the Berg. Brenda looked at Thomas with an expression of hurt and terror. You were about to charge the guard, but Thomas acted first, rushing forward a split second later and full on taking the guy. His pistol clattered to the ground, and Thomas snatched it up before the man had time to react.

"No one else dies," Thomas breathed, aiming the gun at the guard, whose expression had softened.

You sighed and fell back again. Their voices sounded muffled as you closed your eyes, shifting so your burning shoulder touched the cool metal wall. More talking. The sound of the cargo door squeaking closed. The distant sound of the ship's thrusters.

You weren't asleep, just in shock. Relieved to finally have everything over and done with. As you sat, letting your brain process everything that had just happened, you felt tears form in your eyes. Whether they were because you were scared or relieved or grieving, you had no idea. There were so many emotions swirling around in your head, you couldn' keep track of them all.

You sat there for who knows how long, eyes closed, head leaned back against the wall. The Gladers were talking quietly amongst themselves, whispering back and forth. You didn't open your eyes until you felt a light tap on your shoulder. You looked up to see Newt smiling down at you. For some reason, you wanted to hug him. To cry like a baby and have him assure you that everything was finished for good.

In one, quick motion, without the memory of deciding to do so, you reached up, grabbed the sides of Newt's face and pulled him down to your level.

Then, you were kissing and crying and squeezing each other so hard it hurt. You pulled yourself to your feet as Newt stood stiffly in front of you.

"It's over," you mumbled against his cheek. You were so happy now, your heart felt about ready to burst out of your chest. "It's all over. We're safe."

You broke away to hug Minho and kiss Thomas wetly on the cheek. They both smiled warmly.

It was all over.

You turned back to Newt, your smile too wide for your face. He was staring at you, completely stunned, his face and shirt stained with tears and spattered blood.

"Newt, I'm sorry!' you exclaimed, still smiling. "I was just so-" He cut you off by snaking an arm around your waist, shaking his head as he did so. Before you could say anything else, he'd pulled you close to his face again and kissed you roughly.

There were whistles and cheers after you broke apart, and you rubbed your eyes dry, smiling wider than you would've thought possible.

"Get some Newt!" 

You shot a glare at Frypan, who smiled guiltily and backed into the crowd.

It was over. You could shower and eat and sleep and talk. Really talk. Catch up with everyone.

Back in the Scorch, you would've never imagined you'd ever feel this way again.