I walk back to the group, stopping just long enough to grab my backpack and sling it over my shoulder.

"How did it go?" Newt asks, I ignore him and break into a jog in the direction of the closest city. "I'll take that as not good." He shouts after me.

"You could say that." I growl back, not really caring if he heard me or not. It feels good to jog again, the familiar feeling of my feet pounding against the ground. It is harder to run in the sand, but my anger pushes me forward. Tears start to form in the corners of my vision as the anger fades to hurt, but I push them away, and keep running.

Eventually, I'm forced to slow my pace, but I stay well ahead of the group. Keeping my distance from Minho, Newt, Mal and anyone else who might want to talk to me. I'm not in the talking mood. Every now and then I glance back, checking to make sure they are still behind me. I notice Newt is now in front, while Minho lags near the back of the group. Maybe he feels bad, I hope so. I'm still worried that WICKED is controlling him, but I'm even more worried about the flare. However, something just doesn't add up. If they gave us the flare before the maze, shouldn't we have shown symptoms long before now? Shouldn't we already be completely insane? If not, why would it suddenly start affecting us? Maybe He's just stressed about being in charge, and he will get over it and everything will be fine. I laugh at my own thought, in our world everything is never fine.

"SKYLAR!!!!" Newt's voice echoes from behind me. "STOP!" Reluctantly, I come to a stop, turning around to face him.

"What do you want?" I sigh, starting in his direction. He's already running towards me, and we meet somewhere in between where I had been standing, and where the rest of the group is.

"We need to think about this before we just go marching into the city." He says "Minho was right about one thing, it could be a trap."

"He's not thinking straight." I counter, shuddering at the thought that he could have actually meant what he said.

"Well you haven't exactly been acting reasonably either, taking off like a toddler who didn't get her way." Newt reminds me.

"Sorry I just... Had to get away." I apologize, realizing how stupid running off alone really was. I could have put all of us in serious danger.

"It's alright just come back and we'll figure out what to do next." Newt sighs, looking rather exhausted.

"Are you back in charge again?" I ask hesitantly.

"Not exactly." Newt answers, "but Minho is still pouting about not getting his way."

"I figured."

"Ya well." Newt shrugs, "come on."

After a lot of discussion, it had been decided that we would enter the city. A small group of us was to go ahead, checking it out and making sure there were no traps. As long as we didn't come running back out screaming, the rest of the group was set to follow about thirty minutes behind us. It had somehow been decided that Newt, Frypan, Thomas and I would go ahead, while Minho would stay behind to lead the other group. He was none too happy about the decision, considering he wanted to check out the city, but Newt had convinced him to stay with the majority of the gladers in case something happened to the rest of us. Mallory was definitely not happy either, she hated the idea of both Newt and I putting ourselves in danger. If something did happen to us, she'd be left alone with Minho. But despite all the objections, the plan was set and we were ready to head out.

"Alright, let's bloody get this over with." Newt says, tying a knot in his sheet.

"Good that." I sigh, taking one last sip of my water bottle. At this rate I would be out of water in a couple of hours.

It takes us about forty-five minutes to reach the edge of the city, the crumbling ruins growing steadily taller as we approach. It appears to be abandoned, as I haven't seen any movement. There is no sound, only the wind whistling through the empty streets.

"Watch your step." Thomas calls out, when he almost trips over a piece of metal sticking out of the ground. After that we all tread carefully, whipping our heads from side to side, scanning for anything that looks suspicious.

"I don't think it is a trap." Newt says after we've been walking for awhile.

"Agreed." I answer. After nearly fifteen minutes of weaving through the city, I've seen nothing but deserted streets and dilapidated, decaying buildings. The only living thing we've spotted was a stray dog, wandering about near an old playground. Either this city is completely empty, or whoever lives here is doing a really good job of hiding.

"It's kinda creepy if ya ask me." Frypan comments, peering inside an empty car. The car is rusted and destroyed, all the windows are shattered, and the seats are ripped to pieces.

"Definitely eerie." I say in agreement. The longer we search, I realize this was more of town than a city. There are no true skyscrapers, with only a few three story brick buildings dotted here and there between normal houses and work places.

"This looks like a good spot to set up camp." Newt says, pausing in the middle of a four-way stop. It is a good spot strategically, it gives us four exits, and an easy line of sight to the nearest buildings. No one should be able come near us without being seen.

Once camp is set up and we have a small fire burning in the middle of the street, I decide to go exploring, leaving the others to wait for the rest of the gladers.

"Where you going Sky?" Newt asks, catching sight of me edging towards the closest building.

"Just to look around." I reply, balancing on a fallen light pole.

"Fine but be careful, Minho would kill me if anything happened to you." Newt chuckles.

"Not anymore." I sneer, rolling my eyes.

"What do you mean 'not anymore'?" Newt asks, looking confused.

"He doesn't care anymore." I reply angrily. "He basically told me to die and he wouldn't care."

Newt sighs, "he didn't mean it."

"Hmph, he sure sounded like he did." I huff, walking farther away from the group. I've stopped watching where I'm walking, deciding there probably aren't any traps.

"He didn't mean it." Newt says confidently. "Even if he thinks he did, If something actually happened to you, he'd lose his mind, trust me."

"I hope you're right." I say, glancing backwards over my shoulder at him. "I hope you're right."

"let's not test it ok?" Newt says, giving me a warning look. I've been known to do stupid things before, but I would never get hurt on purpose.

I laugh, "don't worry Newt, I'll be careful."

"Mhmm." Newt says, looking like he definitely doesn't believe me. I laugh again and take off jogging towards the closest building.