Sky's POV

I startle myself awake, jolting up to find myself covered in sweat. I try desperately to shake the nightmare out of my head, but the image of Minho kneeling beside my dead body simply won't leave. I wonder if they already think I'm dead?

Slowly, I sit up to examine myself, shocked to be alive. I'm horrified by what I find. Burns cover my left arm and both of my legs, my clothes are torn to pieces, and my hair sticks out all over at odd angles. My ankle is definitely either broken or severely twisted, as it is swollen and dark purple. Despite how bad the injuries seem, I was expecting much, much worse. I'm all in one piece, I seem to be able to think clearly enough, I'm not currently bleeding and my heart is beating, so yeah, better than expected.

I wince in pain when I try to stand, my ankle throbbing in protest. Sighing, I sit back down, trying to figure out the best way to deal with my situation. I can barely walk, but there's no way I'm staying here. There are way too many things that could go horribly wrong out here alone.

Miraculously, Kay is still tucked in to the sling against my body and seems to be relatively unharmed. Her fur is spiked out, and one of her legs has minor burns, but I definitely took the worst of it. She mews in protest when I check her wounds, but doesn't try to run away from me. The storm must've scare her too. Both of us are soaked in rain, which pours relentlessly from the sky.

I tear another strip of fabric from my shirt, wrapping it tightly around my ankle. Standing up again I test it out, it still hurts, but it's bearable. Not like I have much of a choice, I have to find the others. My left arm is badly burnt and screaming in pain, but there's not much I can do about that. The sun is still low in the Sky, telling me that I wasn't out for long, though the clouds make it dark enough to be night.

So, tied up in strips of fabric and barely moving, I limp along, heading towards the general direction I know the buildings to be. It's slow going, and what would have usually been about a fifteen minute jog, takes nearly two hours. By the time I reach the buildings, I'm about to pass out. I survey the buildings, walking cautiously to the nearest one, when I see a dark shape standing in the doorway.

"Skylar?!" I hear his voice before I see him, but seconds later James is at my side. "Are you ok?!" He asks wrapping a tentative arm around my shoulders in an attempt to help me towards the building.

"Yeah I'll be fine." I reply, shaking him off. He doesn't look convinced but let's me go, just as another dark figure appears in the doorway. Drawn I assume by all the commotion.

"Sky?" A heavily voice accented voice asks in surprise, squinting against the rain.

"Newt!" I shout and run the best I can the rest of the way to the building. Newt surprises me by pulling me into a hug the second I reach the door.

"Thank goodness you're alright." He sighs, "I was having a bloody heart attack, and I would have had to tell Minho...."

"Where is the slinthead?" I ask, laughing in relief at his name.

"He's....." Newt glances over his shoulder, looking nervous. "He's out, he got struck by lightning, he's alive but–"

"Let me see him." I say, trying to push past Newt, but he stops me.

"I have to warn you, it isn't good." He says quietly."it was pretty bad." I nod quickly, more worried than ever. He finally lets me pass, with James following me in, much to my annoyance, before turning back again to lean against the doorframe, staring out into the pouring rain.

I tiptoe around piles of sleeping gladers, until I see him, propped up against the wall. I cover my mouth in shock. He's in terrible shape, burns worse than mine seem to cover every inch of his body, his clothes are ripped and burnt, and his usually pristine hair is sticking straight up. I kneel beside him, unsure of what to do. I can see him breathing, his chest rising and falling with steady rhythm. I reach out and touch his face, gently running my finger across his cheek. I watch as his eyes slowly flicker open, blinking before falling on me.

"Sky." He croaks, reaching his hand towards me. "You look terrible." He says, through a fit of coughing. I sigh, he's fine.

I shake my head with laughter, "you think I'll look bad, you should see yourself." He rolls his eyes, before pushing himself up straighter against the wall. I wince just watching him, every movement looks painful.

"Naw, I always look amazing." He responds, breathing heavily as he finally reaches a sitting position. I lean in and give him a tentative kiss.

"Well at least your humor survived unharmed." I say, rocking back onto my heels before standing up, now confident that Minho is going to be alright. He then notices James standing behind me, shadowing my every move to make sure I don't fall over, which is certainly a possibility. I see his smirk turn into a scowl.

"What's he doing?" He says pointing to James. I roll my eyes and turn around, waving off James, who obeys, but he watches me the whole time he walks away. It makes me rather uncomfortable.

"He was just escorting me inside to make sure I didn't collapse." I sigh, crouching in front of him once again. I stick my left ankle out to the side, displaying the ugly purple bulge.

His face lights up with fear, "Sky... I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left you behind, It should have been me... Wait why were you outside?"

I roll my eyes at him, "Please, it's fine, You got struck by lighting Minho, you shouldn't have done anything, I'm fine." I say, purposely ignoring his last question. "I couldn't see anything & I didn't even know where you were. I'm just glad you're alive."

He nods, but still looks slightly upset as he glances across the room at James. I roll my eyes and stand up again, wincing to keep from screaming when I accidentally put my full weight on my bad ankle. Minho notices and is about to lecture me I assume, when Thomas speaks up. Unknowingly rescuing me from punishment.

"Dude, You ok?" Thomas asks, from where he lays on the other side of the room. We must have woken him up. "You look like Klunk."

"Thomas, I could still kick your pony lovin' butt with twice this pain, so shut your hole." Minho replies, getting to his feet.

"Well I do love ponies." Thomas says, his voice high pitched in mock excitement. We all laugh.

"Did Thomas the boring shuck-face just make a joke?" Minho scoffs.

"I think he bloody did." Newt answers, finally leaving his post at the door.

"I think I could eat a pony right now." Frypan chimes in, just having woken up. I laugh and nod my head, agreeing completely. My stomach growls constantly, reminding me of how little I've had to eat in the last few days.

"No!!!" Thomas yells, "not a pony."
I laugh again, until I notice the look on Newt's face. He looks somewhere between horrified and angry, his eyes quickly scanning the room.

"What's wrong?" I ask, slowly crossing the room to stand next to him.

"Count Sky." He says, "there's only twenty-three of us." I follow his advice, taking a count of the remaining gladers. He's right, there is only twenty-three, including us. Twenty-three bedraggled gladers, slumped tiredly around the room, their dark eyes reflecting everything we've been through.

"Oh." I say, dropping my gaze. If there's only twenty-three, left, that means eight died in the storm, or at least haven't found their way back to us yet. "Maybe the went to a different building."

"Maybe." He says, but from the look on his face I know he doesn't believe it.

"Hey, I showed up late." I suggest, shrugging my shoulders. I know how unlikely it is that anyone else survived. I feel a pang of guilt when I study the faces of the other gladers, just because the people I was closest to survived, doesn't mean everyone can say the same. Others may have lost their best friends.

"Yeah." Newt says, "thankfully." Then turns back around towards the door, effectively ending the conversation. I limp back over to Minho and Thomas, stepping over a fast asleep Mallory. As horrible as it sounds, at least all of us made it out alive. I don't cry for them, the eight we lost, at least not now, death after death has made me numb. For now I do what I do best, and shove the pain away, locking it up for another time. I know eventually it will break me, and I can only hope that I get everyone to safety before it does.

"Sky?" I hear an alarmed voice ask. I turn around to see Mal awake and staring at me.

"Ya?" I answer, a small smile lighting up my face.

"You made it?!" She screams, looking extremely shocked. She stands up and walks over, hesitantly touching my arm like I'm a ghost. "B..bu..but you didn't come back?"

"I was a little late." I admit laughing.

Minho glances at me sideways, "what does she mean you didn't come back?"

"Err.. I got struck and was knocked out for a bit, but I came back." I say gesturing to myself. "Obviously."

"Oh really?" He says, glaring at me. I huff, it's not my fault I got struck by lightning. His expression suddenly changes to scared. "I could have lost you and I wouldn't have even known."

"Ya well, you didn't so get over it." I say teasingly. He glares at me again, causing me to roll my eyes. I know that look, that's his you-really-shouldn't-joke-about-that look. Which is ironic, considering he's the one constantly making jokes about things like this.

"We should have gone to look for you." Mal sobs, clinging to me tightly. "I'm so sorry." Newt crosses the room, coming over in an attempt to pull Mal off of me. He's half-way successful, she lets go of me, only to cling tighter to him. He sighs and wraps his arms around her.

"We really should have looked for you." Mal says again, looking up at me through the locks of blond hair that fall in front of her face.

"No harm done." I say laughing, "I made it." I drop the laughter from my voice when I see the guilt flash through Newt's eyes as Minho glares at him. I turn to Thomas and Mal, only to find Newt's guilt reflected in their eyes as well. "You couldn't risk everyone's safety for mine." I say solemnly, "I understand that, and wouldn't want it any other way."

Newt nods his agreement, still being careful to avoid Minho's gaze. Mal smiles, sniffing to dry up her tears. I feel bad for Thomas, watching him shift uncomfortably as he glances quickly around the group. He is the newest member of our group, and not quite used to dealing with our disputes. Although you'd have thought he would be by now, considering how often they happen.

Minho pulls me to himself, kissing me in front of everyone. I blush, but don't stop him. I'm just about to kiss him back, when, a noise catches my attention. I turn my head upward, just in time to see someone falling through a hole in the ceiling. Wait? what? The 'someone' lands on the ground, rolling into a ball and tumbling forward before standing up. Did Someone really just fall through the ceiling or am I hallucinating?

"Welcome Hermanos."