𝘼𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙗𝙮𝙚

𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚 sighs as she stretches her limbs out in front of her, raising both arms above her head to stretch out completely.

"Geez, they've been talking forever." Newt mutters as he leans against the concrete beam, staring off into the distance at the two who converse with each other on top of the hill.

"How's it looking?" Newt questions in a yell, gaining the attention of Thomas and Teresa. Both teenagers turn their bodies back to the group. "It's a little further." Thomas says, making Blake furrow her eyebrows and narrow her eyes at the awkwardness.

"That's not very convincing." Newt deadpans as he whips back around to face Minho, Blake, and Fry's bored expressions.

"What don't I understand?" Thomas pushes as anger starts to bubble up inside him, keeping his gaze turned into a glare on the girl before him.

"Everything was fine until you and Blake—" Teresa starts, but Thomas cuts her off. "What?" He questions, pressing further.

Teresa sighs as Thomas continues, " Teresa, what aren't you telling me?" The boy asks before a loud gunshot echos from the rest of the group.

"Hey!" Fry yells as Blake screams, "Winston, no!"

Thomas and Teresa both share a concerned look before rushing forward.

"Winston, what are you doing, man? Give me that!" Fry shouts as he tries to pull the handgun out of the boy's grasp.

"What's going on?" Newt asks as Blake and Minho kneel over where the injured boy once lay, sharing worried glances.

"What happened?" Teresa questioned as she and Thomas skidded to a halt beside the rest of the group.

"I don't know! He just woke up and grabbed the gun and then tried to..." Fry explains as Winston grunts, kneeling on all fours as his hand reaches out. "Give it back, please." Winston grunts out between pants.

"Winston. Winston, you okay?" Thomas softly asks as he bends down to try and comfort the boy but flinches back a little as Winston coughs up black liquid.

Blake cringes at the gagging noises as she stares at the boy, her chest rising and falling rapidly in panic as her heart beats rapidly.

Minho pulls Blake up by her arm as they rise to stand, keeping their bewildered and concerned gaze on the boy, who continues coughing up more black liquid, wheezing, and gasping for air.

"Oh my god." Blake whispers as her hand glides up to her mouth, and tears burr her vision.

Winston flips his body to lie down on his back as he continues gasping for air, wanting nothing more than to let the darkness consume him.

Blake and Thomas lead the others as they inch toward the boy, taking subtle steps towards him.

"It's growing..." Winston pants in between breaths as he reaches to lift his shirt. Revealing the scratches that turned black and veiny as he whimpered in pain. "Inside me." Winston cries out.

A stray tear falls from Blake's eyes as she watches the boy whimper and cry out.

𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵. Blake thinks to herself as her heart drops into her stomach.

Minho reaches out and grabs Blake's hand, comforting the girl as the other teenagers share shocked expressions.

Thomas flickers his eyes from Newt, feeling the burning gaze of someone as he then shifts his gaze behind the blond—over to Blake, who stays tensed with her hand wrapped around Minho's. A small pit of poison bubbles in the brunette's stomach as he tears his eyes away from the two.

"I'm not gonna make it." Winston breathes out as he shakes his head. "Please, please." The boy begs as he stretches his hand out towards the gun. "Don't let me turn into one of those things."

Silence fills around the group as another tear slips out of Blake's eyes, wishing nothing more than to stop his pain. Newt shifts from beside Minho as he steps closer to Fry, gently grabbing the gun.

Taking the metal into his hands, Newt steps toward Winston, but Thomas' voice stops him for a second "Hey, Newt." The boy tries, but the blond continues stepping towards the panting boy.

Crouching by Winston's side, Newt lifts the boy's arm up and places the gun on his chest, softly squeezing the boy's hand in comfort and understanding.

"Thank you." Winston mutters before he gulps, "Now, get outta here."

"Goodbye, Winston." Newt says after a few seconds of silence before standing up.

Blake lets go of Minho's hand before she kneels beside the boy, dragging a hand to push the hair out of his face before leaning down to press a soft kiss on his forehead. "Goodbye, Win." Blake whispers before lifting her eyes up to meet Minho's.

Minho's eyes glaze a bit as he crouches down to the boy. Not wanting to impose, Blake pushes herself up and lets another tear slip as she walks past Thomas.

As Blake stops to turn around, she wipes her tears away. Thomas stays standing in the same spot, frozen as Fry and Minho walk past, leaving the two boys and Blake behind them.

"It's okay." Winston whispers to Thomas

"I'm sorry." Thomas shakes his head to the side as tears threaten to pour out of his eyes.

Blake could sense the sadness in his voice and took a few steps to reach her hand into Thomas', interlacing their fingers together.

At first, the boy's hand was limp in hers but soon tightened at the comfort. Thomas wiped the tears from his eyes with his free hand as he gave Blake a squeeze before turning to grab his pack.

The small brunette went to step away and walk back to the group that starts to disappear over the hill when Winston's soft voice calls for Thomas.

Blake turned her head slowly back to look at the two boys as Winston whispers, "Take care of them."

Another tear slips down the girl's cheek as Thomas grabs his pack and walks to the girl. Blake whips her head back and starts to trudge forward when a hand intertwines with hers, shocking the girl.

Glazed emerald eyes meet whiskey brown as they follow after the others, not saying a word.

The silent walk and tense air filled the area around the group as they trudged up the hill, not wanting to speak about losing yet another friend.

As the wind howled past, Thomas glides his hand out to guide Blake in front of him—keeping her between him and the others.

Stands of hair blew around Blake's face as she let her feet step and sink into the yellow grain below her, trudging on through the silence.

A sudden gunshot causes the girl to flinch and immediately stop along with the other teens, who pause silently. Nobody dared to look anywhere but the ground—knowing their friend was not in pain anymore.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Blake takes in a shaky breath as she and the others start moving after a moment of silence.

Night falls over the scorch as the teenagers surround a crackling fire in front of them. Blake lifts her head at a clang on the metal as Aris walks to them with another dry log. Throwing it into the fire, the sparks fly up as more fuel adds to the flames.

The small brunette lays her head on a log, laying beside Minho as she tries to settle back down and get comfortable.

"I thought we were supposed to be immune." Minho spoke first.

"Not all of us, I guess." Teresa spoke as she snuggled into the pack behind her, closing her eyes.

Blake narrowed her eyes at the girl in aggravation. She knew Teresa hadn't known Winston that well, but for shuck sake—she could have some empathy.

"If Winston can get infected, then we should assume so could the rest of us." Newt adds as he gazes into the fire's flames.

Blake finally turns her burning glare away from the other female as she turns her head to her other side—noticing Thomas' eyes on her. The two share a quick glance before they both turn their attention to the fire.

"I thought I'd never say this..." Fry starts as tears roll down his cheeks. "But..I miss the glade."

Blake fiddles with her hands. "So do I."

The next morning, the group sets out again—continuing their journey across the desert-ridden lands.

Heat waves bounce off the ground before them, making the group hallucinate from the dry heat pounding down on them.

Blake's eyes droop in exhaustion and thirst as she casts her eyes over to Minho, who lifts the metal bottle above his mouth. Nothing pours out as the boy tips it further, only making Blake close her eyes and continue walking.

Shifting, Blake tries to get comfortable as the group surrounds the extinguished fire—all sound asleep.

Blake continues shifting her body, not being able to get comfortable. Letting a huff leave her lips, she opens her eyes and pushes herself up, bringing her knees to her chest.

The girl looks out into the distance at the light night crackling in the sky—miles away. Her breathing steadies as she breathes in the cool air around her, letting the stands of her hair blow in the wind.

Thomas shifts from beside Blake and opens his eyes, apparently unable to sleep either. The boy pushes himself up and notices the girl hugging her knees as she watches the storm brew off into the distance.

"Can't sleep either?" Thomas questions in a whisper as he sits up.

Blake turns her head to the side and shakes her head. "Can't get comfortable."

A moment of silence follows as Thomas gazes at the girl before him, watching the strands of hair blow around her face.

"I-I never got the chance to talk to you...since I got most of my memories back." He whispered softly as he slid next to the small girl.

"You were my best friend." Thomas whispered softly as Blake met his eyes, watching as his adam's apple bobbed. "We did everything together—got in trouble mostly, but you were always the person I went to for anything."

Blake smiled softly at the boy beside her, wanting nothing more than to remember everything.

"And the next thing I know.." Thomas spoke softly as he turned his gaze away from the girl. "You were being dragged away—to be sent into the maze."

Blake let out a breath she didn't know she was holding onto as she glanced in front of her—noticing lights flickering and shining that wasn't there before. The girl's eyebrows furrowed as she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes to see what it was.

𝘎𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰.

"I never got the chance to tell you.." Thomas whispered as he turned his gaze back onto the girl but stopped when he noticed her furrowed eyebrows. Following her line of sight, Thomas noticed the lights Blake had been narrowing her eyes at.

𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵— 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵. Thomas thought to himself.

"I think that's.." Blake begins as she trails off and unravels her arms from around her knees. Pushing herself up, she leans closer to try and get a better look.

"Hey. Hey." Thomas breathes out as his heart beats faster in his chest, pushing himself up to stand alongside Blake.

"Get up!" Thomas taps Newt's leg. "Newt, get up. Come on." Newt groans as he lifts his body off the ground, focusing on where Blake is looking.

"Let's go. Fry, Aris. We see something." Thomas continues as he wakes the others.

"Whoa, what is it?" Minho asks as he stands beside Newt, looking off into the distance at the lights.

"You see that!" Thomas points his index finger as he pants, "It's lights."

Blake shifts her body to glance around the group; a small smile spreads across her lips in hope. As she turned her head, her smile faded at the lightning that flickered closer and closer, realizing they were about to be caught in this storm if they didn't rush.

"We made it." Minho says just before a crack of thunder echoes from behind, making the group flinch and turn to where Blake is looking.