the scorch trials
chapter six

❛❛ i hope the world is not like this ❜❜

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Poe was woken up by Thomas who found a crow pecking into one of the packs before he scared the black bird away. Poe watched the crow flapping it's wings before flying away.

The sun is out, partially cloudy and windy. Poe was still tired, his eyes were itchy and heavy, he could use some more sleep but it was time to get up and keep moving. His muscles ached from all the run last night and felt his legs stiffened as he tried to get onto his feet.

Not everyone were awake, Frypan had to wake up the other two, Aris and Leigh. Anton was already sitting up before Poe did, Teo had left the spot to go for a quick bathroom room, Winston was still lying down on his spot, oddly that his skin was pale than yesterday. Nico was looking into his pack as if looking for something, Teresa had been sleeping near Thomas and Minho, she looked more tired than Poe.

"We should get going" Thomas announced.

Poe wanted to say that they need a little more time to get ready, but everyone already got themselves ready and grabbed their packs. Poe glanced down where Newt had slept, he was still sitting and already had his eyes up on Poe.

Winston grunted loudly, Poe shifted his attention and see the Keeper of Slicers struggling to get up. Poe approached his friend, "You all right?" He reached a hand for Winston to grab. Poe immediately assumed it was when a Crank grasped on Winston and had his stomach clawed was hurting him. The bandages around his stomach had bleed through while he was sleeping.

"Yeah" Winston lightly smiled, grabbed Poe's hand and helped him get up. Winston's hand was burning like fever.

"You sure?" Poe looked at him.

Winston lightly pat Poe's shoulder, "Yeah, I'm sure" he went to go join Thomas who had went ahead.

Poe was waiting for Teo and Anton to get back from their break while others have already went ahead. Teo got back before Anton did, they grabbed their packs and followed the group. As Poe walked with Teo and Anton, Poe was concerning about Winston already, "Winston don't look so well"

"What are you talking about? He seems fine" Teo gazed ahead where Winston was standing.

Before Poe could say anything else, the view they found when they joined the group had them all in halt and fell stun. In front of them was two rows of dozens of buildings, all in ruins, like something washed onto these buildings and ripped out the walls. Poe remembered what Ava Paige said back in the Maze where she mentioned about the solar flares that hit the earth. He wondered if he was alive when the solar flares hit, or how he survived. Also wondered of his family, if his parents survived or if he ever had any siblings. Are they still alive? Any of them?

The Gladers and the Icers walked between the buildings, on once there was a large street, cars and various vehicles were all scattered all over the streets. Some buildings have fell but hung onto it's neighbour.

"What the hell happened to this place?" Frypan asked.

"I don't know" Newt answered, "It doesn't look like anyone's been here in a long time"

"Solar flares" Anton spoke up, "Remember, back in Maze? When Ava Paige mentioned that solar flares hit the earth and this place— as what Janson calls this place, The Scorch— this was probably the place that the flares landed"

Aris spoke, "I hope the whole world is not like this"

"Who's this, Ava Paige? Did you all met her?" Leigh questioned who was walking beside Aris.

"We didn't meet her" Teo replied, "shortly after we escaped the maze, we found the place where they were watching us from, we found people— all been killed but I assumed that it was all staged. Ava Paige left us a shucking long message... I mean, wouldn't you guys meet her too? Like after you solve the maze and escaped then meet the Creators?"

Poe glanced forward at Aris and Leigh, who both exchanged looks. But before either of them spoke, there was Thomas behind them who urged the group, "Whoa, hang on, stop" Everyone stopped and turned to look at Thomas. He was standing still as if trying to hear something. "Do you hear that?"

It was a deep rumbling noise they heard, it grew loud like it was coming their way, but when Poe heard the familiar noise like deep rapid rumbling noise, he heard it before but Thomas was the first to figure it out.

"Get down!" The boy urged, "everybody, hide! Hide!"

They found a spot under the rubbles, there was a lot of room on both sides. Poe was on shoulder to shoulder with Aris and Thomas. Behind him was Winston, Anton, Leigh and Teo while the rest were on the left side.

A Berg and two helicopters flew just above them. From behind the Gladers then towards ahead. It's WCKD, the group knew that and these people are searching for the teens.

"They'll never stop looking for us, aren't they?" said Winston.

"Maybe they'll give up eventually" Anton guessed.

Once the Berg and the helicopters were out of their sights, the Gladers and the Icers crawled out of the rubble before continuing their journey to the mountains. Problem was they have no idea where the mountains are, they just needed to get out of the city ruins and look for a hill where they might spot the mountains.

"How do we know if these mountains are close by?" Nico grumbled, "we could be traveling for few hundreds of miles and we have no clue where they are"

"I hate to say that I'm afraid—" Leigh spoke, "that Mee-co here might be right"

"It's Nee-co" Nico grumbled.

"We'll know once we get out of this downtown" said Thomas before moving along. "I hope"

The walk through the downtown got more harsh, they had to climb up through a fallen building and piles of large rubbles to get to the other side. It must've been noon already when they were climbing over a steep pile of rubbles and went through a building. It was almost a struggle to get through before finally leaving downtown.

They had a short break to take drinks of water under a overpass to hide from the sun. They may have found a larger hill where they might see the mountains. Thomas got impatient that he went ahead, forcing the rest to follow him and keep going.

"A little further, guys!" Thomas yelled as he climbed up a hill.

The group got more exhausted as they followed Thomas, the ground was soft and boiling, Poe's feet dug deep into the ground making the climbing and walking a bit harder.

Thomas finally stopped when he reached the top. To Poe's stun, mixed with both relief and disappointment when he reached the top, ahead in the distance were the mountains, could be miles ahead, maybe twenty to fifty miles, who knows. Relieved that they can see the mountains and disappointed that they still got a long way to go. They were still within the city.

"Those mountains, that's gotta be it" Thomas pointed forward. "That's where we're going"

"That's a long way off" said Newt.

Poe noticed Winston taking the strap off over his head and dropped it. Winston looked a lot worse than the rest of them. His lips had changed color to a darker color, making his skin look more paler, and he was breathing heavily. "Winston, you okay?" Poe asked him. Winston responded by taking a step forward collapsing forward, "Winston?!"

Poe sprang forward and kneeled beside him as everyone else gathered around the boy frantically, "Winston?!" Teo was at his side, grabbed him by the shoulder to turn him onto his back. Winston was gasping and wheezing as if he was struggling to breathe. "Winston?" Teo has his hand on the boy's cheek.

"He's hurt pretty bad" Frypan said.

"What do we do?" Teresa asked.

No one responded. It was getting stressful, no one had a thought of leaving Winston behind, Poe would rather carry him if they decided to and Teo had the same thought as Poe.

"I can make a stretcher, or some sort" Leigh answered, she took her pack off as she got on her feet, "but I need you guys to help me look for rods, or metal bars, pipes, anything, they have to be long. I need ropes or laces, a sheet. Quickly"

The Gladers nodded and agreed, they all scattered around the area to scavenge from nearby vehicles to look for what the girl needs to make a stretcher. Teo never left Winston's side, meanwhile Anton, Nico and Teresa searched into every packs. It didn't take long for everyone to find something what Leigh needed, they lended their hands to help her make a stretcher. Poe was barely surprised how the girl was quick to make the stretcher, though it was small but it was enough.

Teo and Frypan volunteered to carry Winston first and the boys will take turns of carrying him along the way.

They had to walk around to the safer path for Winston, they didn't want to climb more onto the hills even though carrying Winston made the travel harder, and still have to climb down the steep hills. They had to carry the unconscious boy carefully while the other had to carry the stretcher until they reach the main ground. Winds picked up when they reached the main ground and continued to the mountains. But the winds got worse and worse that it turned into a sandstorm. It was like a hurricane, sands scratched and hit their faces, blinding the teens and they were unable to see where they were going.

It was difficult to hide from the sand for Poe, he had nothing to cover himself but only with his arm while he was carrying Winston. He then urged the group to find shelter.

It didn't take long to find cover from the storm, sand would still blow into their cover, and they had to stay there and wait for the storm to pass.

The winds died down after an hour, it was all calm and clear once again. They rested within the shelter for a little more longer to replenish. With the winds gone, the humid grew and the sun boiled the grounds.

Sweat were forming on Poe's head and his back, he had taken off his jacket, seated down beside Teo who stayed close to his unconscious best friend. Poe lended his canteen of water to Teo and there was Anton sitting on the other side of Poe. The hot air made the boy grouchy and miserable as he sat back against the giant stone with his folded camouflage jacket on the back of his neck. Thomas was standing ahead, gazing at the view of the mountains. Everyone were sitting around within the shaded area.

Winston was breathing sharply while still unconscious. There was Teresa staring at the boy, she looked almost traumatized and seemingly trying to contemplating on what's happening to him. Aris and Leigh were sitting together closely to each other.

Teresa had left and went to where Thomas was standing. Poe got up and left for a quick break. When he got back, instead of going back under the rubble, he sat on the end of the rubble and Newt had spotted him before approaching him.

Poe was gazing where they had came from, the buildings from the downtown can be seen barely, but all blurry by the heat from the ground. "How are you holding up, mate?" Said Newt.

Poe shrugged, "All right, I guess" only because he was worried about Winston. It's like he's getting worse and worse as each hour passed by.

"Winston don't look he's in a good shape" Newt seated down beside Poe. "Got any idea what's wrong with him?"

The older teen lightly shook his head, "He's... got a very bad fever. Maybe the wounds on his stomach where a Crank got him is infected but—"

Newt raised his brows, "But what?"

"I just know that infected wounds take days to show, like pus, fever and all that but... the wound he's got happened just last night. I think this is something else" Poe guessed.

"Maybe WCKD gave him something that made him feel ill?" Newt wondered.

Poe shrugged, glanced down at his hands clamped together, "I'm worried about him, that's all. I just hope it's nothing. I hope it passes" he took a deep breath through his nose before looking at Newt. "Think we're getting close?"

Newt chuckled softly through his nose, "Probably not—" he slide off his seat, took a step ahead and gazed where Thomas and Teresa were standing, "How's it looking?!" His loud voice echoed across the area.

Thomas took a moment to respond, "Just a little further"

Newt turned back around at Poe, with doubt on his look, "That's not very convincing" he went to sit back down beside Poe. Newt stared at him for a moment, Poe was leaning forward with his elbows against his knees. "Poe, what happened back there? Back in the compound. What were they going to do to you? Aris said that you were in danger"

Poe scratched his scalp, he sat up straight. "I don't know exactly but I assume Janson was only lying to me" he was thinking of what Janson had said to him. "Janson said that he'd give me my memories back. He told me that I have information about WCKD, he said with that info, he planned on using it to expose WCKD and take them down, something like that... but that's just a lie, I guess"

Newt furrowed his brows in wonder. "But why would WCKD give you your memories back anyways?"

"I don't know, Newt" Poe sighed sharply, "Maybe he only said that or manipulated me into this operation they attempt to performed on me just to turn me into a marshmallow like those dead or alive kids they have back there"

"Well, you did used to work with them" Newt reminded.

"You're saying that Janson was telling the truth about getting my memories back?"

Newt shrugged but it was more of a maybe answer.

"Either way, I'm honestly glad I never got them back, even though I wanted to but... funny how before I got drugged, it all felt somehow wrong to get my memories back"

"But at the same time, you would've remembered everything. I'd like to remember my past"

"I wasn't like you before I went into the maze, Newt" Poe murmured, "I was on the other side from you— I was with them. I guess I was only scared to remember what I did to you and the Gladers"

Newt didn't respond this time. Despite not remembering of his past, there was a guilt he was feeling, the shame hiding within him, like it was still haunting him. He wondered how Thomas and Teresa does it to overcome their guilt and shame after learning that they were once with WCKD. Do they still feel it? Or they're just hiding it from others?

Trying to forget it. Then Poe remembered what Newt had promised back in the Glade. Newt was supposed to tell Poe about something and he said he'd tell him once they leave the Glade. "So, I guess we're out of the Glade" Poe looked already-confused Newt. "You wanted to tell me why you hated me so much few months ago"

Poe expected a laugh from Newt but there wasn't a smile on the boy's face at all. It was more of a hesitation. "Right— uhmm... when you came out of the Box, I didn't hate you right away but that was later until—"

There was a loud bang erupted from under the rubble where the rest of the group were. Aris was shouting, "Guys, get down here!"

Teo can be heard yelling, "Winston, what the hell are you doing?!"

Poe and Newt rushed back into the shelter. They found Winston out of his stretcher, on his hands and his knees as he wheezed out, "Give it back, please!" Winston was crawling slowly towards Teo, he had a gun in his hand, was standing over him and everyone else stayed back.

"What's going on?!" Newt uttered.

"What happened?!" Poe demanded.

Thomas and Teresa stood behind Poe and Newt. "I don't know!" Frypan uttered, "He just woke up, grabbed the gun and then he tried to—" unable to finish his words.

"He tried to shoot himself" Leigh finished.

Poe went over him, "Winston, you okay?" He leaned over and put his hands on his friend's shoulders.

All of sudden, Winston spewed out black liquid out of his mouth, vomiting, coughed out before he laid back down. This wasn't any other sickness. Everyone stood by and stared at him. "It's growing..." Winston lift up his shirt and revealed his wounds. "...inside me"

Soft gasps escaped from their mouths. Poe stared in shock as everyone else to see that Winston's wounds looked worse, it was horrible to look at, it wasn't Poe had expected. The wounds looked horribly bruised but rather rotten and blackened. The wounds looked dried as well and decaying. Poe knew immediately what was happening to him, it wasn't the wounds that were infecting, Winston had been infected with the vicious virus; the Flare. He's slowly becoming a Crank.

Winston pulled his shirt back down, took a moment before breaking the news, "I'm not gonna make it" A sudden despair rushed onto the Gladers. Poe glanced up at Teo, who had the most desolation look on his face than the rest of them. Winston reached up at Teo. "Please... please... Don't let me turn into one of those things"

There was a moment where Poe couldn't accept that this was happening, he begged that there was a way that Winston could pull this through. Until Teo stepped forward, Thomas muttered out "Teo—" but Teo stood over Winston before kneeling down and put the gun into Winston's hand.

Poe had never seen so much pain in his friend's look, it pained Poe to see his friend this way as losing Winston.

"Thank you" Winston said softly to Teo. Winston swallowed, "Now, get outta here"

Few tears escaped from Teo's eyes, he sniffled, "Goodbye, mate"

With that, Teo got up, he didn't look back at all, he grabbed his stuff as everyone watched him leaving. Some Gladers gave him a begging look but Teo never looked at them. He never looked back and just kept walking. Poe knew how close Teo and Winston were, they've known each other for a while, they were inseparable everyday. Too close as what Poe had always thought, those two had an incredibly close bond, like two brothers as what Poe always thought. There was something about those two.

Teo was followed by Aris and Leigh. The rest went over Winston to say their farewells. Newt left shortly, followed by Teresa, Nico, Minho and Frypan. Anton was sniffling and cleaning off his snots with the sleeves of his shirt before finally following others.

It didn't feel right for Poe at all, it didn't feel right to leave his friend like this, to leave him alone. Thomas was standing over Winston, watching tearfully at him. He responded, "It's okay"

Thomas's eyes glistened with tears as he was on the brink of breaking down, "I'm sorry"

As Thomas picked up his pack and prepared to follow others. Winston weakly called, "Thomas—" the boy looked back at him, "take care of them" then Thomas left.

Poe was still kneeling down beside Winston. Unable to leave him, he didn't have the strength to stand up and follow the others. He couldn't, and it just didn't feel right to leave him.

"Poe, you have to go now" Winston murmured.

Something grew in his throat that it hurt him, it hurt more to hold it in. His eyes burned by tears. "You— you shouldn't die... alone. I won't go... until you go"

Winston's chest fidgeted as he held his breath in and tears streamed down from his eyes. "Thank you..." he whispered. He pulled the gun up over his shoulders. "Please... don't look" the gun was now pointing at his head. "Leave right away when it's done, all right, Poe?"

Poe merely nodded, though it is a promise he'll have to do. He then turned around, looked ahead where the group had went.

"And Poe?"

"Yeah?" Poe aid softly without looking back at Winston. Poe already took a last look at Winston, he can't look back now. As much as he wanted to, he still didn't look.

"Take care of Teo for me"

Poe's breath held inside his chest, "I will" keeping his breath in. His eyes kept looking ahead where the Gladers had disappeared to, he awaits for that loud piercing bang to sound. To stay with Winston is the last thing he'd ever do for him.

Winston's last sight was the sun with blue skies surrounding, he took a last breath then held his breath in before pulling the trigger.

*****