The Gladers all took turns pulling Winston in the make shift stretcher. It wasn't ideal, but it worked. Winston was still asleep, but Evelyn could hear his breath becoming ragged again, he was coughing up dark phlem.

They pulled him up the last sand hill and back down. The wind was picking up again. Now that they didn't have the buildings to shade themselves, it felt like 100 degrees outside.

"Uhg. Pretty sure we've been walkin' in bloody hell. Always thought you'd end up here Minho, but not me." Newt grumbled, shoving his sweaty hair out of his face.

Minho grinned and looked over with a wink. "Good that." He raised a hand to shield his eyes again, "my eyeballs hurt, I don't think I'll ever get used to this light "

Walking in the desert was not fun. It was a wasteland. Stretched out in front of them a flat pan of dry and lifeless earth stretched as far as she could see. Not a single tree. Not a bush. No hills or valleys. Just an orange -yellow sea of dust and rocks; waving currents of heated air boiled on the horizon like steam, floating upwards, as if any life out there were melting towards the sky.

The sand hills were behind them now. It was a straight stretch of nothing before they could reach the town.

"How far do ya think those buildings are?" Nick asked, pointing towards the shimmering buildings in the distance.

"Could be a hundred miles." Thomas shrugged.

"No way, dude. Its not even close to a hundred miles. Thirty at most. Mountains could be maybe 40 or 50?"

"Didn't know you could measure distance so well with nothin' but your bloody eyeballs." Newt said, rolling his own eyes, making Evelyn snigger.

"I'm a runner, Shuckface. You get a feel for stuff like that in the maz, even if its scale was a lot smaller." Minho puffed his chest and hooked his thumbs into the straps if this backpack.

Teresa and Evelyn made eye contact and turned away immediately, trying hard not to laugh.

"Seriously?" Thomas asked, honestly interested.

"Yeah dude." Minho nodded seriously.

"You're so full of it Min." Evelyn laughed.

They kept trudging. Taking shifts pulling Winston across the flare plans. They were running out of water. Their food supply was dwindling. Everyone was hit sweaty and cranky.

"Really does look like a nuclear holocaust out here. Wonder if the whole world is like this." Sonny said after a while.

"Let's hope not," Minho responded. "I'd be happy to see a tree right about now."

"Maybe a creek." Nick threw out, he had taken his glasses off, the sweat kept making them slid to the end of his nose.

"I'd settle for a patch if grass," Newt sighed. He had tied his long shaft hair up and away from his face.

"Minho? How the shuck dose your hair still stay like that?" Teresa asked, pointing at his still styled hair.

"Just awesome babe. Just shucken awesome."  He threw an arm around her and pulled her into his side giving her sweaty temple a kiss, while she rolled her eyes.

"Could this be any more different from what they put us through in the maze?" Jeff said between huffs. Him and Nick were pulling Winston right now.

"True. There we were trapped inside the walls with everything we needed to survive. And now we have nothing holding us in, but no way to survive." Nick pointed out.

"Isn't that irony or something like that?" Thomas asked, a frown on his sweaty face.

"Something like that " Minho rolled his eyes, "you guys are a bunch of philosophizing wonders."

"Thanks Man!" Jeff said sarcastically.

"Hey! Look! What's that?"

Evelyn pointed to something. Out if the shimmering heart in the distance something appeared. The guys all looked to where she was pointing.

"Shelter!" Teresa cried.

"Great! We make our way there for a bit. Get outta the buggen' heat." Newt agreed.

Minho turned around to the group of Gladers behind them.

"Shelter in a few minutes. We'll take a break." He yelled and pointed to the small shack that was definitely easier to see now.

It took another thirty minutes to make it to the shelter. It wasn't big, but it was enough.

They laid the stretcher down, Winston was wheezing and coughing in his sleep. He was shivering with a fever.

"I don't know what else to do anything else." Evelyn whimpered.

Newt looked at Winston, sorrow in his eyes. He looked at Evelyn.

"Hold his hand. And guid him into the next life." He said quietly.

Evelyn's heart broke. That would be her at some point.

"Is that what you will do? Guide me into the next life?"

"Yes. I will be beside you the whole time. Holding your hand." He said gently, his thumb brushed a fresh tear from her face.

She took a ragged breath. And reached a shaking hand out and took Winston's hand into hers. Leaning back onto the wall, she leaned her head back. Closing her exhausted eyes.

She felt Newt gently take her infected arm and push the sleeve of her shirt up. Peeking an eye open, she saw his face fall.

"Awful, isn't it?" She whispered.

"Does it hurt?"

She nodded. "Mine is different. My infected veins are white. Everyone else is black. But it's a freezing, sharp stabbing pain. From my elbow to my wrist it's freezing, inside it's ice. My hand and fingers feel stuff and cold."

Without saying anything he pulled her bag over and pulled out the medical kit. He also pulled one of her journals out and handed it to her.

"Write." He encouraged.

"About what?"

"Anything that's bouncin' around that beautiful mind." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

She let go of Winston's hand and flipped it open and started to write, Newt still had her infected arm in his lap. He gently cleaned the cuts that didn't want to heal. And then slowly and carefully wrapped her arm with fresh gauze. And then with a thin layer of cloth and tied it in place with brown leather string.

Evelyn wrote, once she had started she didn't stop. Everything she was feeling and trying to process, it all came spilling out onto the pages. A few of the Gladers milled about. Most of them slept. The wind was strong again and no one fancied walking in a sand storm.

She finished pouring her heart out she tucked it back into her bag. Newt had propped himself beside her, his own journal open on his lap.

"How did you keep these safe?" She asked.

"Janson only took you and Tessa and the few weapons we had from the Maze. Everythin' else was buggen' left with us. Our old clothes, watches, any backpacks and such. So when we left through that bloody flat trans, I took your bag and mine with."

She hummed. Her heavy eyelids were sliding closed. She felt a hand on her head and she was gently pulled down. Newt had pulled her head onto his lap.

"You haven't slept in nearly 48 hours. Sleep my Evy."

He pulled the elastic out of her hair and ran his fingers through her sandy hair. Newt looked around, Thomas was standing a little ways off, staring out into the distance.

"How's it lookin'?" Newt called.

"A little further." He called back hesitantly.

Newt frowned and look down at Evelyn.

"Well that's not very convincing." Newt muttered sarcastically and rolled his eyes.

Evelyn chuckled sleepily. Newt chuckled with her. He played with her hair and he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

She was asleep within minutes, and Newt wasn't long after.

________________________

She woke up to the sounds of struggling and sat straight up in full panic when the sound of a gun went off.

"Winston!"

"What the shuck are you doing man?"

"No!" He croaked, "give me that!"

"What's going on?" Evelyn yelled, scrambling over. Frypan and Winston were wrestling for the gun.

"What happened?" Someone yelled.

"I don't know!" Frypan yelled desperate. He had wrenched the gun from Winston's hands. Winston's tumbled away, coughing and wheezing.

"He just woke up and grabbed the gun and then he tried to..."

Evelyn was crouched down beside Winston, Jeff came onto his other side. Winston had gotten onto shaking hands and knees, he reached feebly for the gun.

"Give it back, please." He moaned between deep wet coughs.

"Winston, are you okay?" Evelyn asked caustusly.

She knew that was a dumb question, clearly he wasn't, but she had nothing more she could do. She looked up at Jeff. They had a silent conversation. There was nothing they could do, they knew this was beyond their medical abilities. Beyond her powers.

Winston coughed so violently he threw up blood and thick black goo like phlem. Jeff scrambled backwards. Evelyn just closed her eyes. Resigned to the fact this was going to be her soon. She rubbed his back while he coughed. Once he was done he whimpered once and rolled over into his back.

"It's growing..." He wheezed, and pulled his shirt up..."inside me."

The guys all flinched away, the black veins and red raw skin, it looked like rotting meat. The bite marks and ripped skin hadn't healed. It was red and angry. The guys were seasoned in grousum injuries and blood, but even Sonny, who was the Glad dead body handler, flinched.

"I'm not gonna make it."

He coughed a few more times, his breath ragged and shallow.

"Please. Please. Don't let me turn into one of those things!"

He coughed, more black and blood trickled down his chin. He looked at Evelyn with big pleading eyes.

"Please Evy."

She nodded. Getting up slowly she stepped to Frypan. She gently took the gun from his hands.

"Wait! No Evy!"

A few guys tried to protest. She looked back at them with a sharp look. Evelyn crouched down again beside Winston who was struggling to breath. She placed the gun into his chest, and took one of his hands and placed it over the gun.

"Thank you."

"I understand." She whispered. Tears in her eyes.

"I know..." He coughed spitting up more. She didn't hesitate, but wiped his chin with her hand.

"Good bye Winston. Go keep Clint and Jack and George and the others company until I get there."

He nodded, his ragged breath getting worse.

"Love ya Evy. Now, get outta here." He gave his head a feeble nod.

She smiled and leaned over, kissing his forehead. With tears running there face she stood up, grabbed her bag and hatchet and left the little shack without a word to anyone else, avoiding eye contact. She walked away. Knowing that's what she would have wanted. She understood, even if the others didn't.

So Winston was the other none immune. Who was the last? Jason said there was three. Her, obviously Winston and one more. Her arm was shooting pain right now. She held it tight to her chest. Her eyes forward, walking away, towards the outline of the town. A minute later Newt caught up with her. Without a word, he slid his hand into hers. Looking at him from the corner of her eye, she saw his glassy eyes and the clenched jaw he was trying to hold it together. Evelyn didn't bother looking behind her. She knew the guys were either saying good bye or following.

A few minutes later a loud bang echoed through the empty scorched land. Evelyn froze. Newt stopped beside her, his hand squeezing hers. She closed her eyes. The tear slid down her cheek. They stood for a full minute. Giving Winston a moment.

With a ragged breath, Newt started walking. Evelyn right beside him. They walked in silence for a long time. They only stopped when Thomas, Minho and Tes came jogging to the front when Newt and Evelyn were leading.

They all sunk to the ground, pulling out what little water they had left.

"So...what do we do now?"  Nick asked.

Evelyn frowned.

"What do you think?" Newt asked, but was looking at Minho.

Minho rolled his eyes. "We keep going, that's what. Look we don't have a choice. If we don't go to that town," he pointed to the town, "we're gonna die out here if sunstroke or starvation or dehydration. If we do go, we'll have some shelter for a while, maybe even food and water. Cranks or no Cranks, that's where we're going."

"And what about this Group B?" Thomas asked.

"It's the second time we've heard about them. Janson told us about it...Aris is from that group...and then those guys in the trucks this morning said a second group is running around out here..." Sonny added.

"What if they really wanna kill us? We don't exactly have weapons." Thomas challenged

"Eh, we have a Pixy with awesome death powers." Minho shrugged and winked at her.

Evelyn ground her teeth, and narrowed her eyes. "I'm not a shucken weapon Minho. Though I know how to swing that hatchet pretty good." She snapped.

He raised his hands in defense. He went to open his mouth to say something else when Teresa layed a hand on his arm and leaned in to whisper something. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine. We won't use Pixy's awesome ice death powers to protect us."

Evelyn growled, her frustration rising.

"If it's just a bunch of girls, maybe I'll just show 'em these guns of mine and they'll go runnin'." Minho went on.

Teresa smacked him hard in the chest.

"What's your problem Minho?" Evelyn snapped. "Seriously?! First me  throwing stuff like that around, knowing how much I hate it and now you're gonna say klunk like that infront of Tessa? Grow up shuckface."

She got up and left. Walking away towards the town. She walked until the group was out if ear shot. She sunk down to the ground and pulled her notebook out. She started writing again. All her anger and frustration. She wrote a few memories of Winston. A few tears slid down her cheeks. She was getting really tired of all the crying.

She heard the crunch of feet behind her. She closed her journal.

"I'm sorry Newt, please, I don't need a lecture right now." She sighed wearily.

"Good thing I ain't that shank then."

"What do you want Minho?" She deflated, her anger slid into exhaustion.

He plunked down beside her, his knees up, and his arms wrapped over them. He didn't look at her, but sat beside her and together they looked straight at the town in the hazy hit distance.

"I'm sorry Pixy." He bumped her shoulder, "I shouldn't have joked about your powers like that. I know you don't like it and your uncomfortable with it."

She didn't say anything.

"Pix...but like Sonny and I said last night...it's not bad. Sure it kills bad guys. But so did that hatchet strapped to your back. So did Aris and that baseball bat of his. So did Sonny when he tossed the crank over the side of the rail."

Evelyn sat quiet thinking of what he was saying. He went on.

"I know you view this new side...this ice death power as a curse. But I don't think so. I think...it's the other side of the coin."

She finally looked at him. "What...what do you mean?" She whispered.

"You always had the warm healing glowing power. It only made an appearance after Chuck...after he died. Somethin' inside ya snapped. Everyone saw it. The healing stuff is still there...but burried under your anger and hurt and dispare."

She hummed in response.

"Like when you tried healing Winston? I saw it. You couldn't. I don't know what Newt was sayin' to ya, frankly I don't want to know- gross couplly klunk- but everyone saw you relax and then smile. Then you had enough healing power to help ease the shanks suffering. Cuz you looked happy."

"I was. It wasn't gross Minho. He just..retold some happy memories. Reminded me there's still good in the world. But..." She paused, taking a rattling breath, "Everything...just feels so wrong! This last few days...I just feels like I can't do this anymore! I can't Minho!" She cried.

"I know. It’s all wrong." He let his legs flip, sitting cross legged beside her. He gave her a side glance and bumped her shoulder.

"By rights we shouldn’t even be here- thank WICKED and RatMan. But we are, we're stuck in the shuck scorch. It’s like in the great stories, Little Pixy. The ones that really mattered; full of darkness and danger.-"

"Read? I didn't know you could read!" She teased.

"Shush Pixy!"

She closed her mouth with a small smile. He nodded and continued, waving a hand dramatically.

"Sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened."

He paused and ran a hand through his sweaty hair.

"But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this dark shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. With no WICKED, no RatMan, no Cranks...And when the sun shines it will shine out all the shucken brighter. Those were the stories that stayed with ya. That meant something. Even if you were too much a shuck face to understand why. But I think, Little Pixy, I do understand. I know now. The characters in those klinked up stories had lots of chances of tuckin' tail and runnin'...but they weren't shucken cowards. Because they were holding on to somethin'."

"What are we holding onto Minho?" She whispered, a small smile pulled the corner of her lips. Minho had gotten to his feet, his fists on his hips. And then dramatically throwing his hands around.

"That there's something good in the world, Mr Frodo. And it's worth fighting for!" He cried.

Evelyn got to her feet. "When did you read those books?"

"I actually read em a few times. But since Newt ditched our room for you, I read in the evenings. Those Lord of the Rings were good  books."

"Indeed."

"But seriously. Samwise Gamgee had it right though. There is good in the world, Pixy. Even in our klunky situation, there is good. Even that crazy frozen death power, there is good. You saved so many of those ugly shanks."

Before he could go on Evelyn threw her arms around her best friend and hugged him tight.

"If you tell anyone about me reading those books and the fact I cried over them I'm denying it all and your gonna regret it all!"

"Heaven forbid big bad brave Minho has emotions while he reads a classic."

He smirked at her. And Evelyn rolled her eyes.

___________________________

*Sorry extra long Chapter*
Had to add in that LOTR quote but made it more...Minho.