the scorch trials
chapter four

❛❛ newt? ❜❜

————————————————

Thomas was back into his bunk room with Aris and Leigh behind him. When the Gladers heard the grate opening being knocked away, everyone in the room turned to the vent and there's Thomas crawling out of his under bed.

"Thomas!" Minho blurted.

Thomas got up instantly, "We gotta go" he said quickly. "We gotta go right now!"

"What's happening?" Minho asked, "What are you talking about?!"

"What do you mean we gotta go?" This was from Newt as the Gladers watched Thomas looking out there door.

"They're coming. Come on. We gotta go!" Thomas paced to the nearest bunk bed and grabbed the mattress, "They're coming for us" he dragged the mattress to the door to barricade it, he used the sheet to tie the handle of the door to the other handle on the side of the door frame to lock it from the inside. "Paige, she's alive" Thomas said.

"What happened in there?" Frypan demanded before turning to the other two teens; Aris and Leigh, "Aris, Leigh, what happened?" Both didn't answer as if they were traumatized by what they saw.

"Thomas, can you just calm down and talk to us?!" Newt was getting frantic

"She's still alive!" Thomas kept on and still, the Gladers didn't understand.

"Who's she? Teresa?!" Frypan was confused.

"Dammit, Thomas! Can you just tell us what's happening?!" Anton yelled.

A new voice erupted from behind the Gladers, "It's WICKED!" It was a girl's voice, everyone turned their heads at the girl, Leigh standing beside Aris. The girl herself was in disbelief by the fact that they're still being kept by WICKED, it's what she's feared of since the first night. "It's still WICKED. It's always been WICKED"

While Thomas was barricading the door with mattresses and tying the sheets. "What did you see?" Nico asked her.

Leigh didn't have time to respond, Aris knew they didn't have time to explain. "We don't have time to explain, Janson is coming for all of you any second, you're all next, they're taking you all next" Aris warned, "Leigh, go on ahead— lead us to the way"

Leigh nodded, she went into the under the bed and crawled into the vent.

"Your friend is in danger too" Aris told the Gladers, "your friend, Poe? We heard Janson mentioning that Poe is going into some procedure. You want to get to your friend on time? Then we need to move now" Aris went into the vent to follow Leigh.

No one spoke, but with the boy mentioning that Poe was in danger, Teo, Anton and Newt knew they had to go get him before it's too late. They were the first Gladers that went into the vent to follow Aris and Leigh without further questions before the rest followed.

Newt asked Aris and Leigh if they knew where Poe might be, they weren't sure at all. Thomas also mentioned that they can't leave Teresa behind as well. There were too many place to check, they've been in almost every places where the vents go but there are a lot of places that the vents can't go into. With Newt, Anton, Teo and Thomas not wanting to leave Poe and Teresa behind frustrated Leigh because she knows they can just leave the building through to the vents, she lead them the other way where the boys can look for their friends

"Okay, I don't think anyone's around here—" Leigh reached to the end of the vent, there was a grate she had to open, she merely pushed through to open, fell out of the vent and landed on her knees. "I don't know where your friends might be" they found themselves in a large corridor left to right and it looked almost like a garage.

"Come on, let's go" Thomas was going to the right hall.

"You guys go ahead. There's something I gotta do" said Aris.

Leigh approached him, "The hell you're talking about?"

"We can't go through the door with those guards guarding— I have to take care of them" Aris said, "it's important. You guys wanna get outta here, right? Just go"

"I'll go with him" Winston insisted.

"Okay, Winston, go" Thomas told him.

"Wh—wait, Aris!" Leigh spluttered, but Aris urged her to go and promised he'll meet her in the main door and told her to lead the boys there. There wasn't time to argue and Leigh had no choice but to follow the rest to find the boys' friends.

They bumped into a doctor, the same doctor that Thomas and Leigh recognized. Thomas remembered this doctor treated and escorted Teresa meanwhile Leigh remembered that this was the doctor that treated her on their arrival.

The boys and one girl halted in silence as the woman suspiciously questioned "What are you kids doing out?"

In a second, the yellow sirens blared all over the building. "You're about to have a bad day, lady" Teo remarked. As the black haired boy got a hold on the doctor, and pinned her shoulder against the wall harshly, "Tell me where Poe is, or you're not going to live to see another day"

The woman look almost frightened as she looked at Teo, "You can't— hurt me— you're just a kid" her hands were trembling.

"Just yesterday, I put a spear into a boy's chest, you really wanna test me, woman?" Teo showed a threatening look, "now tell me, where is my friend?"

The woman swallowed, "I'm just heading there to operate him. He's in western wing. Down the left hall, make another left turn, when you find the intersection, keep going straight until you find the sign W-4 and the room number he's in is 106"

"And the girl? Teresa?"

"I just came from her room—"

"All right— you—" Thomas pointed at Teo, "— Newt, Nico, Leigh— look for Poe. I'm taking the doc to lead us to Teresa. We don't have much time, go!"

"I'm coming with you" Anton said to Teo.

Thomas, Minho, Frypan, Jack took the doctor with them and forced her to guide them to Teresa and made their way down the hallway meanwhile Teo, Newt, Anton, Nico and Leigh went back into the large hallway and jogged down the hall until they reached the end before taking the left turn.

The five teens jogged down the long hallway until they reached the intersection where the doctor said they'd have to keep going straight. Only Anton, Nico and Leigh made through the intersection when the launcher began firing at them from their right, forcing Newt and Teo to get back and all of them hid behind the walls. There was one guard shooting at them with the launcher and he was informing for the back up through the walkie-talkie. The guard went forward as he drew his launcher to prepare to shoot. When Teo and Newt attempt to cross the intersection, the guard keeps shooting and prevented them from running across.

Anton glanced to his right and found a fire extinguisher in a case that was stuck on the wall. The young boy lunged his elbow through the transparent plastic and grabbed the extinguisher. "Nico" the older boy turned to the young boy and he handed the extinguisher to Nico.

The guard was getting too close and Nico only had a second to act quickly. He pulled off the pin, pressed the lever as he pointed at the guard before he shoots at the boy. The white powder blasted and blinded the man before he could pull the trigger of the launcher, the boy slammed the heavy cylindrical object forward at the man's head, knocking him out.

"Shit, Nico" Newt stared in stun. Nico grabbed the launcher from the guard and also had a hand gun on his leg holster. He tossed the gun at Newt then kept going down the hallway until they found a sign "W-4".

They found themselves in the another intersection, they found the sign on the left hallway, the "W-4" sign was painted on the wall. The doors were labeled in order; Room 101, Room 102, left to right. "It's right there!" Anton pointed on the right side and there was a number 106 yellow painted on the door.

Newt made no hesitation, he opened the door and charged into the room as he raised the gun forward. "Hey! What are you—?!"

"Where is he?!" Newt trailed a man's voice off. A man in white gown had his hands up to his shoulder and stood in froze. "Where's Poe?!" yelled Newt. The man responded pointing his finger to the end of the room. There were curtains blocking the way. Newt and Anton went to see, Newt moved the curtains to the side and there was a woman standing at the bedside with her hands already raised and stepped back from the an almost-unconscious boy.

Poe could barely understand what was going on, he couldn't see properly and focused only on the light above him. His sight was all radical blur, in the center of it was all clear and far away. The voices were fainted and echoey. There was deep blaring noise in the background. He was numb all over. His head was turned, he didn't feel the hands on his cheeks, in the center of the clear sight was the face of Newt. His concerned look.

Newt? Newt? He wanted to say. He couldn't tell if he was speaking out. Newt?

Newt wasn't looking at him anymore. Poe couldn't understand what was happening. He was feeling sleepy. All he wanted was to sleep.

Newt raised his gun at the nurse, "Give him something that will wake him!" He demanded, "Hurry up!"

The nurse rushed to the cabinets, looked through the every vile and reading the labels as quick as she could. She was trembling and showed fear on her face. Once she found the right medicine, she grabbed a syringe and filled the small tube as the vile was half-emptied. She pulled out the needle out of Poe's forearm before poking the syringe into the same spot.

Nothing happened at first, Poe was still too weak. "It'll take a little while for the adrenaline to wake him properly" the nurse quickly informed.

"Well, we don't have much, do we?" Teo walked around Newt and pulled the gurney to the door, "Might as well take the entire package with us while the adrenaline kicks in. Come on, let's go!"

Teo and Newt pulled the gurney with Poe on it out to the door while Nico lead the way back to where they came from. "The exit is that way!" Leigh pointed straight ahead before they reached the intersection. On the right hallway was where they came from but they kept going forward and followed the exit signs.

Poe began to feel his arms and his fingers moving. His heart beating getting loud in his ears, his blood pumping through his veins. He could feel it. He could feel the gurney running over the dented floor against his back. His hands fisting, he could feel it. The clear center of his vision was growing while his heart pounding faded and the alarms grew louder. The voices were getting clearer and he was starting to understand what was happening.

I need to get up, he urged himself. "Get up" he murmured to himself.

As they were running, there were two guards ahead coming their way and the teens halted. Forcing them to run back. But three more were behind the teens. "Shit!" Nico uttered.

Leigh rushed to the nearest door on their left, opening it, "In here!" They all rushed into the room while Teo pushed the gurney into the room. Inside was another room that looked to be one of the hospital rooms and no other door to escape.

"We're shucked" Anton uttered as they realized they were trapped. Nico and Teo were barricading the door with drawers and a shelf. Newt was trying to get Poe to get up.

"Poe? Can you get up?" Newt held the boy's shoulders.

Poe squeezed his eyes shut, he can feel moving his own feet, everything was beginning to clear, his hearing and his vision. Though his ears felt like they were being blocked but he could hear what was going on. "I'll try" he responded softly. Newt helped him to sit up, the rush of lightness lifted his head, he had an urge of wanting to lie back down, but he knew he had to get up and move. Newt helped Poe to shift his legs over the edge of the gurney, he slid himself off the gurney and got on to his feet. He felt like his entire body was heavy that his legs couldn't take all the weight. He was about to collapse but Newt caught him. Still lightheaded, it's like the floor was turning, his arm was over Newt's shoulder to keep his own balance.

"I found the way out!" Leigh blurted, she was glancing up at the ceiling in the far right corner of the room, there was a vent, she climbed onto the counter while the guards outside of the room were trying to budge the door open. Leigh opened the grate then climbed up into the vent. "Come on! Hurry!" She urged the boys.

"Anton, go!" Teo ordered the boy. The boy rushed to the counter and climbed up. Leigh helped the boy to climb into the vent.

"Teo, you go next" Newt urged him. While Teo was climbing to the vents, Newt helped Poe to the counter, once Teo was in the vent, a dizzied Poe almost struggled to get onto the counter, he almost lost his balance when he stood up.

"Come on, Poe, give me your hand" Teo reached down, Poe lifted his hand up and grabbed Teo's hand. Helping him to climb up.

Newt was next to climb up while Nico was still at the door, holding a shelf against the door while the guards were trying to get it open. "Nico! Let's go!" With that, the older teen dashed across the room to the counter and climb up. The second when Nico was in the vent, the guards got the door open, and the Gladers and the girl were already crawling around the left corner. The guard last saw Nico disappearing into the left corner.

They crawled through the vents, going many turns as Leigh was leading them to the exit where Aris had went. Poe's vision was different, everything seemed far and bigger, crawling behind Teo who looked to be ahead of him but in reality, Teo was just a few feet ahead. Poe's heart was quickening, blood was rushing around him, his breathing was deep and long like he didn't run out of air. He constantly exhaled, he was going quicker than the rest of them.

Teo was explaining to Poe what was happening while crawling through the vents and even about the rest of the Gladers.

After all the turns in the vents, they found the hanger where they came in when they arrived, the grate was already opened, hinting that Aris and Winston already got through. When they all crawled out of the vents, they found themselves surrounded by large crates and cargos.

The Gladers and the girl ran ahead around the crates and cargos towards the main exit door where they came in from. On their way, they found the rest of the group already ahead of them across the hanger and they're just about to open the large doors.

"Guys!" Teo shouted.

Thomas, Frypan, Minho, Winston, Aris, Jack and Teresa snapped their heads around and found the rest of the group running to them. "Shit! You guys made it!" Winston beamed.

"And you all just about to leave us behind, huh?!" Anton uttered.

Thomas turned the lever and the doors began to open. Harsh winds from outside went through the gap between the two doors. "Come on, come on!" Thomas urged everyone to run out into the desert.

They followed Thomas across the large front yard, passing the landing spot where they had landed from a helicopter. Poe didn't realize he was running faster than the rest of them and it could be the adrenaline they gave him. He didn't feel tired at all from all the running, especially climbing up the steep hill.

The Gladers and the two Icers are truly not aware of what really lies ahead within the Scorch.

***