the scorch trials
chapter nine

❛❛ oh and i'm fine too, that's if anyone's wondering about me ❜❜

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"We have your compound completely surrounded. You found yourselves through no fault of your own in possession of WICKED property. Return them to us unharmed and we'll consider this a simple misunderstanding. Or you can resist and every last one of you will die. It won't be long before the Flare wipes out the rest of us. The hope of a cure lies in your hands. The choice is yours!"

The boys were all free and Frypan and Minho were the last two. "Okay, let's go, let's go" Thomas urged them to follow.

They were running to the exit but they halted when they found the same bald man from earlier, he drew a gun, cocking it and point it at the group.

"We're not trying to cause any trouble, okay?" Thomas said, slightly raised his hands up, "We just got to get out of here"

"Is that so?" The man grinned, he raised a walkie-talkie and clicked it on, "Janson, I got em' for ya. I'm bringing em' down. Don't shoot us" he turned it off then gestured them to move. "Come on, let's go. I said let's go"

No one moved but as Thomas stepped closer, he grabbed the gun and the gun blasted above them. Thomas wrestled against the man as the other tried to help. But as Thomas pushed him off and the man quickly drew his gun again at the boy.

"You little bastard!"

Something blasted through the air, the teens all jumped, thinking that he had pulled the trigger at the teens. But neither of them got hit. Instead, it was the man who got shot from behind as he dropped to his knees. Behind him is the girl, Brenda with a gun raised as she watched the man dropped to the floor.

The Gladers and the Icers stared in baffle at Brenda. "Okay, come on" she urged the group. But they didn't move. "Come on, let's go!" She rushed to the exit and the group finally followed her.

The music blared through the speakers. Poe was baffled for a quick moment to hear a slow music during in this situation. They ran up to the stairs to a different room and seemingly were at the top floor.

"Brenda, let's go!" He uttered, "we don't have much time! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" He lead them to the left but stopped at the window, he pushed the windows and they swung open. Ahead was another building, two cords were connected to the building they're in to the building across. "Right this way"

"Oh you gotta be kidding me" Frypan stared in stun.

The sight of how high they were made Poe's stomach to drop. "Plan B, hermano" Jorge grabbed the cord, shaking it to see if it holds. "You kids wanna get to the Right Arm? I'll lead you to them. But you're gonna owe me" he yanked down one of the straps, still holding onto the cord, he hung onto the strap then lunged forward out the window and bungee-jump toward the next building as he yelled "Follow me!"

"Oh shit, man" Teo whined.

"All right! Let's go!" Brenda pulled down another strap.

"Go" Thomas urged the group, "Go, go!"

Minho grabbed the strap from Brenda, he took off out of the window with no hesitation and the others followed. Aris took the one on the left and he lunged forward after Minho.

Poe turned to Anton, "You got this, right?" Anton shakily nodded, obviously showing anxiousness. "You're gonna be all right. Here" Poe grabbed one of the straps and yanked it down. He hand it to Anton, "Go, go!"

The boy hung onto the ropes tightly, one of his arms wrapped around a loop before he sprang forward out of the window. He was followed by Leigh. One by one they went on as the person went out after seconds. Brenda, Thomas, Teresa and Poe were the last four. As Poe took the left cord and Teresa on the right.

"Brenda, where you going?!" Thomas yelled as the girl rushed away and she didn't respond. Thomas turned to Teresa and Poe. "Just go, I'll be right behind you"

"Hurry!" Teresa told him before she sprang forward out the window.

Poe was reluctant to go after Teresa, he wanted to go after Thomas and Brenda. There was a split second he was going after them until he spotted WCKD guards coming. He quickly grabbed the strap, he gripped onto it then dashed forward out of the window.

He didn't expect that he was going so fast. The spotlight from the helicopter was beaming at him to the end, he didn't see inside the building as it was too dark, there was a second where he couldn't hold on any longer and he can feel the cord being yanked from the compound behind him.

When he reached the dark building, his feet landed on the floor but couldn't stop himself until he crashed onto someone. The impact made Poe to fall forward and the person fell backward.

He didn't realize it was Newt until his face was inches from his as he was on top of him. "Sorry" Poe uttered.

"It's fine" Newt strained, Poe got off of him as he stood up. He helped Newt to get on his feet.

"Where's Brenda?!" Jorge stood on the edge of the floor as he gazed ahead at the compound.

"She left, I don't know why" Teresa answered, "Thomas went after her"

"I saw Janson's men coming in," Poe added, "I don't think Thomas and Brenda are coming through here"

Jorge heaved a sigh, "It's all right, Brenda knows her ways, she can get herself and your friend out"

The song from the compound had faded away, it was just within seconds, the fainted booms began within the compound, followed by an explosion erupting in the middle of the building, there was a small wave from the blast that reached it's neighbour where the teens and Jorge were. "Holy shit" Newt breathed out and his eyes were widened.

The compound began to collapse, starting from the middle before the rest followed. The Gladers all watched the compound collapsing in stun, "Thomas—" Teresa gasped.

"If Brenda and your friend made it out, she'll be going to the same place we're heading" Jorge said, "We need to move now"

The helicopter and a Berg was still hovering around the collapsed building. Jorge left, walked out of the room, he was followed by the two Icers, the Gladers lingered near the edge of the room as they stared at the view of the compound, somehow the four corners of the compound was still standing but tilted.

"Come on, guys" Minho nudged Frypan's arm, "Jorge says Thomas made it out"

"He said if" Newt said.

"Well, we can't just stand here and hope Thomas will somehow miraculously dig his way out of that" Minho pointed at the compound, "now, come on"

Minho left the room, followed where Jorge had went, Frypan and Nico followed along before the rest did.

Jorge planned on getting out of the building, the corridors were all in rust, many floors in the halls were missing and they'd had to go around by going into the rooms to get to the other side. They could only get down to two floors when they found the stairs, the staircase had been collapsed, they had to go back into the hall to find the other way to get down. Seems like the building they were in used to be a hotel. Jorge warned the group that they have to be quiet because chances are Cranks may be around and they like to come out at nighttime.

Just couple more floors away to the main floor then they can leave the building. "Try not to stand too close to each other, these floors might be too delicate" Jorge implied.

"So where are we going?" Teo asked.

"I know a guy, who may know the Right Arm's location. He used to smuggle kids out. Watch your step—" Jorge beamed his light on the floor that has a big hole behind him, "just what I heard. There's a place within the city that he runs. His name is Marcus"

"Oh brilliant" Teo muttered, he hopped over a hole.

While Frypan and Minho jumped over between the two floors, Aris was next followed by Teresa. Poe and Newt were just behind Anton, there was a sudden noise like a crack underneath them. Like dozens of splinters being split all at once. Leigh, Nico, Anton, Poe and Newt all halted at once and dropped their gazes at their feet. The floor broke. Poe could feel the floor under his feet breaking but he was yanked back by Newt meanwhile Leigh, Nico and Anton fell through. Multiple loud crashes were heard along with the shouts and yelling. The floor below them already had no floor and they crashed through the second before taking a harsh landing on the third floor.

Poe quickly looked over the edge to where Anton had fallen along with Nico and Leigh. "Anton?!" He called, it was too dark to see, Teo was standing across at the other side beamed his light where Anton had fell through, the smoke of dust blocked the light and they couldn't see through the cloud of dust. "Anton?!"

"Leigh?!" Aris yelled.

"Anton!" Newt called as well, "Nico!"

Anton woke up first, he could've been unconscious for a long moment, his head had taken a hit when he fell through the second floor before hitting the third floor. They had fallen about three floors down. Pain was he felt first, there was pain on his back and his left arm where he landed.

He coughed out as he shifted onto his back, a faded cloud of smoke were hovering over him and there were lights beaming towards his way. He heard his name being called from above. He pulled himself to sit up, looked around for his flashlight before finding it under the debris and he picked it up. He found two unconscious bodies near him. He crawled over to them.

"Hey" he shook the girl first, she had a bloodied cut on her cheek, "Hey, you all right?" She coughed few times as she woke up. He moved to Nico, he also had a cut on the corner of his forehead, bleeding a little. "Nico?" He shook him on the shoulders.

He stirred a moment later. Leigh was already sitting up before Nico woke up. "What— happened?" He murmured, he reached for his head where the cut.

"We fell through, I guess" Anton said. The group above were still calling them. He point the light above and responded, "We're okay!"

"We're gonna find the way to you, okay? Just stay there, all right?!" It was Frypan.

"Okay!" Anton sat down, he fanned the dust away from his face, he exhaled sharply. He noticed the cut on his left arm, cut through his sleeve, it was rather very thin but long.

Then there was a fainted crash ahead. He pointed his light ahead, just down the hall, there was nothing but a bunch rubbles, piles of planks. He brushed it off, thinking it was from when they crashed through and the building is delicate and frail that anything would be fallen off their place by little movements of the building. Another similar noise sounded again, but it was followed by a soft growl.

When Anton beamed his light again ahead, this time he found a Crank at the end of the corridor, on the floor, dragging itself out of the room. The Crank screamed, getting Nico and Leigh's attention as they snapped their heads at down the hall. Anton got onto his feet and kept his light on the Crank. He noticed that it didn't have eyes and one leg was missing, it struggled to get up as it pushed itself forward with it's knee and pulling himself forward with it's hands.

"You gotta be joking" Nico groaned as he got up.

Multiple gun shots fired above them.

It was Jorge who shot a Crank that jumped onto Teo from the room their right as they were making their way to the staircase. Meanwhile Poe and Newt were trying to find their own way to Jorge. They managed to go into the floor beneath them by through a floor in one of the rooms. They were going to the same place, where Anton, Nico and Leigh were.

Another Crank appeared behind the three, at the end of the hall, it was crawling over the pile of rubble and it was already getting up.

"Ah shit" Anton uttered, one Crank on their left who can't stand on it's own foot and the other on their right who can stand. Trapped.

There was a hole on the wall behind them that Nico noticed, "Quick, get in there!" He urged them.

Anton got down and crawled through a jagged hole, followed by Leigh, but as Nico crawled and his foot got caught by a Crank. It was pulling him back out into the hall, "Nico!" Anton screamed. He was about to go back out but something yanked him back followed by an inhuman scream and they both crashed onto a desk. He shifted onto his back and a Crank was on him. He had the Crank on the shoulders, barely kept it away from his face, it was inches from his shoulders when it suddenly jerked back off of the boy, there was Leigh standing over them with a knife in her hand. The Crank kept jerking around, arching it's back as it screamed.

Leigh helped Anton up as the no-eyes Crank came crawling through the hole as it followed the other Crank's loud screams, guiding the no-eyes Crank away from the hole, Giving Leigh and Anton an opportunity to leave the room through the hole. Back in the hallway, they find a Crank on Nico, trying to take a bite on him, both Leigh and Anton rushed over to him and they grabbed the Crank off of the boy before shoving it away. They grabbed Nico to stand up then the three of them ran down the hallway until they reached the last door which was the stairway.

Nico closed the door behind him and held it as the Crank began to pound the door. Anton helped him and they held the door closed for a moment.

"Leigh!" A voice uttered behind them and it was Aris rushing down the stairs. He was followed by the rest of the group. The girl let out a relief sigh and they both hugged "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah" Leigh nodded.

"Anton, you all right?" Poe walked around Aris, Anton had his back against the door, Poe grabbed the boy's shoulders.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Anton responded.

"Oh and I'm fine too, that's if anyone's wondering about me" Nico panted, "Anyone wanna do something about this shucking Crank?"

They managed to find their way out of the building and found themselves outside. The light from the moon was bright enough to see outside, they attempted to go to downtown where the man, Marcus lives, but only to find themselves at the cliff, below them was a long and wide hollow of blackness, who knows how far it is down below and there was no sign of getting across to the other side. The long and hollow narrow was long way ahead, miles away in left and right.

"Great, now what?" Said Minho.

Jorge sighed, "I say we wait until sunrise. For now, we find a place to make camp and maybe rest, we probably all need it. And hopefully in daytime, we'll find the way to get across"

The Gladers and the Icers reluctantly agreed. Jorge found a place, a small place that used to be a gas station, it was small and there were no sign of Cranks in it. They had a fire going within a barrel. They moved the shelves to sides to make room where they can all huddle around to sleep and place the barrel in the middle.

An hour went by, Poe was lying beside Anton few feet away. He faced up at the ceiling while the fire slowly died out. He hoped that it wouldn't haunt him, but he knew it would. Winston's death is what kept him up, he still heard that gunshot Winston made and killed him. Every time Poe closed his eyes, that's all he could see and hear. So he got up and decided to go outside.

He went toward the cliff that was nearly fifty yards ahead from the station. He stood about ten feet from the cliff. The sky was turning darkest blue, hinting dawn was near, and the sky were partly cloudy. It was breezy.

"Can't sleep again, huh?"

Poe knew immediately it was Newt because he knew that voice before he turned to look. "What's keeping you up?" He asked.

Newt joined to stand beside him. "Honestly, you. I just heard you getting up and figured you have trouble sleeping" he put his hands into his jacket pockets as he gazed ahead. "You?"

Poe did not reply, his gaze remained ahead. Then he murmured out, "Winston"

Newt's glance shifted to Poe, it's only been two days since they lost Winston. "You know what helps me sleep?"

Poe looked at Newt in question.

Newt looked ahead for a brief moment then turned his gaze at Poe. "Every night, almost every night, when I can't sleep, I begin to say the names of the Gladers we've lost, like George... Nick... Ben... Alby, Chuck... and now Winston, I say them over and over like a loop until I fall asleep. Like as if it's a prayer"

"That helps?" Poe said.

"Every time"

He only knew a few, maybe. Or maybe he could say the name as well, like Nick, Alby, Ben, Chuck, also Bark, and Winston, see if it helps.

As there was a brief silence around the two. Poe remembered what Newt said few days prior, he was going to tell him something. "So... as you were saying— before when Winston—" Poe paused, figured Newt would know what he meant.

"Right uhm—" Newt scratched his scalp, "You know I didn't hate you right away, I mean I wouldn't say that it was hate... I just didn't like you" he chuckled through his nose.

When Newt sat down on the ground, so did Poe.

Newt didn't say anything momentarily, he was hesitant or as if he was too embarrassed to say. He took a deep breath before he finally said it, "I didn't like you because I didn't like how Nick gave you a lot of his attention"

Poe was confused for a moment.

"He and I were close... until you came" Newt went on. Poe somehow knew where he was going with this. Newt softly laughed again in embarrassment. "I guess I was... jealous and I— it made me realize that I... might've liked him a lot"

Now Poe felt really bad. This was something he didn't expect from Newt at all. "Maybe he... would've liked you back" it all sounded the same as he told Teo about Winston.

Newt shook his head, "No... no, he wouldn't" he said, he looked at Poe, "Poe, Nick liked you"

Something stung within Poe's chest. It was a shock he felt. But how would Newt know that? "He tell you that?"

"No, I just knew" Newt answered.

"Then you don't know—"

"No, Poe, just listen—" Newt trailed him off before he went on, "Why do you think he was constantly looking out for you? I knew Nick more than anyone. He had never looked after and took care of any other Glader than he had for you before."

This only made Poe ever more sadder. Does he believe that? But to look few months back with Nick, it kind of made sense.

"He was the reason why you never became a Runner sooner" Newt said, "Minho already decided that you become a Runner when Ben broke his leg but Nick persuaded him into changing his mind. Nick also made Minho not to say anything to you that it was his idea that you shouldn't be a Runner. He thought that you would be angry with him, he was too worried about your safety. He really cared about you which he usually doesn't for others"

Poe had no words at all. He always saw Nick as his friend, as a friend. If it was true, he wouldn't be sure on what he would think about that. If Nick were alive today, would Poe feel the same? Newt would probably hate him more. In fact, Poe would never know about Newt's feelings for Nick and they wouldn't be friends. "I'm sorry" he murmured.

Newt chuckled softly, "Don't be... honestly if Nick were alive now, I'd just want him to be happy, let him do what would be best for him. And I think you would've made him happy... if you'd feel the same... I mean the girl, Teresa seems to like you very much and you seem to like her too"

Poe somehow felt that was Newt saying that Poe only likes girls. But does he? Well, he does but at the same time, he doesn't mind liking boys as well. He wouldn't mind Nick at all.

"Oh man uhm—" Poe slightly flushed, but he had to be honest about Nick, he was also nervous about hurting Newt, but he wants to be honest, "...look, if Nick were alive right now... and if what you say about him is true... then maybe... maybe I'd feel the same for him"

Newt stared at Poe, all of sudden expressing a smile which surprised him. "Good that" he said. He gazed ahead, there was an urge that Poe was feeling like he wanted to... hold Newt or hold his hand that was inches from him. "Anyway, we should try and get some rest, at least a little"

"Yeah, yeah" Poe blinked as he darted his eyes away and scratched his neck. He got on his feet, he helped Newt to get up.

"Thanks"

As they were walking back to the gas station together, Poe asked him, "How about... I'll sleep until you sleep?"

That made Newt laughed softly before answering, "Yeah... sounds good"

Newt was sleeping near Minho before until Poe asked him if he could sleep near him instead which Newt gladly agreed. He made his place under Poe's and Anton's feet. Poe didn't sleep until Newt did. As soon as he knew Newt was asleep, Poe shifted over just to be closer to Newt because he felt more comfortable and oddly more safer to be closer to him.

Then Poe began to whisper out; "Nick... Ben... Alby... Chuck... Bark... Winston" over and over until he finally fell asleep.

*****

Idk why, I'm a bit skeptic about this chapter for some reason but at the same time, I find it cute in the end?