Steel and Stone [The Maze Runner (Scorch Trials) Fanfiction]

Point of no Return

Mal's POV

"Everybody hold up." Minho says, putting out his hand to stop us. We were approaching a large black box, branded with an all too familiar set of letters. After group B had taken Thomas, we had decided to just keep heading for the safe haven, hoping that we'd somehow run into Thomas and the girls on the way. Not that we had much of a choice if we wanted to keep everyone safe.

"Stay back Love." Newt says, pushing me behind him as we get closer to the box. I peer over his shoulder, watching as Minho cautiously pulls off the lid. To my surprise, the box appears to be full of weapons of every shape and size, just in like the maze....

"Oh no." I groan, plopping to the ground in a pout.

"Bloody what's the matter?" Newt says, turning around and kneeling down in front of me. I can already see the worry building in his warm brown eyes, his mind instantly running through every worst case scenario. I should know, my mind does the same thing. Small problem = must be the end of the world. At least Newt handles it better than I do. I usually just collapse into a puddle of tears.

"Doesn't this remind you of something?" I ask tiredly, not even wanting to think about the conclusion I'd come to. "I mean, do you think W.I.C.K.E.D is just going to give us weapons for no reason?"

Newt's eyes cloud over as he considers my theory. He doesn't answer, clearly coming to the same conclusion I had, that there was no way this sudden 'gift' of weapons, could be anything but bad news.

"It'll be alright." Newt finally sighs, standing and pulling me back to my feet. A group of concerned gladers gathers around me, asking if I'm ok.

"She's fine." Newt assures them, doing his best to down play the situation. He knows I'm not a big fan of being the center of attention, I never was. That was more Kate's thing. Thinking about Kate makes me sad, even though I only knew her for a little while, I felt like I'd known her forever. Now sad and thoroughly terrified, I open Skylar's backpack -which I'd been put in charge of- and take out Kay, holding the kitten to my chest in an attempt to comfort both myself and the mewing animal. The kitten purrs in response to being let out of the bag, easing my nerves a bit as it gives me something else to focus on.

"Here." Minho says, attempting to hand me a long-handled knife. He had been busily handing out the weapons to all of the excited gladers. It was like Christmas morning, everyone smiling as the checked our their new prizes. It made me sick, considering it could only mean bad things were up ahead.

"I don't want it." I say, shaking my head.

"No, but you might need it." He says, pressing the handle of the knife into my empty palm. I see him glance at Newt, nodding before walking off. Despite everything, I smile at the understanding between them. Minho and Newt and like brothers, protecting each other no matter what, and that means protecting what's important to them. Newt protected Skylar, Minho protects me. He doesn't want to see Newt go through what he's gone through in losing Skylar, I know that.

With Newt and Skylar in mind, I nervously place the knife in my belt, still holding a wriggling kitten in one hand, and prepare for whatever we are to face.

A few hours later, we're setting up camp just at the base of the mountains, deciding it was better to start tomorrow well rested. It was day nine of our deadline, meaning if we don't reach the safe haven tomorrow, we won't make it at all. The thought scares me almost as much as whatever WICKED has planned. I don't want to go back to WICKED but I'm terrified of not making it at the same time. What if Skylar was wrong and we really do have the flare?

I'm still thinking about this when I notice Ashley, making her way over to Minho, who stands by himself at the edge of camp. Curious, I follow her, slinking around behind a bush to make sure I'm not seen.