STEEL || The Scorch Trials • Newt [2]

Chapter 8

Pay attention to each of their faces. Trust me, it will be 10x more funny than it already was 😂

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I woke up to the sound of Thomas shooing a crow away that was trying to eat our food. Once I opened my eyes, I found ourselves sleeping underneath a pile of rubble; wind picking up dust as it went. I was confused at first as to why we were out here, sleeping underneath some broken beams, but then all the memories from last night came flooding back: The safe facility that W.I.C.K.E.D. was secretly running, the blazing Scorch, and the Cranks. I slowly sat up, stretched, and stood up to my feet to look at our surroundings.

"Are they gone?" Newt asked.

"Yeah, I think we're safe for now," Thomas replied. "Come on, we should get moving."

We all stood up and started packing everything up. While I was rolling up my sleeping bag, I heard a grunt of pain coming from my right. Winston was lying on his back, shifting to sit up slowly. I went over to check up on him with concern. After we thought the Cranks were gone last night, we pulled out the rubbing alcohol and gauze from my backpack and patched him up. Frypan helped him up to his feet, wincing a little from the pain.

"I found rubbing alcohol and gauze, but I couldn't find any pain medication?" I spoke loudly to myself, shaking my head.

"It's okay, this is fine," Winston reassured me with a little smile.

I smiled back and gave him a hug, but not tightly. After strapping on our bags, we set off in the early morning of the day. We climbed on top of the rubble, trying to get a better view of where we were. Frypan and I stayed behind Winston just in case he needed help getting through the little obstacles. When we made it to the top of the rubble, we all widened our eyes in amazement. What was in front of us looked like an old city that was buried deep in the sand.

Just like the Maze, I had never seen anything like it. How did it end up like this?

We shook it off though and kept walking. We climbed down the rubble, trying carefully not to slip. Once we were able to walk on the ground, we journeyed through the rundown buildings. The sun was beating down on us, and it was so hot that my mouth began to go dry. We walked through the old city, examining each building, thinking silently to ourselves. It looked like this city fell early.

"What the hell happened to this place?" Frypan wondered out loud.

"I don't know," Newt replied. "It looks like no one's been here in a long time."

"I hope our whole world's not like this," Aris said.

While I was observing our surroundings, I saw in my peripheral vision that Thomas suddenly stopped in his tracks. I turned to look at him, wondering if he was okay. He looked like he was trying to listen to something.

"Hang on, stop," Thomas said to the rest of us. "You hear that?"

We all listened carefully, but not a sound came from anywhere. It was so silent that you could hear a pin drop from somewhere, and you would automatically know where it came from. There was also the sound of wind blowing through the valley. Then, the sound of rhythmic whirs echoed in the distance.