STEEL || The Scorch Trials • Newt [2]

Chapter 10

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Day after day, we didn't stop moving. The mountains were so far away I thought it was going to take us an eternity to get there. The sun wouldn't stop shining, it was so hot that I couldn't wear my jacket. I had to tie it off around my waist constantly since I and everyone else was sweating bullets. None of us shared any words. We kept walking throughout the day with only one break. It must've been more than one hundred degrees outside, because I slowly started to develop sunburns. I only had the jacket as protection. No sunblock, no bandaids, nothing. My arm started to get sore, but I had no more gauze to switch it out, and I had very little rubbing alcohol. I used most of that on Winston. There also wasn't any water left for me to drink, but it was worth giving it all up to my best friend.

The only other time we did get another break was when it got dark. There was no shelter, no fire, nothing. We all just stopped and slept right there on the spot, using our backpacks as pillows. I, of course, was sleeping beside Newt while everyone else got their own little spot on the ground. I was shivering from how cold it was at night. I wished it was like that during the day where we didn't start to form blisters and burns. But I wished it was warm enough at midnight. Newt noticed and put his arms around me, now keeping me warm. I suddenly heard Thomas shift in his spot. I assumed he was trying to get comfortable.

"Hey. Hey," he said weakly. "Get up. Everybody, get up."

We shifted from our spots and sat up, looking at him tiredly.

"I see something," Thomas claimed gleefully and pointed out in front of him.

We all looked in the direction he was pointing, but I couldn't see anything. Not at first, anyway. I squinted my eyes, trying to let them adjust in the darkness. Then I widened them when I saw lights in the distance. Was that The Right Arm? Did we make it? Thomas was stoked about it, so it must've been it.

Suddenly, we heard thunder rumbling from behind us, causing all of us to turn around. There were huge, dark clouds stirring in the sky, lighting striking in the desert. That was odd; it didn't rain in the Scorch. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky when I noticed. Well, I assumed otherwise because the weather was still hot as little droplets began falling from the sky. The rain was warm like bath water. I didn't understand. But they were moving, and they were coming for us.

"We gotta go. Come on," Thomas instructed.

Everyone quickly gathered their stuff and threw them on our backs in less than five seconds and started to run. We ran toward the lights up ahead, but it seemed like they were getting farther away every time we took a step. Just like with the Cranks, we yelled at everybody to move, hurry, keep running and so on. Now that we were moving, I was waking up once my blood was rushing faster through my veins. There were so many times the lightning struck certain areas, but it was more scary when it struck so close to us.

We were almost there to the building, we just needed to keep running. Lightning kept striking, hitting inanimate objects like cars and empty barrels. Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck so close, it blew Thomas and I off our feet. My ears began to ring painfully, it was much louder than a flying helicopter. I pushed past my aching pain and went over to help Thomas up. But looking past him, I saw Minho lying on the ground, unconscious. After Thomas got back up, we scrambled to help him. Aris and Newt came over to help, too. We helped drag him along the way, but had a difficult time. But somehow, we did it and made it inside.