ᵒⁿᵉ 𝐈 𝐀𝐌 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐎𝐖𝐍 ⁿᵉʷᵗᵐᵃˢ (ᶜᵒᵐᵖˡᵉᵗᵉᵈ)

I Will Follow You Into The Dark

NEWT POV

I wake to Thomas screaming.

"WE GOTTA GO!" He shouts. "WE GOTTA GO NOW!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Minho asks. "What do you mean, we gotta go?"

"They're coming for us!" He shouts. "Paige, she's still alive!"

I stand shakily as Thomas grabs mattresses and sheets. 

"What happened in there?" I ask. "Aris, what happened in there?" 

"Thomas, can you just calm down and talk to us!"

"She's still alive!" He cries.

"Who's she?" I ask. "Teresa?" I hold back a laugh. 

Thomas gives me a look. "Ava."

"Will you just turn around and talk to us?" I cry.

"It's WICKED! It's still WICKED. It's always been WICKED." He says. "Newt, come here and give me your hand. I have no faith you can walk."

I slip my hand into his.

"Thomas, what did you see?" Winston asks.

"Come on, come on." Thomas says as he checks the hallway for guards, intertwining our fingers, making me blush. "Okay, let's go."

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

"What are you talking about?" Thomas asks. 

"Trust me, it's important. You guys wanna get out of here right?" Aris says. "Just go."

"I'll go with him." Winston says. 

"Okay, Winston, go! GO!" Thomas says as we round a corner. 

"You sure we can trust this kid?" Fry asks

"You don't want to know where we'd be without him." Thomas says. 

He pulls me along to the entrance of a corridor. We run into a woman.

"What are you kids doing out?" She says.

Thomas shares a look with Minho and I look between them, suppressing a laugh. Thomas grabs the woman's wrist in his other hand and we walk down a corridor. And then, we hear footsteps. Minho turns around.

"What are you doing, Minho?" Thomas asks. 

Minho runs and as the man enters he knees him in the chest. 

"Shit, Minho." I say, chuckling. 

He grabs the gun and cocks it. We run into a room with a bunch of workers.

"HANDS!" Thomas cries. "GIVE ME YOUR HANDS!" He wraps them up in some kind of bandage, releasing my hand. 

I fall against the counter at the sudden release and press my palm flat against it. Minho grabs my arm and pulls me up. 

"Guys, they're coming!" Frypan shouts.

Thomas grabs my hand quickly and pulls me towards the window. He picks up a chair and slams it against it but it bounces off.

"Newt, help! Help!" He cries. 

With what little strength I possess at the moment, I slam another chair against the window, breaking it. Thomas helps me through and we sprint on. We run to the door but it's locked. Thomas hits it.

"Shit!" He says. "Okay, okay." The small army of people chasing us reaches us. "Shit." He turns to Janson, holding his gun. "Open this door, Janson." He says.

"You really don't want me to." He replies, raising his hands into the air.

"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" Thomas shouts. 

"I'm trying to save your life." Janson says, stepping closer. "The maze is one thing but you kids wouldn't last a day out in the Scorch. If the elements don't kill you the Cranks will. I only want what's best for you. You have to believe me."

"Yeah, lemme guess, WICKED is good?" He asks, stepping back. 

"You're not getting through that door, Thomas." He says.

Then, the door opens and Aris and Winston stand behind us.

"Hey guys!" Aris greets us. "Come on!"

They start to shoot but Winston starts to close the door. Thomas slides under at the last second. Aris hits the control panel with the back of his gun.

"You little shit." Janson says and Thomas flips him off, causing me to lean over in a fit of laughter.

And we dart out into the open.

THOMAS POV

I grab Newt's hand and pull him. We reach a sand dune. 

"Teresa hang on!" I call. "We gotta stick together." 

We find a mostly collapsed building and we enter. Newt is still laughing silently. I chuckle and shake my head, not letting go of his hand. We look around. 

"Where the hell are we?" Fry asks, looking around. 

"We gotta go." I say.

"No, Thomas, slow down." Newt says, tripping over his own feet as he stumbles after me.

"We gotta keep moving." I insist, grabbing his other hand too but dropping it instantly as he winces. 

"Tell me what's going on." He says, releasing my hand. 

"It's WICKED." I say. "It's WICKED, they lied to us. We never escaped. Me and Aris, we found bodies. Too many to count." I explain.

"What do you mean?" Newt asks. "Dead bodies?"

"No, but they weren't alive either. They had them strung up. With tubes coming out of them. They were being drained. There's something inside of us that WICKED wants. Something in our blood. So we have to get as far away from them as possible." I say forcefully.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" He asks. "You do have a plan, don't you?"

I shift uncomfortably. "Yeah, I don't know."

"Well, we followed you out here, Thomas, and you're saying you have no idea what we're doing or where we're going?" Newt asks, a little bit pissed.

"Wait. Janson said something about people hiding in the mountains. Some kind of resistance or army. The Right Arm. The Right Arm. If they're really against WICKED, maybe they can help us." I remember.

"People." Newt deadpans. "In the mountains. Mountain people. That's your plan?"

"It's the only chance we have." Then, I look down. "Hey, guys. Check this out. Minho, give me a light!" There are footprints in the sand. "Someone's been down here."

"Looks like people lived here." Newt says, kicking a bottle. 

"Where are they now?" Teresa asks. 

"Let's pack up some of this stuff." I say. "Anything you think you might need. We'll split up, see what else we can find. Meet back here."

I grab Newt's hand and we walk to the left.

"Now, what are we looking for out here?" He asks

"Signs of life. People. Survivors. Anyone who can help us." I reply.

"Does he count?" Newt asks, pointing to a skeletal rotting man sitting in a chair.

"Shit." I say. "They had power." I point out, noticing a lamp. I turn to Newt. "Wait, where'd you go?"

"Over here!" He calls. "Look at this!" He points to some kind of control panel. 

I kneel beside him, playing with my hands. "Hey, Newt, I-" 

He pulls a switch and light floods the building and an all-mighty crash knocks me to the floor.