STATIC → newt , tmr [EDITING ; VERY SLOW UPDATES]

chapter vi

CRACK!

"MARZIA!"

"Stay out of this, Santiago."

"What did you do?!"

"You want the same? Get out!"

"No, Marzia! Marzia!"

"Marzia ... no, no ... NO!"

Tiago jolted upright. His breath was shuddering, his chest heaving. He felt hands all over him; multiple on his shoulders, one in his hair. He tried to move away from them until he heard a voice.

"Tiago, hey! It's me!"

Tiago looked up, searching for the face that belonged to the voice. Jorge was right beside him; the hands on Tiago's shoulders were his. Tiago reached his own arms around to wrap the older man in a hug. Jorge hugged back fiercely.

"What―" Tiago stopped, coughing harshly. He needed water, but he was so relieved at Jorge's presence that he forgot why he had passed out in the first place. "What the hell took you so long?" he managed, his voice cracking harshly.

"Here." Jorge handed him a glass full of crystal clear water. Tiago was surprised. There was hardly any clean water left on the planet, let alone this completely rundown city. Tiago downed the glass in five seconds flat. He passed it back to Jorge, but Newt took it before Jorge could reach for it. When he looked, Newt was the one with a giant bottle of fresh water. He refilled the glass and gave it back to Tiago.

"So?" Tiago asked after taking a smaller drink from his second glass. "Where'd you go? What took you so long?"

"We had some trouble with an old lady, it's fine," Jorge explained quickly. He turned and grabbed something from off the sofa. He handed it to Tiago, and when he looked down, Tiago realised it was an apple.

"Where the hell did you find this? How can apples even grow out here?" Jorge chuckled at Tiago's childlike amazement. "Oh my god," Tiago moaned as soon as he took a bite. "This is delicious, holy crap."

"You sound like you've never had an apple before," Newt said, a soft smile adorning his face.

"Not since I was a kid," Tiago affirmed.

"We grew them in the Glade, ate them all the time."

"Lucky," Tiago muttered through another mouthful of juice. Newt just grinned at him.

From the small amount of food and water he'd had, Tiago could already feel his body lighting up. He had almost forgotten about the pain in his leg. He was so happy just from taking two bites of an apple. He seemed to be amusing everyone in the room with his awe; Teresa and Aris had small smiles on their faces, Minho and Frypan were laughing as they watched him, both crunching into their own apples. With fresh food and water, the group seemed in much better spirits. It only lasted so long before Jorge figured they should keep moving to find Marcus.

"Have you got anymore bandages?" Newt asked Jorge, which surprised both Jorge and Tiago. Newt's gaze flitted quickly between the two of them. "Uh, leg's looking good, but it's starting to bleed through a bit."

Jorge moved and crouched down beside the mattress to look at Tiago's leg. He twisted it slightly to get a full look at the bandages. Tiago let out a pained noise. Jorge apologized, quickly releasing his leg.