Stardust - Thomas - Maze Runner

Chapter 20 - Worry

Just as Lawrence had predicted, as soon as Selena found the boys again, they were already dressed and ready to go; Gally was even already crouched by an open manhole, clearly only waiting for Thomas and Newt. The two of them seemed pretty much ready too, only waiting for Newt to finish tying his shoe while Thomas talked to Jorge and Brenda, but, as soon as the older man noticed Selena's presence as she carefully approached the group, he pointed her out, causing Thomas to spin around himself and let out a heavy sigh of relief as soon as he recognized his friend there, seemingly unharmed.

"Selena..." He breathed out the name, almost as if he had been holding it in for too long. "You okay?"

Selena stopped walking as soon as Thomas met her halfway, the two of them close enough to the group to be seen by them, but far enough so that they could talk without being bothered.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Selena nodded, a small smile tugging on her lips as she kept her eyes on the boy in front of her. "You?"

"Okay." He shrugged. "I don't trust Gally."

"Well, Newt does." Selena pointed out, nodding at Newt as the boy kept on trying his shoe, but frowning slightly when she noticed his movements seemed a bit too slow for his usual. "And he did kind of save my life."

And judging by the way Thomas instantly grimaced, Selena knew he knew she was right. He clearly didn't like to admit it, though, because he bit his lip and, for a second, refused to say anything else.

"Are you using the tunnels to go to the city?" She asked, trying to make small talk and keep Thomas with her for as long as possible, knowing full well that, as soon as she let him go, she didn't know when she was going to ever see him again.

"Yeah." Thomas nodded, taking a glimpse at the manhole behind him from over his shoulder before turning back around to look at Selena again. "Gally says there's an entrance to the city down below."

At his words, Selena shuddered, memories of her own time running around wet, dirty, dark tunnels coming rushing in. She didn't even like to remember it. How she and her group from the maze had been all but shoved into some of those tunnels, expected by WCKD to find a way out all on their own and survive the hunger, cold and all of the cranks they had met along the way. And sure, some of them had - she had survived it all, after all. But at what cost? Living everyday while trying to forget the long nights they had had to take turns sleeping so that no threat would kill them in their sleep or shivering half to death in the dark after their clothes had been wet and all of their flashlights had died. That without mentioning all of the girls they had lost along the way. Wendy, Simone, Abigail, Daphne, Rachel, Violet... She remembered them all and she still mourned them all. If Selena was to be honest, she wasn't sure she'd ever even forget them at all.

"Hey..." Thomas called, noticing the distant look in Selena's eyes. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Selena mumbled, having snapped from her daze as she lifted her gaze to meet Thomas'. She smiled a little when she saw the frown on his face and reached a hand up to caress his cheek slightly, endeared by his worry but trying hard not to show how much her cheeks were burning at the mere touch of Thomas' skin against hers. "I'm okay, I just... I'm worried."

"About what?" Thomas asked as Selena giggled.

"About you." She said, rolling her eyes a little, but pulling her hand away from Thomas' face once she realized how it could have sounded to him. "About you and... And Newt. About... The tunnels. I... I mean, I know how those damn tunnels can be and I just... I'm worried, is all."

At her words, Thomas felt the corners of his lips curling up slightly, a small smile forming on his face as he looked straight ahead at Selena, almost as endeared for her as she seemed to be for him. So, grabbing her hand in his, Thomas squeezed it gently, almost as if to silently reassure her that everything was going to be okay, when they both knew for a fact that neither of them knew that for sure.