Cassie | Subject D-18 | The weak link
14 year old Cassie is the lone survivor of Maze D. Cassie isn't the fastest runner or the strongest, she doesn't even know if she's immune but somehow she's made it this far and doesn't plan on giving up anytime...
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I cover my eyes with my hands, flinching away from the sand that is blowing around us. The wind has picked up considerably in the past hour and is nearly turning into a sandstorm now.
I can’t even see where I’m going at this point, I’m just walking one foot in front of the other and trying to follow the sounds of the others voices.
“Cassie!” I feel a hand grip mine, Thomas.
“Stick close,” He calls over the whistling wind. He holds my hand in one hand while helping to carry Winston with the other.
“Gotta find shelter,” he calls to the others over the wind and the sand. I close my eyes as another gust of wind pushes sand towards us.
“Over there!” I hear Newt yell from somewhere in front of us. We follow Newt’s lead and manage to make it over to a small shelter made by a collapsed building and concrete.
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The sand storm only lasts for another twenty minutes or so after we find shelter before it disappears completely, leaving behind only the scorching sun.
I take a break from caring for Winston as he falls into a delirious sleep and sit over by Frypan, Minho and Newt.
Frypan takes off his shoes and turns them over, watching the waterfall of sand that falls out with a glare.
“I hate the sand,” he mumbles as he puts his boot back on. Minho passes around his bottle of water and we all take a few sips from it.
I take off my pack and take out a few spare strips of makeshift bandage that I have left. I should probably attempt to clean out my wound now before it gets infected.
I lift up the hem of my shirt and start to unwind the dirty bandages, wincing as the bandages stick to the dried blood and skin.
“Ow, ow, ow,” I mumble out as I slowly peel it off. The wound underneath the bandages isn’t as bad as I thought it’d look, everything considered. It has stopped bleeding which is a good sign but it definitely needs to be cleaned before it gets infected.
“Need some help?” Newt asks me as I try to rip up one of my shirts to make more bandages.
“Yeah, can you rip this into strips?” I ask him as I hand him the shirt. He easily grasps it and rips it into long strips before handing it back to me.
I take my basically empty water bottle and pour the last few drops onto a rag before starting to clean the wound as best as I can.
“It looks…better?” Minho says as he watches me, although his statement comes out sounding like a question.
“Well it’s not bleeding anymore and it doesn’t hurt that bad,” I say as I finish cleaning it and quickly wrap it with the strips of fabric that Newt made.
I let my shirt cover the bandages again before I quickly put everything back into my pack.
A sudden commotion startles me as Winston wakes up and starts yelling in pain. We rush over to him but almost don’t notice the gun in his hand till it’s too late.
He starts to point the gun at his head but I run over to him and shove it to the side, causing it to fire into the concrete wall behind us. I grab the gun and stumble back into Minho as Winston collapses onto the ground, gasping for breath.
“What’s going on? What happened?” Thomas questions as he runs up to us, flanked by Tessy. He eyes the gun that I’m holding in my shaking hands.
“I-I don’t know. He just woke up and grabbed the gun and t-tried to…” I trail off as tears fill my eyes.
Thomas walks over to Winston and kneels beside him as he gets onto his knees and gasps for breath.
“Give it back…please,” Winston mumbles as he eyes the gun in my hands.
“Winston, are you okay?” Thomas asks Winston as he eyes Winston carefully. Winston goes to open his mouth but instead he starts vomiting a thick, black substance.
I gasp and take a step back as he makes awful gurgling noises and falls over onto his back, breathing rapidly.
“It’s growing,” he groans out as he lifts his shirt, “Inside me.” I take a step closer and my eyes widen in shock when I see his stomach.
The area around the wound has black veins and looks almost like the skin was burned. We all look at each other in shock.
“I’m not going to make it,” Winston says, shaking his head slightly as he says so. Tears fill my eyes as he turns his attention to me.
“Please. Please don’t let me turn into one of those things,” he holds his hand out. He wants the gun that I’m holding. I stare at him with wide eyes as his hand drops down and his eyes slowly fall closed.
Newt walks forward after a moment and grabs the gun out of my grasp.
“Newt,” I whisper in shock as he stands above Winston, looking like he’s about to shoot him before he kneels down and places the gun into Winston’s grasp.
“Wait, Newt. Thank you,” Winston mutters. Tears fill my eyes as I stumble back.
“Now get outta here,” he mumbles almost incoherently.
“Good-bye, Winston,” Newt mutters with a nod before he stands up and walks over to us.
“Thank you, for everything,” Winston says to me with a flash of a smile crossing his lips. I nod silently before turning around and stumbling out of the room, tears trailing down my cheeks as a sob threatens to escape my lips.
Thomas stays behind and says something to Winston before silently coming out and telling us to grab our packs.
We all leave the small shelter and start in the direction of the mountains again, walking in a sort of single file line with Thomas and I at the back.
“I told him he’d be okay…” I mumble aloud, remembering the moments after he was injured.
Thomas grasps my hand tightly in comfort and gives it a small squeeze. A sudden sound rings through the valley, causing us to all stop for a moment. The sound of a single gunshot.
Fresh tears escape my eyes and a sob wracks my throat as Thomas pulls me into a tight hug, his own eyes brimming with tears as well.
