I Know Places [Thomas The Maze Runner]

[32: The Infection]

"Winston! Hey, Winston!" Thomas shouted, shocked.

"Winston," Minho exclaimed.

Turning Winston over, Elle saw that his lips had turned blue, and he struggled to gasp for air. "Give me some space," she requested. It felt like her body was operating on autopilot; she knew what to do and didn't give her actions any thought. After throwing off her backpack, Elle rolled Winston onto his back and straightened his body. Gently tilting his head back, she opened up his hair away and lifted his chin upwards to prevent obstruction. Once she pressed her ear against his lips and heard him breathing, she sat back up and watched his chest rise and fall unsteadily. "He's breathing for now," Elle reported to the others. She met Thomas's eyes and frowned. The implication was clear: she didn't know if Winston would continue to breathe.

"He's hurt pretty bad," Thomas observed, instantly recognising the solemn look on Elle's face.

Even though she had a lot of medical training, Teresa panicked when she saw how badly Winston's infection had escalated. "What do we do?" she asked.

Thomas got to his feet and looked into the distance, trying to figure out how they could help Winston get to the mountains.

"Winston, can you hear me?" Newt wondered. He shared a worried frown with Elle. "Do you think he can hear me?"

"I really don't know," Elle admitted. "Let's assume he can and stay positive. He's our friend, he knows we won't leave him behind."

Newt nodded in agreement. "It's okay. You'll be alright," he said kindly to his friend.

"I'm going to stay here and make sure he's breathing," Elle declared, glancing around at the Gladers and coming up with a plan. "We need to make something we can use to carry Winston. Start looking around for sticks or pipes or anything sturdy that we can attach our jackets to. We can fashion some kind of stretcher," she suggested. "How does that sound?"

"Brilliant," Newt agreed, nodding eagerly.

"Let's leave our bags here with Elle so we can carry more stuff," Minho added.

Everyone began removing their clothes and shedding any extra layers they didn't need so they could move more freely throughout the Scorch. Getting comfortable, Elle sat cross-legged beside Winston. She removed her fingers from below his chin when she saw him breathing more regularly. "Hey Winston, I'm going to make you a little pillow so your neck is more comfortable and there's less pressure on it. Does that sound okay?" Elle asked, keeping her tone positive and soft.

When Winston nodded, she unwrapped her zip-up hoodie from her waist and folded it up before putting it underneath his head. He seemed to relax after that, and Elle noticed that he was drifting in and out of sleep. The others worked hard to find and collect anything they could use to build Winston a stretcher. Teresa soon joined Elle to tie the jackets together for Winston to lie on.

"How's he doing?" Teresa wondered, kneeling beside Elle. She knotted together her zip-up hoodie and jacket from Elle's backpack.

"He's hanging in there," Elle replied, carefully eyeing Winston's chest and neck to ensure he was breathing. "I think he's been asleep for a little while."

Teresa nodded. "That's good." As she tied together their jackets, Teresa glanced over at Elle. "You said in the hospital that you thought I was resourceful and determined in the Maze." Humming, Elle confirmed that she recalled their first conversation. "I thought you should know that I think what I did is nothing compared to what you're doing now," Teresa complimented. "You and Thomas are the only reason any of us are organised and have any hope. And the way you jumped in to take care of Winston was incredible. I was just panicking the whole time. We all were."