Aversion (The Maze Runner, Newt / Sequel to Violation)

6 - Into The Desert

And really she did.

Besides the hole she felt for her empty and blinded love for Newt, there was something else there that she didn't remember. An empty void that she had no idea how to fill. It was like her identity, a fragment of her that was stripped away, that resided in her as an empty hole. She didn't know how to fix it, how to deal with it, but it was there, and Minho had noticed it too.

"But you're alive." he suddenly bursted. "And you're here and you're still Wendy buggin' Vincent, the badass who can kill Grievers and knock out boys with one punch. You're the girl that keeps us all sane, at least me. Don't know what I'd do if you would've died hanging upside down." he mumbled off, and Wendy let a small smile play on her lips.

It felt good knowing that these boys liked her, a sense of home that filled the empty part of her. Not entirely of course, but mostly, and that was enough.

They continued walking on for hours at a time until, unexpectedly, Wendy noticed that in the distance, two figures had suddenly appeared. She stopped immediately, causing both Minho and everyone else to cease walking abruptly as well. With her finger, she pointed, guiding everyone's gaze to the two shadows that were dashing towards them.

"Cranks." she sounded, and like that, Minho got into his leader mode.

"Everyone pack in tighter!" he commanded, one arm pulling Wendy as she shoved their sheet into her bag. By now, she was used to the hot beaming rays that fell on them, the other gladers following her actions as she stood beside Minho. Newt had also made his way to them, body next to Wendy's as Thomas stood by Minho with his hand on the guys back. "And get ready to fight these shanks the first sign of trouble."

Wendy felt her stomach start to grow nerves, and not the good type. The Cranks were coming into better view now, and their faces seemed to trigger her memory, because for a second, she saw a flash of a bus and a woman sitting next to them. But just as fast did she dismiss it. Their was no time for memories. They had to deal with the Cranks first.

Soon, they were merely feet away, and Wendy made out their scrawny frames and cloth-wrapped heads. They were completely covered though, the only thing visible to them besides their eyes being their hands.

"Who are you?" Minho called out first, but the strangers did respond. Instead they continued watching them, eyes flickering over all of them until they finally landed on her.

"Who are you?" Minho repeated, and the only response he got was the two beginning to move around them. Wendy packed in tighter when the woman came close to her, and she briefly saw her furrow her brows before returning back to her sharp and lost gaze. "There's a whole lot more of us than there are of you. Start talking. Tell us who you are."

"We're Cranks." the woman sounded before pointing back to the town, as if signifying where they had run from.

Minho mumbled some words to Thomas before the man spoke, "We're Cranks." he repeated. "Came to see if you're Cranks. Came to see if you've got the Flare."

Minho's eyes uplifted before he said, "Some dude told us we had the Flare, yeah. What can you tell us about it?"

"Don't matter." the man said back with a rougher voice, "You got it, you'll know soon enough."

"Well, what do you bloody want?" Newt asked, his voice deeper than Minho's and more demanding as he slowly stepped up from beside Wendy. "What's it matter to you if we're Cranks or not?"