Free (Maze Runner fanfic Newtmas Newt x Thomas)

Chapter 23

"I found it."

"You what?"

"I bloody found it."

Newt ran down the corridor, towards Thomas who was stood by a large window. All Newt could initially was grey buildings, but then he saw the sign, and.. wow, Thomas was actually right. W.I.C.K.E.D Stage 3 was written in big bold letters on a wall across from them. Sure enough, they chased back to where they used to be and found Stage 2 and 3 which was the maze and the scorch. Did that mean stage 3 was going to be as bad, if not worse than the others? It certainly looked like another death trap to Newt with its enclosed walls.

Thomas caught up to him on their way back and burst out in shocked laughter, clapping Newt on the shoulder and he winced, pressing glass fragments into his shoulder. "Well you said it was freedom, Tommy, does that look like freedom to you?"

"I mean.." Thomas cleared his throat, aware that finding the building hadn't proved as convincing as he'd originally thought. "No, b-but I know it is! I wasn't wrong about this!"

"Well we found it, and I can see the ceiling, so it's certainly not real life in there. I'd rather take my chances with Minho and his batch of cure."

"Oh come on, Newt. I can't go by myself. You said you'd come if we found it!"

"It was more I'd consider it, because I don't trust that one bit. You're just going to have to go alone, unless some of the others have a big change of heart and decide to stay."

"Not after all that we've been through-"

"Tommy, what has gotten into your bloody thick head!? It's common sense to try and escape captivity to certain freedom, and it's also common sense to not consider a big concrete box freedom! You either come with Minho and I, and the others, or you stay in this fantasy world you seemed to have created. Literally." Thomas sighed. "Well, that's certainly a convincing sound."

"Would you give me a damn minute!? It's a paradise where we can't be hurt in there, I swear!"

Newt shook his head. "What about supplies? There's no shuck sun, plants won't exactly grow very well under an artificial one. WICKED has to supply us, just like in the maze, and one day they're going to die off or maybe supplies will run out and then we all starve to death in your so called paradise."

"Well it's not completed yet, they have flaws to fix. It'll be like a city in there, there will be other people, all immune or cured! It'll be a big community and when the world is safe again we'll be free to roam the world."

"So it is one big cage, then? As much as I've made memories in that glade, and there are days I wish I could go back to when things were simple and all we had to worry about was getting out the maze in time.. Fed pretty well, sleep under some fake stars we pretended were real.. I don't want to be trapped anymore, it's going to turn me claustrophobic."

"I get that, but you won't know you're trapped!"

"Well then that stage 3 better be the size of a bloody continent, because sure enough we'll find its borders while exploring whatever's there. Dense forest? Another desert? Ice? Fields? All of the above?"

"I don't know! It's just safer than wandering through a scorched planet, surely? All you're going to have is your wits and whatever you can smuggle. What are you going to do for supplies? The nearest city could be miles and miles away, you can't carry enough to last that long."

Newt huffed. "They're odds I'm willing to take."

"You'll be trapped in the city once you're there, what's the difference. The darkness is probably all in the air, you're not completely immune, Newt, and you never will be until it's eradicated. If you get infected you can't get in."