Whatever It Takes ↠ Newt [The Scorch Trials] ¹

ONE

CHAPTER ONE
Bodies on a Gurney

MAE SHOT UP in her bunk, her hand flying to her chest, while her other hand back handed the sweat dripping from her forehead. The girl swung her feet off bunk and sat up, doing her best to steady her breathing.

She stared down at her feet, biting her lip in frustration. Mae hardly ever had nightmares before and was completely dumbfounded as to why she received them every night since she had been rescued from the Maze.

As she jumped down from her bed, she glanced around her empty room that was once filled with her closest friends. Mae looked at the bunk bed in front of her, saddened at the fact that there were no longer bed sheets or pillows. It was empty. They had all gone to the safe haven. She was alone.

The brunette padded across the room towards the sink in the corner and stood behind it. Turning the tap on, Mae let the water run and placed her hands underneath it. She quickly splashed her face with cold water in an useless attempt to try and forget what had just happened.

Gripping on to the edges of the sink, Mae looked up at the mirror, examining her face. After not being able to see what she looked like for a few years, Mae was interested in her reflection. She had brown hair and dark brown eyes to match.

The girl brought her hand up to the strands of hair that covered her face and quickly moved them behind her ear. Sighing slightly, Mae noticed a small spot forming on her temple. Mae huffed before bringing the strands of loose hair back to her face.

After several more minutes of scanning her features, Mae turned away from the mirror and walked towards her bed. As she walked, she rubbed her eyes, not noticing the figure standing in the middle of the room.

"Mae, there you are!" The figure spoke, causing the girl to jump and let out a small scream. "Shhhh! Mae, it's just me, Aris! Stop screaming!"

Mae sighed in relief before flipping the light switch on. She squinted slightly, getting used to the light and saw her friend standing in front of her. "Aris? What the hell are you doing in here? You scared the crap out of me!" Mae exclaimed, slapping the boy's arm.

"Sorry," The boy apologised quickly. "I need to show you something."

Mae furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to read the expression scattered on Aris' face. Fear. Guilt. Regret. "What's wrong?"

"I'll explain later." Aris brushed off, shaking his head. "Come on!"

"Wha– now? How did you even get in here? The doors are locked and I'm sure that you didn't hack the system because, you aren't that smart."

Aris merely rolled his eyes in response before crouching down and crawling underneath Mae's bunk. Mae's eyes widened as she watched Aris' legs disappear. Mae didn't follow and Aris' head popped out, a bored expression on his face. "Mae, come on! We're gonna miss it if you don't hurry up!" He urged.

"I swear if you're leading me to somewhere stupid, I'm gonna hit you so hard for wasting some valuable sleep time." Mae hissed as bent down and watched Aris crawl into the vent. She bit her lip, knowing too well she never slept properly.

Mae propped herself on her elbows as she followed her friend. She attempted to look back but bumped her head instead. The girl winced slightly bringing her hand up to her head to tend to her new injury.

"Oh, yeah. Try not to bump your head." Aris reminded, Mae practically hearing the smirk in his voice.

"Thanks for the heads up, stickhead." Mae remarked, instantly regretting her choice of words.