Whatever It Takes ↠ Newt [The Scorch Trials] ¹

EIGHT

CHAPTER EIGHT
Endless Climbing

          MAE SIGHED AND kicked at the ground in front of her, sand flying into the air. "Absolutely not."

"Mae, shut up and climb." Newt said, sounding like a mother ordering their kid to eat their vegetables, earning a glare from the brunette. "How can you manage to run so bloody fast for so long, but stop when it comes to a few pieces of rubble?"

"You call that a few pieces?" Mae exclaimed, gesturing to all the rocks and cement that formed a hill they had to climb. "Are you blind?"

"Come on." The blond huffed before he, Thomas and Minho began to climb.

"Few pieces my ass." The girl grumbled before following after Frypan. The boy heard her comment and turned around with an amused look.

"It's not that bad." Frypan put forward, flashing an encouraging smile.

"That's debatable."

Mae and the group continued to climb up the rubble for a short while and the girl was beginning to get annoyed and tired. Though she had managed to get some sleep last night, it wasn't a lot.

The brunette then heard short and ragged breathing behind her, along with a few coughs. Mae turned around to see a Winston and her eyes grew wide. He didn't look good. His arm clutched his stomach, while the other used anything around him to support him. Dark bags formed under his eyes and his entire face was caked in sweat.

Mae huffed before she paused and turned to the injured boy. "Come on, give me your bag."

Winston shot her a weird look, his eyebrows knitting together. "Huh?"

"Give me your bag." Mae repeated, holding out her hand.

"Why?" The injured boy asked.

Mae rolled her eyes. "So, I can whack you across the head with it." Winston opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off before he could. "Just give it to me before I use my own bag to hit you over the head."

Winston gave in, taking the bag off him and handing it to Mae. The girl slung his shoulder bag around her before she ushered him to keep walking. She waited till he was in front of her, till she started, staying behind him in case he needed some help.

"Everyone good?" Thomas questioned, looking down at his friends. No one answered. But Mae had to resist the urge to throw a small rock at him. Don't get her wrong, she appreciated Thomas' concern, but he had asked the same thing not more than two minutes ago.

Aris glanced down at Mae, she looked tired. He sighed, knowing she didn't get enough sleep last night. He was worried, Mae hadn't had a good nights sleep in ages and he knew in the long run that it would affect her. Newt being behind Aris noticed Aris' pause and looked at the boy and followed his gaze to Mae. The blond turned back to Aris. "You okay?" He asked unsurely, never having said anything to the Group B boy.

The younger boy coughed, clearing his throat. "Yeah." He replied before he continued to climb.

Newt shot him a confused glance before he looked back at Mae again, her eyes concentrated on the cement in front of her while strands of her hair covered her face. His eyes made her way to jaw to see it was still purple. The cuts she had noticed when he first met her had opened again, noticing they were more red than before. The blond took a breath in before the he followed his friends up the mountain of fallen walls and ceilings.

The group had managed to climb over the rubble within ten minutes. Mae jumped down on to the flat ground and sighed in relief. She glanced behind her to see Winston following her action, but due to his injury, he stumbled.