A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt)

Chapter 28

Minho's pov

I stared at the boy that was sitting on the ground. Cally had taken off Guz's blindfold so he could see what was happening again. The only thing the poor Shank was able to focus on was his wound. He was still shaking, snoot on his face just as the tears that were still there. He looked devastated, and no one blamed him. Apparently, one of the others had pushed him, making him fall down. He tried to catch himself but hit a Beetle blade in the process, and it cut off his hand.
     One of the Gladers had fetched a plastic back, and Cally had wrapped it around Guz's wound. She told him it would keep it clean without attaching to his skin. I had no idea if that was true, but no one even tried to question it. 
     "Poor shank," Newt spoke up from beside me. He had come to the scene just like almost everyone else. "Haven't even been here longer than bloody two days and already lost a hand."
     "Better his hand than his head." Was my response.
     Newt tilted his head, "I guess ya're right, he's lucky to be alive. Most Shanks die after losing a limb in here."
     "All thanks to Cally. Why didn't we ever think of doing that?"
     "Maybe 'cause burnin' somebody isn't the first thin' you should bloody think of when somebody loses a limb." Newt sounded irritated, almost disgusted, but I just shrugged.
     "She's resourceful. Thinks out of the box. That's a good thing if you ask me, especially since we're trapped in one." I looked over at Newt. It was clear he agreed, but I could see something was bothering him. Not that it was a new thing. He's been like that for weeks now; quietly frowning and biting his nails.
     "Cally promised me something yesterday," I started. Newt's eyes glided to Cally, who was talking to Guz together with Clint and Jeff. Trying to calm him down. As he observed her, his eyes saddened.
     "And that may be?" He asked eventually, looking back at me.
     "She would talk with you during the fire, 'bout all the klunk that's going on between you two."
     Newt shook his head, "That's not gonna happen."
     I raised one eyebrow at him, not believing his response. "Seriously? You're going to be stubborn about this too? Why don't you Shanks just talk about this. Is it really that hard?"
     "We did talk 'bout it, Minho." Newt's gaze was somewhere else, when I tried to follow his line of sight I found nothing there. Quickly I shook my head, realizing what he had said.
     "Really? When?"
     "This mornin', after the Gathering. Everyone was gone, I was still writing some things down when she entered the room."
     "Okay great. So what did ya guys talk about? Did ya kiss and make up?"
     Newt rolled his eyes at me, clearly not amused by my joke, "we didn't. She just told me... things."
     "What kind of things?"
     "Mostly that I'm a horrible person." I wanted to protest, but Newt continued. "I don't blame her for it though. I mean, I avoided her for weeks at a time she needed me and then I took away the one thin' she likes to do. What kind of friend does that? Not one I would want, that's for sure."
     I thought about what he had said, if he put it like that I got why she was angry at him. I looked at Cally, she was done talking to Guz, Jeff took him somewhere. Almost immediately Gally walked up to her, he said something while he punched her on the shoulder. She laughed and playfully pushed him away.
     "I'm tired," I heard Newt say, he sounded like he was clenching his teeth together. "See ya tomorrow."
     I looked back at him, wanting to stop him, make him realize that Cally wouldn't stay mad for ever. Make him realize that he meant something to her. Because even if they didn't see it, I did. But instead I only called 'good night' after Newt. He reacted by sticking his hand up in the air for a moment.
     My eyes went back to Cally. Gally had put his arm around her shoulders now. Cally shook her head with an amused expression before pushing it away. Something boiled in the pit of my stomach. Gally really needs to keep his distance from her or I might break one of the rules... or his nose.

~.~.~

Cally's pov

That was intense. It troubled me that I had been so okay with burning Guz's arm, but that trouble got replaced by guilt and pitty when the guy threw up. Understandable. I probably would have passed out a few times. 
     Once Guz was taken to the M.R. I stood up from the ground, stretching my legs inn the hopes to get my blood to flow. 
     "Nice work shank." I heard from behind me, right before I got punched on the shoulder.  "Burning a guy that lost his hand, that's Jacked even for you."
     It was Gally, looking at me with a half grin. I gave him a small push in response. "It was to stop the bleeding. It's not like I wanted to do it."
     "Of course not," he said while putting his arm around my shoulders. "You're just an arsonist, but that's all."
     I shook my head, looking down. I tried not to laugh, but couldn't help the soft pull on the corners of my lips. "I'm not an arsonist." I said while pushing his arm off of me.
     "Hey, Cally, nice work with Guz." Minho had walked up to us, but I hadn't noticed until he spoke up.
     Not knowing if I agreed with the compliment I rubbed my arm, thanking him anyway.
     Minho gave me a small smile before continuing, "can I talk to you for a moment?" He asked me, the tone of his voice I couldn't place entirely.
     Eventually I shrugged, "sure."
     Immediately Minho shot Gally a look. "Private." Gally shot a dirty look back but walked away without protest.
     When Gally was out of sight I turned myself to Minho again. "What's up, Pretty boy?"
     "I heard you had a talk with Newt this morning." Now I did recognize the tone of voice, he was concerned and pissed, a combination that I never thought I would get from Minho. "You called him a horrible person? What was that about?"
     "This again?" I whined while rolling my eyes. "Yes. We talked. Well, mostly I did... I didn't really let him talk that much. Anyway, I didn't call him a horrible person. I never said that."
     Minho raised one eyebrow, questioning my answer already. "I thought you wanted me to be there."
     I shrugged my shoulders. "At first, yes. But then I  wanted to talk to him alone. I wanted to know why he said what he said."
     "And? What did he say?"
     I crossed my arms over my chest, not knowing why I actually felt the need to explain myself to him. "He said he wanted to protect me. Pff, protect me from what? Grievers? It's not like I'm that much saver from them in here. I mean, those things can climb walls, they could come into the Glade whenever they want to."
     "In all the time I've been here not one Grievere has come into the Glade."
     "Yeah? And how long may that be?"
     I know my tone of voice had been challenging, I didn't think he would actually answer me. But he did after a short moment of thinking. "A year and a half? No, more then that, just not two years yet."
     My arms fell beside my body, my eyes softened. "Ow... that's a long time..." All the hostility I had bee feeling ebbed away. He had been here that long? How is he still going? Hell! How was he still sane? 
     Minho nodded, seeming to have less issues with the time he had bee trapped. "You could say that. I was one of the first. Together with Alby, Newt, Zart and about fifteen more Shanks. Most of 'em didn't make it as far as we did."
     I didn't know what to say at first, my mouth half a-gape, making me look like some goldfish. "You... You never told me that."
     Minho just shrugged again, "we never really talked about it."
     I looked down at the ground, feeling guilty for never even asking about most of his past. "I guess so."
     "Anyway, back to the subject." Minho started. "I think you shouldn't make it so hard on Newt. He really is trying to help you. Besides, he did save you from jumping of the Cliff and you haven't even thanked him for it."
     I started rubbing both my eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. It took a moment of silence where I bit down on my lower lip before I answered. "Yeah... you're right. I owe the guy my life..." When did my life become this complicated? 
     "Do you know where I can find him?"
     Minho gestured towards the Homestead's general direction. "Getting some shut eye."
     "Ow..." A short silence fell before I continued, remembering something. "Well, I'll thank him tomorrow. Anyway, I still need to... do something. Talk to you later!"
     "Sure thing!" Minho called after me as I already was on my way.
     I wanted to know something, something that had been bugging me since I woke up from the Changing and I wanted an answer. Right now. So I went looking for the one person I knew had been trough it as well.
     Gally.
     I found him in the circle. Battling some Shank I didn't know the name of. I watched the match and cheered on Gally. After he had pushed the guy out of the circle everyone busted out in clapping and cheering with the others. Gally enjoyed it a little to much if you asked me, but there still grew a smile on my face when I saw him all excited, genuinely smiling.
     After most of the commotion was over I walked to him.
     "Cally! So you've come anyway I see. Couldn't resist the challenge?" He teased, assuming I was there to battle him.
     I shook my head no. "No Gally, I would love to kick your ass again, but you heard Clint. I'm not aloud to. No, I um... I wanted to talk to you about something. Care to join me?" Gally nodded after his eyes had searched my eyes.
     We got some of Frypan's drink before seeking out a quieter place to talk, once we found it, Gally broke the silence. "Okay, Shank. Spit it out, what got you bugging?"
     I took a deep breath before starting. "Okay, you don't need to answer if you don't want to and I'm sorry if I'm crossing a line here that I shouldn't cross or even think about crossing it. I just want to figure something out and I thought you cou-"
     "Slim it, Cally." Gally interrupted me. "Just ask, if I don't want to answer I won't."
     "Okay.... so... it's about the Changing..."
     "You want to know what I saw don't you?" The edge in his voice startled me. "I'm not going to talk about that so if that's it this conversation is over."
     "Ow no! No," I spat out in the hopes it would stop him from walking away. Which it did. "I mean, I didn't want to ask you what you saw. I just... I wanted to know, if you think what you saw... if those so called memories, really where memories. I mean, all of them."
     The hardness in his eyes softened and the tension inn his shoulders fell away. "How do you mean, 'all of 'em'?"
     I started rubbing my arm and looked at Bark for a moment. The dog was looking back at me, encouraging me to continue honestly. "I saw a lot of things... some I can... understand, I think that's the right word. But some, some I just can't place. Like, they weren't real. As if they where placed in my mind."
     Gally seemed to think about what I said and when he answered his was whispering frantically, barely giving himself the time to breath between words. "I don't know. The things I saw... some of it is fading from my memory already. It could be possible that those things aren't real memories. It's not like we can compare it to other things we remember."
     I swallowed, looking down again. "Yeah... that's true..." I lied.
     "One thing I know for sure," Gally started again, drawing my gaze back to him. He licked his lips, voice still a whisper. "I don't know what you saw. But if what I saw was the world we came from. The world outside of these walls and outside of the Maze. I don't think getting out of this place is the right thing to do."
     Confusion filled my eyes as I processed his words. I wanted to ask him what he had ment, what he had seen. I wanted to know if what I saw, the memories I couldn't remember before this, where real. If those were real memories or just images planted inside of my brain by those developers. I hated this, now even more then before. I wanted to get home, back to my family and friends. Back to the house I called home and the beach I didn't like but now I even miss that place. But most of all I just wanted to get back to the place where I understood my life and that wasn't a big death trap.