Beating Heart✔️

Goodbye friend

"Winson? Winston!," Thomas shouted.

"Shit," You muttered hurrying over to him as fast as you could on loose sand. 

"What do we do?" Teresa asked. You couldn't just leave him here he'd die but how could we bring him with you? Thomas looked around clearly thinking hard.

He had somehow managed to get some materials from the city to made a cart to pull Winston on. You insisted on carrying Minho's bag for him as he was one of the people pulling Winston along and Teresa was holding Frypan's. They dragged him up and down the dunes but when the terrain got too hard everyone helped as they carried him.

You went past a huge bridge that, even though it was falling apart, still looked pretty cool. You stared up at it trying to imagine what it used to look like before the Flare hit, a red colour, cars bustling along with it.

You went under the bridge and the boys had to carry Winston while you and Teresa took all the bags and the makeshift cart. It was hot and draining but you kept on pushing. It would all be worth it in the end.

On the other side of the bridge, the winds began to pick up getting stronger and stronger. You felt bad for Minho not having anything to shield his face. Taking pity on him you pulled off your scarf and wrapped it around his face shielding it from the needle-like wind.

"What about you?" He yelled over the wind, you shrugged and walked away quickly. You knew he would put it back on you if he got the chance, you pulled your hood up giving yourself some protection. You were glad your hair was still in its braid, although it was messy it was keeping it out of your face.

"We gotta find shelter!" Thomas finally yelled. You were relieved to hear that sentence it was getting near enough impossible to walk in a straight line without stumbling sideways.

"The best thing you've said all day," You muttered quietly to yourself.

You found shelter under some rocks and placed all the bags down under it. They probably used to be part of some building that had long since collapsed.

You sat on a ledge unlacing your boots, you yanked them off and flexed your sore feet. You watched Frypan empty a load of sand out of the bottom of his shoe causing you to chuckle. It made you grateful that your boots were tight at the top and blocked most out the sand out.

You left them next to you and got a water bottle out your bag you were running dangerously low. You took the smallest sip and put it back. If you didn't find more soon everyone would die of dehydration before Cranks or WCKD even got the chance.

"How's it looking?" Newt called up to Thomas and Teresa who were talking on top of a small dune. 

"Not far guys. Just a little further," Thomas answered vaguely.

Newt turned around and looked at everyone an odd look on his face. "Well, that's not very convincing." You chucked slightly at him. You itched to top of your scalp and felt sand rubbing under your fingers.

"I hate sand," You complained shaking and rubbing the top of your head to get it out. 

"Well, we are sort of in a desert Y/n," Minho joked.

"The last place you would find sand," You retorted back to him. He was probably the only one you were sarcastic to that you didn't really mean. It was just fun for you and he understood the humour too.

"Can you love birds stop?" Newt complained, rubbing his head and closing his eyes.

"What's up?" You asked

"Headache," he replied bluntly. You passed him some water without thinking, he looked like he was suffering, "Thanks," he smiled.

"Not a prob-" Suddenly a loud bang made you clunk your pants and turn. Winston had woken up and grabbed his gun lying on his bag.

"Winston, No!" You shouted grabbing it off him before he could shoot himself again.

He rolled onto his front coughing and spluttering. "What did you do that for?" Fry shouted at him. 

"What happened?!" Thomas yelled urgently skidding around the corner.

"I don't know," Frypan replied quickly in a panic, "He just woke and grabbed the gun and tried to..." he couldn't finish the sentence.

Thomas took a step closer to him. "Winston. Winston you okay?" He asked softly. He retreated quickly however as Winston threw up some horrible black looking substance. He coughed then collapsed onto his back looking tired and breathing heavily.

"It's growing," he said pulling up his top, there was a sharp intake of breath. It was awful, his stomach looked like it was rotting and his veins were stood out blue. "I'm not gonna make it," he said weakly. He sounded so broken so tired, even speaking seemed to drain him. It was heart shattering, you felt your eyes begin to water but you held them back.

He looked at you raising his arm, "Please Y/n, please don't let me turn into one of those things." You looked down at the gun your stomach sinking. Of course, you wanted to give it to him, it felt unfair to let him turn if he didn't want to, but at the same time, it felt like it was you killing him.

You felt the gun get taken gently out of your hand, looking up you saw Newt, he nodded to you let him take it and took a step back.

"Newt," Thomas said, his instinct to try to save everyone kicked in.

"Shh," You shut him up quickly, it was Winston's choice.

Newt knelt down and placed the gun in his hand, "Thank you," Winston breathed. He swallowed and continued "Now, get out of here."

"Goodbye, Winston," Newt spoke quietly to him gripping his old friends hand one last time before standing up and walking away, Aris was the second to get his bag and follow Newt. 

Minho knelt down to say his goodbye, "Go," Winston promoted him and he got his bag but didn't walk away.

"Goodbye Winston," You kneeled down and kissed his cheek softly,
"Goodbye, Y/n," he smiled weakly. "Thank you for everything." You got up grabbed your bag and left, Minho following closely behind.

~

It was horrible as you walked away, all waiting for the sound of the gun.

When it eventually came you froze and turned slightly. Winston was finally at peace and out of pain, he was now in a better place than any of you were.

RIP WINSTON😭
I wondered if my chapters are too long, I try to keep them short but these ones are getting really long. What's your opinion, do you want longer, stay the same length or get shorter? Let me know in comments 🧐

Thank you for reading
AFG ❤️