Run With Me ➵ Newt [2]

TEN | the explosion

"You can do it, Rose," he said gently. "I know it seems mighty scary, but I know you can do it. Just don't let go."

Trying to swallow down the bile in my throat, I grabbed the strip of cloth dangling above me and stared out across the chasm. Everyone else - except for Thomas and Brenda - were already there, glancing in our direction, no doubt wondering what was taking us so long. My arms trembling, I squeezed my eyes shut and stepped off the floor.

I screamed, my legs dangling in midair as I slid down the zip line. The wind tore through me, threatening to weaken my hold on the cloth but I gripped on tighter, my fear of falling threatening to consume me. I heard Newt whooped with delight behind me. The cloth strip I was holding onto slammed against the end of the zip line with such force that I felt my teeth rattle and my shoulder joints shake - thank goodness I allowed WICKED to heal my broken shoulder before escaping.

"Come on!" Minho said, holding out his hands to me. 

I grabbed them and leaped to him, joining him and the others on the cliff's edge. I turned around and saw Newt sliding down towards us on the zip line. At the last second he released his hold and jumped towards us, nearly toppling off into the chasm below. We grabbed his arms before he could fall and pull him to us, to safety.

"Everyone alright?" He asked, dusting his clothes.

"Where's Thomas?" Teresa asked.

"Where's Brenda?" Jorge asked.

Newt and I exchanged worried glances with each other.

"I said, where's Brenda?!" Jorge yelled.

"Slim yourself, man!" Newt said, blinking at his outburst. "Brenda went back to take somethin' and Thomas followed her, alright?"

"Shit, she must have went been to take George's necklace," Jorge hissed under his breath.

"Who's George?" Frypan asked.

"No one," Jorge said quickly.

"What's taking them so long anyway?" Minho asked, glancing back where we came from.

"I-I dunno," Newt replied. 

We glanced at the doors we flew from, worry spreading among us like a disease. I could tell we were all thinking the same thing; what if they don't come back on time? Or worse, what if the WICKED guards found them and are taking them hostage to Janson right now?

"Come on, come on," Jorge muttered, his eyes flitting around nervously. "Come on, Brenda, come on!"

We waited and waited. But no one else appeared at the doors. The music resonating through the air slowed to a stop and faded away, leaving behind an eerie silence.

"No, no, no!" Jorge said. "Everyone take cover!"

"Take cover?" Minho said incredulously. "How?"

Jorge pushed us away from the cliff's edge and into a wide cavern in the mountain's side just as a tremor shook the air and ground. And then I heard the explosions - tons of them, all at once, and I now knew what Brenda meant when she said the whole place would blow up once the music stopped.

"Get down!" Teresa screamed, and we hit the ground with a grunt. Newt wrapped his arms around me and turned me away just as a deafening boom rattled the entire place. 

I felt a heat wave unlike anything I've ever felt before roll over me, making the hair on my arms sizzle. My hair got tossed around in the hot wind, flying into my eyes and ears. When I turned around, the doors we flew out of had burst into flames. The entire building was on fire - huge chunks of rock crumbled from the mountainside and tumbled into the chasm, sending up huge plumes of dust and sand, smoke curling into the air. I could see the Bergs hovering over us now - there were at least five of them in the sky, their searchlights skimming over the now burning building.