Run With Me ➵ Newt [2]

THIRTEEN | wicked attacks

I bit my lips and looked down, my cheeks heating up. Newt smiled again and pulled me into his arms, letting me rest my head on his shoulder as we stared out at the sunset together. It was the most peaceful I had ever felt since... since I couldn't even remember. Since a long, long time ago.

"I hope I get to watch sunsets like this more often with you," I said softly.

"Me too, Rose," Newt said, just as softly. "Me too."

And though neither of us said it, I could tell we were both thinking the same thing - that our chances of surviving were very slim, what with WICKED hunting us down 24/7, and crazy Cranks chasing us, and the uncurable Flare with the two of us not being immune to the virus. But still, we held on to that hope, even if it broke us in the end.

"Hey, about those memories that you got back..." Newt trailed off. He hesitated a little, apparently a little embarrassed. "Can you maybe tell me some of them? I'd like to remember."

I smiled up at him. "Of course."

He smiled back and nodded gratefully.

I opened my mouth and was about to reminisce one of my older memories back in WICKED headquarters, when we heard the faint rumble of engines behind us. It sounded like...

"What the hell is that noise?" Minho piped up, glancing back.

"That's a Berg," I realised, my muscles tensing up suddenly.

"No, it can't be," Newt muttered.

"No, wait, Rose is right - look!" Minho jumped up suddenly and pointed to the sky behind us and we got up, peering into the distance as the wind blew around us.

Sure enough, there were miniscule dots in the sky, too big to be birds, too small to be planes, with spotlights jutting out from them as the lights cut through the growing dusk. The engine sounds got louder as the dots neared us.

"What the hell are they doing here?" Frypan cried out, panicking.

"They found us," I whispered, frozen in place with shock. "I-I can't believe it."

"No..." Minho muttered. "No, no, no, no, no, this can't be happening!"

"We need to warn The Right Arm!" Newt said. "Come on!"

He ran down the hill before any of us could stop him, his figure blending into the darkness.

"Newt, wait!" I called out. I scrambled down the hill after him, glancing back every now and then to make sure Minho and Frypan were following.

It was dark now - the sun had disappeared completely, sinking into the ground along with all my hopes and happiness. How on earth did WICKED find us? And when will they ever stop searching for us?

I was so frustrated - so furious - that I wanted to break down and give up. But I ran after Newt, trying to ignore the urge to collasp onto the ground in a hopeless heap. The Bergs were very close now - I watched in horror as one of them flew past and something long and narrow lit up in flames shot out of one of the machine launchers.

"Newt, stop!" I screamed.

I leaped forward and tackled him to the ground just as the missile streaked through the air with a deafening whistle and collided with the ground near us, exploding a section of the camp. A heatwave as hot as the sun rolled through the air and seared the hairs on my skin. But WICKED apparently wanted to see more destruction - more missiles sliced through the air and exploded the base, the tents, the people - I wanted to scream in horror, but I could only watch in frozen fear.

"Get up!" I heard a familiar voice scream.

I felt two rough hands pull me up - it was Minho. Frypan helped Newt up and together, we stared at the chaos, watching as clouds of flames and smoke burst from the ground into the air. People were screaming, their fearful voices echoeing through the night sky, completely contrasting to their happy, conversational voices a few moments earlier.

"No..." I whispered, my hands flying to my mouth. "This can't be happening."

I knew WICKED was cruel, but I didn't think them evil enough to blow up a camp full of innocent people.

"What's happening there?" Frypan asked.

He pointed up into the sky, where a Berg was hovering in midair. WICKED guards dropped from the engines and directly into The Right Arm's base, sliding down wires. They aimed their guns around and started shooting some small blue projectiles at people around them - I realized that it was the kind that sent electric shocks through your entire body, rendering you useless as you lay there, paralyzed in excruciating pain. People around us started falling to the ground, blue and white bolts of electricity arcing all over their body. I watched in horror as one of the guards spotted me and aimed his gun at me.

"Let's get outta here!" Newt shouted over the chaos.

He grabbed my hand and ran, Minho and Frypan right behind us. The guard fired and the projectile flew over my head with a screech. Fire rained down on us. More guards shot at us. We kept running.

"Where's Thomas?" Minho shouted as we ducked behind a stack of barrels.

None of us had an answer to that. Then we heard a defiant yell from ahead of us and through the thick blanket of smoke and flying bullets, we spotted Vince and Harriet, preparing their guns and firing back at the WICKED guards with a dangerous ferocity.

"Vince! Harriet!" Minho ran towards them and we followed, dodging every now and then to avoid getting hit. We ducked behind the truck Vince was perched on and Minho yelled at Harriet, "How can we help?"

"You need to cover us!" She yelled back, reloading her gun. Vince fired off his own shots at the guards with his machine gun, his accuracy dangerously precise.

Harriet tossed us guns and we snatched them up - we ran forwards and knelt next to her and Vince, firing. Every push of the trigger sent a jolt through me, rattling my teeth and throwing me back a bit, the sound of the bullets deafening. I aimed at a guard running towards us and shot - the bullet hit his legs. He cried out in pain and fell to the ground. I felt no remorse.

For one quick moment, everything seemed to be on our side. We shot and shot and shot, the push of the trigger and feel of the gun familiar now. But for every guard we took down more seemed to take their place. In just a few minutes, we were swarmed.

"Vince, hurry up!" Newt yelled. "There's too many of them!"

The man was trying to reload his machine gun - but he was too slow. We were completely surrounded now, the guards advancing on us with sure steps.

Something came flying towards us - it arced through the air and landed on the truck. I realized what it was a second too late - bolts of electricity shot at us, too fast to even see, and before I knew it I screamed, collasping to the ground as the deadly blue arcs of energy paralyzed me.

And then I blacked out from the pain.

[ END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN ]

this book is ending soon,,, idk how to feel about that