A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt)

Chapter 72

Cally's pov

The day went by faster than I had hoped. Teresa and I had been talking a lot until Newt came back, together with Ezra, a Track-hoe named Harold and a Bagger named Leonard. I had met both before, during my job as a Med-Jack I patched them up a couple of times.
     Anyway, the six of us continued working on the Maps for hours. Only stopping to eat lunch with everyone else. None of us really talked, not wanting to mess up what we were doing. It took hours, but eventually, we had six words.

FLOAT
CATCH
BLEED
DEATH
STIFF
PUSH

We just continued, hoping there would be more. Hoping it would start to make sense if we just got more. But after PUSH, it started all over again by FLOAT, then CATCH and BLEED and so on. Until we had piles and piles of those six words.
     I was frustrated to say, at least, these words... they just didn't make sense to me, and I wasn't the only one. Everyone from our little group of Gladers seemed to be frustrated, confused, a little desperate, and just all round done with it.
     Once we finished PUSH for what felt like the thousand time, Newt dropped his scissors on the table, attracting the attention of all of us, even Bark looked up at him. "That's it. It's almost dinner time, so let's call it a day. Thank you'all for helping out." Relieved, I put down my own scissors and stretched my fingers a few times. I hated to admit it, but after hours of drawing lines and cutting paper, I've had more hand cramps that I could count.
     Harold and Leonard had already left the room, Teresa soon followed. Newt was still staring at a piece of paper. We had been writing down the combinations of words, complete with which sections and days it was made of. Just to be sure that, even if something went wrong with the piles, we still had everything on paper.
     "You okay, sister?" Ezra asked me out of nowhere. I looked up at him from the pile in front of me where I apparently had been staring at.
     "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
     Ezra squinted his eyes a little at me, "you just seem... distracted." He eventually said, sitting down next to me.
     I looked at him, do I really? I thought, since I hadn't been distracted at all since we had been working on the Maps. "I'm not distracted, just tired. And hungry." The last part I added while getting up from the ground, lightly groaning through my words as I stretched my legs. I hadn't even noticed I had become so stiff while sitting there for hours.
     "Second that," Ezra added as he also got up from the ground. "Let's get some of Frypan's wonder soup," my brother said just before he climbed up the small stairs. I was about to follow, but in the corner of my eye I noticed Newt was still bowed over the piece of paper, wrinkles in his forehead, and brows crossed in concentration.
     "Newt, you coming?" I asked, turning to him. All I got in response was an absently mumbled "yeah," while Newt just kept reading the words in front of him.
     "Staring at it won't solve anything," I joked, but Newt didn't notice I meant it as a joke. He just sighed deep, putting the paper down on the table before pulling his hands over his face.
     "I know," he said, words muffled by his hands.
     One corner of my mouth curled up in a sympathetic smile as I looked at my friend. It was so clear that he was tired and frustrated, just like the rest of us. "Com'n, Newton." I said as I pulled him up from his chair. "You need to take a break from those bugging papers as well. Get some fresh air."
     Newt scoffed, "I won't call that air fresh." But he still let me drag him with me, out of the basement.

That night, the tension was even worse, and I hated it. I was sitting in a different room than last night, not because there was a hole in the wall, because the Builders had closed that up for the most part, but because Newt and Alby had decided they wanted everyone to rotate through the rooms.
     So that resulted in me, Ezra, Newt, Bark, and the other Gladers we had been with last night - minus Thomas since he was out in the Maze with the other Runners. I tried to sleep, leaning against Ezra's chest. His heartbeat was a nice distraction from the not natural silence.
     Ezra was leaning against a wall, while Bark was lying on my lap. The warmth that surrounded me was pleasant, it helped me relax and together with the exhaustion I felt from the almost sleepless night last night, the emotions from what happened between me and Newt, and the almost non-stop working from today, I actually managed to fall asleep.
     Unfortunately, I didn't sleep for long. The sounds of the Grievers climbing up against the wooden walls of the Homestead were deafening.
     The dull sounds, followed by the breaking of wood, made me more tense than the one before. This time, we weren't in a room directly beside one of the outside walls of the Homestead, but that didn't mean I wasn't scared out of my mind. The swirling sounds of the Grievers got accompanied by the shaking of the wooden building, just like last night.
     Then it happened. A loud, cracking sound was heard from one of the rooms beside us. It was followed by the sounds of wood against wood and the yelling of terrified boys.
     My first instinct was to shoot back, grabbing a hold on Bark, while Ezra grabbed a hold on me. Even more panic came over me when I realized who's room it was.
     Chuck was in there. All of the Gladers inside of our room had shot up, some frozen on the ground and others standing. Everyone seemed to hold their breath, not moving an inch as the screams from the other room filled the air. I wanted to run inside, make sure Chuck would be okay, but I knew I would never make it to that room in time.
     Not long after, the door slammed open, and the Shanks who were staying inside the room came running out. Some of them still screaming and yelling, some quiet, but all with the same, panicked expressions. My eyes scanned every single one of the boys, looking for the smallest, chubby one with his dark curls.
     Eventually, I sighed in relief when I saw the child running out of the door. The moment he had spotted me, he ran over. I immediately stood up, just before he collided with me, his arms squeezing me in a tight hug. I didn't hesitate to hug back. The boy's body was trembling with fear.
     "I- It took Adam." He whispered into my shirt. I could hear his voice was shaking and higher pitched than normal. I didn't really know what to say, I could feel something wet slowly making its way through my shirt and knew Chuck had started crying.
     "It's okay," I eventually whispered, sounding a bit unsure myself, but trying my best to hide it. "It's over, Chuckie. We're save now." I continued to whisper to him, placing one hand on his head while the other hugged him a little tighter. I realized that this must probably be the first time he had seen one of the Grievers up close, and he saw it while it took one of his friends. Or, maybe not friends, but one of the other Gladers. Just another trauma to add to the kid's list.
     It took some time before he had calmed down, and only because he had fallen asleep against me. Just like Chuck, almost all the other Gladers had fallen asleep as well. Now the danger had disappeared for the rest of the night everyone wanted to get as much sleep as possible. Ezra was lying on the ground beside me, while I was the one leaning against the wall as a pillow this time. My brother also seemed to have a bit more trouble falling back asleep, he was staring in front of him, lost in thought while messing with his necklace. Bark lay at my feet since her spot on my lap was taken.
     I could see Newt a few feet away, he seemed to be sleeping as well. I didn't understand how everyone else could just fall asleep so soon after one of their friends was taken by a monster. But to my surprise, my exhaustion came back in a couple of minutes, and I, too, fell back into a dreamless sleep.