Changes (Newt x OC) (Maze Runner Fanfic)

Sand.

Newt laughed at Thomas' goofy expression when he tried to get up. We sat beside him on the ground as Thomas packed his bag up. "Jack," Newt answered, his smile fading a bit.

"Oh, yeah," Thomas said, speaking for the first time this morning. "Jack," he sighed solemnly, and we went silent.

"He was a Slopper," Newt uttered, breaking the silence. "A nice kid, too."

We went quiet again, and still kept our mouths closed when we walked up the mounds of rubble. The group was on the move, up the giant pile of rubble that we slept on last night. The pile was steep and went under the mall's road to the underground parking. We climbed half on our hands and knees, and half on our feet, stumbling and loosening the rubble. I heard Winston cough weakly, but that was all the sound we made, each one of us worried we'd summon the monsters if we said something out loud, at least, that's the irrational fear I felt.

Winston wasn't doing well. I was beginning to worry that he wasn't actually immune.

At night the scene of the city I had sat in front of was dark and bleak, and as I had mentioned sobering, but as we kept walking, and as we scaled the giant piles of junk, we actually walked through it. And I had to say, it looked even more depressing in the glaring sunlight.

The walls of the buildings  seemed to be made of sand, burnt by the sunlight, and almost every building had at least one wall completely crumpled. The wind swept up the dirt in the road we walked through, that seemed to be cleared out by someone, since there were walls of trash and rubble on either side of the path, making it almost impossible to climb over. I took a breath in, but coughed automatically, trying to rid my lungs of the burning dust and sand.

"What happened to this place?" Frypan said, breaking the silence. I shrugged, still gaping at the foreboding city.

"Looks like a ghost town," Aris murmured, and picked up his pace, matching mine. "Maya, you've been out here before?"

He still remembered what I had first said. I looked up at the boy and nodded, trying to make my face as unreadable as his. "Yeah, I've been out here, but only for a day until WICKED found me." Aris nodded and we kept walking in silence the others still behind us. "I've never been out this far."

"Hey," Thomas said out loud, and we all looked at him. He had stopped walking and was squinting in the sunlight. "Guys, do you feel that?"

I shook my head, but stopped, and I realized that the ground beneath me began to shake, and the dust rose and fell. Minho and I exchanged a look, and we looked at Thomas. He was looking up, then just as everyone followed his gaze, and a Berg emerged from the building.

"Hide!" Thomas shouted over the whirring of the flying vehicle. We scuttled under a slab of concrete and huddled together, all looking up, watching as three Burgs went past. Newt haunches beside me, his arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me to his side as the Burgs circled around a bit, searching, then left, disappearing through the sky scrapers. Together we let out a simultaneous sigh of relief and nervously peeped out from under the concrete, making sure all the Burgs had gone.

"Thank goodness," I sighed and let out a long sigh, patting Thomas on the back. He nodded and looked back at the group.

"Yeah, they're looking for us," he said out loud. "We need to get a move on before they do." The group shared little nods and grunts I'd agreement, and we were back on our way, walking through the silent city.

After about a full hour of straight walking and talking here and there, we finally exited the city, and realized we were not much closer to our destination than we were before. I sighed heavily as we climbed a giant sand dune, and Newt chuckled quietly behind me.

I swiveled around and glared at him. "You mocking me, Brit?"

Newt shook his head and laughed walking past me. "Nah, I just think it's cute that you've been sighing every five minutes." I heard Minho snicker close behind me, and I just rolled my eyes, trying my best to keep up with Newt as we climbed the steep dune.

When we reached the top, I felt as if we had all thought we were in a movie. Each of us lined up, side by side, looking out into the scene of devastation that happened. Sand everywhere. We held our heads high, squinting in the sun as if a camera was zooming in on us. It was really dramatic. Until Winston took a step forward, obviously ready to get going, then collapsed, wheezing breaths escaping his parted lips.

The group stumbled around him, shouting his name, kicking up the sand as we crowded around him on the angles side of the dune.

"Winston! Can you hear me, man?" Newt said anxiously and I grabbed his arm to keep him from shaking Winston too hard.

"What's wrong with him?" Frypan asked and looked at me with worried eyes.

I clenched my teeth, knowing that they wouldn't want to hear the answer. Everyone stared at me, eyes longing for a reply. Everyone had a hand on Winston who was shaking with every breath. I looked down at Winston and looked at his eyes, which were closed, so I gently lifted up his eyelid. His eyes were darting in every direction, but he was obviously unconscious, and I drew my conclusion.

"I don't think he's immune," I muttered, adding to the overwhelming drama.

Minho let out a long puff of air and rubbed eyes, tired. "Great. What now?"

Wiping my forehead, I peered over my shoulder down at the sandy dunes. My eyes lit up when I spotted a rogue sheet of metal that seemed to be roughly the size of Winston's body. "There!" I shouted. "The metal!" I scrambled up and stumbled down the hill, and grabbed the metal. I instantly recoiled and let out a quick gasp. The sun had heated up the metal until it was burning hot. I took off my black scarf and used it to cover my hands as I dragged the piece to my friends who were lifting Winston up. We put him on the sheet, and using some poles and some sweaters we were able to safely drag him along and I shoved my raw, burnt hands sitting in my pockets.

And we were off again, dragging the whimpering Winston along with us.