You felt light. As if you were hanging in mid-air, in an unconscious state between being awake and asleep. Your vision was hazy making your surroundings look blurry and out of focus. All sound seemed to have been switched off except a mild ringing in your ears, similar to the one heard after a gunshot that was too close.
You turned on your heel, your boots kicking up dirt and dust as you looked around through the fuzzy darkness. As you strained your eyes, someone appeared out of the darkness to your right. They were sprinting towards you as if their life depended on it.
A silent fiery explosion lit up your eyes making a wave of heat lick up your face. It illuminating the silhouette of the figure as they paused for a moment, glancing behind them.
You could recognise who it was by his hair. Minho was the only one who's hair stayed so perfect when he was doing something physically demanding. You could recognise his the shadows of his strong arms anywhere.
"Minho," A smile flicked onto your face as you waved, your voice echoing around you as if you were stood in the middle of a deep well. "Minho?" You questioned your smile fading as he didn't stop to acknowledge you, he simply kept running as if you were completely invisible.
A sudden burst of gunshots rang around you making you jump and cover your ears at the unexpected noise. You turning your head side to side frantically trying to find the source of the noise, but saw no sign of anyone around you.
You snapped your eyes to Minho and saw him kneeling on the ground a little way from you with his hands bound behind his back facing the opposite direction.
Taking a tentative step forward, you watched as two figures loomed out of the darkness and stopped in front of him. Their faces were unfocused so no details were visible but you knew who they were from their clothing.
Ava Paige, her white clothes glowing as if she was an untouchable godly figure. Beside her was a man who made your blood boil instantly, you wished you could storm over and kick him in the nuts repeatedly until he puked. Janson. Ratman. The man who'd changed the course of you and your friend's lives.
"You're going to be very useful for us," Ava's voice echoed in a soft whisper, "You're going to cure so many people."
"I'll never help you," Minho struggled against his restraints. You automatically felt yourself want to move over to help him, but found you couldn't move your legs. Not in the sense that they'd frozen out of fear, it was like you'd been glued in place and no matter how much you tried to move your feet, you couldn't.
You let out a groan as you placed your hands on your ankle in an attempt to pull them off the dusty ground, but it made no difference. You straightened up hastily as Janson moved closer to Minho with something silver in his hand. Your eyes widened as worry rolled down your body like a wave of chilling water. You had a feeling something bad was about to happen and with your feet stuck to the ground, you had no way of intervening.
"MINHO!" You shouted stretching your arm out in warning.
Janson and Ava looked over at you with blank expressions but your eyes were fixed on Minho. His head turned slowly to you, his face the only thing coming into clear focus. His face was glittering with sweat and he was puffing slightly his shoulders rising and falling a little too quickly for someone not doing anything. He nodded to you, a comforting look on his face as if he was encouraging you to conquer one of your greatest fears.
"It's alright, Y/n," his voice echoed sending goose bumps over your arms, "You're safe. It's going to be-"
He was cut abruptly off as Janson swung the silver object he was holding and drove it deep into Minho's neck.
"NO!" You screamed panic making you feel sick as Minho fell sideways and his eyes closed. "What have you done?"
WCKD guards appeared and began to drag Minho away into the pressing darkness as Janson and Ava stood motionless, watching you fight against whatever invisibly force was holding you in place.
"We've done what's needed," Ava answered calmly, turning and vanishing after her guards.
Minho's distant shouts started to fill your ears as if he was getting tortured, a painful scream that made you eyes water.
"I'LL SAVE YOU MINHO!" You didn't stop struggling glaring darkly at Janson as he watched you with a mildly amused expression. Like he was watching a puppy perform a trick it'd recently learnt.
"You're finished, Y/n." Were Jansons last sneering words before he disappeared into the darkness after Ava.
When he was gone, you felt your feet unstick and you fell forwards onto your knees tears threatening to spill from your eyes. Without pausing for breath, you stumbled to your feet and sprinted into the darkness following the sounds of Minho's shouts.
No matter how fast you went or how long you ran for, you felt as if you were going in circles. The darkness continued to roll in front of you and there was no sight of Minho, Ava or Ratman.
"I'll never give up," you promised falling to your knees with a thump and shutting your eyes tightly.
* * *
You awoke with a start feeling a hand on your shoulder. Your eyes snapped open as you reached for your machete.
"Relax, Y/n. It's me, it's me. Don't worry, you're alright," a British voice was whispering to your left and gripping your shoulder comfortingly. You took a deep breath releasing your grip on your machete and allowing Newt to put it back beside your bed. "Bad dream?"
You nodded feeling your shirt sticking to you and the sweat on your forehead. You rubbed your baby hairs off your face looking around the dark room. Thomas and Frypan were sleeping soundly in their beds across the room and you could faintly see Brenda and Harriet in the other room breathing peacefully. Newt's bed was the only empty one and the sight of him crouched beside you made you feel guilty.
"Sorry if I woke you, again." This hadn't been the first time you'd been shaken awake because of bad dreams. It always happened to be poor Newt who you woke up because his bed was in closest.
He shook his head instantly, "I was already awake, don't worry."
"You're a terrible liar," you chuckled sitting up and allowing him to sit beside you.
He stretched his bad leg out leaning back on the wall and shaking his head, "Still can't hide anything from you."
"Not a chance," you chuckled quietly trying not to wake up the others, "Are you worried about the rescue mission?"
The side of his face that was illuminated frowned as he thought before he slowly nodded. "I think we all are. Thomas didn't go to sleep long ago, he was going to over the details of the plan so I don't think you're the only one who's stressed."
"How do you know I'm stressed?" You questioned leaning back on the wall too and tucking your knees into your chest.
"Your nightmares have been getting worse ever since we came up with the plan. I'm not an idiot, Y/n. I can read you just as well as you can read me."
You chuckled taking a deep breath to relax your tense muscles. Ever since Minho and the others had been kidnapped, your friendship with Newt had gotten a lot stronger. You'd been sitting together at meal times and staying up late to chat when feeling stressed or worried. Your friendship with Newt was much more calming than the playful relationship you shared with Thomas, Frypan and Brenda. You could tell Newt anything and he didn't push you down or laugh, you liked to think he'd say the same for you.
"What time is it?" You questioned not having your watch within reach.
Newt flicked his up to his eyes, "About two in the morning."
You flicked your eyebrows up in surprise, it hadn't been that long since you'd gone to bed yourself. You'd only been asleep couple of hours at most.
"I've been thinking," he continued in a low voice sounding as if he'd had this thought on his mind for a little while, "Even if we manage to save Minho and the others, Wicked are always going to be chasing us, we're never going to get a moments peace. Constantly looking over our shoulders to see if we're being followed. That's barely a life."
You processed his words, trying to come up with something helpful to respond with, "We've made it this far haven't we? It's been stressful, bloody hell yes, but we've made it through best we could while trying to keep as many of us alive as we can," You placed your hand on his arm and gave it a comforting squeeze, "Let's take one step at a time, yeah? We can worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes. Whatever happens, we will work it out together. I don't know about you, but I'd rather be running from Wicked all my life with you idiots than live a life of freedom alone."
"That's very wise." Someone stepped around the corner into your section making you and Newt jump and snap your heads towards the doorway. It was Vince.
"How come you're still up? You scared the shit out of us," you sighed as your heart rate returned to normal from his sudden appearance.
"Was just checking the last few details of the plan. You two should get some sleep, going to be a long ol' day tomorrow."
"We will. Thanks, Vince," Newt nodded as the man disappeared and the sound of his footsteps indicated he'd gone into his shared room with Jorge and a few other of the Right Arm soldiers.
"I think he's nervous too," you pointed out lowering your voice even more.
"I agree," Newt nodded smiling slightly, "He has a funny way of showing it."
You chuckled, "His heart's in the right place though."
Newt nodded yawning, "We should get some sleep. He's right, it's going to be a long and tense day tomorrow. You going to be alright now?"
You nodded quickly knowing he wouldn't sleep himself if he thought you were still worried, "Much better now, thanks."
He patted your head gently, pulling himself to his feet and bundled himself up in his blankets, "Goodnight, Y/n."
You laid back down leaving your blankets off to stop you from getting too hot and sweating again, "Sleep well, Newt, see you at dawn."
Closing your eyes, you attempted to keep your mind away from any thought of Minho, the plan or Wicked. This time tomorrow you would have Minho back and everything would be alright again.
'One day at a time.'
Hey guys, been a while hasn't it? Finally motivated myself to start writing this story so I thought I'd give you guys a little teaser. Not sure how long the rest of the book will take to be updated but it shouldn't be too long.
Fun fact: I finished the first book in a 17 days so I have no excuse really :)
Anticipate the rest of the book and give it some love.
Lotta love
AFG