here we go angels
MAE
"Hey, Thomas..."
The boy turned around at the sound of my voice. His face was void of expression as I approached, placing a gentle hand on his back to provide some comfort through this time of anticipation.
"Hey, Mae." He sounded solemn—almost heavy as he spoke. He placed the gun he had been loading on the table, turning around to face me. "Are you okay? With—I mean—With everything about Newt? Him being infected and all?"
I sighed, that being a topic I wanted to forget about until I had the chance to swipe some of the serum from WICKED. "As okay with it as I can be, I guess. I mean, I don't care what Gally says, I'm getting him that serum, so..."
"What Gally says?" He furrowed his eyebrows and stood up a little straighter. "What do you mean?"
It suddenly occurred to me that he wasn't there when Gally and I had that argument this morning. He had ran off to go find Newt, per my request. It felt like I hadn't had an actual conversation with Thomas in ages, one that didn't involve a plan that could possibly end up getting us into so much more trouble than we were already in. He was constantly stressed, thinking of a way that he could help our friend.
I shrugged. "It's really nothing...Gally just said he thinks that getting the serum is a big risk." My hand fell limp from his side as I moved next to him, fiddling with the rags that were used to clean the weapons. "Since nobody was willing to take the risk to do it, I said I would be a volunteer. Gally very quickly...uh rejected that idea."
"Why?" Thomas was quick to ask. "What'd he say?"
I pursed my lips and shrugged, wanting to keep the argument that Gally and I had between us and the people who were in the room at the time. "Nothing much, just that he doesn't want me to hurt myself and be reckless and stuff..."
Thomas raised his eyebrows, tilting his head toward the right as he stared at the ground ahead of us. "Well, I mean you can be a bit reckless sometimes."
I dropped the gun in my hands and gave him a sideways glare, causing the boy to widen his eyes and shrug.
"I-In the best way, I mean..."
"Yeah, right." I rolled my eyes as I went back to wiping the rag across the barrel of the weapon. "I just want everyone I love to be safe. And if that means that I have to do something stupid or...or reckless then I'll do it."
He nodded, understanding. Thomas and I have always understood each other in a way that makes people concerned. It's like we had the same brain sometimes, our need to take care of those we care about outweighing all other decisions. We think with our heart rather than our brain, and sometimes we paid the consequences for that.
"I get it." He breathed, sighing. "But, Brenda did tell me something. Just now."
I hummed through my closed lips, glancing up at my friend for a second. "What's that?"
"She said that we couldn't save everyone."
The words hit me like a bullet in the heart—something I've been feeling a lot today. My hands stopped cleaning the gun, and I felt his hand grip my shoulder.
"I'm not saying that we have to stop trying... Hell, I'm not going to stop until I've hit all the checkmarks on my list." He paused to take a deep breath. "But, I am saying that we both need to be prepared tonight for something bad to happen."
My fingers started to drum on the concrete table, anxiety starting to eat me alive at his words. "Are you saying that someone might die?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. That's what's scary about this whole thing." I crossed my arms over my chest as he turned his body toward me, leaning on the surface. "I know about your thing, Mae. About not knowing what's gonna happen."
My head shot toward him. "Did Newt tell you?"
"Newt?" He scoffed. "No. Anyone could see you have a problem with it. We both do. I've known ever since Ben's banishing... Never said anything because I didn't wanna make it worse." I sighed, relieved that he didn't have to find out from someone else. But I also found myself laughing.
"I guess I'm really bad at hiding my problems, huh?" We both smirked as he shook his head and pursed his lips.
"Nah. I think you might've been better if you didn't want anyone to notice it."
I furrowed my eyebrows at his sentence, not understanding what he meant, but wanting to. "What?"
He looked away, trying to find the right phrase to explain. "I can tell when you don't want to talk about something. It's like when your mom died."
"What's that have to do with anything?" I asked, confused now.
"You get defensive. If you really wanna talk about something, or if something's really bothering you, you try to act as though nothing is wrong. If you don't completely want to be left alone, then you get defensive, which makes people want to know what happened." I stared at him as he spoke, wondering how he cracked the code of pretty much everyone in the entire world.
"How do you know that?" I spoke, awestruck.
He shrugged. "It's pretty obvious. I'm not completely stupid, Mae. Only when it comes to you guys."
I laughed, nodding my head. "So are you calling me out on being an attention seeker?"
"No. God, no." Thomas was quick to shake his head. "Never. I'm telling you that you're just about the most selfless person I've ever met."
Suddenly I shut up, wondering what he meant by saying that. Just as I was about to ask him, Thomas gave me a small smile, tapping my shoulder gently before he walked away. I turned around, mouth slightly open, following him with my gaze just as Frypan entered. Thomas walked over to the boy, probably going over his role in the plan before we decided to actually go.
His words rang in my head like a broken bell as I made my way over to Brenda, who was busy stuffing two pistols into her holsters. I approached her, scratching my head as she looked up and smirked. "Ready?"
I nodded. "Yeah...just let me get my stuff and uh, talk to Newt quickly."
She nodded, letting a harsh breath go through her mouth. Brenda turned toward me and placed both of her hands on my shoulders, looking me in the eye while I scoffed at her expression. "We are going to do this. And we're gonna fuck everyone and everything. We are badasses."
"Fuck?" I asked, never hearing the word before.
The girl stared at me for a few moments before bursting out in laughter, holding her stomach as she cackled. I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to keep my composure as I watched her and people turned their heads to look at us.
"Why are you laughing?"
"I forgot..." She cried, wiping the skin underneath her eyes as she stood back up, starting to calm down now. "I forgot you've been basically living under a rock for most of your life. Oh my." She cleared her throat, taking a deep breath before she talked to me again. "Fuck is basically your version of...what do you call it...shuck!"
"Oh!" I suddenly realized what she was talking about and chuckled to myself. "Why did we make our own words then?"
Brenda shrugged, the smile still prominent on her face.
We stood there for a while in silence, the happiness slowly draining as the moments passed. There was still a heavy weight on our chests, one that we couldn't rid with just laughter. The realization that we were going to preform this plan in less than an hour finally started to creep up on us, and the fear began to set in. We knew that this was something we had to do, scared or not. But still, the weight pressed down on us as a constant reminder of the worst that could happen.
"Are you gonna talk to Newt?" Her voice was quiet as she spoke to me, and I nodded, taking a deep breath.
"I guess I should do that now, huh?"
She nodded as well, placing a hand on my shoulder and pulling me into a hug. I returned the favor, sighing into her shoulder and staring into space for a few short minutes. She pulled back, giving me a small smile and trying to lighten the mood.
"I'll wait for you by the tunnels, okay?" She was talking to me like I was five years old, trying to reassure me that everything was going to be okay.
I silently agreed. "Okay. Just give me like fifteen minutes..." I sighed for the millionth time. "This won't take long."
"Take your time." She murmured, turning around. "But not too much time."
She walked away, and so did I. Returning back to me and Newt's room, I felt the tears start to already prick my eyes. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I stood at the wooden door, my hand on the handle. I ran a hand down my face before shaking my head once and pushing open the barrier.
He was standing in the middle of the room. Not getting dressed, not crying, just standing. I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked at him, fully covered head to toe in a WICKED uniform. His front was facing the concrete window, looking out at the sky. The room had a different atmosphere than the rest of the place we stayed in, and strangely enough, it was almost... peaceful.
Before my brain had the chance to think over my action, my legs started moving toward the boy. My footsteps echoed off the walls, but Newt didn't turn around. I finally approached him, not saying a word as he stared out at the world, unmoving.
With the curiosity that was suddenly set on me, I turned my head to the window as well, looking at what he was staring at.
The moon was front and center. A big, white orb that lit up the area around it in its fullness. My heat melted, the moon meaning so much to the both of us. And now that we both had a perfect view of it, it was like the world was bidding us goodbye as well.
I turned my head to Newt, only to see him continue to stare at the floating rock. His face was expressionless, but at the same time, holding all of what he needed to say.
I didn't speak. I couldn't. This moment was too precious.
My hand slowly moved to grasp his in mine, such a familiar feeling. Almost immediately, his calloused fingers wrapped around mine, squeezing three times. The gesture was simple, something we've done so many times before, but I couldn't help but feel like this would be the last time I ever ran my thumb over his knuckles.
"I still think you're a very beautiful woman... Still remind me of the moon." He whispered, making my heart skip a beat. I remembered the night where we spoke about the moon. It was the night where everything really started to change.
Thomas had came, Newt and I had cracked open the jar of vulnerability with each other, and things in the Glade shifted from a peaceful safe haven for us, to the cause of almost all of our problems. Little did we know that we would be where we are today.
"You're still the sun." I whispered back, letting my thumb trace patterns on the back of his hand. Newt breathed a laugh, finally turning his gaze from the moon, to me, and I did the same. He was a little bit paler now, the bags underneath his eyes prominent.
He was still beautiful. He always will be.
The boy looked down at his body, almost to examine himself in the uniform he was wearing. "How do I look?" He asked, taking a step back, allowing me to see him in his entirety.
I sighed, shrugging. "Like a WICKED guard."
The corners of his mouth turned upwards into a weak smile, making another hole appear in my heart. Seeing him dressed with the logo of the organization that ruined our lives was heartbreaking, something I never thought I would be seeing from someone who hated them as much as Newt. If this were any other circumstance, Newt would be wearing his jacket, and he would get the job done like he always had. But since this was a life or death plan, the boy was willing to do anything that he needed to do to make the situation a little easier.
But the sight made me want to barf.
"Here." He turned around and made his way to the other side of the room, grabbing something from a stray chair. "Since you're gonna be with Brenda, I want you to wear this."
Newt faced me, his eyes down on his jacket in his hands. The same one he had given me when we were walking through the crowd of people yesterday at the riot. It seemed like ages ago that we had saved them from the Cranks, and we had to run from the bombs that were set off by WICKED, trying to kill us for good. But we were too powerful for some random bombs. He also held my red inhaler in his other hand, something I had temporarily forgotten about.
I took the jacket in my hands as he approached, and I stared down at it for a moment. I don't know why the gesture meant so much to me, but it did. Everything around me began to feel hot as I searched for words to say, maybe a thank you, maybe the words that were on my mind...
He must've noticed that I was at a loss, because the boy just smirked and gently gripped my shoulder, turning me around. He grabbed the jacket from my hands and slowly helped me into it. The piece of clothing was big on me, the sleeves stopping about a couple inches away from where my fingertips ended. The bottom of the coat was to mid-thigh, warming me up and providing the same amount of comfort as one of his hugs. Needless to say, I loved this jacket. But the fact that he was giving it to me made my thoughts wonder to why—was it a goodbye gift? Something to remember him by? Did he know something I didn't?
"You look good in that." He murmured as I turned back to face him. "You can have it."
"I don't want it." I immediately spoke back without thinking. His face dropped, and I covered my face with my hands, mentally cursing myself. "I-I didn't mean it like that...sorry. I just mean that I think you should keep it for when you come back. When we get to the Safe Haven I mean."
He sighed, staying quiet for a moment too long. "I know. And it's okay. I just want you to wear it tonight, okay?"
Despite the screaming in my mind, and the weight on my chest, I nodded. "Okay."
"Okay." He murmured. "And here's this. You need this." The boy handed my my inhaler, and I actually took it without an argument, knowing that I had to take it with me. I placed the tool into the front pocket of my jeans, not wanting to risk the danger of having it in the back.
I nodded, and he hummed through his closed lips taking a step closer and wrapping his arms around my neck, hugging me. I returned the favor, clutching onto his waist like he was my life support. I guess in some ways, he was.
We stayed like that for a few moments, never wanting to leave each other's side. but when he pat my upper back once, I let go, and Newt stepped away. I watched as he walked over to the bed, grabbing something from within the sheets. He turned, facing me as he stuffed his tattered and worn leather covered journal into his uniform. I shook my head, taking a single step toward him.
"You're taking that with you?" I asked, and he nodded, zipping up the jacket he had to wear.
"If—When we come back out, we're not gonna have enough time to make a pitstop back here just so I can get my journal." He shrugged. "So I'm bringing it with me."
I pursed my lips and matched his previous action, nodding my head in agreement. I hadn't realized how important that journal was to him... Of course, I noticed him writing in it every possible chance he had, but I thought it was just a hobby of his, not something that mattered so much.
"Okay."
Newt zipped up his jacket and took a breath, coughing once, then placing his hand flat on his chest like the action surprised him. He raised his eyebrows, then looked at me, and I felt the corners of my mouth tugging up into a sympathetic smile. With nothing but a shake of his head, the boy stepped forward and grabbed my hand.
"Let's go find the others."
We walked out of the room, taking slow steps toward the place where everyone else was. Our steps echoed throughout the hall as we walked in unison, and my mindset changed. It was no longer sentimental, hanging onto the last moments with Newt and wanting to delay the plan that we had out of fear. Instead, it went into game time mode. The flip switched, and my mentality where I was prone to being reckless was turned on. The one that thought with her heart rather than her brain, and the one where all of the ninja skills were ready for performance.
In conclusion, my badass switch was turned on.
As we entered, I noticed that everyone was in here. They were all doing their own things, probably getting their own mindset ready like I had done. Thomas and Gally were in their uniforms, while Brenda was standing against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest while she stared at the floor, her mind somewhere else.
Gally lifted his head up to see Newt and I walk up to Thomas, and he placed the finishing touches on his outfit as we all gathered around.
"Hey." I spoke, making his head shoot up to look at Newt and I. His eyes met Newt's, and the boy nodded, silently telling Thomas he felt fine, which was an obvious lie. But we all knew Newt wasn't going to sympathize for himself and make everyone change the plan just for his sake.
Gally walked up to us. "We all ready?"
I looked around at the faces of my friends who stood around. There was determination, fear...but I think that everyone was on the same page about wanting to get Minho back. I nodded, being the only one to answer his question. He looked at Newt, then at me, and I nodded again.
"Alright." Thomas murmured, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Fry already left to get to the crane, and Brenda, Mae," He spoke to us girls. "That's where you're gonna drive a bus to get us out of there, okay? Jorge should be waiting with the Berg when we get there, so we get Minho, get as many kids as we can, get the serum, jump in the bus, and we get on the Berg to take us back to camp."
I nodded, listening as he explained the plan a final time. "Lawrence should be trying to turn the cameras off, so we should be good. Just as long as nobody notices who we are."
We were silent for a while, everyone knowing their parts already. The four of us stared at each other for a bit, eyes flashing from one face to the other. I didn't know what to say, this moment was so serious I could practically feel it all over. I began to wiggle my fingers in anticipation, the adrenaline already beginning to take its toll on me. I could feel the anxiety start to pick up, but this time, it was the kind of anxiety that made you want to run a mile rather than hurt yourself. I guess it was the good type of anxiety.
"Well what the fuck are we doing just standing around?" I blurted out, using the word that Brenda had taught me earlier. Everyone looked at me, furrowing their eyebrows while Brenda just chuckled and shook her head.
"What?"
"New word I learned." I murmured quickly, waving it off. "Now let's go or else we're just gonna waste time."
"Okay." Thomas' voice lowered. "Let's go save Minho."
NEWT
Waiting seemed like the last thing I could do right now. I was fidgeting with the launcher in my hands as my warm breath wafted back into my face underneath the thick WICKED mask I wore. Fighting the urge to just blast everyone in the building and search for Minho on my own, I rocked back and forth on my heels, my eyes darting to the front door every few seconds to see nothing but random doctors walking in.
I nodded to people who nodded at me, trying to keep my balance on both of my legs so people weren't suspicious of why one of their guards had a limp. My journal was digging into my side, maybe I should have just left it back in our room to grab later if the plan went correctly. But I had some strange feeling that I couldn't rid, that told me that we wouldn't be returning to our room. So just for safety's sake, I brought it with me.
The place reeked of cleanliness, making me more irritated than I already was. Maybe it was the Flare acting up, but the fact that I could see my reflection through the marble floor made me want to punch a bloody hole in it. Everyone who passed me was clean, looking like they had been fed and bathed...stupid shucking privelaged people. Even the concrete was clean. How is that even possible?
Looking down to the small watch on my left wrist, I clenched my jaw. Tommy was supposed to be here already with Teresa.
Where the bloody hell are they? I thought.
My eyes found the staircase the three of us were supposed to walk down, and I stared at it, eyes wide as my head felt foggy. My foot was tapping quietly on the ground, while I averted my eyes back to the front door of the building for the millionth time tonight. Just as I looked, I saw Teresa walk in, looking to her right at a guard who held onto her arm firmly.
I shook my head, a sigh of relief leaving my lungs as they walked through the sensors, and they flashed green. I looked around, checking to see if anyone was looking before I stepped forward, interjecting their path. Thomas stopped, staring at me for a few seconds. He quickly looked me up and down, and I cocked my head to the side, silently telling him to follow me.
Only then did I allow my limp to show as somewhat proof for the boy as I started toward the staircase we were supposed to go down to get to the parking garage. I glanced over my shoulder to see Teresa behind me, Thomas behind her as they followed. Walking down the stairs, my legs began to feel heavy. Not the heavy that they felt this morning, the good kind of heavy, but the kind where you just wanted to take a break.
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I lowered myself down onto the concrete floor, glancing behind me again due to the paranoia. They were still following, something I expected. But I just had to make sure.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see another body walking swiftly as the same pace my legs were taking me. I sideways glanced at him just in time to see him walk through the opening in the windows, now in front of us.
Gally, I thought as the tall figure glanced behind at us. It was quite hard to make out people who were on your side, versus people who weren't with these stupid masks on. I wished I could just rip mine off and set it on fire. Itch my eyeballs that burned every time I blinked. But I had to keep myself together for as long as possible. It didn't matter how much I was deteriorating already.
Without a word, Gally moved to the side as we came to a door at the end of the long, concrete hallway. Teresa stepped forward and placed her thumb on the pad, and we waited for a few moments before the light suddenly turned green, and the door opened. Teresa was quick to plow through it, annoyed with all of us I think. Thomas went in shortly after her, holding his launcher in the air, ready to blast anyone who was in the way.
I followed his action, pointing the weapon at the stairs that were above our heads and the stairs that were below. Teresa began to move down the stairs, and I began to follow her with Thomas when a voice interrupted us.
"Hold on. Hold on." It was Gally. We all turned, stopping in our tracks to see what the boy was planning on doing. He placed his hand on the box of electricity that he was standing in front of, lifting the front part of his mask up to see better. "I can get in here."
"Okay. Throw me the walkie." Thomas ordered, pulling up the front of his mask as well.
I walked in a circle, pulling up my face-shield as well before making my way to the stairs that lead to the floor above us, leaning over them as I coughed, the heavy feeling all over me beginning to worsen by the second. I gripped onto the railing, the itch in the back of my throat begging me to lean over a toilet and throw up all of my intestines. I white knuckled the metal as I widened my eyes, feeling like my skin was the center of the sun underneath this uniform.
Running my hands down my face in the need to move, my eyes caught Teresa's. She was sitting, staring up at me as I had my little mental breakdown. I glanced down at her before turning around, not wanting her to watch me go through this. For some reason it felt like she was mocking me.
The sounds of Gally's machine trying to pry open the electric box was like a sledgehammer trying to crack my skull open. The sound was the equivalent to nails on a chalkboard, making me squint and look up to the ceiling, fighting the urge to cover my ears or shout at the boy to stop. I just wanted to go back to my room and sleep in the peace and quiet, maybe eat something...steak sounded really good.
Thomas walked back up the stairs, the walkie in his hand while he spoke into it. "Frypan, we're in. How you doin'?"
He turned the volume up so that all of us could hear, something that made me roll my eyes and look back toward him.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm gettin' there." The sound of Frypan's voice filled the room as Gally continued to work. "Tell Minho hi for me."
Tommy looked over at me as I eavesdropped, worrying about my friends despite how much I wanted it to be quiet. "Hang in there, buddy." He murmured.
He dropped the walkie back at his side, stuffing it back into his pocket before turning around. I hadn't even noticed that the ear-piercing sound from Gally had stopped, and he opened the metal box, looking for a wire before he settled on a blue one with a label on it. Who puts labels on wires? I thought.
"This'll work." He murmured as Thomas grabbed the device from his pocket again, pressing the button and talking to a different person now.
"Brenda, what's your status?"
I leaned against the wall, my head falling back as I listened to the girl respond. "Status is: workin' on it."
Just as Tommy was about to respond, another voice piped up. Probably not knowing that Brenda was talking to Thomas.
"Do you know how to drive? Cause I don't. I'll probably shucking crash the stupid bus into a bathroom or some shit like that..."
Despite practically dying, I managed to laugh. Thomas pursed his lips into a smile and dipped his head down to his chest. Gally chuckled and shook his head while even Teresa smiled. It amazed me how even in situations like these, Mae could lighten the mood.
"Mae, I'm on with Thomas." Brenda whisper-shouted to the girl.
"Oh!" She responded, making me take a step toward Thomas, wanting to even be close to her voice. "Hi, Thomas!"
The boy rolled his eyes and decided to ignore her, responding to what Brenda had previously told him. "Copy.. Just make sure you're ready on your end."
I could hear Mae scoff through the radio. "Don't worry, you know we're gonna be there."
//
OMG IM SO PUMPED FOR THIS BUT IM ALSO SO SO SCARED
and this is a complete coincidence but there's a chapter called 'into the black' and i think that's the first chapter of TST, but I'm not sure. And this one is called 'out of the black'
may or may not be a connection there fellas :)
what do ya'll think it is?