After they lost Jack, Mae, Minho, Frypan and Newt reluctantly continued up the escalator. When they finally did, they were reunited with Thomas and Teresa, who thankfully had both turned up without a scratch.
Throwing herself forward with all her might, Mae forced herself to ignore the searing pain within each of the muscles she had dangerously overused in their various adventures.
"We've gotta find a way outta here!" Frypan yelped, glancing back at the creatures who were still chasing them. Nothing seemed to get them thrown off the Gladers path, despite their short attention spans.
"Just, keep running!" Thomas prompted. Mae had gotten quite used to hearing him say those words.
They ran past more windows and doors that led to other abandoned rooms, and even though Mae couldn't recall specific memories, she could picture the bustling, busy mall this place used to be.
As if it couldn't get any worse, as they were sprinting along side the railing that kept them from plummeting through the space between the floors, something latched itself onto Newt. Everyone skidded to a stop, eyes wide in horror as yet another thing stood in their way to safety.
The sight of Newt pinned down by that creature struck a chord in Mae. Breath hitching in her throat, she froze. Frustration mixed with anxiety and despair, the very thought of her life's events had her reeling in uncertainty, and she found herself questioning if the moment she was experiencing right then was just a dream. A figment of her imagination. Something she'd created to occupy her mind. Perhaps- she had the disease that haunted her right now, and she'd made up all her friends and their whole story to distract herself from the realization that she was driven to insanity.
Her vision blurred as something happened in front of her.
Before she'd even been able to snap herself out of her thoughts, someone grabbed her hand. She looked to her left, the pair of eyes that the hand belonged to locked with hers and Mae knew it was real.
"Mae!" Minho's voice wrung in her ears.
"Mae, Thomas killed the thing, Newt's fine, we gotta go." He said again. The girl mentally slapped herself for keeping them up and nodded, following the rest of the group down the corridor they'd found.
The narrow passageway was filled with doors, but each one they tried to pry open, wouldn't budge.
So they continued, the sound of screeches and moans echoing after as they ran. Finally, Frypan managed to burst his way through the door at the end of the hallway, allowing the group to spill out onto the other side. Winston had been farther behind, using the pistol he'd grabbed from the guard earlier to try and defend his friends.
Inhaling shaky breaths, Mae watched as Winston started running toward the door, the herd of infected individuals catching up to him. The others started yelling for him to go faster, and the look of pure terror on his face was enough for her stomach to drop. He made it halfway out of the door when a horrible, shriveled purple hand reached out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him back.
He let out a scream of pain as more of the creatures started to grasp onto his torso, their sharp gnarly nails ripping through his shirt, and scratching his skin. All of the other began to try and pry him out of their grasp, Mae and Newt trying to shut the door on the infected.
Although they finally pulled him free, Winston continued to wince in agony as he lurched forward, and with the help of Frypan and Newt, he began to move forward. Thomas stuck behind, making sure Mae was able to close the door, and the group continued running.
They had made it out of the shopping mall, and were now met with a ginormous pile of rubble that led to more sand, crumbling buildings, and more debris. It was so dark that Mae couldn't even tell where she was putting her feet. She had her hands out in front of her, ready to grab onto anything to hoist her farther up the mountain of miscellaneous building materials. She could only follow her friends based on the sound of their heavy breathing.
The sounds of the ravenous beings they'd left behind from before echoed into the night, proving that the Gladers were still not safe.
Once they'd reached the slightest bit more level ground, Thomas had an idea. A slab of concrete, held a several feet above the ground by other large pieces of rubble, had just enough room to hide him and his friends.
"Under here," He hissed, looking this way and that to be sure that none of the clueless zombie brains had wandered over to figure out their hiding place.
Mae ducked under the concrete, her heart thumping in her chest like a sledgehammer. Although she was freezing, she could feel the warmth radiating off the others, giving her the slightest bit of comfort. Winston's sharp winces of pain were quiet, but it was still apparent how much his wound was affecting him.
No one said a thing. They waited. And they listened to the screeches that rippled through the dark, growing closer and farther as each being passed them by. Although they were vicious and dangerous, human did have an advantage over them: their knowledge. It was clear to see that the creatures weren't smart enough to check under that concrete, since none had discovered their group yet.
Mae couldn't even see who was to her right or her left, all she could recognize was the presence of a hand wrapped around her upper arm, as if she were a lifeboat in the middle of a hurricane. The hours dragged on like days, and Mae didn't even think about sleeping a wink. Her mind was swimming with thoughts of their past journey, curiosity and fear of whatever lay ahead.
The sun, slowly but surely came up. Without even stepping out from the shade of their shelter, Mae could sense the heat emitting from it and reflecting off that sand. The sound of the infected was absent, and she figured they didn't like the daytime all that much. She glanced around her, seeing Thomas on her left and Teresa on her right. The whole group laid next to each other, one after another, resting on each other with trust and comfort. That was enough to make Mae smile.
She looked over her left shoulder, seeing Thomas sleeping. It was the first time since the Glade that she'd seen him look the slightest bit at peace- his eyes shut softly and his brows that were usually knit together in confusion, worry, some emotion or another were relaxed. There was dirt smudged on his cheek bone, a scratch on his forehead and his brown hair was wildly out of the ordinary- but Mae thought it suited him.
Just looking at him for a few seconds, Mae felt at ease enough to the point where she could lower her head onto his backpack that they'd been sharing as a pillow. She knew she wouldn't get more than twenty minutes of sleep- they would have to start moving soon- but she felt her eyes fluttering shut anyways, her gaze of Thomas's serene slumber blurring as she drifted off.
__
"Hey! Get out of here," Thomas's hoarse voice exclaimed. Mae opened her eyes, the splitting headache she was suffering from clouding her vision slightly. He was shooing a black crow away from their stuff, standing up and examining their surroundings.
"Are they gone?" Newt asked softly. Mae inched up on her elbows to sit up straight, rubbing her eye with her right hand.
"I think so," She answered, recalling how she hadn't seen any sign of the creatures when she'd been up earlier.
"I think we're safe for now." Thomas agreed. Minho lifted his head and blinked once, as if hoping to realize this had all just been a dream and he was back in a warm bed. When he realized it was very much real, he groaned and dropping his head back on his backpack in exasperation.
Mae turned her gaze to Teresa, who was staring out into space, leaning on a piece of pavement.
"Good morning," She quipped, her voice burning in her throat. Her sister snapped out of her trance swiftly, turning her attention to Mae with the smallest evidence of a smile on her face.
"Mornin'." Teresa replied with, evening out the patterned scarf that she'd draped around her shoulder last night. Mae forced herself to stand, trying not to collapse as the world spun around her. She felt like she had the worst hangover of all time.
"You alright?" Minho asked, still with his head laid down as if he was a kid refusing to get up for school. The girl looked down at her friend, the dizziness slowly fading as her eyes met his.
"I'm fine. You need to get up, sunshine." She ordered, a playful twinge on her words as she spoke.
"Mae's right, we should get moving. Let's pack it up," Thomas insisted, reaching behind her to grab his backpack. Slowly, everyone began to rise from where they had spent the night, groggily packing up their belongings with zombie-like speed.
The brunette boy was the only one who actually seemed eager to move. Yes, they all wanted to make it far away from WICKED, but no one could summon up the encouraging leader persona like Thomas could.
"Aris, Come on." He prompted, gesturing for the boy to get up.
Mae reached down and helped Teresa up, hoisting her bag over her shoulder and looking over the group to check that everyone was there.
"Fry, Winston, let's go." Her eyes traveled to Winston, who had yet to stand up. He was still laying on the ground, with his head raised and his hand placed on his stomach, which had been covered with a bandage Frypan had found. Purple tinted blood had seeped through, but at least it stopped his wound from being out in the open. His mouth was curved into a frown, his eyes empty. He tried to get up, feeling guilty for holding the group back, but the pain overcame him and he yelped.
"Hey man, you okay?" Fry asked, extending a hand to help his friend up. Mae watched intently in concern for a moment, but once she saw Winston on his feet with the help of Frypan, she turned her attention back to Thomas.
The group had agreed that the first thing they would do was get out of the mountain of debris- to flat ground, see what they could see, and then regroup and replan from there. Thomas went first, Mae followed shortly behind, then Minho, Teresa, Newt, and finally in the back were Frypan and Winston.
It was a constant challenge for Mae not to twist her ankle, or get her foot caught in between the layers of stone, pavement and concrete. She kept looking back, worried that out of nowhere her friends would fall behind.
It took a few minutes of climbing and struggling, but Mae and Thomas finally made it up to the more even part- the sand. They stopped and waited, side by side as they took in the new area and waited for their friends. The others were a few paces behind, because of Winston's injury, Newt's limp and Teresa's cloudy mind. Mae looked out into the open land, miles and miles of sand and the rubble of skyscrapers, the sun blazing down on them like an oven.
"I thought I would be used to the extremes of the world by now," She chuckled breathlessly, which prompted Thomas to look over at her, his lips parted slightly as if he wanted to say something. She felt his brown eyes on her face, looking at her the way she'd looked at him that morning. She suddenly became very aware of her crazy hair and dark eyebags.
"Me too." He said simply, averting his gaze swiftly as the rest of the group had made it out from the rubble.
DID YOU GUYS THINK I FORGOT ABOUT THIS BOOK? well i did. BYE i forgot abt wattpad and then i opened it on accident and saw this story had gotten 5K? WHAT? THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! i started writing this chapter the second i did, so here it is. sorry if i kept you all waiting. hope to continue it! also, does anyone wish they were mae rn? just me? ok. have a great morning/day and i love you!