AN: Hello everyone we are back! Have to say, after we finished Glader Girls we had nothing to procrastinate on (hello A levels) but don't worry, we're not short of ideas! This is something different, not your normal Glader fic but it does involve solar flares, England and a lot of good old fashioned sarcasm. I promise all your favourite characters will be making an appearance but not all at once ;) I've had this idea for a while now, if it is something your interested in seeing more of, please comment! Now, let the adventure begin...
Much love - Sarah and Emma xx
Disclaimer: We don't own the Maze Runner
Ally sighed as she lifted her violin to play the same few bars again, hating certain members of the wind section who just could not count. Normally orchestra rehearsals were okay but this one seemed to be dragging on, not to mention that it was exceptionally hot today and everyone just wanted to be outside.
She played the few bars then put her violin down as the conductor focused on the clarinets. What was wrong with them today?
Ally felt her phone buzz in her pocket and hid it behind her violin as she unlocked the screen. Around her, the other string players were doing the same thing.
Meet me outside asap
That was weird, surely Lyra should be in engineering seminars for the rest of the day and she knew Ally didn't finish till five.
Frantic whispering filled the room which quickly gave way to shouting as people got up and started packing their instruments away.
"What's going on?" Ally asked her desk partner who was sending a long stream of text messages.
"Solar flares, look at the news!"
Ally's confusion at the chaos around her grew stronger at the mention of solar flares. There had been solar flares in the past but nothing to cause panic. The most they could do was damage GPS systems.
Still, she followed everyone else and packed her case and headed outside as Lyra had told her. Even the conductor had left, and rehearsals were nearly over anyway. She was glad to get out.
Ally looked over to the Imperial university buildings to see if Lyra was there but the flood of people coming out of the Royal College of Music behind her forced her to move further into the square. She headed for their usual meeting place- the Royal Albert Hall, which both buildings sat in the shadows of.
Students were piling out of the surrounding buildings, some sprinting for the tube a few streets away and others were on their phones, staring at the sky as if they could stop the Sun's rays.
"What is going on Ly?" Ally asked again as she spotted her and walked up.
"Solar flares you idiot,"
"Yes, I know solar flares but why all the panic? We've had them before."
"These ones are far worse than before; can't you feel their heat already? People are saying we have around five hours until they strike. They don't even know what to do, everyone is going home and getting supplies, hoping if they stay inside it will be alright,"
"Then let's do that," Ally turned to walk to the tube station but Lyra grabbed her arm.
"We have to wait for Rhea, she's coming across the square now. Her art professor insisted they finish their pieces."
"Why couldn't we all just meet at the apartment, why meet here?"
Lyra sighed, clearly the idiocy of a non-science nerd was getting to her.
"See with the magnitude they are predicting it should be enough to set the taller buildings on fire and damage electrical transformers- staying in the city is not safe. Some solar flares have been known to go on for hours, think! The ice caps will melt, we have to get on a boat!"
Realisation hit Ally of the oncoming disaster.
"But we don't have a boat!"
"I have a boat,"
"You have a boat?" Ally asked, sceptically,
Lyra nodded,
"Well let's go, come on!" Ally cried (albeit a bit sarcastically) as she spotted Rhea walking up to them, her bag full of art supplies weighing down on her shoulders. She pulled Lyra into the crowded streets.
"Hey, wait guys!" Rhea shouted as she began running after them.
The ran to South Kensington station where they managed to battle their way onto a District line train and stood in the crammed carriage.
"We have to get to Waterloo, then we can go to Portsmouth," Lyra said in a decisive manner.
Rhea and Ally looked at her confused, surely the best place to head was east.
"My father had a yacht which he kept in Portsmouth. He left it to me when he died. I have the keys, I grabbed them while waiting for you slugs. It's at least a five-crew ship but between the three of us, if we take down the front sail we should be able to manage."
The two girls looked at her sceptically.
"Look, it's better if we don't have to hijack a boat and involve anyone else. Who knows what is going to happen and I'm only getting on a boat with people I trust. Plus, I know how this boat works. Ally, you can be on navigation and Rhea, you can control the main sails. I'll hel- I'll steer,"
"Lyra don't you think this is a bit much?"
"No, they showed us the details in my class because none of us were concentrating on electrical transformers,"
Ally held up her arms (as much as she could in the crowded carriage), "Fine, I could do with a holiday anyway,"
Lyra looked less than impressed with Ally's attitude but didn't say anything else.
Despite what she had said Ally was happy to be getting off land. Something didn't feel right. As always, Lyra had been thinking two steps ahead of everyone else, she was annoying like that.
"But I don't understand why we can't just go back to the apartment."
It was Rhea this time, looking just as confused as Ally had been.
Sensing that Lyra was about to explode with stupidity of her flatmates, Ally quickly filled her in on what she had been told.
By the time they made it to Waterloo, Ally had figured that they had approximately four and a half hours left and of those hours, it would take two and a half hours to get to Portsmouth. She told the others her calculations and received a tight nod from Lyra and a slightly overwhelmed grimace from Rhea. Rhea really didn't know what to make of the situation, it was all too surreal.
The sheer volume of people migrating through the huge station made it easy to jump the barriers- although Ally struggled a bit with her violin case which she had somehow managed to bring along.
"Just leave it! We won't have a need for it on the boat, what are you planning to do, serenade the fish?" Lyra hissed as she helped Ally over the barrier.
"And you Rhea, leave the bloody art supplies!"
"NO!" They both shouted, both far too attached to their bags.
"I can't just cast Henry aside!"
"Ally, I've told you time and time again how weird it is that you have named your viola-"
"Violin,"
"Yes, fine, whatever. Rhea, you can't paint on a boat."
Rhea looked uncomfortable but conceded and put her bag down by the barriers after taking out her phone. Ally stood with her violin on her back defiantly.
They slipped onto the train at the front and began making their way down the train. It was packed, being a main line for all the commuters, which was perfect. If they got to the middle of the train then they might be able to make it down to Portsmouth without meeting a guard and having to buy tickets.
They settled themselves in an area between two carriages and sat down.
"We need supplies," Lyra said, "There's a saltwater converter on the boat so we don't need to worry about dehydration but we need food. Tins will be best of course-"
"Sunscreen." Rhea said suddenly.
"Well yes, I suppose,"
"And spare clothes,"
"Really Ally, you think of clothes now?"
"I'm not staying on a boat for an indefinite length of time with only the clothes I am wearing now."
"Okay, and there will be a first aid kit on the boat but I think extra bandages just in case. Torches and spare batteries as well."
"Soap at least. If we are going into an apocalyptic situation, I still want to maintain my personal hygiene,"
The list went on, until a list was written out and the girls debated on what they could probably do without.
"Weapons," Ally said after they had all been silent for some time.
Rhea looked at Ally like she was going crazy but Lyra looked thoughtful.
"Who knows what is going to happen, I just want to be prepared."
"I agree, but where from. We're in England, we have no firearm stores."
"Then knives will have to do. I don't care if it is a giant kitchen knife, we just need something."
The carriage slowly started emptying as they passed through the many stations. With each station, a new layer of dread set in.
"I've looked online for the nearest supermarket to the boatyard,"
"Good work Rhea. Ally, how much time do we have left?"
"By the time we get there, we should have an hour and a half and even then, that is just based on an approximation worked out by the combined thoughts of panicked students. We need to move quickly."
The girls rose to their feet as the train pulled into the station nearest the boatyard and Ally tightened the straps on her violin case. Lyra, having left all her bags back at Imperial bounced on the balls of her feet, eager to stretch her legs and get on with her plan. They quickly made their way into the streets and saw chaos. Stores had obviously been looted and curtains had been drawn in a hopeless way to keep out the sun. Cars had been horribly parked, stopping any easy flow of traffic and people ran from shadow to shadow- paranoid of the sun.
The girls saw some bikes parked in an alleyway and decided it would be faster than on foot.
Rhea led them to a Tesco superstore but Lyra stopped her as she jumped off her bike and started to race inside.
"A Tesco's? Classy,"
"It's the closest place!"
"Well it will have to do,"
"Is anyone in there?" Ally asked.
"I can't see any movement, just be on your guard."
They walked in and started moving between the aisles grabbing what they needed. Rhea grabbed a trolley as their arms became too full and the girls started to relax. It almost felt like they were doing their weekly shop.
"Guys, do we need sanitary towels?"
"Hmm, I dunno Rhea, is the Pope a Catholic?"
"But why can't we bring marshmallows?"
"We're trying to survive, not share stories around a camp fire Ally!"
"We need more first aid,"
"I don't like tinned food,"
"Stop sulking Ly. You will like them when it is the last thing we have to eat,"
"I will not wear those horrible orange shorts,"
"Oh shut up, there's not a lot of choice in here. Grab those bikinis would you, you never know,"
"We definitely don't need scented candles, we're not having a romantic cruise,"
"I SAID NO MARSHMALLOWS!"
"Carving knives of cleavers?"
They were at the back of the shop looking at the range of kitchen knives when they heard a group of people walk in, talking loudly.
"We'll camp out in here, plenty of supplies."
The girls froze, all laughter wiped from their faces.
"What if anyone comes in,"
"Then we send them away,"
A horrible laugh echoed down the silent store and the girls' shivered. Send them away would not be a kind decline.
Lyra started quietly making her way down the aisle slipping a carving knife from its packaging, Rhea following with the supplies. Ally grabbed another knife from the rack and followed behind.
"Aye! What you doing in here? Stop them, they got our stuff!"
Lyra ran forwards but Rhea was frozen.
"MOVE!" Ally shouted in her ear, pushing her after Lyra and grabbing the trolley.
Rhea and Lyra sprinted for the door but Ally saw a man run towards them from behind the tills. He was holding a wickedly sharp knife in his hands.
"Watch out!" Ally yelled, a few steps behind the others.
Rhea noticed the man first and pushed Lyra out of the way before the man could stab her in the back.
Ally watched as Lyra stabbed him in the arm. He yelped in pain and jumped back letting the girls race through the door. Ally followed as the man's companions ran from the shadows, trying to block her exit. She increased her speed and used the trolley to force her way through, making them jump out of the way as she barrelled past. She skidded onto the street and followed the others around the corner towards the boatyard.
Something was wrong. Rhea seemed to be leaning on Lyra for support as they raced down the road.
They pulled into a side street and Ally pushed in after them. Rhea was sitting up, leaning against the wall with a hand to her chest, blood flowing between her fingers.
"What's up Ly? What's wrong with her?"
Rhea had gone deathly pale.
"When she pushed me out the way, he got her instead. She's been stabbed in the chest and I don't know what to do. She's losing too much blood."
Ally knelt next to Rhea and pulled one of the bandages from the trolley.
"No, don't bother," Rhea panted "Don't waste them on me,"
"NO!" Lyra shouted, "This is ridiculous, you're not dying, we'll heal you,"
"You don't have the time, Ally, how much time is left?"
"Forty-five minutes," She whispered,
Rhea smiled weakly,
"I'm sorry. You have to go, we can't all die, how stupid would that be," She coughed and blood escaped from her lips. She breathed in another painful breath.
"You know I love you guys, right?"
A sob escaped from Lyra and she threw herself at Rhea, carefully hugging her around the neck. Ally felt the tears fall from her eyes and joined them. What the hell had just happened?
They pulled away and Lyra held her hand as Rhea's eyes began to close.
Then she was gone.
Her red hair falling limply in her face as she sat slumped against the dirty wall.
Ally pulled herself together first and dragged Lyra to her feet.
"We have to go,"
"We can't just leave her, we have to do something with her,"
"If we don't leave right now, we will join her! The Sun will take care of her soon enough. She wouldn't want us to die because we wouldn't leave, we have to survive for her,"
Lyra nodded and fiercely wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Then let's go,"
Lyra set off down the street, leading the way to the harbour where a small power boat would take them to the offshore pontoon where the yacht was moored.
It must have been a funny sight: Ally pushing the trolley and Lyra holding onto the side as they sprinted down the street. They skidded into the harbour and Lyra led them to her small powerboat.
"This? This is your boat?" Ally shouted in horror,
"This is how we get to my boat, get in!"
They quickly loaded their supplies and set off, abandoning the trolley by the water. Time was passing and they would only just have time to get on and cast off before the flares hit, if everything ran exactly to time which it was sure not to.
Lyra steered the boat up to the pontoon and Ally unloaded the supplies as Lyra jumped on board one of the most luxurious yachts Ally had ever seen.
"When you said your Dad had a yacht, this is not what I was expecting. How many people can this hold?"
"Eight people, more if they sleep in the sitting room,"
Sitting room! "Can we really manage this by ourselves?"
"Not really, but we are going to have to. Maybe if you don't navigate and we do it the old-fashioned way with the compass then you can manage the main sails..."
"It's okay, Lyra. We can do this,"
She nodded as she helped Ally bring the supplies over the railings.
"You're going to cast off, get on board and then I'll use the motor to get us out of harbour. We'll pull away first before we open up the inside as we don't have much time but we won't use the motor once we're in open sea unless we really need to. Fuel is not going to be easy to get hold of,"
"Okay," Ally called back, nervous that they were leaving dry land, without knowing how long it would be.
She unwrapped the ropes as quickly as she could. The ropes were thick and heavy and the knots stiff from months disuse. She clambered aboard before the engine kicked in.
Ally sighed to herself they had just made it, they only had a few minutes left. The minutes quietly fell away inside her mind, counting down.
Tick, tick, tick
Lyra had a grim look on her face as she steered between the narrow channels created by the other moored ships. They made it to the small entrance created by the natural harbour and soon they were out into the sea. Ally felt Lyra relax slightly, but suddenly the tension in her body returned as a loud bang sounded from behind her.
"Who the hell are you?"
Ally spun around. Poking his head out from between the doors of the hatch was a boy who looked around their age. His long, golden hair was wet, his clothes were damp and a thick white towel was slung across his shoulders. He looked very shocked to see the girls standing there. He stepped out of the hatch and raised his hands in a gesture intended as a peace offering.
"I'm Newt," he said,
"Well Newt," Lyra said, her face a mixture of anger and confusion, "get the hell off my boat!"