A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. Here is the next chapter, we've been super busy and will continue to be, so please follow us for updates so you don't miss the next one! ~ Emma and Sarah
Disclaimer - We don't own the maze runner
Lizzy's POV
By nightfall, the word had been passed around the Gladers of what I had done. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what they thought of me now. I hadn't left the room but a part of me could hear their thoughts. They thought I was stupid, rash, and I'd only gone and made it worse by getting angry.
I couldn't sleep, it would not come and all I could do was toss and turn and think. Hundreds of thoughts whipped around my head. I needed their respect. I needed to help them, without it, I was nothing.
"Lizzy?" Flo's quiet voice came from across the room,
"What?" I said, coming out harsher than I had intended.
"Are you… alright?"
"What do you think, Flo?" I said propping myself up on my elbow and looking through the dark to her,
"What's up? I mean, aside from the obvious,"
I thought for a moment. I didn't quite know how to put it into words.
"I… I think I've made things worse than I originally thought. I just want to help them, and now they'll just see an idiotic girl who can't control her anger. Shuck."
I gripped the roots of my hair with my hand in frustration.
"I don't see that," she said,
"Of course you don't, you're… you,"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you are completely incapable of seeing anything bad in me, or Newt for that matter,"
"What's wrong with Newt?"
"Nothing, damn him, but if there was, you wouldn't have half a chance of seeing it,"
She was quiet for a little while.
"They don't hate you, you know," she said, "When they thought you were dead, they worried. They respect you Lizzy, and they care. And when you left with Minho, and Robb started saying bad stuff about you, everyone started ganging up on him to defend you. They respect you Lizzy, in the way they respect Newt, and Thomas and Minho,"
I heard the underlying words in her voice.
"But not you?" I finished for her,
"No, not me,"
I didn't really know what to say. She was right, they didn't. They saw her as a girl. They didn't see the way she held me together when I only wanted to fall apart. They didn't see that, but I did.
"Flo, you may think that you're useless, but you're not. Without you I wouldn't be able to go on,"
"But you will have to, you'll have to go on without me."
Flo's POV
I woke up in the gloom of the room. Not sure of what time it was I lay still, so as not to disturb Lizzy. It hit me again like it had the morning before. Soon, I would die. I didn't want to die, but who did. I didn't want to leave Lizzy, and I didn't want to cause her pain.
I guessed that the one benefit of today would be that I would see the sun, the real sun. I heard Lizzy's voice in my head telling me that the sun would try and scorch us to death.
I only lay there for a short while before the alarm went off. I half jumped out my skin and sat up quickly, where as Lizzy only groaned and stuck her middle finger up at the ceiling.
I pulled back the covers and let the cold wash over me for one last time. As the bell kept on ringing I picked up some clothes and headed for the shower.
Tiny pellets of water beat down on my back as I stared at the walls. With no clock in sight I could still hear the seconds of my existence ticking away. I did my best to set it aside, running my fingers through my hair to push the thoughts away.
It was funny to think that from then, every little, insignificant task could be my last.
I returned to the room where Lizzy was still lying in a pile on the bed.
"Get up!" I said, throwing my towel at her,
"Fuck off you shank," She said back, "I'm enjoying my bed while I can,"
"That's all good and well but you need to enjoy the shower while you can,"
"Why do you have to be right all the time?" She groaned turning to face me,
"I'm not," I said simply pulling on my trainers.
Finally she got up, her hair a complete nest, and headed for the bathroom.
"Don't take too long!" I shouted after her,
"Says you!" She said through the door.
I walked into the other room and looked around. It was almost silent. I dropped into a seat in the table next to Newt, not sure what to reach for.
"You should eat something," he said, knowing my thoughts before I did,
"I know," I said, still not moving.
He reached over grabbing a box of cereal and shoving it in front of me.
"Eat."
"Fine."
I thought back to what Lizzy had said the night before, and tried to think of everyone for 'what they were' and not what I thought.
Minho hadn't done anything wrong, Max was lovely, Winston wasn't the nicest, but he was all right and Robb, he had done wrong things, and they were pretty bad, but I was still glad he was immune.
Damn it she was right. My need to see the good would be death of me if the Flare didn't get there first.
I was sucked into my thoughts, forgetting reality, until a hand was laid on my shoulder making my heart skip with shock.
I looked up with wide eyes to see Thomas looking back at me,
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but I need to know where Lizzy is. Is she okay?" He eyes showed so much concern, it was heart-warming to see him so worried about her,
"She's fine, she's alright. She's just showering,"
He let out a breath but the worry held strong in his eyes.
"What's wrong Thomas? What did you say when we left?" I demanded,
"Nothing, I just needed to know if she was okay," He smiled lightly, but it wasn't strong enough to convince me.
I smiled sadly back at him not quite knowing what else to say. The silence of the room took over once again and Thomas slipped away back into one of the guy's room.
I filled my bowl and hoped that would be enough to convince everyone I was eating.
The door to the girl's room opened and Lizzy came into the room bringing a strange energy. It was almost as if she was if she were ignorant to the fact that we would be going into the scorch today. She came and stood behind me reaching in for some fruit and smiling at me. After a few moments I realised it was all a show. She had to raise their spirits, act like it would all be fine, and act strong for them and for me.
Despite everything it made me smile.
"Flo, you've been here fifteen minutes and you still haven't eaten anything? How slow do you eat?" She smiled at me, mockingly as usual. I just rolled my eyes and started eating.
"Seriously you lot, why is no one eating?" She said, and it's then I noticed; it was not just me. No one was eating. I'd been too stuck in my own head.
"If you hadn't noticed, today's the day we are opened up to an endless list of possible deaths," Robb snapped, glaring at her from across the table, his whole body tensed.
"Well let's cross dying from starvation on day one off the list of possibilities then, alright?" she said, the light tone in her voice made her seem unfazed. I couldn't help laughing at Robb's confused face.
Her eyes swept the room in search of Thomas. It only took her a few seconds to realise he wasn't there, and her face faltered a little, but not enough to let anyone else see.
"So are we thinking cool clothes, as it's bloody hot or warm clothes for the night?" she said, a fake smile stuck to her lips.
"Honestly princess," Minho joined in, a grin apparent on his face, "are clothes all you think about?"
"Oh yeah, you know me," she said rolling her eyes at him, but when her eyes settled it was on something across the room.
For a moment the energy faded, the air froze into a sheet of ice, crystalizing, as she held Thomas' eyes. She smiled softly and put down what she was holding before walking over to him. They exchanged words, but it was too quiet to hear from where we were. She wrapped her arms around him and I had to look away, it felt too private to watch. The warmth slowly started to pick up again as they walked over, talking and smiling as if nothing had happened.
Alarms sounded and the doors pulled apart, thanks for ruining a nice breakfast Rat Man.
He walked in flanked by bodyguards, and we all knew what was coming. His command was simple,
"Follow me."
Lizzy was the first to stand up, but the gesture was more hostile than anything. Thomas followed, protective as always, and slowly we all followed.
The cold corridors were strangely haunting and I could not decide whether I would actually miss it. It hardly felt safe.
We arrived in a room piled with bags, fifteen to be exact, one for each of us.
"Take one, then you leave. Warning: it's hot," The smirk on his face was enough to make me want to punch him.
We followed him down the last corridor leading to two large, heavy-duty doors. I saw the different faces surrounding me. Some were nervous, some even looked slightly excited, but some were just plain scared.
I reached over to Lizzy. I couldn't do this alone and out of all of them, I didn't want to lose her; I didn't want to lose any of them, any of my new family.
The doors came apart; it was a strange sound, so different to the doors of the Maze, so much smoother. The light was so intense; I'd never known anything like it. The heat washed over me in waves, stuffy and toxic, burning my lungs with every dry breath. I had been plunged straight into hell.
"Where do we go?" Lizzy asked him,
"Wherever you feel safest," He replied simply,
"How shucking helpful" Minho said,
"Good luck, you'll need it"
She took the first step into the sunlight, and I knew it was time.
The desert stretched out for miles before me, hills of sand piled on top of old rubble of what had once been a great city. Old glass buildings, now just empty structures, had the occasional pane reflecting the glaring light. It was a wasteland, and before too long we would all become just another part of the skyline.
