Chapter 53
Mary opened her eyes when she felt the berg finally land and the engine shut off. Her heart almost stopped, thinking for a minute that they were being boarded.
She heard laughing coming from the pilots chair and looked over to see Jorge and Brenda smiling at her.
"Relax chica, we're safe." He smiled at her. Mary looked confused, looking at all the other faces in the room. No one else seemed concerned which calmed her down slightly.
"Why've we stopped?" She asked him. Her voice was scratchy. She could feel the sharp pain in her throat when she spoke. It must've felt so hoarse because of all the shouting she did the night before.
The night before.
Speaking of night, it was gone. She could see the daylight poking through the front window of the berg.
"Where are we?" She asked, still feeling her sharp throat as she spoke. Vince walked past her towards the berg door, pushing the button to open it and lower the ramp. "Are we at the safe haven?" She jumped up a little too quickly, feeling her head spin.
"Not quite." Vince told her as he walked down the ramp into the sunlight. A few seconds later, two Right Arm soldiers came up the ramp with a gurney, taking it right up to Newt who was laying on the cot across the berg from her. Rescued kids started filing out of the berg, following Vince and Jorge. Mary looked around her for someone who looked familiar. She saw Brenda walk past her, so she grabbed her arm.
"Bren, where are we?" She asked.
"We're on the ship, the one the Right Arm fixed it up." She told her.
"The ship they were working on a few days ago?" Mary asked.
Brenda nodded. "Yeah, it should only be a few more days until we get to the safe haven now." Brenda smiled, sounding excited. She walked off the berg away from Mary. She watched as another couple of soldiers came in with another gurney and took her brother off of the cot next to her.
"We've landed." Minho said to her as he approached. She looked away from her brother and at him. "You okay?" He asked, noticing her lack of enthusiasm.
"Yeah. I'm still just really tired I guess." She blinked a few times.
"Come on. The others have already chosen rooms." Minho started walking down the ramp. Mary followed him out, shielding her eyes from the sun as she stepped out of the berg and onto the metal ground of the ship.
She looked around, almost blinded by the sun beaming down onto the shiny metal of the ship. She tried to adjust her eyes to the brightness around her. She looked at her surroundings, nothing but open ocean for as far as the eye could see. She walked over to the ship's railing as she heard footsteps running back and forth around her. Soldiers running in all different directions to help the kids that have just arrived. Mary gripped the railing and looked out at the water. No islands anywhere nearby. Being at sea like this almost made her forget about how messed up the world was. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. She felt a cool breeze coming from the water. It was a different kind of breeze she felt while they were walking through the scorch. This one smelt of sea water and as ridiculous as she knew it felt, it also smelt like hope. The breezes in the scorch felt heavy, they blew hard enough to almost knock her over. The heat was thick and radiating off of everything around them. This was light and peaceful.
"Mary!" She heard from behind her. Mary turned around and looked for who was calling her. She smiled when she saw Harriet and Sonya running up to her. Harriet flung her arms around Mary when she was close enough. Mary held on as tight as she could. "Thank god you're alright." She breathed out. Harriet pulled back and moved Mary's hair out of her face so it wasn't flying around in the wind.
"I'm fine." Mary assured her. Even though she knew she probably looked the complete opposite.
"We heard about what happened, to all of you." Sonya gave her a pitied look.
"Yeah well... Most of us made it out of there. We got what we went there for." She assured them. "Do you know where they're taking my brother?" Mary asked Harriet.
"They're taking him to the medical wing." Harriet saw her make to walk around her to go find Thomas, but she stopped her. "He's going into surgery to get that bullet taken out. They don't want any visitors."
"Harriet-"
"You'll be able to see him. Just wait until they've finished." Sonya told her.
Mary reluctantly agreed, looking back at the water. "And Newt? When can I see him?" She asked.
"Well they didn't say anything about that, but I'd assume you'd want to wash up before seeing him?" Harriet asked. Mary turned back towards her and nodded. "Let me take her." She told Sonya. Sonya nodded, and walked off to help the soldiers organize the new kids. Mary followed Harriet into the ship. They walked through the thin hallways of the ship in silence until they were alone, away from the other soldiers.
"I'm sorry about what happened to Newt." Harriet said into the silence. Mary could hear her words echoing off the metal walls.
She looked down at the ground as she followed Harriet.
"I heard he was almost..."
"But he wasn't." She cut Harriet off. "He's not going to have that problem anymore."
"Because of you and your blood?" Harriet turned and asked. "It's true then. You and Thomas are the key to the cure?" Harriet looked her in the eye. Mary nodded, still looking at the ground as she stood in front of her. When Mary looked up at her, she could see that Harriet was on the verge of crying herself. "Oh Mary..." She slid her arms around Mary again. Mary closed her eyes, feeling her tears finally come out of her eyes.
"You should've seen him. He wasn't himself. I was so sure he wasn't even in there when I ran up to him." Mary cried into Harriet. Harriet held her, feeling her shaking in her arms.
"But he was, and you saved him." Harriet told her. She pulled away from Mary and smiled at her. She rubbed her arms before reaching towards the door next to them and opening it. Mary looked into the room. It was a clean cabin with clothes sitting out on the bed. "Go on. Clean yourself up." She nodded into the room. Mary walked into the cabin and looked around. She had a porthole next to the bed. Outside it she could see the open ocean. There was another door that led to the bathroom. "When you're ready, he's in room 250."
"Thanks." Mary smiled at her.
"Don't mention it." Harriet closed the door, leaving her standing in the middle of her new temporary room.
Mary walked into the bathroom and reached for the shower, turning it on. She turned the handle to the right, soon seeing steam coming of of the water. She looked herself in the mirror. When she saw her own reflection, she almost couldn't recognize herself. She had dried blood on her neck and debris and dry sweat on her face, making her realize that was why she felt sticky. She looked away, stripping her clothes and finally getting into the shower. She faced the water, feeling the heat from it already relax her muscles. She felt the dirt fall down her body and drip into the shower. She could see the water running off of her in a dark brown color down the drain.
She spent longer than she should have in the shower. She cleaned herself off in minutes, but the heat of the shower felt too good, making her not want to get out.
When she finally did step out, she wrapped the towel hanging next to the toilet around her. The room was full of steam. She stood in front of the mirror and wiped the vapor away to see herself again. Her face was brighter. She no longer had blood on her face, or debris stuck to her skin. Her hair was dripping and framing her face. She walked out of the bathroom and put on the change of clothes Harriet had put out for her. She sat down on the bed as she put her boots on, tying up the laces. Just seconds after she finished, she heard a knock on the door. Mary walked up, opening it to see Minho standing there.
"Hey." He looked excited.
"Hey." She opened it wider.
"I was wondering when you would be done. You've been in there for a couple hours."
"Really?" Mary blushed.
"I was going to grab some lunch but I wanted to stop by and see if you were done so we could grab some together." Minho suggested. In all honesty, Mary wanted to go see Newt, to see how he was doing. But at the mention of food, she felt her stomach growl.
"Yeah food actually sounds really good right now." She smiled, walking out of her room and down the hallway with him. "Where are the others?"
"Gally's already down there and Sonya, Harriet, Aris, Brenda and Fry have been there since we landed." He told her. Mary snickered, of course Frypan was in the kitchen. They walked down a few flights of stairs until they heard a bunch of voices and clanking of cutlery coming from the mess hall. Mary walked in with Minho and instantly saw the group sitting at one of the tables, playing cards.
"There she is!" Fry shouted as he saw her approach with Minho.
"Wow you look ten years younger when you're all cleaned up Mary." Gally laughed.
"Wow, thanks." She glared at him.
"Hungry?" Brenda asked.
"You bet" Mary smiled, taking a seat next to her. Aris handed her a bowl which she instantly recognized as Fry's stew. "Fry you're amazing." She let out a igh, digging right in.
"I thought today deserved a little something special." He smiled.
It only took her a couple minutes to finish eating the bowl, she basically licked it clean.
"Have you heard anything about Newt and Tom?" She asked everyone.
"Thomas is still in surgery. Newt's been under intense supervision to see how the cure is affecting him." Gally told her. Mary nodded, understanding. "He hasn't woken up, but Vince said you're allowed to go and see him."
"He did?" She perked up. The others laughed at her. "Don't wait up guys." she jumped up and ran out of the mess hall.
She sprinted up the stairs and ran down the hallway on the second floor until she got to his room. She took in a deep breath before opening the door, peaking inside. She saw two doctor's standing next to Vince as they looked at a monitor next to Newt's bed. She slowly slid inside and closed the door. They must've heard her because they all turned in her direction when it clicked shut. She eyed Vince who smiled at her.
"How're you feeling?" He asked.
"A bit better. How's he looking?" She asked as she slowly walked up to the bed.
"According to our doctors, better every second." He smiled at the monitor, then looked back at her. Mary looked down at Newt and saw him still asleep. He had no black veins on his neck or face still, meaning that the cure was still working for him. "Why don't we give them some privacy?" Vince said to the doctor's as he headed for the door.
"Thanks." Mary said to him as he held the door open for the doctor's. Vince closed the door behind him, leaving Mary alone with Newt in the room.
He had a different pair of clothes on. He had a light blue shirt on and his face had been washed. She walked up next to him as he laid still unconscious. She reached for his hand on the bed next to him and took it in hers. She rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand and with her other hand she moved his shirt sleeve up to his elbow. She saw the black spot on his arm, but that was all it was. Only a black spot. There were only a few veins cascading out of the spot, but it was visibly receding to almost nothing. That was a good sign. When she saw it the night before, the area was still highly infected. She even thought for a moment that the dosage wasn't high enough to help him, but she must've been wrong.
"You idiot." She shook her head. "Telling me not to worry... I know you're asleep, but I'll have you know that if you had never told me about this, I never would've been able to get you this godforsaken cure." She put his sleeve down and moved her hand up into his hair, moving it out of his face. It was starting to get long and out of hand. When they got to the safe haven, Mary would have to cut it. She was actually debating whether or not to cut it while he was asleep, but thought it would be more fun to do it when he was awake. "I'm giving you one more day to wake up, otherwise I'm just going to do it." She warned him before placing a kiss on his forehead. She leaned back into the chair next to Newt's bed, holding his hand in hers as she drifted off to sleep.
She held the gun out in front of her, finger hovering over the trigger. She squinted her eyes, looking forward at the target, or rather the person sitting in the chair in front of her with the bag over his head. She looked to her left and saw Janson staring her down.
"Well?" He said after another moment of hesitation.
Mary lowered her gun. "I can't." She looked at the ground.
"You don't have a choice." He sighed, walking up to the person in the chair. He pulled off the bag to reveal the man's panicked, sweaty face. He looked around frantically at his surroundings, tape over his mouth.
"Are you serious?" She squinted at Janson. "You realize what you're asking me to do right?" She asked him more aggressively.
"You've shot numerous cranks before, this isn't any different."
"This is completely different! You're asking me to shoot a living, breathing man!" She shouted at him. Janson stared her down with that look of determination he seemed to be giving her a lot lately.
"Look. I'm not giving you a choice. Phase one is starting in a few weeks and we need to get you as prepared as possible. Ava's orders." He told her in a calm, leveled tone. Mary looked between the man and Janson. "Besides, you wouldn't want Newt to be one of the first test subjects we send up there do you?" He smirked.
Mary glared at him. "I wouldn't wipe him and you know it."
"That's fine. We have countless doctor's who can perform the procedure." He shrugged. Mary swallowed, imagining Newt going through the wipe. The man strapped to the chair shook his head violently, begging her not to. "Do it." Janson demanded. Mary looked down at her gun, raising it slowly in front of her again, aiming for the man. Every inch of her body, every nerve and bone ached, not wanting her to pull that trigger.
But she did anyway. When she fired, she closed her eyes. The sound of the man struggling had stopped. When she opened her eyes, she saw his head hanging in front of him, blood dripping down his face and into his lap.
She didn't wait for Janson to say anything. she tossed the gun onto the table by the door and left without another word.
She made a bee line to Newt's room, trying her best to hold in her frustration, but she could feel the tears brimming her eyes. Once she got to his door, she didn't bother knocking, but pushed it open. She saw him sitting at his desk, hunched over in the chair. When he heard the door open his face shot over to Mary and instantly noticed how upset she looked.
"Mary?" He asked. Mary's breathing was shallow and she grabbed the side of his bed for support. Newt jumped up and sat her down on the bed. He quickly walked over to the door and shut it, locking it as he walked back over to Mary and knelt in front of her. "Mary what happened?" He asked, eyes wide.
She put her hands in front of her face and scrunched her eyes shut. "I just keep picturing it! I can't get his face out of my head!" She felt herself sob.
"Who's face" Newt sounded confused.
"The man I shot!" She shouted. Newt's face went pale as the words left her mouth. He took the moment to compose himself as Mary had her hands over her face. With a deep breath, he reached for her hands and moved them out of her face.
"Hey..." He cooed. Mary opened her eyes and looked at him. "It's alright."
She shook her head. "No it's not. I had no idea who he even was. He could've been innocent for all I know." She sniffled.
"Janson made you do it?" Newt took a guess. Mary nodded and Newt let out a sigh. His thumb rubbing at the back of her hand that he was holding. He took a second to keep his anger as hidden as possible, but Mary knew he hated when Janson pushed her limits.
"He said he'd send you up there first." She explained.
Newt looked back up at her. "Love, they're probably planning on doing that regardless and you know it." He said softly.
"I didn't know what else to do." She admitted.
Newt stood back up and walked over to his desk. He opened the top drawer and rummaged through it before pulling something out and walking back over to her. He held a leather strap in his hand. "Here." He said as he held out her hand again. He placed the leather strap in her hand and she could see what it was.
"You made it into a necklace?" She smirked, looking up at him.
Newt shrugged. "Bit cheesy?" He asked.
"A bit." She agreed. She admired the silver bullet that was tied to it.
"I wanted you to have it so it would remind you how it felt when you shot your first crank. With all the training you've been under I didn't know whether you still got that feeling or not. Regardless, I wanted you to have it back. But I can see now that you'll probably always have that feeling every time you fire a shot." He explained. He met her eye and saw her smiling up at him, making him blush."Sod off, that's a good thing by the way." He smiled back.
Mary stood up and flung her arms around him. "Thank you." She said into his neck. She felt him hold her even tighter.
"Mary!" She felt herself being shaken awake. Her eyes shot open and she instantly sat up against the chair. She blinked a few times to get her bearings together. She looked around her and saw Gally standing in front of her.
"Gally?" She asked. She looked around her and realized that the sun had gone down. "What time is it?"
"It's a little past midnight. We were wondering what happened to you." Gally said to her. Mary looked over at Newt who saw still asleep. She reached for his hand again and lifted his sleeve. The black spot was almost completely gone now. "Thomas is out of surgery."
Mary's eyes shot up to him. "Is he awake?" She asked.
"No. The doctor's said he should be out for a few more days. He'll most likely wake up sometime after we get to the safe haven. That bastard gets to skip sea sickness altogether." Gally snickered.
"Yeah, lucky." She smirked.
"How's he doing?" Gally nodded towards Newt. Mary sighed and put his sleeve back down.
"Well the cure seems to be working. I just wish he'd open his eyes soon." She looked up at Gally. "Why is it that both of the most important people in my life won't wake up?"
"Wish I had an answer." Gally shrugged. Mary let out a yawn and leaned back against the chair again. She looked out the port hole at the wavey water.
"I can't believe we're finally out." She smiled.
"I know. I keep feeling like this is a dream and I'm going to wake up at any second in my hammock." Gally admitted, leaning against the wall.
"Yeah after everything we've been through... If this was a dream that would definitely suck." Mary agreed.
"Which reminds me, you've gotta tell me about the scorch once we've made it to the safe haven."
"What do you mean?" She looked away from the window and at him.
"Fry mentioned some shuckin' crazy stuff that you all went through, you especially." Gally told her.
She let out a soft laugh. "Yeah. I'll tell you all about it Gal." She let out another yawn.
"Why don't you head to bed. I can watch him. If he wakes up I'll come and get you." Gally offered. Mary looked back at Newt before reluctantly agreeing. She was exhausted still from the other night and a good night's sleep in a real bed sounded beyond tempting at the moment.
"Okay, promise me. I don't want to wake up in the morning and find out he's been up for hours. I might actually kill you with my own two hands." She was half joking. She'd never kill him, but she may rough him up a bit.
"I promise, just get some rest." He rolled his eyes. Mary said her goodbye to Newt and Gally, walking back towards her room to catch up on some well-needed sleep.
