Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Twilight or the Maze Runner. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer, and James Dashner, please support the official release. I do own original characters made up for this storyline. Thanks for the support and Happy Holidays!
Note from the Author: Thank you Roxhall and Navywife for your reviews! Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and happy holiday! We're getting close to an end here with Mazed and Confused! I'm excited for their journey. Next up is Walkers Unlimited. I can't wait for everyone to see that story. I have worked hard on the story, and have a couple chapters prewritten already, that I have a beta looking through to catch all my mistakes (because I know I have them). I'll finish up Mazed and Confused this week and will have Walkers Unlimited up when we complete this one. As always, I appreciate all the support! Don't forget to follow, favorite, and review!
The night was unforgiving on their backs, as they had to sleep in different angles, and on the hard surface of the roof. Bella was awake now, looking over the side of the mall they were on. Thomas walked up beside her.
"Something is weighing heavy on your mind." Thomas said softly.
Bella looked over at him. "So much has happened. So many people have died. Now we're still running." She said and then looked back out onto the vast wasteland in front of them. She remembered more things lately, and she wondered why, after five years of no memories, did she have her memories coming back. She also thought about the others, and if they were getting memories too, or if it was just her.
"We just have to keep moving forward. Don't look back. We have to get to the sanctuary. There we'll be able to survive without too much trouble."
"It's getting there." Bella said and glanced back at the others who were still resting. "How many more are we going to lose?"
Thomas looked back at the others too. "I don't know, but we can't think about all the bad things that could happen. Chin up, keep moving forward. It's all we have."
Bella nodded. She knew that he was right, but sometimes it was hard to keep being positive, when everything was just going so wrong at every turn. She studied the landscape. She saw another building in the distance, but they had to cross the hot sands to get there. They had little water left, but they would have to make it happen. Once they got to that building, they could regroup. According to the map Aris had, that was the direction they needed to go in. Towards the mountains which she could see in the distance.
When the others woke, Bella and Thomas figured out a plan to get to the bottom. There were the cranks that they had to worry about, but there was a secondary roof landing below, that a ladder went down to. They could take that there, and enter through the side door, to hopefully, get out of the mall, and to safety.
"What's the plan?" Minho asked as he pulled his pack on.
"Taking this ladder down to the other landing, and then testing the side entrance over there. Once we make it out of the mall, we're going to trek across the hot sands to that building over there. I know it seems far away, but it's in the direction we need to go according to the map. We have to get to the mountains." Bella explained.
Jasper looked off in the distance, gauging how far it was, and how long it was going to take them. "That's at least a day's trek."
"Yeah." Minho said with a nod. "We have some water, but that's going to be hot. It's already hot on this roof. Do we want to circle back through the mall? Try and get more water?"
Bella shook her head. "Not a great idea. Cranks seem to be inhabiting the mall." She explained.
Jasper nodded. "Alright, you guys get out. I'll do a run through the mall quietly, grab water and meet everyone outside."
"No. You're not going by yourself." Bella said. "I'll go with Jasper. Minho, you and Thomas, get the others to that small rock formation, and we'll meet you there."
Thomas frowned. "That's risky. What if something happens?"
"Then….when the sun peaks in the sky, then you guys leave without us." Bella said, and then grabbed her own water out of her bag and handed it to Thomas. "Don't come back for me. I mean it Thomas."
"I can't just leave you behind. That's insane." Thomas complained.
Bella stared up into his worried dark eyes. "We need to get the others to the sanctuary. If we don't make it to the rock when the sun peaks, then you go. There's no discussion to be had."
"I don't like this."
"Neither do I, but we do need more water for the group." She said and then looked at Minho. "Make sure you get to that rock formation. Don't turn back, no matter what you hear."
Minho didn't like leaving anyone behind either, but he nodded, understanding.
Bella looked to Jasper. "Let's go down first. Test the side entrance, then the others will follow." She said and then her and Jasper climbed down the ladder to the other rooftop. They tested the side entrance, and opened the door, and Bella went through, her weapon raised, and her flashlight on. She eased in, and then swung her flashlight around, looking at where she was. They came out onto the food court which was lucky. She could see the exit of the mall just straight ahead. She looked back at Jasper and made a signal and then he signaled up to the others, and they followed her into the mall. They carefully made it to the exit.
Thomas turned and looked at Bella, studying here. "You will make it to the rock." He said it as a statement, but he was scared. Scared that he would lose her forever. He leaned forward, his mouth covering hers, and kissed her. She kissed him back, before pulling away.
"Go." She said with a nod and then Thomas hesitantly turned and walked with the others, going out into the hot sands and towards the rock formation to wait on Jasper and Bella.
Jasper was quiet the whole time until now. "Bella, go with them."
"I'm not leaving you by yourself Jazz. We're a team."
Jasper shook his head. "They need a leader."
"They have Thomas." Bella said and looked at Jasper. "Come on. Let's move fast." She said and went back inside the mall. They circled through the food court, not speaking so the noise wouldn't attract the cranks that could be lurking. They found water in a cooler on the food court, and Bella was thankful that this was an easy find. They packed their packs down, heavy with the water. It would be plenty to get them across the hot sands. They heard a noise, like something knocking something over and Jasper and Bella froze. The noise was like a shuffling, and Bella knew it had to be a crank. She looked to Jasper as she eased her pack on and then pulled her machete out, and readied her flash light. She nodded to him, and he nodded back, before they sprung into action, slicing at the crank as it ran towards their light, and then there were more of them.
"Shit." Bella said and she shoved Jasper out of the way as a crank barreled towards her, and she caught it's mouth with the blade of her machete, and sliced through it's face. "Get out!" She said as she fought back, her back to the exit, but Jasper didn't listen. He stayed by her side, and sliced at cranks as she edged backwards towards the exit. When they got close, Bella swung her blade wide and then tossed her flashlight over as a distraction and the cranks followed the light. She took that opportunity to fling open the door, and shove Jasper ahead of her as they stumbled outside. She picked up what looked like a hammer and wedged it in the door handle to keep the doors wedged shut so the cranks couldn't filter outside, and she looked at Jasper, her breathing hard a little.
"We made it." Bella murmured.
Jasper nodded and then he was hugging her tight. "We made it." He breathed. They took a slight pause to take a drink of water, before walking to the rock formation. The sun was almost at the peak, and they moved quickly, to catch up to the others.
Thomas felt uneasy as they waited. The heat was making them sweat, even as they stood in one spot.
Rosalie was the one who complained about the heat more. "When are they going to get here?"
"They'll get here." Newt reassured but looked back towards the direction of the mall. He knew Bella was strong, and so was Jasper, but if there were a mob of cranks, how would they get out without a scratch on them.
Thomas wrung his hands together, and paced a little, thinking about how stupid Bella was for just hanging back like that. She was always the hero, and he hated that she constantly put herself in danger. They could have probably survived the hot sands, but then again, maybe not. They did only have a small amount of water between all of them.
"There they are." Minho called out, as he saw Jasper and Bella jogging at them at a steady pace."
Thomas ran towards Bella, getting to her, and hugging her tight. "You made it."
Bella hugged Thomas back, her breathing labored from their jog. "I did." She murmured, and then they walked towards the others, giving her heart time to calm down. Thomas took her pack from her, the bag was heavy with water, and he wondered how she managed to run for so long with that much weight on her back.
When they made it over to the others, hugs went around, and then they let Bella and Jasper rest a moment, before they started out into the hot sands.
The sun beat down overhead and sweat poured down their skin. They were all silent as they trekked, surprisingly so, because Rosalie sometimes complained, but not now. She was too hot to talk.
They paused ever so often to keep hydrated, which was important with this amount of heat. Even in the Glade, it had been hot, but it was not as hot compared to these hot sands. Something about the sand, just helped hold in all the heat and it seemed to bounce it back up at them. Whenever the wind blew hard, it blew the sands up into their faces, and made their mouths extremely dry.
Suddenly, Alice stumbled, her foot rolling weird. Newt caught her against him before she could hit the ground, and she cried out in pain.
The whole group stopped, and Bella doubled back to check her out. "Sit her down." She told Newt, and then crouched down to inspect Alice's foot. She pulled her boot off and looked at the ankle. It was swelling up. "Looks like you sprained it." She said, and then looked over at Rosalie. "Rose, can you?"
Rosalie nodded and stooped down and took over. Rosalie was a med-jack back on the Glade, so she was more experienced in this area.
Within fifteen minutes, they got Alice moving again, but their pace had slowed to accommodate her.
After trekking for a while longer, the sky seemed to change, and a storm looked like it was rolling in. They weren't far from the other building now, but Bella didn't like the look of the clouds as they swirled overhead. Then there was lightning striking down and hitting the sands.
Bella frowned, not liking that. "Everyone move. We have to make it inside!" She yelled.
Jasper swung Alice up like she was nothing, and they all ran on foot, pushing themselves to get to the building and out of the lightning storm. Lighting splintered down around them, making them rush faster.
Bella reached the door first, and she pulled it open, and they barreled inside. Thomas was bringing up the back, when lightning struck down, hitting close to him, sending him flying into Minho. "Thomas!" She yelled and rushed outside to Minho and Thomas, with Newt following suit to pull Minho and Thomas inside the building before more lightning struck down.
"Thomas!" Bella called to him again, and he coughed, rolling on his side. His body radiated from some pain. But he was alive.
Minho groaned too. Getting hit with a full-grown man hurt. Newt rubbed Minho's back, patting him a few times, as he finally got his breath back.
"Everyone okay?" Bella asked, once Thomas was breathing normal again.
Everyone nodded or grunted their acknowledgements, and that made Bella feel better.
"Alright, let's rest up. Take turn with watches and then move out at first light." Bella said, and then looked back at Thomas, who had seen some better days, but he was still alive, and he was okay for now. She leaned in and kissed him softly, pressing her forehead to his, and closed her eyes. She just hoped that the rest of their travel wouldn't see storms like that.