Newt stood alone in the cool night of the scorch, his arms crossed over his chest and his gaze distant.
Lynn left him, she ran away from his embrace and went off into the distance. And he let her leave. Newt should've held her tighter, persuaded her to stay with him and the Gladers. He could tell by Lynn's flickering eyes that she was debating whether to stay or to go off with her friends and possibly kill Thomas. She wanted to stay, Newt knew that, but something in her mind said that she couldn't, she just could not bear the fact to leave all her other friends by themselves. But did Lynn make the right decision?
She dashed off into the barren land without even giving her brother a second glance. The sand kicking up behind her as she sprinted off, away from Newt. The few moments after she left where silent, Newt just staring at the place that Lynn stood mere seconds before.
A hand on Newt's shoulder brought him out of his trance, his head snapping up to see who it was. Minho stood next to him with a distant gleam in his eye, patting his shoulder.
"C'mon," he said, "we gotta start moving."
Newt nodded his head in agreement, walking at a sluggish pace alongside the rest of the group.
They had lost so many already, throughout the course of being in the maze and the scorch, and Newt just couldn't afford to lose both his sister and his best friend, he wouldn't be able to handle it, too many people have lost their lives to these stupid trials.
But here he stood, looking out into the sandy hell that they had to escape. Newt wondered what his sister was going through now, what she was experiencing and how she was handling it. He justed wanted Lynn to be safe, out of harms way. Lynn appeared different than the last time Newt saw her, the aura that came with her had changed. She had been through hell and Newt noticed it immediately. Her ponytail was loose, rips and tears covering her jacket and pants, lips dry and cracked. Lynn's eyes still sparkled with that familiar amber color, but they shimmered with tears, as if she didn't want to do what she had to, as if her appearance was one thing and her eyes told a different story.
The ground crunched under someone's boots as they walked up towards Newt, a tall presence now standing next him. Everyone was already asleep a few feet away, so it left only one person that would be up at this hour at night. Minho.
"I don't think that she wanted to leave us." Newt spoke softly, folding his arms over his chest. "I think it was someone else's decision that she left and not her own."
The older boy next to him responded, "Lynn's conflicted, Newt. She doesn't know whether to do what ratface told her or come along with us and not even pay attention to a word he said."
Newt remained silent, not knowing what to say next.
"Listen, we got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Get some sleep okay?"
The british boy nodded his head, Minho leaving him alone in silence once more.
xxx
Lynn could barely keep her eyes closed as sleep avoided her mind. The soft snores of her peers were the only sound in the quiet night. She gazed up at the star-filled sky, resting her arms behind her head to provide some sort of cushion other than the deflated pillow sheet that she was laying on. The crisp night air nipped at her face, making her cheeks rosy and cold.
She couldn't stand to know that Thomas was tied up to a tree, waiting to find out his fate of life or death. Lynn had already told him that they weren't going to kill him, but she knew her friend could hear her voice tremble, see her hands shake and her eyes flicker. She wasn't telling the truth, Thomas knew she wasn't speaking the truth. Lynn was unsure of her answer, she didn't know the real answer to his question.
The blonde restlessly turned onto her side, pulling the sheets up to her chest. The embers of the fire that had been started, glowed in the dark of night, illuminating Lynn's freckled face. She could see a pair of blue eyes boring into her own from the other side of the ashes. Sonya.
"Can't sleep?" The elder girl whispered, trying her best not to wake the others.
Lynn shook her head, "No, how about you?"
"Not a wink." Sonya responded, sitting up from her mat. "Too many things going on the be able to let sleep take over." The former leader got up from the bed mat that she was resting on, making her way to Lynn's mat. Tiptoeing past Harriet's sleeping place, Sonya came to Lynn's bed mat, taking a seat near the younger's feet. "What's keeping you up?"
Lynn sighed, dragging her hands over her face as she rose to an upright position. "Tommy."
Sonya nodded her head knowingly, patting her friend's leg. "What about him?" The older girl asked.
"Not knowing whether Teresa's going to kill him or not."
Before Sonya could even answer to Lynn's response, the second command continued.
"I told him that we weren't going to kill him, Sonya." Lynn quivered, digging her nails into her scalp. "I lied to him. I lied to my best friend. I told him that he's going to be fine and Teresa is just being a crazy stick, but it's all a lie."
Tears brimmed the bottom lid of Lynn's eyes, her head turned off to the side to shield the teardrops from Sonya.
"I don't know his fate, I don't know what to tell him. I can't tell him that he's going to be okay or that he's going to live. I can't tell him because I just. Don't. Know!"
Lynn finally cracked, she finally let herself go. Her head was bowed as the tears flowed down her cheeks, shaking hands hiding her face from her friend.
Sonya leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Lynn's trembling frame, letting her friend cry into her shoulder. The former leader soothingly rubbed her friend's back, her other hand resting on the back of Lynn's blonde head. The young girl had been hiding her emotions since the day she first returned to their group, saying she was alright when she wasn't
Lynn was one of those people that never told anyone how they felt. She always did for everyone else except for herself, which was one of the reasons she's such a great second-in-command. Lynn would be there for anyone who needed comfort or guidance, giving advice for those who needed it. But she had no one to turn to when it came to her needs, except for Sonya, Harriet, and Lily of course. The young girl never talked to any of her peers about what was going inside that pretty little head of her's, never told anyone about how she felt.
The second command threw her nimble arms around Sonya's neck, sobbing heavily into the shoulder of her purple shirt. Lynn let all the feelings and sorrow that she had bottled up in that petite body of her's out in tears. Her fingers grasped the back of Sonya's shirt, bunching up the material in her hands.
"I'm so sick and tired of being the one to deal with everyone's problems, Sonya." Lynn cried, burying her face in her friend's shoulder. "I'm done, I'm so done with everything that has been going on. I just want to get out of these stupid trials and live a normal sticking life."
"I know, I know." Sonya cooed, trying to calm Lynn down. "It will all be over soon. I promise."
"I doubt it, Sonya." Lynn pulled away from her friend, rising from her sleeping bag and wiping away the stray tears with the back of her hand. She started to walk away from the area they were all sleeping in, Sonya couldn't help but notice that Lynn grabbed her rusty bow and arrow as she went in the other direction.
"Lynn!" Sonya hissed, trying to get the girls attention without waking anybody. "Lynn, where the hell are you going?!"
The blonde stopped in her tracks, turning back around to face the former leader. "To go do something for myself." Lynn spun towards the direction she was heading in, walking with a more hasty pace.
Sonya considered going after Lynn, springing up from her spot and stopping the young blonde before she did anything stupid. And Lynn being Lynn, what she did was on the borderline of being idiotic.
xxx
Lynn jogged over to the tree where Thomas had been tied up to, her bow and arrow slung over her back just incase Teresa came by and started to protest what she was about to do.
Lynn was going to get Thomas and run away with him, run back to Minho and Newt, to all the Gladers that awaited their return. Lynn wanted to do something for herself, to not obey Teresa's orders or Sonya's wise suggestions and do something that was right...well, right to Lynn.
Thomas was asleep when Lynn reached the tree that her friend was tied up to, his head tipped to the side as drool dribbled out of his mouth. The boy's hands were facing palm up as they laid limp at his sides, his legs sprawled out on the ground beneath him.
The blonde girl ran over to the tree, gently shoving Thomas' shoulder. He woke up immediately, his head jerking up and hitting the bark of the tree. A loud grunt escaped his mouth, his hand quickly rising up to behind his head, rubbing it in pain.
"Lynn.." Thomas yawned as he looked on at the sun that was rising in the east. "Lynn, what the hell are you doing?"
Lynn began to undo the knot that she had tied earlier, letting the rope fall into Thomas' lap was it came undone.
"I'm getting you outta here." The girl responded, holding out a hand to her friend. She wanted him to take her hand, to agree with her decision to flee from Teresa's ways.
"But you said that-"
"Every word that I said earlier was a lie. A complete lie, Tommy." Lynn snapped, pulling her bow out from its holder and hanging on to it with a tight hand. "I just want to get you out of here safely, alright?
Thomas eyed the hand that Lynn held out towards him, her fingers aching for him to grasp them and sprint off into dawn. His large palm smacked onto her scrawny, little one, leaving it to the blonde to haul his ass off the ground.
Thomas' tired legs caused him to stumble and crash into Lynn, almost making them fall to the ground.
"You okay there?" Lynn asked, pushing him back upright, patting the center of his chest.
"I'm fine, Icelyn."
With wide amber eyes, Lynn snapped her head up to glare at Thomas, a warning gleam in her eye. She jabbed her finger into the brunet's chest, her grip even tighter on her bow.
"Don't ever call me that name again." Lynn spoke with a playfully angry tone, "Now let's go, we have to get out of here before the queen wakes up."
The sun was peeking out from the distant mountains, signaling that they were running out of time to escape. Lynn began to walk with Thomas' hand tightly held in her own, keeping close watch on him and their surroundings as they began to descend from the pass, heading off to the destination of this so called 'Paradise'.
Dirt and rocks crackled under their shoes, the hurried sounds of their footsteps echoing through the empty air. Lynn tugged and pulled on Thomas' hand, trying to get him to go faster. The older boy couldn't believe how light on her feet Lynn was, hopping and dashing down the mountain without any faltering while Thomas could barely keep his balance.
They finally made it to a smooth run of stone, their traveling down the mountain made slightly easier than before. Lynn threw an arm out to stop Thomas from going any further, her feet planted on the ground as the brunet crashed into her back, regaining his balance shortly after.
She stood completely still as silence overtook the two of them, the air thick and tension high. Thomas grasped onto the shoulders of the young girl, the hairs of her ponytail tickling his chin as he leaned forward.
Lynn knew something (or someone) was following them, observing them. She could hear the faraway footsteps as a person rushed towards the pair, the light sound of metal clanking filling the spaces in between. Whoever was following them had a weapon.
"Who do you think it is?" Thomas whispered, leaning in close to Lynn, his lips brushing against her ear.
"I've got an idea." Lynn turned around, pulling Thomas behind her. Her bow was raised, an arrow touching the string and the end resting below her right eye, aimed in the direction they just came from.
Teresa stood in front of them, a knife in her hand.
She was pissed.
Her blue eyes were gleaming with anger and fury, the sharp and scary knife in her hand pointed directly at Lynn. Thomas' large hands remained on Lynn's shoulders, her back tucked into his chest as her bow and arrow remained armed.
"I knew you were going to pull some weird shit like this, Lynn." Teresa spat, "What's it going to take to get you to do what you're told."
Just as Lynn was about to fire back with some quick-witted answer, Thomas stepped out from behind her, lightly shoving her to the side. He needed to get to the bottom of this whole thing; it was like the maze all over again, he had no idea what was going on around him and what people are keeping from him.
"What do you want, Teresa?" Thomas demanded, coming almost face to face with the black-haired girl that he knew from his dreams. "Why do you want to kill me? Just tell me, give me the answer. I might be able to help you get through this, there has to be another way to solve what ever needs solving."
Teresa glared up at him, her jaw clenching as she narrowed her eyes at the boy in front of her. She didn't like the words that were coming out of Thomas' mouth, choosing to calmly slide her knife back into its holder. Then, as quick as a flash of lightning, her calloused fingers came down on Thomas' cheek, the sound of flesh hitting flesh bouncing off the rocky incline of the mountain behind them.
The slap caused Thomas to stumble to the side as he clutched his left cheek, the stinging feeling pinching his cheek. A swish sounded through the air, the hard thump of an arrow hitting a stone made both Teresa and Thomas spin around to face Lynn, watching as she plucked another arrow from the pack behind her.
"Hit him again," Lynn pulled the arrow back in the string, the chipped head of the weapon aimed in their general direction. "I dare ya, Teresa. Let's see how fast this arrow can pierce that sick, twisted mind of yours."
"Wow, Lynn." Teresa scoffed, pulling her knife out of its holder again. With one arm, she wrapped it around Thomas' waist, tugging him back and letting the blade of her knife hover above the skin if his neck. "I'd watch where you aim that arrow of your's, it would be smart to point in the direction behind you."
The blonde lowered her weapon for a split second, not even realizing that a tall, lanky boy was lurking behind her. The boy threw his long arms around her waist, clamping a clammy hand on top of her mouth to muffle her screams and cries of protest.
"I believe that you have met Aris before, Thomas."
xxx
Another chapter!
I just started high school, so I will try my best to keep updating this story. I may be limited to only doing chapters on the weekends, but I will try my best to get chapters out to you.
Until next time!