Chapter 18.
"So, what now?" Thomas asked.
"We need to go north," Harriet said.
"Obviously, but we don't know which way that is," Thomas said.
"So we'll just have to make a compass then," she said, like it was obvious.
"And you can just create a compass out of thin air?" Minho said, looking at her sceptically, at which she rolled her eyes.
"No, but I know how to make one from things we can find here."
"Go on."
"We find something metallic, rub it against something to make it magnetic, and put it on a leaf in water," Harriet explained.
Thomas was hit with a sudden memory of himself as a kid, camping somewhere, and someone was showing him how to make a compass using that very same method.
It disappeared as quickly as it had come, leaving Thomas feeling nostalgic for a better time. He shook the feeling off, he needed to focus on the situation.
"Does anyone have anything metallic?" Minho asked. Everyone shook their heads in unison.
"Great," Minho mumbled sarcastically, looking around in search for a solution. His gaze settled on the fence behind them.
"Maybe we could break off a piece of the fence," he said, moving towards it.
"Stop, you'll get electrified if you touch that thing," Thomas said.
Minho stopped in his tracks.
"Well, what are we supposed to do then?" He asked.
"Maybe we could walk around the building, find a weak spot and try to break a piece off with a stick or something," Newt suggested. The idea didn't sound like it would have a high chance of succeeding, but no one could come up with something better.
It turned out much of the fence had rusted, but their attempts to break it using sticks they'd found on the ground or broken off from low-hanging tree branches proved unsuccessful.
When they had walked around to the other side of the building, about to give up, they spotted a length of barbed wire hanging loose from a corner on the fence. Minho had put the end of the wire between two sticks and pulled with all his strength. At first it looked like it wouldn't work, but then the barbed wire snapped. Minho stumbled backwards. When he'd regained his balance he held the wire up triumphantly.
Thomas got the task of making a compass needle out of the wire. Sonya had handed him a pocketknife before leaving with most of the others to search for water.
Thomas hacked at the wire with the knife. He tried to hold the wire with the sleeves of his shirt, but his hands were bleeding in several places once he was done. He'd have to wash his hands once they found clean water, otherwise he'd probably get an infection from the far from clean metal.
He ignored the stinging pain as he put the now finger-length wire on a rock and used another rock to try and flatten the barbs so they wouldn't cause any problems with showing the right direction.
By the time he was done with that the group that had went in search of a water-source had returned.
Sonya walked up to him. She held out her hand and Thomas gave her back her knife.
"Did you magnetise the wire?" She asked.
"No," Thomas said.
Sonya snatched the piece of metal from him and began rubbing it against the spine of her knife.
Once she was finished she led the way into the forest.
After a short walk they stumbled upon something that almost resembled a swamp, with puddles of murky water everywhere. Thomas literally stumbled upon it, since he accidentally stepped into a patch of moss that turned out to be a surprisingly deep puddle, and almost fell over as he tried to get his foot out of the icy water. When he finally got it out it was soaked up to his ankle. His sock and shoe were wet and cold, but there was nothing he could do about that unfortunately. The cold spread through his entire body rapidly. He pulled his jacket closer around himself as he watched Harriet and Sonya put the piece of wire on a large leaf and place it in a puddle that consisted of
less mud than most of those around them.
The wind was a problem, it had been pretty hard, but it was weaker in the forest and they tried their best to shield the area from any wind, but there was still a chance that it might blow their compass needle off course.
Thomas was filled with relief when it moved, slowly, but surely. When it stopped it pointed to the right, which was deeper into the forest, naturally.
The compass needle was plucked out of the water and they started walking.
Thomas didn't know how long they had been walking for. He could have checked his watch, but he didn't have the energy to spare. The forest had grown thicker and darker. There were noises coming from all around them that he couldn't identify. He might have been scared if he hadn't been exhausted. He felt warm and sweaty from the long walk, but he could tell that the temperature of their surroundings was low.
It must've rained before they left, because the entire forest was wet and slippery, and it had the smell of rain, something Thomas remembered from before the maze.
Every once in a while they'd come across a small river or lake. They used the compass needle to make sure they were going in the right direction when they came across a lake, and when they found a river with water that looked clean they'd drink. They had taken a short break for lunch, which consisted of the granola bars they'd taken earlier that day.
That had been a long time ago. It was starting to get late, judging by the increasing darkness and decreasing temperature.
They decided it was about time to call it a day and make camp for the night.
They settled for a thick cluster of trees that would provide somewhat of a shelter against the wind. They gathered sticks and did their best to stack them against the branches. They didn't have any kind of rope, but they managed to hold it in place by sticking the sticks deep into the muddy ground.
They ate the last of their granola bars in silence. Thomas was still hungry afterwards. They would have to find more food in the morning.
A while after they'd eaten they decided to start a fire, to combat the sinking temperature.
It hadn't been easy, since most of the branches they found were wet. After a long search they had scavenged a handful of dry twigs, which they put in a pile in their shelter. It usually wouldn't be a good idea to start a fire under a tree, but it wasn't too close to any hanging branches, and they had ringed the woodpile with rocks so it wouldn't spread. The humid air and the dampness of their surroundings helped if nothing else.
A girl from group B had started the actual fire, using two knives. It had taken a while for any sparks to come, but after a few minutes there was a small fire spreading through the woodpile. Once the fire had grown in size they fed it the rest of the branches they had found.
Warmth radiated from the fire, making Thomas feel much better.
They crammed together around the fire. It was nice, Thomas wasn't the only one feeling better it appeared.
He took of his shoes to let the warmth of the fire dry his feet. His shoes weren't as waterproof as he'd have liked them to be. He'd been walking around with wet socks for several hours, both of his feet were as wet as the one he'd accidentally stepped into a puddle with.
"How far do you think we got?" Teresa asked from next to him.
"Maybe fifteen miles or so," Thomas guessed. He looked to Newt and Minho -who were sitting on his other side- for confirmation.
"I'd say twenty," Minho said.
"That's good," Thomas said, "that's a fifth of the way, if we keep going like this we'll be finished in five days."
"You're forgetting the traps that were no doubt set up everywhere in this place, they're probably just trying to get us to feel a sense of false security," Teresa said.
"Since when were you such a pessimist?" Thomas asked.
"I'm not a pessimist, I'm just being realistic," she said defensively.
"Well reality sucks, let's not think about it for now," Thomas said.
"How can you possibly not think about it right now?" She asked.
"we're all together, we have a fire, I'm feeling pretty sore from walking, but I'm not in serious pain for once. It's not too hard to believe that everything is normal. Well, maybe that's not normal for us, but you know what I mean," he said.
"Dude, you just cursed us," Minho said.
"I did what now?"
"You said everything feels normal, now something bad is bound to happen," Minho clarified.
"I didn't know you were superstitious," Thomas said.
"Superstitious? You know what, I'll tell you the story about the bloodthirsty demon lurking in the woods and then we'll see who gets superstitious," Minho said.
He proceeded to tell them a ghost story that would actually have been pretty scary if they hadn't been living in a world that was basically taken from a ghost story.
They continued their chatting for a while, until they decided to call it a night. It was only around ten in the evening, but they were all tired from the long walk, and the darkness around them and the warm fire added to the tiredness. Besides, they knew they'd have to get up early the next day.
They decided someone would have to stand guard while they slept, in case they got attacked or the fire got out of hand. Newt volunteered to take first watch, claiming he wasn't tired.
The group spread out in the shelter. They moved away from the fire, not wanting to accidentally set themselves on fire while they were sleeping. Thomas stayed as close to the fire as possible without getting too close. He wanted to soak up the warmth while he could.
They didn't have any blankets or anything, though they could use their backpacks as pillows.
Thomas discovered quickly that he didn't feel like sleeping. He felt sore from the exertion, but he didn't feel tired.
He lay awake for a long time staring into the fire. Watched the flames dance around on the pile of wood. His gaze would sometimes shift to Newt, who was sitting on the other side of the fire, he too looking into it. The fire cast alternating patterns of shadows and light on him, one moment making him look almost ghostlike, the next making his face light up and his hair turn the color of gold. If he noticed Thomas looking at him he didn't give it away. He looked weary, something must be troubling him.
Thomas got up and went to sit next to his friend. Newt cast him a brief glance but didn't say anything.
"Are you okay?" Thomas asked in a low voice. It looked like most of the others were asleep, but he didn't want to disturb anyone, "it's just, it looks like something's bothering you, and you've been quiet pretty much all day."
Newt shrugged. "What can I say? It's just… this whole bloody thing, the maze, the flare…"
"We'll get through it," Thomas said, trying to sound confident, "we beat the maze, we'll get the cure to the flare soon."
"I hope so," Newt said, sounding unconvinced. He didn't look at Thomas, he was staring into the fire again.
"Maybe you should get some sleep, I can keep watch if you want," Thomas suggested.
"No," Newt said immediately.
"It's fine, I'm not tired anyway," Thomas ensured him.
Newt shook his head. "It's not that. I've been having bad dreams for a while now, I'd rather stay awake."
"You can't stay awake forever."
"I know, but I can try."
"Is it that bad? Maybe you can tell me about the dreams, that might make it better," Thomas said.
"I can handle it by myself, you've got enough to worry about," Newt said.
"One of the things I worry about is you becoming a crank because you were thinking too much about stuff like that," Thomas said.
"Fine," Newt relented, "it's about Alby, mostly, anyway. When he sacrificed himself to the grievers, when he found me in the maze…"
Thomas remembered his own dream about Alby. It must have been even worse for Newt, who'd been Alby's friend.
He didn't really know what to say, but he spoke anyway.
"He wouldn't want you to have nightmares about him, if he were here right now he'd tell you that. He'd want you to remember the fun times you had over the bad. Assuming he was capable of having fun, he seemed pretty uptight every time I saw him."
"He was pretty uptight, but we had some good times," Newt said, a hint of a smile on his face.
"All of us have nightmares," Thomas continued, "but they will fade away eventually, just try to remember the good things instead of the bad, and that's what you'll remember in the end, that's the best way for you to honor him. Knowing that might not help you much right now, but just try to keep it in mind and you'll e happier in the future."
"You know, Tommy, you can be really wise sometimes. I actually feel better now. Thank you,"
They didn't talk more after that. They sat in silence, comforted by the fire and each others company.
Suddenly there was a weight on Thomas' shoulder, which he realized was Newt's head. He had fallen asleep.