Hi all! Chapter 2 is here! Hope you all enjoy!

Thomas awoke for the first time in a long time with a sense of calmness. His ears were welcomed by the sounds of a beach. He could hear the waves softly crashing, and a breeze blowing on by. Was he dead? Is this what peace finally felt like? Thomas wasn't sure. He slowly opened his eyes to see that he was in a tent of some sorts. This certainly wasn't what he expected to find. He raised his head to see the wind gently pushing the flap-door open. Through the crack, he could see what looked like remnants of a beach. That was when it hit him. He was here. The Safe Haven. There was no more WICKED, no more battles…and no more running. For the first time, he could just breathe. But the thought of breathing peacefully quickly became a reminder of how lucky he was. For some people, their battles weren't over. For some people, they wouldn't…couldn't breathe, not anymore.

Thomas' calmness was overturned with a sense of grief. The last thing he remembered was Teresa falling to her death, after saving him , and Newt sacrificing his own life to save him. It was his fault that they died. If Thomas had just been faster, stronger, anything, he could have saved Newt and Teresa. He could have held Newt off a little longer. He could have grabbed Teresa and stopped her from falling. He could have done something. But he didn't, and now they were gone.

He shook his head. Brenda would have killed him if she heard him say these things. She would tell him that it wasn't his fault, and that there was nothing he could do. Except in fact, all Thomas could think about was things he could have done, should have done for that matter.

He tried to get up but felt a burning sensation in his side. Oh right, he had almost forgotten. He got shot. He sighed heavily. He knew this would heal, he had just hoped the void his dead friends left would heal too.

After a while of deep thoughts, Thomas finally gained the willpower to go out to the Safe Haven. He took a deep breath and slowly exited the tent. He was quickly blinded by the bright light of the midday sun. But once his eyes recovered, it revealed a landscape of lightly golden sand lined with a deep blue ocean. There was a skyscraping mountain range that surrounded the other end. He had never seen anything like it.

A breeze blew on by pushing his messy hair more out of place. He heard laughing to his right and saw children running around in the sand. They looked as if they did not have a care in the world. It almost seemed…peaceful, something Thomas couldn't ever remember experiencing.

He made his way towards the beach and admired it. He saw the waves calmly press onto the sand with a familiar gentleness to it. The gentleness of his friend Newt. Thomas sighed. Newt would have loved this place. It was what he had dreamed of afterall. He remembered that night. The first night in the bunks before the Scorch Trials, when they thought they had reached a peace:

"So this is what is outside the Maze? Hm, not quite what I expected it to be." Newt sighed.

"Well, what did you expect it to be?" Thomas asked.

"Well, maybe not 'expected' but maybe more hoped. I always thought if I were to ever get out of the Maze, I would…I don't bloody know…find a nice beach I suppose."

"A nice beach?" Thomas chuckled.

"Now you can laugh all you want, but it's true. I have never seen the ocean before. I feel like if I were to ever see one, I would jump straight into it. Well, maybe slowly get into it. After all, I don't actually know if I can swim."

"I'm starting to doubt if any of us can actually swim." Thomas laughed softly. "But a beach, I can understand that, a beach seems…um…"

"Peaceful." Newt responded.

"Yeah, peaceful. Well anything seems better than this place. I don't trust it."

Thomas all of a sudden saw a pillow flying towards his face. Followed by Newt's words: "Speak for yourself! This is the first time I have had a proper bloody bed in years!"

Thomas chucked the pillow back in Newt's direction, barely missing him. They each grabbed a pillow and started fighting each other. Thomas got the upper hand and pinned Newt on the ground, but Newt grabbed Thomas' pillow and yanked it out of his hands at the last second.

"Not fair!" Thomas exclaimed. "I had you!"

"You'll have to try a lot better than that if you want to beat me in a fight."

They both laughed, smiling at one another as they finally got ready for bed.

"Hey Newt."

"Yeah, Tommy?"

"I'm going to get you to that beach someday."

"Yes well, good luck with that. Let's be honest, we will get lucky to even see some nice weather in this world."

"I'm going to do it." Thomas told him, looking into his eyes once more.

"Ok Tommy, whatever you say…" Newt snickered as he climbed into his bunk, breaking their eye contact. "Goodnight Thomas."

"Goodnight Newt."

Thomas looked back at the horizon. He never did get him to that beach. He wondered if Newt would have really ran into that water. Or if he would have been a bad swimmer. Thomas would never know. God how he missed him.

Thomas kept walking down the edge of the ocean, his arms swaying down at his sides, when he suddenly felt something in his pocket. He stopped and took it out. In his pocket was a clear glass vial containing a vibrant blue liquid which was all too familiar. It was the cure. The last one left. He had forgotten that Teresa gave him this. What was he supposed to do with it? With Teresa gone, could they even still make a cure? Would it even be worth it with the limited supplies they seemed to have? It wasn't like they had a fancy medical center or anything. No one left alive, besides him, even knew it existed anyway. But Thomas wanted to help. That is what he always wanted to do. Maybe it was even what he wanted to do before the Maze. Was that why he worked with WICKED? He still wasn't sure. He could never be sure. But what he did know is that he had a cure. He was the cure. Maybe, just maybe, he should do something about it. He couldn't save Newt, but if he saved people like Newt, wouldn't that be worth a try? But where would he start? He didn't know the first thing about making the cure. The only two that had known were Teresa and Mary…and they were both dead.

His thoughts were stopped by the sight of his friends. He halted in place, they were all a few feet away: Minho, Brenda, Frypan, Jorge, and Gally. They were sitting in a circle around an unlit fire pit. It seemed like they were just talking casually, like it was a normal day. Brenda's eyes perked up and seemed to notice Thomas for the first time. Her face lit up in a huge smile. "Thomas!" She shouted.

Before Thomas could even say anything back, she jumped into his arms and gave him a loving embrace. When she released her grasp, she said "You're alive! We weren't sure if you were going to make it!" Thomas gave a small smile back. He felt a sense of happiness to see them all smiling, especially after everything that had happened.

The other followed suit, each giving him an embrace. Gally's embrace was more of a pat on the back, while Frypan's was a full on bear hug, lifting Thomas into the air. Thomas hissed. His injury on his side had not yet fully healed.

"Sorry man," Frypan said. "We are all just relieved to see that you are okay."

"No it's okay Fry, I um…appreciate the warm welcome. How are you all doing?"

"Great now that you are awake. We were getting worried about you Shank, we thought we might have been too late." Minho smiled as he went in for a hug next. When they were released, Minho's sudden change in expression made Thomas think there was something bothering him.

In fact, they all had the same unsure look underneath their smiles. They all paused and looked around at each other like they were hesitant on what to say next. "So…" Jorge finally started. "How much do you remember, hermano?"

Thomas sighed. "I remember everything but..it is all hazy. The only part I remember vividly is…losing two of my best friends in the same night. Teresa fell off a burning building, and Newt…Thomas choked, looking away to gain back his composure. "Newt is gone…"

An awkward silence took over for a while. No one had said anything after him. At this point, it was clear to Thomas that something wasn't right. "All right, what's going on? Did something happen? You guys just keep staring at me."

The silence had somehow seemed to get louder. They all looked at each other hesitantly when Minho finally spoke up. "There's something we have to tell you."

"Is this the best time?" Gally interrupted. "We don't want to get his hopes up just for them to come crashing down again."

Frypan sighed. "Maybe you're right–"

"No!" Thomas interrupted. "What were you going to say? You guys can't just keep things from me! Thomas took a deep breath; his voice got soft. "Especially now."

"Thomas…" Minho began.

"Newt isn't dead."

And Thomas ran.

Thomas running to go find Newt is soooo sweet! Find out what happens next soon!

-23LucyGrace