They were exhausted. Aris and the Glader companions had been hiking for hours. He now witnessed a scenery of horror. He whirled around, seeing a boy sprawled out across the ground, and someone saying, "What's up with you, Winston?" He scurried over to see what was going on.
A boy was sprawled out across the sand, his face ghostly pale. He seemed unable to continue on. "Throbs...my head," the boy was mumbling, feet catching on the sand that blew up abruptly, layered rocks beneath it. Aris scurried over to him.
"He's getting more severe," a boy said. Aris slung an arm around the boy--Winston?--and hefted him along, half-dragging, half-carrying him along with Minho. Winston moaned softly, groaning, as he struggled to his feet, groaning, moaning, whining.
"Just....set me down here..." he said.
Aris shook his head firmly, as he continued half-drag, half-heft the boy. Winston crumpled to the ground two times, his ground seemingly sinking into the specks of sand. Finally, he refused to to rise to his feet again. "Just....abandon....you can complete the Scorch...." he mumbled. "Desert me..."
He continued to raise the trembling boy to his feet, limping across the sand. He couldn't piece together, figure out in his mind why Winston grew so frail out of nowhere. Winston finally crumpled to his feet, and Aris glanced back, spying Thomas on the ground, seemingly focused. "Hey!" he shouted. "Quit daydreaming, your friend's having some issues!"
The boy seemed to be mourning over the loss of Teresa, when he leaped to his feet and approached him. Aris wrapped his hand around the pistol on the belt, which he'd had back in the dorm and eyed the trembling boy with caution, kneeling down to inspect a pulse.
"Shoot me," Winston said. "My head--oh, my head." He stared up at them, just as Aris reached into his pocket and fished out the small pocketknife. Winston accepted the knife, a look on gratitude on his face. "Thank you," he whispered. Some other boys stepped forward, offering weapons as well.
A few minutes later, Newt turned on his heel and sauntered away from Winston. Thomas shook his head in despair, before locking eyes with Winston, who said, "Take care of everyone for me, Thomas." Then, he closed his eyes again, and then as Aris stepped away from the fragile boy, he watched in horror as the boy drove the knife into his chest.
***
A few hours of sauntering up and down the hill-like sand, they finally reached a space, where a few vacant huts stood. They all eagerly settled in. Thomas lighted a fire and stared into the embers of the flames. "I suppose not all of us are immune," he murmured.
"Must have thrust us into the Maze for a shucking reason," Minho added. "Trying to seperate who is and who isn't immune. Why we're immune." He closed his eyes, a tear perilously at his lid, as he squeezed his eyes shut. Aris took an intake of a sharp breath.
Aris? Teresa murmured. How's your progess in the Scorch?
Some of them were infected, he responded. Where are you, anyway?
Well, we're.... Her voice started trailing away, before it became quite defensive. You're in the city, aren't you? He allowed his brain to deliver a photo of a nod. We're in the Scorch--but don't inform Thomas this, well, we'll allowed to travel through underground passages. Your girls are fine, too, they're with me.
Aris was completely astonished and baffled. Why?
They provided us with some instructions. Like, how....I'll inform you right now. He felt her take another intake of a breath, then blow it out. He fished out some canned food and took a few bites, wolfing everything down. Thomas was watching him intensely, as if he felt she could communicate with Aris.
Wait! he shrieked in his mind. Teresa paused, questioning what was wrong. Why, why can't you communicate and contact Thomas instead? He was pretty anxious, you know. He...he kept suspecting something, you know? But I had to obey that man's command, or the girls would be slaughtered.
Yeah, she responded. Just hear me out for now and after. There was a guy--Janson--informed us of everything. He told me and the girls that we had a Trial to pass, so in order to pass ours, we must abduct Thomas and torture him for a few...hours. You'll need to be there, too, I'll see you later.
Aris devoured canned corn, seeing the boys wolfing down a few snacks, then stared at the embers of the fire and then wrapped his jacket tightly around him, setting down into the bushes... The sun, however, seemed to persist in rising, so he stood.
They began striding across the sand again. Sweat poured down his face again, just as they continued on. He closed his eyes, thinking of how the Scorch hadn't preserved any lives, only claimed them. He felt no optimism at all, nor any motivation, but kept going, needing to get to the girls as soon as possible.
ns 18.68.41.137da2
