In my Blood

CHAPTER 56 - Bloody Hands

"This last one's gonna hurt a little more, Newt," he warns, easing the needle into his neck. Immediately, Newt's face contorts more in agony, his mouth wide open as he screams. His teeth are stained with black blood, his lips cracked and white. A few seconds of screaming passes before, slowly, his body shudders and legs begin to stop kicking. His face relaxes ever so slightly and his screams have died down to no more than a whimper. 

Gally lets out a long, exhausted sigh. "Let's get him on the Berg," he says wearily. "Then let's get the shuck out of this place." He begins to rise while we sit on the floor, our bodies limp and dejected. 

"Is... is that it, then?" Brenda questions. 

"I wish," Gally sighs. "We're gonna need to keep giving him dosages, but none should be quite as bad as this. We have enough Serum to last maybe, a month. But then..." his voice trails off. 

But then that's it. No more Bliss. No more cure.

I begin to rise. "Let's get him out of here." My voice is quiet and shaky. "Then let's find Thomas, and go to the Safe Haven. I'm done with this city." 

So we begin to make our way to the tunnels, through the isolated  back alleys of the streets, separate from the chaos amongst the rest of the city. Gally and Minho carry Newt, his arms slumped around their necks and they struggle to hold him. Newt stirs a few times, his eyes fluttering and mouth twitching, but doesn't cause a major issue. My body feels drained and slow, hours of sleeplessness and physical exhaustion finally catching up to me as my feet begin to drag across the floor slightly. Brenda notices my weariness, and links arms with me, glancing briefly at the wound which Newt made on my upper arm.

"We're gonna need to give you some Serum, too," Brenda mutters. "I know there's a probability you might be Immune, and you would've shown sign of being Infected by now, but I'm not risking my best friend getting it too." 

I nod feebly, too weak to give a formulated response. Brenda directs Gally to take a left, and then we turn around the corner and stare at the entrance to the tunnels. Brenda tells us it's not far from here, telling Gally to take a right and keep going along a wide, destructed street. Overturned cars and vans line the edges of the street, patches of fire slowly burning out on the street where bodies lie. There's no obvious sign of anyone else alive here, yet we still stick to the side of the street with caution. 

I hear a slight groan escape from Newt's mouth, my head snapping up immediately. His black eyes shift to focus and his eyebrows lower into a glare. "Gally, he needs more serum," I say quickly. Gally removes his backpack once again and draws out another syringe, easily sliding it into Newt's upper arm. Newt immediately stops tensing, his eyes rolling back behind his head and face softening. I breathe out a subtle sigh of relief just as I hear the loud, whirring propellers of a Berg close by. 

Everyone's movements become less sluggish as they quicken their pace forward, towards the sound of our rescue. We take a left, and there is it, in plain sight: a Berg, with its door open and Jorge standing to greet us, his usually stern and unforgiving face immediately morphing into relief when we approach him. Tears begin to well in my eyes as we get closer to him. 

"Jorge?" Minho questions. "This crazy shank is still with you guys?" 

"If it wasn't for this 'crazy shank,' your friends would probably be dead," Jorge retorts, although I can see the corners of his mouth reluctantly turn into a smile. He wraps me and Brenda up in a hug, his body shaking slightly, before ordering us into the Berg. Suddenly, his demeanour changes right before we step onto the door. 

"Where's Thomas?" he asks quietly. 

I shake my head. "We don't know. He was there one minute, and then... well, Newt kind of..." I sigh. "Thomas left. We don't know where."

"I can guess where he went," Minho suggests, his face pale. We all nod knowingly, tension building thick in the air. WICKED headquarters. 

"Right," Jorge says simply. Turning to face the Berg, I smile upon seeing Vince, who stands at the entrance of the hatch signalling us to get it. I smile as I get closer to him, his stony expression softening in relief upon seeing us safe. 

"Count your lucky stars you're alive, kid, pulling a stunt like that," he warns, yet with a soft tone to his voice. I nod in response, my smile diminishing slightly. We all load into the Berg, Brenda showing me to a small room with a bed, medical supplies and sink. 

The boys bring Newt through, placing him on the bed, his body finally relaxed fully. Fry and Minho leave to join Jorge in the cockpit, Gally lingering outside the doorway tentatively, while Brenda stays with me and applies bandage to my wound as I sit on a chair beside Newt's bed. I wince slightly as she runs cold water over my arm, but the pain is hardly noticeable at this point as I've grown so accustomed to it.

"It will never fully heal," she murmurs softly. "There will always be scarring. I don't think there's anything I can do about it." 

I shake my head, forcing a slight smile. "It's okay, Bren."

She wraps a thick white bandage around my arm, and then another one until the blood stops seeping through the material. She quickly scans the other cuts, one on my cheekbone from where glass sliced me, but only wipes it briefly with a damp cloth.

"I think you're good, mostly," she smiles. 

I nod back to her. "Thank you." 

We hear Newt start to make noise, moving quickly away from the bed. Brenda dives into Gally's backpack, bringing out a syringe just in case, Gally poking his head round the door with an anxious expression. Newt's eyes begin to open, his lips parting ever so slightly, before weakly forming my name. 

"(y/n)..." he croaks, coughing. My heart begins to flutter upon hearing him say my name. I look to Brenda, and she just nods, gesturing for me to go closer. I cautiously edge closer to the bed. "(y/n)..."

"It's you!" I whisper in shock, my mouth stretching into a wide smile. "You're okay..." I assure softly. "Can you talk to me?"

He coughs again, his lips darkly stained. "I... what's happening?"

"We're on a Berg, Newt," I smile, sitting on the chair. "We're going to find Thomas, and then we're going to the Safe Haven. You're okay, everything will be okay." 

"I don't... feel okay."

I bite my lip. "Do you remember what happened?"

His eyes open a little more, looking towards my face. He thinks for a moment, before his hand starts to go weakly to his chest.

"No, Newt!" I say quickly, grabbing his hand. "You can't touch it..." 

I look towards our hands. I should be scared right now. I look back to Brenda, who's watching with curious, alert apprehension, before I look to our hands again. He begins to shakily run his finger along my thumb, a feeble smile on his lips. My eyes fill with tears once more as I smile, the huge weight of loss finally lifted off my chest. To feel his fingers against mine, his soft skin, his delicate touch... it's better than I thought it would ever be. In this moment, I feel complete again. Even if it may not be for much longer.