GladerWolf 2 (Newt X Female!Reader)

Bertha

Jorge instructed us to stay in a room upstairs while we waited for Thomas and Brenda. It looked better than downstairs -- but only in the sense that there was no one here. Jorge went back downstairs, leaving us alone. Now it was a waiting game. I sat with Newt on one of the sofas. The sunlight seeped in through the poorly-curtained windows and lit the back of his blonde hair. He noticed me looking at him. "What?" He asked, a smile adorning his face.

"Nothing. I just haven't had the chance to look at you properly in a while."

"There's been a lot going on," he responded. He brought his hand to my face and stroked my cheek.

I heard mock-retching noises from around the room and pulled away: Frypan and Minho were making fun of us. "Why don't you shanks get a room?" Minho asked.

"In case you haven't noticed, mate, there's not much space here," Newt replied.

"Real mature, guys." Faelan rolled his eyes. Aris asked if he was all right. "This place is weird," he said. I hadn't known him long, but seeing him dejected made my heart sink.

"Don't worry," I began. "We're on our way out of here."

"And do you think that'll stop WCKD?" He responded. "After all they've done -- how many lives they're willing to take advantage of -- do you think they're just gonna let us go?"

He was right. But none of us wanted to admit it. We were exhausted, angry and mentally taxed. Any chance of finding the Right Arm meant everything now. Maybe we could even find out where we really came from. Maybe we could find our families...
We had put so much trust in anyone around us who offered sanctuary. And now, even as we were sitting quietly in an upstairs room, away from the hubbub of a day club, Jorge could be betraying us as we spoke. No... if he wanted to send us back to WCKD, he would have done it already. Unless he wanted to take down the Right Arm too.

"What's wrong, love?" It had been Newt. My calm and patient boyfriend who'd wanted to protect me since I arrived in the Maze. It had been a shock to him to find that I didn't need protecting. I trusted him with almost any thought that crossed my mind. And yet...

"Nothing, I'm fine," I responded with a smile. I stood, stretched myself and peered around the various furniture in hopes of finding a bathroom.

There was one around the corner. It wasn't as clean as I would have liked, but it was secluded enough. I'd been with a group of people so long that I just needed time to myself: to gather my thoughts, or something.

It was a respectable amount of time before there came a knock at the door. "It's Faelan. I just want to make sure you're all right."
I opened the door and stepped out. "What's on your mind?" He asked.

"Do you think we can trust Jorge? I mean, we've come out of our Mazes to fall right back into WCKD's clutches. What if this is just another test?"

He placed his hands on my shoulders and peered into my eyes. "I understand," he said. "It's difficult here, and living like this is not ideal. But we've made it this far, and we're lucky. I think we can trust Jorge. Marcus, not so much."

"Yeah, definitely not." I smiled.

Faelan stepped back. "But you need to trust Newt. He's a wolf, like us, remember? And your boyfriend. The more he knows about how you're feeling, the less strain it will be on both of you. He can tell when something is wrong. If you tell him you need space or you just want a hand to hold, he'll respect that. Don't push him away. It's important that we all stick together."

He was right. And I remembered Newt's words from back in the Glade. Trust in one another and communication was so important for us all. If we didn't have that, then WCKD could pick us off like fish, which reminded me of something bitter: Teresa hadn't been put off when it came to working to find a cure with WCKD. Could she... no. I shoved the thought out of my head. It wasn't as though she could still contact them, anyway.

When Faelan and I returned to the group, Jorge, Frypan and Minho were tying a wailing Marcus to a chair as Newt lifted Thomas to a small bed. Teresa rushed to his side.

"What's happening?" Faelan and I asked.

"An interrogation," Brenda stated. She sat on one of the deflated chairs to watch as Jorge questioned Marcus. "Chill." I could smell the adrenaline fading from her, as if she'd been in high stress.

I walked over to Thomas. A similar scent was radiating from him. "Hi," Teresa said to him as he slowly came to. She never seemed to say a word when he wasn't around.

Minho went over them and peered down to his friend. "Welcome back, ya ugly shank." Thomas' brown eyes were bloodshot. He looked woozy.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"They made me drink something," he replied as he slowly sat up and looked over at Jorge and Marcus. I shook my head to myself. Whatever he'd drank, that hadn't done this. "And we were being chased by Cranks," he added, upon noticing my look. That made more sense, but I still felt as though there was something he was leaving out. It didn't matter. We'd all been together so long that privacy was rare to come by. I left him to his thoughts and walked back to the others.

"You son of a bitch!" Jorge shouted as he punched Marcus across the face. Already, blood was streaming from his nose and a cut above his eye.

"Damnit! I'm sorry, you're going to have to leave my house."

"Where is the Right Arm, Marcus?" Jorge asked. He pulled the man's hair, forcing him to look up at him. "I know you know where they're hiding. So, you tell me, and I'll make you a deal." Marcus laughed. "You can come with us."

"I burned that bridge a long time ago." He licked his bloodied lips. "Besides, I make my own deal. You're the one who taught me 'never miss an opportunity'." He giggled.

"What's he talking about?" Newt asked.

"I'm talking about supply and demand. WCKD wants all the Munies they can get; I help provide that for them. So I lure the kids in. They get drunk; have a good time. And, later, WCKD comes in to separate the wheat from the chaff." He laughed again: an unsettling, high-pitched giggle.

"I changed my mind, hermano," Jorge said. He kicked Marcus -- and the chair he was sitting on -- to the floor and drew a pistol. We all stood, wondering what would happen next. "Talk!" Jorge shouted as he cocked his gun.

"Okay, okay, Jesus! But I'm not making any promises. These guys like to move around." He gasped for air, the blood rushing to his head as Jorge hauled him upright. "They have an outpost in the mountains. But it's a long way away. If you've got half of WCKD on your ass, you're never gonna make it." That laugh again.

"Not on foot," Jorge responded. He leaned forward. "Where's Bertha?"

"Not Bertha," Marcus pleaded, his lips quivering.