GladerWolf 2 (Newt X Female!Reader)

The Last City

Thomas was hesitant to trust Gally. "I'm not going anywhere with you," he said simply.

"Suit yourself," he replied, just as simply. "But I can get you through those walls."

I turned to face Thomas. "You may not like him but now isn't the time to pick and choose. We have to take what we've got."

Slowly, he nodded. He was probably still agitated that we hadn't miraculously found Chuck here. He would have much preferred him to the Keeper of the Builders, but Gally was strong enough to keep himself safe here: physically and mentally. Chuck had been the youngest of us. Perhaps his death had been a mercy from what we'd had to face since then. We had enough sanity within all of us to not spend time wishing for our circumstances to be different.

We followed Gally through the stone back streets. Old clothes: jumpers and hoodies, had been strung from lines between the balconies. Gally had armed himself, and people watched us from the balconies as we followed him: me after him, Newt after me, Thomas after him and so on.

"After the Maze, I got picked up by a group headed to the city. They realised I was immune, patched me up, and then brought me here. Lawrence: his troop's been at war with WCKD ever since they took control of the city."

The people here seemed a lot healthier than the people outside the city. Their clothes, hair and skin were more clean and tidy. Their hands which they warmed over contained fires were not scabbed and blistered like the Cranks' from the tunnel.

"The day's gonna come where they're gonna pay for what they've done," Gally continued. He stopped and turned to us beside a room where people were using computers: actual computers, their blue lights filling the small room as well as the yellow lights strung from the ceiling.
"Listen, he doesn't get a lot of visitors. So, let me do the talking, all right?" We silently agreed. "And try not to stare."

I'd expected a man with a few scars; an eye missing; or maybe an open bullet wound. What we saw when we entered the next room were many shelves and small cabinets of potted plants, books and lamps: your average living room items. Gally put his gun down on a table nearby.

Lawrence was with a younger man with dark skin. They were pruning a plant: one of many on the table, along with specimens of various animals in jars. I heard him mumbling to the younger man before he noticed Gally. "Gally, glad to see you made it back. Jasper told me what happened."

He was shadowed, to begin with. Where he was standing, I could only make out the upturned shape of his nose and the blue drip bag beside him, a clear tube going into his body somewhere. There was nothing strange to stare at: not in this light.

"It was a slaughter," Gally said. "There's nothin' we can do against those guns."

That's when I realised. I could not have imagined what he'd look like because I could barely process it in my head. His nose was almost gone.

"No," he continued as he fiddled with a red rose. "But they can only poke the hornets' nest so long... before they get stung." He brought the rose to his damaged nose and breathed in. "Now, who are these people: why are they here?" He did not turn to look at us; hiding his strange face in the poor light.

Thomas stepped forward. "We need to get into WCKD. Gally said you could get us through the walls."

The man turned to us then. Still, I could not make out the features on his face. "Well, Gally should know better than to make promises he can't keep." He tapped a cane on the floor beside him and brought his drip to the left side of his body. What were those lines on his face? Am I staring?

"Besides, that wall is only half your problem. Once you're inside WCKD, it's impossible."

"There might be a way now," Gally replied. "But it doesn't work without Thomas and __."

"Is that so?" The man asked. He slowly moved forward, his stand creaking on the floor beside him. "Do you know what I am, you two?"

The lines on his face were something between scars and damaged veins. The tip of his nose was gone: withered. There was no hair on his brow. The drip kept him alive and relatively 'healthy', but there was no denying the faint and familiar scent that clung to his clothes. He brought his repulsive face close to our ears. "I am a businessman." He stepped back.
I was going to say 'Crank'.
"Which means I don't take unnecessary risks. Why should I trust you?"

"Because we can help you," Thomas said. "If you can get use through those walls, we can get you what you need."

"I have no interest in becoming a damned werewolf."

"How--" How did he know what I was?

"Yes, I've heard all about you."

But Thomas had saved Brenda. "Then, he can help."

"What is it you think I need?" He asked slowly.

"Time. You're on your last drop." He was right: the blue liquid was running low.

"I'll tell you what... three can go for now. The rest stay here with me: Just a little insurance to make sure you find your way back."

He extended his decayed hand to Thomas. "Do we have a deal?" Thomas shook it without hesitation, strongly. I was glad he didn't ask the same of me. "Gally, show them the way."

~

That evening, Gally took us to a giant hole that looked as though it had been drilled into the floor. Gally lowered a ladder into it and we all peered in. "Take care of them, Gally," Fry said to him as he made his way down.

Thomas had chosen Newt to go with him and Gally had chosen me. Newt kissed my hand before we made our way down. "I'll go down first," he offered.

"You just want a nice view of my ass!" I joked.

He smiled. "Maybe."

The smell hit me as I climbed down. "Eurgh," Newt said. "This is gross." Each of us held torches in our hands, shining beams of white light as we walked through the sewer. Gally moved to a switch in the rounded wall and a string of yellow lightbulbs flickered on one by one: lighting our way more ambiently than a few swinging torches. I tried not to walk in the soiled water as I walked behind him, wincing as it passed over my boots.

We entered the city through a side door and came to civilisation. The people here were dressed in smart clothes: their scents either covered by perfume or completely healthy. Their faces were half-covered by masks or stern and bored: just another day at the office.

We blended in with them easily enough; casually. I tried not to look surprised at how the city lit up with millions of lights. I needed to be just as bored as the rest of them. Just as oblivious to what WCKD, their saviours, were really doing to get their test results. I hoped they weren't able to tell where we were from by the stench of sewer that stuck with us. Perhaps they were too human to smell it.