The Cure

Chapter 1: The Scorched City

Consciousness eluded him, his first of many struggles in this new world.

With pure willpower alone, the boy forced his eyes open and groaned in pain. The room wasn't necessarily bright, but after sleeping for what feels like days, the afternoon sunlight was torture.

Deciding to bite the bullet and deal with the pain, the boy reopened his eyes and blinked back tears. He's in a ruined looking operating room. Everything was hazy at first, so it took awhile for him to notice the way it looked like the end of a horror movie scene around him. As he swung his legs over the edge of the metal table he had been lying on, he finally saw the bodies. All around him were corpses were scattered across the floor. Puddles of blood littered the floor in several locations. It was a terrifying thing to process when the boy couldn't even recall why he was here in the first place.

Taking a few big gulping breaths of metallic smelling air, the boy stumbled out of the room. Feeling a gut retching pain in his abdomen, he kneeled over in the hallway and gagged. His empty stomach clenched unhappily as he was forced to dry heave for several minutes. It was too much to comprehend. Not to mention that everything simply hurt to begin with. How long had he really been at this place?

Ignoring the other copious amounts of gore and destruction around the facility, the boy shakily made his way down to the ground floor. He had yet to find another living human being. His racing thoughts fought against the mind block that prevented him from remembering any of his past life. Feeling lost and confused, he panicked as he opened the front doors and was met with a familiar sight of death and destruction. In the middle of a post apocalyptic city, the boy sunk to his knees and succumbed to the total fear that consumed him.

Where am I? What's going on? Why can't I remember anything?!"

Gripping his shaggy, dark hair with trembling hands, the boy closed his eyes to block out the sight of death everywhere. Was he the last person alive or something? Why was everyone dead?

In some places, buildings were still partially caught on fire, and loud screeching metal noises sounded in every direction. The sturdiness of the skyscrapers around him was being weakened under the strain of constant burning flames.

Choking back a few despairing whimpers of fear and despair. The boy flinched as some rubble fell from a partially collapsed building. The sun was starting to go down and the remaining light was fading away. Instinct screamed for him to find shelter. As he got to his feet, a flashback flickered in his inner mind, showing him the inside of a house. A movie was playing in a living room and a group of faceless people was gathered on the adjacent couch laughing at the screen.

As soon as the image vanished, the boy clutched at it in his inner memory, replaying it over and over again. It was his only memory so far that was pleasant to remember. Even though he couldn't remember anything particularly significant from it, it meant the entire world to him at that moment.

He ventured around the ruined city, walking at least a few blocks away from where he first woke up. It was when the beginnings of darkness fell upon the world when he heard it. It was like an unworldly moan that started up from the sewer tunnels then echoed around the streets. Unlike he thought previously, he was definitely not alone anymore.

Oh God! Shelter! I need shelter! Come on body! Hurry up move faster!

Fearing for his miserable existence, the boy ran towards a back alleyway and watched in horror. What appeared to be zombies dragged themselves out of a nearby sewer tunnel entrance in the middle of the road and began shrieking in agitation at each other. He was going to die before the night was over.

Continuing to peak out from behind the brick wall that hide him. The boy felt a cold chill down his spine as a sewer grate shifted behind him deeper in the alleyway.

"It's… fresh. It's… tasty." The creature rasped as it eyed him with interest. It was halfway onto the concrete, and it hurried to crawl the rest of the way out before lumbering towards the petrified boy.

These things could talk?!

With a yelp, the boy sprinted out into the road without another thought, panic overtaking his rational thinking mind. Not before long, he had attracted the attention of many different zombie beings in the streets. They trailed after him hungrily. With his body as weak as it felt, it wouldn't be long before they caught him. Exhaustion flooded his weary limbs and made escape nearly impossible.

For the first time ever, he opened his dry mouth and screamed for help. At first it came out as a half choked croak, then with more clarity he rasped out. "Help! Somebody! Help!"

I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! They're gonna catch me! I'm all alone and I'm gonna die!

Pushing off a brick wall as he made a sharp turn down another street, the boy almost fell again as one of his legs buckled. A few muscles screamed in agony as he skipped a step and accidently pulled them at a wrong angle before running once more. A prominent limp started in his right leg as he urged himself on. He needed to survive. He wanted to survive.

Come on, Minho! Don't worry, Greenie we're on our way. Don't you dare shucking die on us!

"Help!" The boy yelped as the voice reached him with such clarity. His brain quickly supplied to him that it was just inside his head though. There wasn't actually anyone there. However, the clear sound of someone else's voice encouraged him to keep going, whether it was a flashback or not.

He made it down another street when his exhaustion finally kicked in full force. One second he was jogging then in the next he was on the ground. His exposed flesh scraped up on the concrete where his torn up clothes couldn't cover. The human like monsters were already rounding the corner behind him. They instantly crowed in triumph at his defeated figure that trembled helplessly in pain.

His head pounded at the probable concussion he had just given himself when it hit him.

Thomas.

His name was Thomas! He could die knowing what he was called at the very least. A small part of him still willed desperately that this was just some nightmare manifesting in his slumbering mind. That he was safe in his warm bed, far away from this mess and had a family that loved him. None of this could really be happening.

As the first zombie approached, ready to bite into him, something flew over Thomas' head and slammed through the monster's skull. It was dead instantly as it hit the ground and lay still. Turning his head slightly to see what had happened, Thomas paused in shock at seeing a thick spear penetrating through the creature's head.

"Attack! Don't let them get away!" A loud, accented voice yelled over the screams of both human and monster's alike. Within seconds a fight took place on the streets as human teenagers with drawn out weapons launched themselves at the zombies that fled for safety. They chased after them down the streets, and eventually the place began to clear out.

It wasn't long before two remaining boys grabbed Thomas and began to drag him away from the street. He fought reflexively at first until when the voice from before entered his mind.

Shuck it all, he's heavy. Where in the bloody heck did this one come from?

"Stop that, we're trying to help you!" One of the boys screamed down at him as the hurried across the pavement. He was an Asian teen about his age Thomas guessed and didn't look in the mood for his pointless struggling. He was only making their job harder and they seemed to be trying to save him. Without replying back, Thomas went limp allowed the two to manipulate him towards the building across the street.

"Minho grab his front, I'll lift his legs so we can get him up the stairs!" The blonde shouted.

Minho quickly reached under both of Thomas' arms while the blonde picked up his legs. They hurried at a much faster pace this time and were up the stairs in no time. The others didn't follow after them though which confused Thomas, but he found himself more focused on his current situation. Although he was exhausted and could barely so much as twitch he found himself staring up at the blonde that was obviously the leader of the two.

The lean boy voiced for them to stop suddenly before nudging a door open in the hallway they were in. "In here, let's go. There's some supplies that should hold us overnight."

"What about the others?" Minho panted as they set Thomas down on a single bare mattress in the corner of the room. The blonde limped over to the other corner of the room and peeled open a small closet. Thomas briefly wondered if this place had once been an apartment bedroom of some kind.

"They'll be fine. We'll meet up at the glade tomorrow, but until then we'll rest at this place." He picked up a couple bottles of water from the closet and tossed one to Minho before turning to look at Thomas. "I'm not bloody carrying this kid two miles across the city."

"… Thomas."

"Hm, did he just say something?" Minho asked with a frown as he turned to face towards Thomas.

"Is your name Thomas then?" The blonde questioned with a quirked eyebrow as he traveled back across the room.

"Yeah… Wh-?"

"No, no questions right now," The blonde interrupted. "Sleep and we'll talk in the morning. You look like klunk right now and could probably use some rest."

"He looks like he's got one foot in the grave already. Is he even going to make it through the night?"

"He will," At this, the blonde's brown eyes stared intently down at Thomas who willed himself to stay awake. "This one's got spirit."

"Or he's just crazy! Who just decides to run through the streets after dark when the cranks come out to hunt? I think he's just suicidal."

"Maybe," The blonde said it in an agreeing tone, but the way his stance remand unchanged spoke otherwise. " Either way, let's all get some sleep before the sun comes up. It's been a bloody awful day already, and tomorrow will only be worse."

I know you're the telepath from before. You came from the lab, right?

Thomas winced as the beginnings of a headache seared through his skull. The voice clearly belonged to the blonde's this time, and it was then that he began to worry. He'd thought maybe a half an hour ago that the voice came from one of his past memories. However, now he had to deal with the much freakier fact that he could communicate telepathically with this stranger.

Yeah… I think so.

The blonde gave no indication that he had heard anything as he sat beside Minho against the wall and discussed night shifts with him. Thomas' eyes finally slid shut as he surrendered to his body's demands for rest. He began to slip away when the boy responded back to his surprise.

I'll explain as much as I can tomorrow. As far as I know, only a few of us have made it out of that place and survived.

What's so special about the lab?

Thomas peaked open an eyelid to see the blonde watching him with interest.

I said I'd explain tomorrow, Greenie.

The blonde's lip twitched into an amused smile as Minho finally settled in a pile of blankets on the floor nearby. It looked as if he was taking the first shift tonight.

Thomas. Not Greenie. Thomas corrected as irritation crawled down his spine. He was proud of remembering his real name. It was the one thing that he could remember accurately that was his. What should I call you?

"Newt."

Thomas flinched at the sudden noise as the blonde answered his question out loud. Minho grumbled and swatted at Newt's leg before he settled down again moments later.

Night, Tommy.

Still feeling stunned by his confirmation that he was directly communicating with the blonde in his head. Thomas nodded slightly before passing out with Minho in a matter of seconds. Even though he had just met these two, he instinctively felt safe in their presence. Maybe he did have some luck on his side after all. Yet, most importantly, he wasn't alone in this crazy, beat up world.

A/N: I saw Maze Runner about a week ago and I've seen it twice since, and then I read the books, and now I'm writing this… I'm a bit obsessed right now, but yeah. I have a couple chapters typed up so far, and I've got a vague idea on where I'm going with this story. So I guess I'll see where this goes…