Break My Bones

Chapter 14: Wicked End

"Down here!" Thomas yelled as he quickly indicated to a door.

Teresa and Rachel moved quickly while Thomas shooed them on ahead, covering for them as they evaded Janson... by entering a medical ward.

"Oh, sh*t..." Rachel swore when she saw the Cranks locked up in the holding cells lining each side of the dark lab, lit by an eerie faint green light that was the only light in the darkness. And the Cranks weren't even the worst part.

"We need to get out of here." Teresa gasped as she realized the same thing Rachel did. They were trapped in a dead-end.

Thomas was uncharacteristically quiet and both girls glanced at where he was leaning against a lab table with one hand pressed to his side.

"What's wrong?" Teresa asked.

Thomas responded by slowly lifting his hand away from his side and Rachel sucked in a sharp breath as she saw the blood that covered it.

"Oh no."

Rachel hurried over to the boy quickly, bending down to examine the bullet wound while Teresa seemed to stagger with the shock of seeing Thomas injured.

"Thomas?" Teresa asked in a meek voice, sounding for once like just a seventeen year old girl.

Rachel meanwhile tore off the cleanest strip of her shirt she could find and she pressed it against Thomas's side grimly as she eased him quickly to the ground, hidden behind some of the lab tables.

"Thomas, hold on." Rachel whispered while Teresa hurried over with equal worry. "Just hold on, okay?"

Teresa began rummaging around for a bandage or something they could use to clean his wound while Rachel pressed down on the bullet wound on Thomas's stomach.

"You gotta... you gotta go..." Thomas mumbled weakly, trying to push Rachel's hand away.

"And leave you behind?" Rachel muttered, ignoring his feeble attempts as she kept a steady pressure on his wound.

"Newt... You gotta... Newt..." Thomas gasped, and Rachel's heart constricted.

She'd be lying if she said there wasn't a part of her that was tempted to do as Thomas was suggesting; a part of her that was screaming at her to take the cure from Teresa and run while she could. Newt needed that cure, otherwise there was a high chance he was a goner whether they managed to save him from his chest wound or not. And a selfish part of her told her she couldn't risk that for anything or anyone else. An even more selfish, albeit smaller, part of her was also screaming that she was going to die if she didn't leave Thomas. But...

"I'm not leaving you, Thomas."

Rachel looked up at Thomas, grey eyes locking with dark brown. Her vision was starting blur slightly again as the adrenaline slowed down in her system and the incessant pounding in her head came right back to the forefront of her mind but she forced herself to focus as she continued determinedly.

"Our fates were entwined the moment you asked me to help you betray WCKD. I made my choice then: I'll follow you to the end. And I'm not going down without a fight."

Teresa glanced over as she brought over some clean bandages she'd managed to rummage out of a medical kit from one of the nearby cabinets. Thomas also stared at Rachel, his gaze pained although Rachel couldn't tell if it was because of the hole in his stomach or the idea of possibly all dying together. She shoved the thought brusquely away; they would get out. She had to believe that. Even if she didn't think it was entirely possible.

As if in answer to her thought, the door to the medical ward hissed as it was opened once more. All three teens tensed, knowing who it had to be. Teresa slid down behind the lab table while Rachel quietly crawled between tables to try and circle behind Janson without him noticing. She managed to get a glimpse of the man as she carefully peeked around cabinets. Rachel grimaced as she saw Janson staying firmly in view of the doors with his gun held out before him.