Stardust - Thomas - Maze Runner

Chapter 23 - Conversation

From the moment Thomas had walked into Selena's office at her request after his talk with Newt, he had been quiet, just sitting on the chair nearby that Selena had pointed him to and staring ahead at nothing. While Selena worked on getting her tools together as fast as she could - considering she didn't know exactly how long she had before Lawrence or one of his guys realized she and Thomas had been gone for far too long -, she allowed the boy to sit with his own thoughts, but once she was done prepping, she sighed, spinning around in her heels as she leaned back against her desk and looked straight over at Thomas.

"I'm guessing your talk with Newt didn't go as you expected it to?" Selena asked, her voice gentle, but her words sharp, letting Thomas know she was, in fact, talking to him. When the boy didn't reply however, she sighed again. "He's infected, isn't he? By the flare?"

That seemed to have gotten Thomas' attention because, as soon as the words left her lips, he snapped his head in her direction, his eyes cutting at her as Selena just waited for him to snap at her, just like she supposed he would.

"You knew?" He asked, as Selena shook her head.

"No." She admitted, Thomas' stance relaxing just a little bit at that. "I saw him struggling to move a little while he went down the tunnels last night, but I just thought he was hurt, somehow. But then today, back when he pushed you up against the wall... That was when I guessed. I mean... Newt is always the level-headed one, right? He wouldn't just snap at you like that."

Thomas sighed then, his eyes falling down on his lap as Selena bit her lip, giving Thomas yet another second to recompose himself before he was finally lifting his eyes up to meet hers again.

"He showed me his arm." Thomas admitted, as Selena nodded, almost encouragingly. "It's bad, Selly."

It was Selena's turn to sigh now, her hands holding a syringe as she took a second to look at it. All she needed was a little bit of Thomas blood. A little bit of it to confirm her theory and, if she was actually right, a little bit more to make a serum - no, not a serum; a cure - for Newt and maybe - just maybe - actually save his life.

"He can hold on a little longer, I'm sure." She said, as Thomas frowned a little.

"I'm not sure he'd want to live his whole life depending on a stupid serum to survive." Thomas mumbled. "I don't think he wants to get to the point where he turns into another Lawrence, you know?"

"What if he doesn't have to?" Selena asked, a small smile tugging on her lips when Thomas frowned at her, confused, his mouth wide open when the words died in his throat. Taking another look around the room just to make sure she had actually closed the door after them, Selena walked over to Thomas, crouching down beside him on his chair in a way that had the boy leaning a little closer to her, ready to hear from her whatever secret he knew she was about to uncover to him. "This is... I mean, I'm not 100% sure about this yet, which is why I need your help, but, Tom... I think... I think I might have found a solution."

"A solution?" Thomas frowned, a little lost. "A solution for what?"

"A cure, Tom." She smiled a little when Thomas widened his eyes at her. "I think I might have found a cure."

Thomas didn't react for a moment, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open, frozen in his place in a way that almost had Selena worried for his reaction. Looking over at her, Thomas was shocked to say the least. A cure, she had said? People had been dying and killing for that for years. WCKD had been working to find something close to it for years. Selena herself had been taken from her family and spent three years of her life in a maze like a lab rat for it to no avail and now... Now this young woman, by herself... Did she find a cure? Did she really find a cure?