Sonya and Harriet led us through a different tunnel that we hadn't seen before and called for the truck blocking it to move. There were about six men there, all with military trucks and uniforms. Harriet told them we were going to base, and I didn't get a sickening feeling about it like I had the other places. Although, that could be because I felt like I could pass out at any moment.
"Wait, how did you guys get here?" Aris asked.
"The Right Arm got us out," Harriet said casually.
"Wait, wait." Thomas jumped forward. "The Right Arm. Do you know where they are?"
Harriet smiled, opening the door of a truck for us. "Hop in." Half of us went in one truck, half in another, and we drove for ten minutes up the rest of the mountain. The place was a little dank, a little dirty, but it was a stepping stone up from every other place we'd been caught in thus far. "They've been planning this for over a year now. This is all for us."
The people here were laughing and behaving like normal people who weren't scared of the entire world. It was a beautiful thing to see, and I was just happy to have seen it before I had to die. I was happy this is where my friends would be without me.
"You guys are lucky you found us when you did," Sonya said. "We're moving out at first light. Where's Vince?"
"Somewhere over there, I think," a man with a gun said, waving to our right. He seemed friendly enough. Better than all the other guards I'd met.
"Who's Vince?" I asked, hoping not to sound as weak as I was. Whenever they left tomorrow, I would be staying here since I knew my time was quickly coming to an end and I refused to put my friends in danger.
"He's the one who decides if you get to stay," Harriet said with a kind smile. It was good to see her smile at me instead of yell.
"I thought the Right Arm was supposed to be an army," Minho said.
"Yeah, we were," another man said, walking out of a tent to meet us. "This is all that's left of us. Lot of good people died getting us this far. Who are they?"
"They're Immunes, Vince. Caught them coming up the mountain," Harriet said. I looked at the ground, thinking that I should never have come up here with them. I should've told everyone. I should've already put a bullet in my head.
"Did you check them?" he asked.
"I know this guy, Aris. I trust him," she said.
"Well, I don't. Check them."
Everything around me went a little blurry, then it all started to fade to black as my breaths turned into wheezes. "Thomas," I panted, and I fell to the ground, gasping for a breath I couldn't get.
Thomas shook me gently. "Y/N? Y/N!" He was on his knees, folding me into his arms as he caressed me against him. "Y/N, talk to me." Minho stood over him, his eyes wide and jumping about as his brain tried to understand what was happening.
"I told you," I wheezed. "You have to shoot me."
He shook his head, trying not to cry. "No one's shooting anyone."
"What's going on with her?" Vince asked, kneeling down next to Thomas.
"I don't know," he lied. His tears dropped onto my face as Vince pulled up my pant leg. At the sight of the bite, he jumped away from me like I had burned him.
"Crank! We got a crank!" He took out his gun, pointing it at me, and instantly everyone shouted no, pleaded for them to spare me as they formed a circle around me, Minho standing in the forefront of it as if protecting me was his only duty. Even Thomas held up a hand, screaming for them to stop.
"Listen, look! This just happened, she's not dangerous yet!" Thomas said as a man grabbed him away from me.
"You shouldn't have brought her here!" Vince yelled.
"I know, but I-..." He didn't finish his sentence, but I hoped I knew what he was going to say as he cried for me. Minho stood over me to replace Thomas, protecting the monster that he shouldn't.
"We let cranks in now, the Safe Haven doesn't last a week! Step back!"
"No!" Minho yelled back.
"I understand," Thomas said, trying to see calm. "Just listen, okay? Please. Alright, I told her that you could help her. Okay? Please, there's gotta be something you can do. She's my-. I-. Just please."
"Yeah, there is," he said. For a moment, there was hope, but then he cocked his gun. "I can put her out of her misery."
"No, no!" Thomas shouted, struggling against the men who'd captured him. A few more wrestled Minho and Newt away, taking Fry with them, and I laid on the ground, trembling and wheezing as I felt this virus taking hold.
"Just kill me," I forced out, ignoring the tear that fell into the dirt.
"Vince, that's enough! Let them go!" a woman called, walking down the path to us. The second Thomas was released, he dropped back down next to me, holding me in his arms again as the tears streamed down his cheeks.
"She's infected, Doc," Vince said. The Doc had brown hair, and an old but soft face, and she wouldn't take her eyes off Thomas. "Mary, there's nothing we can do for her."
"No, but he can," she said, nodding her head at Thomas.
"What?" His voice cracked, tearing his eyes from me to her as he tried to stop the tear flow.
"Hello, Thomas."
"You know me?"
She nodded sadly, pursing her lips. "Interesting... It makes sense they'd put the two of you in the Maze. Though I must admit, I thought Y/N would be immune, too." She bent down next to me, lifting my hand. I was conscious enough to know this was happening, but my body was taken by quakes and pains. "I was worried they'd kill you after what you two did."
Thomas looked down at me like he thought I was going to be able to answer. "What we did?"
"The first time we spoke, you and Y/N said you couldn't take it anymore, watching your friends die one by one. The last time we spoke, you guys gave me the coordinates of every Wicked compound, trial, and lab."
"They were our source," Vince mumbled in awe.
"Yes. That's why I'm helping her. We couldn't have pulled all this off without them. Take her to the tent. And get these guys some warm clothes." My body was lifted by Thomas and Mary, and I was limp, unable to move anything of mine. But the jostling around as we walked had me quickly loosing consciousness. One thing did strike me as odd. Mary had said that he would help me. Cure me, I didn't know, and despite my hope, I knew it was impossible.
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Thomas laid Y/N down gently on the bed provided, his tears dried now that he knew she would be okay. He smoothed the hair back from her face, watching her breathe irregularly. Mary set up some tubes and pricked him with a needle to gather his blood, but he didn't pay much attention to it until she began talking five minutes later.
"In the beginning, we were lost. All we knew for sure was that the younger you were, the stronger your chances." She collected a tube of his blood and walked to her make-shift lab after taping up his arm.
Thomas looked over his shoulder at her, turning slightly as he took Y/N's hand in his own. "You worked for Wicked?"
Mary nodded, not proud of it. In fact, it was one of her biggest regrets. "Long time ago. You know, at first, we had the best intentions. Find a cure, save the world." Mary mixed together chemicals into a beaker. "It was clear you kids were the key because you were immune. But why?" Teresa stepped to the tent quietly, listening to Mary speak with curiosity. "Eventually, we found an answer. An enzyme produced by the brains of the immune." In a test tube, she mixed together two liquids until the green turned clear. "Once separated from the bloodstream, it can serve as a powerful agent to slow the spread to the virus."
"So you found a cure," Thomas said, the conversation taking an unexpected turn.
"Not exactly. The enzyme can't be manufactured, only harvested from the immune. The young." Mary sucked the liquid in the tube into a syringe. "Of course, that didn't stop Wicked. If they had their way, they'd sacrifice an entire generation. All for this." She lifted the syringe holding the blue enzyme. "A gift of biology, of evolution. But one not meant for all of us."
As Mary walked to Y/N's side, Teresa frowned and walked away. Y/N's breath became shallower as Mary pressed the needle into her skin. Thomas wondered if she felt any pain or if it was all just nothing for her. When the enzyme entered her system, Y/N sighed in relief, her breathing falling back to normal. Thomas sniffled, wiping away a grateful tear as he squeezed her hand.
"How long will that give her?"
"It's different for everyone. A few months maybe." Mary held Y/N's free hand, feeling her pulse drop back to normal. "But that's the catch, isn't it? She'll always need more."
"So I'll give her more. However much she needs, I'll give it to her. I'll give her all of it," Thomas said seriously, staring down at the girl.
Mary, though she knew how Thomas felt in Wicked before, said, "What is she to you?"
Thomas swallowed, knowing that was always the question. From Minho, from Newt, even Fry wanted to know. Everyone wanted him to choose faster than he could. But he thought he knew now. "I think I love her," he sighed.
Mary smiled at him. "That's what I thought you'd say."
"What?" Thomas turned to look at her with confusion as she cleaned up her lab area.
"I knew her father. He was great man. Respectable. Strong. Y/N was the same way growing up, at least in Wicked she was. She fought for her beliefs even though she was young. A lot like you. You fought side by side a lot of the time. I figured this would happen when you two grew up." Mary trashed the needle into a biowaste bin, smiling at Thomas as she removed her gloves. "You rest. I'll come back for you in a while." Mary paused at the door, watching Thomas kiss her hand clasped in both of his before doubling back to him. "Thomas... You know she can't come with us, right?"
Thomas didn't answer, his chest feeling like it was splitting in two as she offered him a sympathetic smile before leaving the tent. He leaned over Y/N, touching her cheek gently. "Don't worry. I won't leave without you."
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My eyes fluttered open at the feeling of warm lips pressed to my forehead. Thomas was leaning over me, his jacket shrugged onto his body. "Hey," I said hoarsely.
He smiled at me, happy to see me awake, and quickly sat down on the cot next to me. "Hey, sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. Are you okay? How are you feeling?"
"I'm good. I feel good. How long will it last?" I wasn't fooling myself into thinking something that wasn't true. The truth, though harder to handle, was what I cared about.
He looked down sadly. "Doc said a few months. Said we had to leave you here."
I reached for his hand, holding it lightly. "You should."
"What?" He looked at me like I'd just threatened to kill his dog, almost like he was disgusted by the fact that I would even suggest it.
"Leave me here. I won't endanger the others."
"You won't. I-I can keep you alive, I can-."
"Thomas. It's okay." I smiled at him through the tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. As much as I hated it, it had to be done. I had to leave him. I had to leave everyone. "I made it this far. That's something, right? And I made it with you." Thomas nodded, but he was upset again, trying to hold back his own tears and be strong for me. He leaned over my bed, kissing me gently. I could feel his lip trembling against mine and he pressed his forehead to mine. "Don't forget to say goodbye."
He shook his head but didn't say anything more on the matter. He kissed my head, swiping my hair back. "Get some rest." I watched him leave, knowing he wouldn't be back to say goodbye. Not because he didn't care, but because it was too hard. I knew this was the last time I'd see him.