"And here it is, our final night alive
And as the earth runs to the ground
Oh boy, it's you that I lie with
As the atom bomb locks in
Oh, it's you I watch TV with
As the world, as the world caves in"
As the World Caves in – Matt Maltese
▰▱▰▱▰▱
Their peace came to an end when Doctor Paige appeared through the radio again, advising them to better hurry. Randall had already realized Thomas, and now Olivia, were missing, and they couldn't stay there any longer. They were going to find them if they did.
They jogged through what seemed an unknown building now, lights flickering red, torn rooms, no guards in the zone at all, no scientists either. They had done this, and it was no coming back now. The plan was half of its course.
"Jorge is heading to the hangar, he'll see if he can start one of the Bergs so we can cut paths!" Brenda informed everyone, since she had the communication with the rest of the Safe Haven people.
Thomas was running in the middle of the group, muscles burning with the strain, when suddenly a bolt of electricity grazed the side of his face, and made him double over to press his hands on his ears, trying to stop the ringing that came.
Everyone noticed the sudden attack and searched for a place to hide, Newt went to grab Thomas by the arm and moved him behind column. Thomas silently thanked him for that.
"You okay?" The blond asked worried, checking his face for any injury, spotting a small burn mark on his temple, and brushing his with the pad oh his finger, making him wince at the touch.
"I'm fine, I'm fine" Thomas assured, going for his launcher and already preparing to confront their attackers. The ringing subsiding thankfully. "Are you?" He asked alarmed when he noticed the graze on Newt's right arm.
"I'm okay, it was only the jacket" He answered.
He spied from behind his shoulder, only to spot three WCKD soldiers approaching slowly too the group, cautious. He adjusted the grip to his weapon with a sudden rage cursing in his veins. Oh, he was angry.
He tried to mimic the movement he made previously, and spinned to shoot the guys, who dropped to the ground convulsing and making awful choking sound. He got out of his hiding place to check on them, when he heard another groan behind him, and a fourth guard was already joining his partners but centimeters from him, behind the guard, Brenda was with her launcher, which was escaping smoke from the barrel.
"Thanks" He whispered shocked, as the rest of the group got out from their spots as well.
"Be careful the next time" She smirked and he chuckled rolling his eyes.
"Come one, we gotta keep going"
The rest followed and they continued, only a couple of meters were left. At this point he felt as if his legs were about to buckle at any second, he hated feeling this way. He hated having to depend on a person. God, he was so frustrated.
He shook his thoughts, spotting Newt jogging now on his side, both in the front. Just like the old times. He smiled, and the blond returned back.
"Wait, wait" Frypan alarmed. Everyone stopped on their tracks and frowned in unison. Fry pointed at him, "Thomas, your neck is shining"
Thomas' eyes widened and he led his hand to the lump on the back of his neck.
"Shit, the tracker" He looked at Newt, before kneeling on the floor as the blond approached to take a look at it.
"It activated again, damn" Newt cursed, running his fingers through the weirdly shaped scar, same as he and the gladers had before.
"What?" Minho asked confused, approaching as well to check it, "They put another one of those on you?"
Now everyone was staring at his neck and it made him feel uncomfortable, he got up and dropped his launcher to the floor.
"We need to take it out, they must be already following us" He took out his jacket, since the neck was covering the spot. Newt understood what he was trying to do, and looked at the rest, spotting the little girl between them, looking slightly frightened.
"Olivia" He notified Thomas, who raised his head and stared at her.
"Olivia, can you come here for a minute, please?" The girl obeyed and approached to him, he tilted softly her head forward to check the same scar on her neck. He sighed, looking at Newt.
"Does someone have a knife? Or something sharp" The blond asked in a hurry, and they began to check their pockets.
"I have a clasp-knife" Aris raised the object and handed it to him, at the same time Olivia huddled against Thomas a bit more, scared of the object.
"Here, take this" Sonya approached and took out a couple of things from her bag, including a piece of white gauze, tweezers and alcohol, "You need it" She told her brother and nodded grabbing the objects.
"Liv, we need to do something quick on your skin just to make sure they don't follow us. Will you let Newt do it?" He asked the most softly possible.
"The bad guys?" She asked.
"Yeah, the bad guys" He confirmed, "It will be really quick, okay? Almost like a mosquito bite." He assured. The girl looked uncertain, before nodding and situated herself between his arms as he kneeled again to be at the same height.
"Okay, I'll make it quick" Newt assured and situated in front of him, he allowed her to put her head on his shoulder, and she instead hid it in the crook of his neck, letting Newt have an easy access. The rest of the group positioned in case someone came.
"Just squeeze my hand, okay?" He offered and she nodded, curling into herself on his chest, and squeezing her tiny hand around his.
When Newt made a small cut on her skin, she whimpered a little, squeezing harder, and damn the girl had strength. She didn't cry, and when Newt finished, she looked up at him, and he congratulated.
"You are the bravest little girl" She giggled at that, and softly touched the gauze placed on her skin testing the spot. She winced and pushed her hand away. "It's okay, you won't be feeling anything soon"
After that, it was his turn, and he let the girl go with his friends as he prepared himself, tilting his head forward and allowing Newt so stand behind him. He felt a small prick on his skin and winced slightly when the blond poured alcohol on the incision, before using the tweezers to take out a tiny chip inserted under the skin. He covered the cut with the gauze and used a piece of band to secure it. When he finished, he patted him on the shoulder.
"All done"
"Thanks" He said brushing the tender spot with his fingers. It stung but it wasn't that bad. "What do we do with this?"
He held the bloodied microchips up when Newt gave them to him.
"Here, give it to me" Harriet took a step forward and grabbed the small devices. Then walking inside one of the rooms and throwing the objects through the window, landing on the side of the building outside. "Done"
"Good, let's keep going. That will retain them for a little bit"
▰▱▰▱▰▱
It took them ten minutes, but they finally made it to the hangar through a small metal door. They hid behind some boxes there, launchers prepared just like them. There were plenty of WCKD soldiers in the area, all armed.
In front of a huge berg, Thomas took notice of Randall standing with a notepad on his hands, checking on something there, with a trouble expression on his face. He grinned a little bit, he could almost feel the frustration and rage on the man's body.
"Is that him?" Minho asked crouched on his left side.
"Yeah, it is" Newt answered for him, looking at Randall with the same look of hatred as him.
"There's too much people" Minho said puzzled. "Where the heck is Jorge?"
"He told me he would be here. But I don't see him" Brenda stated, "Do you?"
"Nope" Thomas answered. Checking every possible hiding spot around them, but he caught no sight of Jorge there.
"Psss"
A noise caught his attention from behind. He turned around to find nothing there.
"Psss"
The same noise put him on alert. He turned around again, but found nothing. Then, he narrowed his eyes, and spotted a figure behind other set of boxes trying to catch his attention.
"Ramirez?" He asked in disbelief, trying to focus his sight. But everything was turning blurry little by little now.
"Follow me..." He gestured the metal door they came from.
They all caught the sign and followed the soldier inside the building again. Once they weren't in sight of the Randall's people, they got up and began to walk. Ramirez led them to the familiar meeting point, the one next to the hangar that had a window with its sight.
"Ava wants to see you"
He opened the door and they were invited inside, where Ava was sat in front of the table with the big map on it. He tried to ignore the gasps of surprise his friends made behind him, or the expression of Vince.
"Glad to see you okay" She greeted him with a grin, but her face showed northing more than exhaustion.
"You too" He answered, approaching to take a look at all the notes, "What do you got? What is it?"
"I need to inform you something" She said, before looking behind him, to the rest of the group, "You must be Olivia"
The little girl hid behind his legs, he gently placed a hand on the top of her head, encouraging her to greet the woman. She nodded sheepishly.
"We got her out of her room, we are taking her with us" He informed and the woman smiled at her, nodding at him.
"Why don't they go with Ramirez? He has stuff to give you. Equipment" She offered, and Olivia let go of Thomas' legs, going with their friends who were standing there not knowing what to do. "Stay here so I can explain a couple of things"
They did what she said, and Ramirez led them outside, only Newt and he stayed with her, analyzing the situation.
"Do we know something about the people in the community?" Thomas asked in a hurry, "Olivia's parents were inside that group, and she wanted to see them"
"Thomas..." Doctor Paige looked down, Thomas didn't want to hear the next words that escaped her mouth, "Olivia's parents were executed a bit after they took her"
He froze there, looking at the woman, wanting to hear her say that was a bad joke. But, when had she ever said a joke? He ran a hand through his hair, messing it more and took a deep breath trying not to punch the table, or the wall.
"Shit..." He muttered, breath caught in his throat. "Shit, shit, shit..."
He had promised her. It was all his fault. No this couldn't be happening, they were going to take her home, with her family. She didn't deserve the same destiny as him, she was going to live safe with her parents, and her dog. No, this was not his plan.
"Tommy calm down." He almost forgot Newt was with him there, resting a hand on his back, but looking sad as well.
"No, no I can't calm down! Because this is clearly not going like you guys planned it. And we have a bunch of soldiers right where we need to go, and now I find out that little girl is an orphan because of me!" He really didn't want to snap at him like that, but it was all too overwhelming to keep his head cool right now.
"Thomas..."
He couldn't remember one time he was called like that by him. He stared fondly into his eyes, his own ones filling with tears, making them look glassy.
"You can't blaming you for that, it was their choice to keep her hidden." The words couldn't convince him even a little, but the hard expression on Newt's face told him everything. They all were feeling frustrated at the moment, even Doctor Paige, and it was no right of him to snap like that.
"I'm sorry" He whispered, wiping his eyes before any tear could fall and make it evident that he was crying.
"It's alright, Tommy" There it was, his chest softened again.
"Just, please. Tell us your news" He hurried Ava Paige, turning back at the map, and taking a deep breath to calm himself more.
"Come here..." She gestured him to approach to the other side of the table, "... Randall is mapping the whole building, but the fact that you took your tracker and threw it outside slowed them a bit. They are everywhere, so getting out through the hole in the wall is impossible."
"So either we fight him, or we fight him?" Newt raised his eyebrows.
"Your only way out is through the air, so it is through Randall too"
All he wanted to do was kill that guy. He wanted to end it as maniac as it sounded. He put his friends into this, and now they were all trapped in hell itself. He didn't know if it was him or his current sick mind but he didn't care at this point.
"We could spread them" He advised out of nowhere, "If they have other things to worry, then they'll have less people in the hangar, and it will be easier for us to fight with the people we got"
"What are you suggesting?" Newt asked confused, but kinda getting his point.
"You said you planted a distraction. That gave you enough time to get to me, and Olivia as well. So what if they have more distractions? All at the same time. They'll need more people, and we would be clearing our way out" He explained.
It was actually hard for that to work, since Randall could easily ignore. So that's why they needed to distract them with things they cared about, then they would be having no other choice but checking what is going on.
"You would be creating a total chaos inside the walls" Newt stated hesitantly, "More than the one that already is"
"I don't think it is a bad idea..." Ava spoke, "We need to figure how we are going to do it. We have a shortage of people"
"Alright, let's go for it" Newt stated, fixing his jacket and his backpack.
▰▱▰▱▰▱
In the blink of an eye, Doctor Paige had already everything prepared, and her group of soldiers divided to plant the bombs. They had decided, that it was better if they actually stayed on the points, and gave Randall' men a fight, so they could weaken them.
Thomas tried to take a deep breath as they jogged back to the hangar, but it was impossible at the rate his heart was racing, so he stopped his tracks and put a hand on the nearest wall to support himself. Without noticing his body was slumping forward.
"Wow, you okay?" Newt asked as soon as he caught him, concerned flared in his face.
He raised his free hand in front of him to gesture he was fine, but the wet cough escaping his mouth said another thing. He tried to breathe evenly, in through his nose and out through his mouth, once the hacking sound wasn't attacking anymore. He was dizzy now.
"Fine, fine. Just... Need to catch my breath for a bit" He said a little strain, trying not to look at everyone's worried looks, "Continue, I'm right behind you"
Of course no one would listen to him, and instead stayed there staring in a daze. He hated being the center of attention in this occasions.
"Just breathe. It's okay" Newt rubbed his back soothingly, trying to ignore the pallor his face took in the last hour, even more than before.
"I'm okay..." Thomas coughed for one last time, once he could breathe properly, "Let's keep going"
Newt helped him straighten, and let him go once it was safe to continue. Thomas caught him staring deeply and sighed.
"Please, don't look at me like that"
"Like what?" Newt sounded startled by the accusation more than question.
"Like I'm going to collapse at any second" Thomas struggled to say the words, first because they were moving at the same time, and second because deep inside he felt like that.
"I don't know, are you?" Newt raised his eyebrows, completely ignoring his frustrated expression.
"Just... Stop" Thomas said almost pleading, "Let's complete this, then we'll be able to rest"
Newt seemed uncertain.
"We are here!" Vince commanded once they reached the metal door again, and thank god they were cut. Because the conversation wasn't going any place Thomas would like.
"Alright, everyone get into position, and prepare for the blow" Thomas ordered next to the lock, ready to open it. He looked at Sonya, who was grabbing Olivia by the shoulders affectively in front of her, "Please stay in the back, and take care of her" He said and she nodded understandingly.
Newt silently thanked him for that.
"Let's go"
He opened the door and with a movement he crouched behind the previous boxes fastly, ignoring the way his vision swam with that. He rested a hand on his temple, wincing at the throbbing headache coming back.
"You stay behind too" Newt murmured low next to him, "Don't keep straining yourself."
"What? No, I told you I'm fine" It was obvious he was going to protect.
"That statement is just as truth to the fact that WCKD is good" Newt snapped furiously, not raising his voice.
"God, Newt. Please shut up" He held his head with one hand, trying to hide his grimace. He tried to sound as softly as possible, he didn't want Newt to take it bad.
"He's right kid..." They had forgotten Vince was in front of them, looking concerned as well, "You already did so much, and went through so much. Let us handle it"
"No, I can't let you handle it. It's not what you deserve of me" He stated firmly, keeping his voice down of course. But he wasn't going to give up and leave his own problem to them, not this time.
Both men sighed I unison, but they didn't have time to answer back, when a low grumble shook the area, like the first one. But it was felt in every part of the building and inside of the walls. They already knew what it was. The hangar turned into chaos again, Randall began to yell orders at the first person who caught his eyes, and they began to run into directions.
Seven soldiers approximately stayed, and it was their chance to attack.
The first shot was thrown by them, when they caught a movement behind one of the huge packages, Aris to be more specific, who was crawling with Brenda to grab better positions.
From there, the fight broke in, illuminating the air with bolts of electricity coming from their launchers.
Thomas shoot specially trying with all his will to bring Randall down. It was his main reason, and all he wanted to do was to make him pay for all the suffering he had to go through in the last months, he and Newt.
The next thing his eyes caught, was Gally letting out a strained yell, and when his eyes moved, he could see the source. He watched as the boy collapsed next to Frypan, limbs trembling as the energy coursed through them, and trying helplessly to, indeed, help him.
He squeezed his eyes shut, and then focused back on the battle zone, spotting the guard that had just shot his friend, and throwing at him plenty of volts in a perfect shot in no time. He grinned satisfied.
"Tommy, there's another one on his left!" He heard Newt warning him.
He spotted the soldier and this time it took him two shots to bring him down.
"Thanks, Newt!" He yelled between the chaos.
"Thomas!"
A hoarse voice stood out between the noise, and Thomas' head immediately raised at the familiarity. He hated that voice and the person with it.
"What!? Can't you be brave enough to show yourself!?"
He rested his head back as he was sitting behind the package, and closed his eyes shut tightly. The last thing he needed was another stupid talk from that man.
"I bet you want to see what I got here!" He could perfectly picture Randall's smirk inside his head. The expression that has tormented him for a long, long time. "Bring him..."
His eyes opened as soon as he caught that order, in something that definitely looked like concern. He turned helplessly towards Newt on his left a couple of feet away, searching for a second opinion. The blond looked as troubled as him. He let out one last grunt, before he raised on his feet squeezing the launcher in his torso.
The first thing he saw made his blood ran cold, and between the dizziness it didn't settled well on him. Randall was standing at the entrance of the Berg, using his last hint of power, and in front of him was Jorge kneeled with his hands wrapped on his back, and a guard pointing at his head on his side.
What caught his attention was the man's face beaten and bloodied. He was breathing hardly, but his expression showed nothing else but rage.
"Thomas..." Jorge whispered, something like relieved and unbelieving.
"Good thing you appeared. Now we can negotiate." Randall clasped his hands with a small sound, letting the notepad under his armpit.
"Why are you doing this?" Thomas asked, a little bit desperate, but he tried to hide it as much as possible, "You lost, WCKD has lost"
"Oh no, we haven't. And I'm going to use everything on my hands to keep you right where you must be" Randall's expression darkened with the last words.
"I'm not staying, I don't want to stay here anymore!" He yelled, pointing the launcher at Randall, he had wished to be in this position tons of times.
"Are you listening to yourself!? Have you forgotten the precious talks we've had before!? You can't escape us! You'll never do!" Randall yelled back, the strength of his voice echoing through all the hangar, "You've never had a choice, just like now. I have one of yours, and if you don't want to join him to the considerable list of people dead because of you, then you should at least think about your choices"
"Thomas, don't listen to him. You are not going back to that place" Jorge tried to reason strained, only to receive another punch in the face by Randall.
"Don't touch him!" Thomas turned around to spot Brenda joining the argument, out of her hiding place.
"Oh, really? What are you gonna do about it?" Randall raised his eyebrows, keeping her silent. "Look at you Thomas! Do you think it is worth to keep fighting!? You look like a freaking corpse!"
"Shucking psychopath" Thomas heard Minho raising from behind the packages on his other side, and with that the rest of the group came out, ready to fight against Randall.
"Look, you have friends after all. I thought everybody hated you at this point" Randall spoke again, trying to bury him in shame just like every time he opened his mouth. "I would tell them to put a step back if I were you. We don't want Jorge dead after all"
"Shut up" Newt snapped but appeared to be ignored.
"Do I have to count to three so you can make a decision?" Randall pushed.
He could see Jorge mumbling a 'no' constantly from his spot. Why were they making him choose? He didn't want to choose, he wanted to go home. He has never asked for this, he just wanted to get to Newt, and now another person could get killed because of his stupid impulsive behavior. He was a failure, from day one. He didn't feel like humanity's source of hope. He was so fucking tired.
"3..."
A lot of things were running through his head in the moment.
"2..."
If it was for him, he would just let exhaustion consume him completely. Maybe it was the best idea. His legs were at the edge of bucking under him.
"1..."
He saw total darkness before his head hit the floor.
A gunshot and female scream erupted.
"JORGE!"