A siren wailed in the distance. I tried to remember the point at where it started – I don't recall it sounding at all.
But it was there, loud and directly in my ears so all I could hear was the dangerous howl of an alarm that alerts the other soldiers. Alerts them to say that there are intruders in the building – that we are in the building.
I am not a fan of the alarm.
Thomas would screech at us to hurry up, to stay close to him so we wouldn't get separated and end up dead as we would have no way to protect one another.
He'd fly around corners, dodging the yells of soldiers and the bullets that followed. Newt would pull me into his side, shielding my head from any potential impact.
But it quickly became continuous. We would rush through every corridor, every hallway and every exit that we had access to – but there was nowhere else for us to go. Every possible way to remove ourselves from this situation was cornered off or barricaded.
We were stuck.
Thomas had thrown himself into the West Wing, signally for us to follow him. He didn't notice that Janson was standing at the other end, getting frustrated that he couldn't find us.
But the man turned his head to the right slightly quicker than Thomas had, and he had noticed we were there way before Thomas had clocked it.
Which left me and Newt to drag the boy backwards into another room.
He thrashed angrily, not realising the potential danger he was in. Newt hushed him, pulling the boy along with us as we sprinted down to another dead end.
We all watched in horror as Janson circled our only other exit – the way we came in. His terrifying smirk had returned, one that ignited shock waves through my veins and sent a stinging sensation to my eyes.
"Trapped, are we?" The man said, a sickeningly sweet tone lacing his words.
Thomas looked stunned, as Newt stood there mortified. I stayed completely still, and, instead of panicking or something pointless like that, I began counting.
One. Two. Three.
Newt looked at me like I was going insane. I ignored his odd looks from behind me.
Four and then immediately five. Six, seven and eight.
Janson even seemed perplexed, huffing and drawing his brows together.
Nine. Ten.
Everyone around stood in a state of complete confusion.
Eleventh went at that soldier on the middle floor, and twelfth went into a doctor's leg.
And then there was thirteen.
Janson looked as if he might burst with rage, the two soldiers behind him waiting on his signal to shoot.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Janson hissed, taking a step towards us.
I smiled, broadly and proudly. I added a small laugh, a giggle, maybe. It caused the man to frown.
"What's so funny, princess?" Janson jeered, and it felt as if that was the final straw. 'Princess' felt strange – unkind when used in that sort of tone.
And when he said it, it reminded me why I was laughing.
It was known that the gun in my holster had no ammunition left – it had run out by the time we had freed the other immunes. They landed in people's throats and chest cavities, meaning I had no weapon.
But that wasn't true.
I refused to give a warning; it would be too kind. They don't deserve the split second to respond and be lucky enough to survive.
To save themselves.
In a blink of an eye, my hand was gripping the handle of a Glock - the one I kept tucked away by my ankle.
There were two bullets left in that gun – one for one soldier, and one for the other. Leaving Janson completely alone.
I fired with no hesitation, hitting my two targets perfectly. Smoke drifted away from the barrel of the gun as I lowered my arm to put the weapon back in the holster.
The man appeared overcome by shock; shaking slightly and breathing heavier than before. He grabbed his own gun from his holster, holding it directly at me.
"I will shoot!" Janson yelled, a tremble making its way through his voice. I could feel his fear from here – it was fully tangible, so real that it made even me shudder.
I believed him. I knew that if it came down to it, the man would shoot me. But today would not be that day.
From complete sheer luck, the man was aggressively knocked to the floor. A boy hovered over him, using the end of his pistol to beat Janson's head in.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing – yells and cries omitted from the both of them.
Until, it stopped. Without any warning, Janson's pleads came to an end, and besides the small grunts here and there from the boy, there was no noise.
The siren had stopped, and Janson was lying bloody on the floor.
It didn't appear as if the boy had noticed we were there, as he looked over his shoulder to see me, Thomas and Newt staring at him wide-eyed.
And that exact moment was when my heart dropped.
Because, standing over a very limp and unconscious Janson, was Minho.
The boy looked so very shocked, before an enormous smile crossed over his face, and he was immediately running up to us. It didn't even feel real – to actually touch the person we had been worrying about for 6 months.
We had planned and planned and planned how to get this one singular person back, and finally, that moment had arrived.
It felt pretty good, actually.
Minho was still rather speechless. "Is this real?" He rasped, holding all of us in a shared embrace.
Newt nodded, smiling broadly.
The moment was pure and heartfelt – which is why is hurt a decent amount when that was cut short by more soldiers approaching.
I noticed them immediately. "Shit. We've got to go." I said, turning and grabbing all three of them. Thomas yelped, Newt grabbed hold of my hand and Minho ran quickly behind.
Soldiers cornered every exit, covered every corridor and sectioned off any possible locations where we could hide. Every way we ran, there was at least one of those fuckers with a gun and a direct order from Janson himself to shoot us. We were completely cornered, no matter which way we went.
But then I heard Minho yell over the gun fire, and Newt yanked me into a room, promptly shutting the door behind us.
Soldiers swarmed the entrance, but Thomas was quicker, blocking the door with lockers and desks to hold them back.
Minho and Newt paced back and forth. "What are we supposed to do now? We're so fucked." Newt exclaimed, panic rising through his throat.
The room was practically bare, a large glass window being the main event. I crept closer, looking out beyond the building itself.
And I was glad I looked down when I did – because that was when I got the idea.
Spinning around, I realised there was one singular thing left in this room; a large computer monitor.
Fuck Wicked, they don't need it anymore.
I grabbed the object, and threw it out of the window.
Minho looked mortified. "Y/n, what the fuck?!"
But I ignored him, looking over the edge once again to make sure I was definitely right.
"Y/n, what are you doing?" Newt asked kindly. I turned to look at the boy, a little smile creeping its way onto my face.
"I've found us a way out." I replied calmly, before jumping feet first out of the window.
I could hear the other's shouts of horror spiral around me as I fell, Newt's voice becoming the most prominent. Their bellowing came to a stop however, when they must have noticed that the thing I landed in, was a large area of water.
Plunging into the grand lake felt like a punch to the face. I believe that's due to how cold the water was – but still, I was grateful for it, nonetheless.
As my head surfaced, I noticed the others following in my footsteps, and jumping out of the building just in time to avoid Janson and his herd.
I laughed to myself, imagining the man overcome by anger that once again he was bested by a bunch of teenagers.
Newt yelled over to me. "Y/n! Come on!" He bellowed, extending his hand for me to help myself out of the water. Minho and Thomas stood on the side, shaking the majority of the water off their clothes.
With all of us out of the water, Thomas was eager to get going. "Right, okay, we've got to head over to-"
"Freeze!" A voice yelled, and upon turning, I realised another Wicked solider was before us, aiming their gun at Thomas.
I had no bullets left – I don't think any of us do...
The soldier laughed, and then tore their mask off of their face to reveal a very smug and giggly dickhead.
Gally.
Thomas looked annoyed. "That isn't funny, Gally. We could have shot you."
The boy chuckled. "Yeah, but you didn't. Therefore, it's pretty funny."
The rest of us, however, did not laugh. Especially Minho, who looked as if he was on the verge of passing out. "Gally? How is this even possible...?" Minho asked, clearly incredibly confused and maybe a little frightened.
Gally smiled slightly and hugged the boy. "No time to explain. We've got to go."
And with that, we were off again.
Gally led us through the city, which was scarily enough filled with rebels and groups against Wicked that didn't seem to take the non-violent approach other groups practiced. Bullets and fire spread everywhere, taking the lives of hundreds at a time.
Machine guns weaved throughout the roads, firing at Wicked's army and often killing them with ease. Other group members were caught in the cross fire, as the army fired at whoever and whatever they could.
We dodged the majority of it, desperately trying to stay out of their way. But running was becoming difficult for the blonde, and before we all knew it, he was falling to the floor, and scrambling behind a large rock to keep cover.
The rest of us did the same, staying close to the boy and out of the way of the war going on behind us.
Thomas looked over at Newt worryingly. "How far are the tunnels?"
Gally looked just as concerned, checking over the rock to see if the coast was clear. "About 12 blocks from here. We can make it, I'm sure of that." He said, meeting Newt's eyes with a twinge of sympathy.
I squeezed the blonde's hand. "How are you feeling?" I asked him. Newt smiled a little, squeezing my hand back. "Terrible." He replied.
He didn't look so good, either.
Thomas chimed in from beside us. "We'll be okay, we've just got to get to Brenda." He said, nodding his head and collecting his gun from his holster.
"Come on, Newt. Time to get you up." Minho said, helping the boy off the floor, who struggled at first to find his footing, but eventually got it.
Every single second that ticks by is another second wasted. We need to get that serum.
Explosions continued to go off in the distance, and while it made the others pause, I trekked on, helping Newt to walk.
We had made it to a separate section – one that was in between buildings that shielded us from the violence inflicted around us.
But we didn't get to run through it, Newt collapsed on the floor before we had the chance to make it out. His coughing had worsened, his face had become paler, and his eyes were so bloodshot that if I didn't know his exact eye colour already, I wouldn't have been able to tell at all.
"Newt, we're almost there. Just a little more." I said softly, trying to help the blonde off the floor, but he pushed me back.
"No. Leave me here." He said, and I felt as if the world had just crumbled.
I scoffed at the boy. "Are you fucking insane? I'm not leaving you here, Newt, so get the fuck up."
He didn't even look shocked. Newt didn't look like himself now – his expression was cold and his eyes calculating.
"Go without me." He said again.
Thomas placed his hand on my arm, telling me not to respond. "We aren't leaving you here, Newt. But I do have an idea." He said, turning towards me.
"Y/n...you're our fastest runner, you could run ahead to Brenda and get the serum..." Tom said gently, but I already hated the idea.
"I am not leaving him here, Tom. I can't-" I said, watching as the boy's eyes crumpled.
"We don't have another choice, Y/n. You are our best shot..." Thomas said quietly, casting his eye line over to a disgruntled Newt.
Gally took a couple of steps closer to us. "He's right, Y/n. I can cover."
It didn't feel right. But as Thomas said, we don't have any other options.
I said nothing to Thomas and Gally, instead kneeling down in front of the blonde.
Now this felt like a goodbye.
"You just don't go and die on me, okay? I'll be back, and you better be alive when that happens." I said, a hint of sadness mixed with laughter in my voice.
Newt laughed, followed by a cough. "I promise, love."
I moved to kiss the blonde on the forehead, before standing up and walking over to Gally. I nodded at the boy, telling him it was time to go, and looked over at Newt one last time before I left.
He was already looking at me, a glint of a tear caught in his eye as he lifted up his wrist as best he could, and waved.
I smiled at him, waved back, and then turned to Gally. We didn't share a single word – didn't need to. We both knew what was on the line, so instead, we ran.
We ran so quickly through the streets, past the gunshot victims and bloodied corpses. Past the great fires that Lawrence's army had started, and past the soldiers that were trying to fight an unwinnable war.
Gally had kept up his end, covering me in any situation necessary, and ensuring that I didn't get injured.
I would count down the blocks that we ran – 10, 9, 8, 7...
Until 1 remained, and I flew around the corner Thomas had told me Brenda would be. And by complete luck, I missed crashing into the girl by about a millimetre.
Brenda looked entirely surprised to see us here, but I ignored whatever she was saying, I just wanted the serum.
"The serum! Newt needs it!" I yelled, and she passed it to me immediately. Securing it in my pocket, I didn't wait for Gally or Brenda to follow, I just sprinted off back in the direction I came from.
Thomas explained where he planned on taking Newt – a safer location where they could just wait for the serum to be delivered.
And that is exactly where I headed, flying across roads and skidding through gun fights just to reach the place Thomas had told me to go. I was concentrated fully on my task – until I heard a familiar voice over the loud speakers, and felt like throwing up.
"Thomas? Can you hear me?" Teresa began, her voice bouncing off buildings and echoing off walls. "I need you to listen to me. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I need you to come back."
I scoffed, keeping up the same pace I had before. Just 4 more blocks and I would be there.
"Thomas you can save Newt. There's still time for him. There's a reason Brenda isn't sick anymore. It's your blood. You cured her with your blood, and she doesn't have to be the only one."
I tried to block out the girl's words – she's just trying to get into everyone's head.
3 more blocks.
"All you have to do is come back. And this will all finally be over. Please, just come back to me. I know you'll do the right-"
The signal suddenly cut out, and then she was no longer speaking. The city began to get dark, the fire being the only light source we now had.
I didn't care, I just kept on running.
2 more blocks.
Run faster, Y/n. Newt needs you to run faster.
1 more block.
I could barely feel my feet any more. They were sore and bruised, but it didn't matter. I could see where Thomas had told me to go, and it felt as if I could finally see the finish line after a long marathon.
I could feel my lungs begin to constrict, but my air waves actually became clearer, because I knew I was almost there. I was almost with Newt.
I sped around the corner, and down the ramp he told me to follow, and finally, I had arrived at where Thomas needed me to be.
Serum in hand, I ran into the cornered off area, and saw Thomas and Newt.
Destroyed was the simplest way to put it.
As I came down from where I was stood, and ran over to where I could see both of them, I knew instantly what had happened.
Thomas stood, shaking and on the verge of tears, gun in hand, next to his best friend.
My initial response was nothing – but then I felt it all at once, and I crumbled to the floor. Grief struck me in the chest, tears slid down my face and my heart felt as if it had just been ripped in two.
Newt laid lifeless on the floor, a bullet hole sat comfortably in his chest.
His face was pale and calm, his shirt was soaked through with blood and his hand rested delicately on the pavement next to him.
I crawled over to him, overcome by sorrow and guilt. "No! No! Newt, please don't leave me! Please, Newt. I got the serum." A sob escaped my chest, tears tracking down my cheeks. "What about the cottage? We were supposed to make scrambled eggs with toast." I cried.
I realised I was incoherent through the cries and heart shed, but still, I didn't stop speaking to him.
"How are we supposed to look over at each other in the morning and realise that we both made it?" I wailed.
"How are you supposed to say those eight stupid fucking letters now?" I sobbed, grabbing at the boy's chest.
Because, how could I ever let him go?
My surroundings were muffled and blurry, my vision was beginning to fade. "Please, Newt." I grazed his cheek with my finger, a tear drop of mine falling onto his face.
"I don't want to grow old without you." I said in a whisper, sobbing into the boy's arms.
It was then that I could feel another person to the side of me, and before I knew it, they were trying to help me up.
Help me away from Newt.
"No! Don't fucking touch me. I'm not leaving him!" I screamed at Gally, falling right back onto my knees beside Newt.
Gally desperately tried to console me, to help me up and to pull me away from the blonde, but I refused. "Get the fuck away from me! I don't need your help!" I yelled, kicked and punched blindly at the others, but didn't notice Minho coming up from behind me.
Even as I thrashed against them, Brenda, Gally and Minho managed to restrain and pull me away from Newt, much to my horror.
Brenda did her best to be kind, as did Gally and Minho, but I thought it to be futile.
Newt was gone, because of me.
"Y/n, please..." Brenda pleaded, and eventually, I felt my emotions fleet, and suddenly I couldn't feel a thing.
I stopped struggling, sobbing and kicking all together.
Because now, nothing mattered.