Thomas was enjoying a drink with the others when he heard chopper blades. Instantly his head raised up and he saw choppers ascending high above them, missiles armed. "Incoming!"
He shouted. He pushed Newt and Minho to the ground as they heard the sounds of 'banging' and 'booming' and 'blasting'. All around, the once peaceful campsite had become a battlefield of explosions and bombing. They looked up and saw soldiers from the choppers descending down to them with cables, rifles with electric shockers ready.
"We're under attack!" cried Amelia. "Everyone arm yourselves!" She found a box and threw guns and rifles at them. "Whoever isn't WICKED, fire!"
"Chuck, get to shelter," Thomas implored.
"But I..."
"Just go!"
Chuck hid behind some crate. He wanted to fight but his friends deemed him too young to even hold an actual weapon.
As he fired at the soldiers who struck down the Right Arm members one by one with their shockers, Thomas stared around and tried to find his brother. "Where's Edward?!"
No one answered. He became worried. Newt clasped his hand as they crouched together. "I'm sure he's all right,"
"Guys duck!" shouted Sonya.
The boys ducked and she shot a bullet at a soldier just behind them.
"I'm running low," said Jorge.
"There are three more crates of ammunition just up there," Amelia pointed up.
Jorge jogged up. Brenda joined in.
"Go with them!" Newt urged Thomas.
"No I can't...."
"We'll be fine,"
Thomas could see how stubborn he was but Newt gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder. "Go,"
At that, he nodded and he jogged up to help Jorge and Brenda get the extra ammunition. They opened the crates and found more weapons. They tossed them down below to their friends. Jorge gave them a shot from his position taking out more shoulders but a group of trucks approached them. Thomas could just see an electric grenade about to be thrown by a soldier.
"Guys look out!" he shouted. It was too late. The moment the grenade landed in the centre of the party, bolts of electricity shook the ground and they were all knocked down.
"No!" Thomas tried to run down to save them, to save Newt but Jorge pulled him behind the boxes. He watched helplessly as they were all dragged away towards the main chopper that was landed on the outskirts of the now nearly-destroyed camp. He saw Mary being dragged forward by WICKED soldiers, Amelia lashing at them to let her go.
"There's nothing you can," said Jorge sadly.
Thomas breathed in and out slowly, tears threatening to fall as he watched nearly everyone he cared about being dragged forward to be taken away into custody. Newt especially. As he saw his boyfriend again, determination painted his features. "Take care of my brother," he said.
"What? No!" Brenda grabbed his hand.
"Just find Edward and get out of here," he begged. "I can't leave without them," Thomas breathed hoarsely. "Without him,"
The pair knew exactly who he was talking about.
"You really think he'd want you captured with him?" Jorge asked.
"I can't lose him again. Get Edward and get out of here," Before the pair could stop him, Thomas left them to join his dear friends and his boyfriend.
The Gladers and the girls were dragged and forced to kneel. Their necks were scanned. Janson walked around all of them, searching for any particular individuals. "Where are Thomas and Edward?"
Edward was thrown to the ground in front of everyone, his muscles limb.
"Edward!" Chuck tried to reach him but he was shoved back to his knees by one of the soldiers.
Janson marched upon Edward. When the boy looked up slowly, he saw a cruel smile with rate teeth.
"Where's Thomas?" he asked Jerry.
"He wasn't with him," Jerry said bitterly. "There's no sign of him,"
Newt shared a hopeful glance with Minho. He prayed he had made it safely out.
Janson knelt in front of Edward. "Where is he?"
His answer was Edward spitting into his face. He was disgusted but he didn't show it. Without warning, Jerry from behind grabbed his neck and pulled his gun aiming it at his forehead. A chorus of shocks filled the tense dry air.
From her position, Mary tried to stand up but she was shoved down. "Jerry! No!"
Jerry didn't answer. "Where is he?"
"I don't know," Edward answered.
"I don't believe you,"
"Even if I did I wouldn't tell you," he wasn't afraid to die.
"Jerry, this is not what Ava Paige ordered,"
"It's only Thomas we really need. He's the one who got given the name, he's the one who discovered the secret," he clicked his gun.
Everyone became more scared for Edward. The Gladers and Amelia especially.
Jerry noticed. He smirked. "I suggest you speak up boys, or he gets it,"
"Leave him alone!" a loud voice shouted from behind.
The whole party turned to see Thomas approaching them, hands up. Newt shook his head in tears. "No,"
Edward who still couldn't move much saw his brother stepping in to save him. "No. Tom. No,"
Thomas was shoved to the ground and forced to kneel with the others. Jerry pulled Edward up and he pushed him to his brother.
"Ed," Thomas hugged him protectively, then glared at Jerry. "Don't ever touch him again,"
Jerry didn't retort back but he stood with his father.
Thomas received cold glares from both his brother and boyfriend on either side of him.
"Why didn't you run?" snapped Newt.
"I couldn't leave you guys," he said dryly to the two boys he loved so dearly. "And I'm tired of running,"
"This isn't over yet," Edwards swore. "We'll get out of this again,"
"Silence!" a soldier threatened.
The main chopper's doors opened and more soldiers came patrolling out. A woman in white marched behind them. Thomas and Edward held their breath. It was her. It was Ava Paige. She walked to Janson. "Is this all them?"
Janson arrogantly nodded.
"Start loading them in," she ordered.
Janson nodded and immediately he commanded the soldiers to force every single child they captured onto the cargo plane. All the grown-ups and the Right Arm Members would be loaded onto a different plane.
Spotting two certain boys glaring coldly at her, Ava flicked a hand and the soldier behind them pulled them up and shoved them towards her. "Hello Thomas and Edward," she greeted gently but with a cold tone hidden inside her voice.
Thomas and Edward said nothing back.
Ava turned her head and she saw Amelia staring coldly at her as she knelt between Minho and Harriet. She flicked her hand again and the girl was brought before her. She reached over to touch her. "How I've missed you,"
Minho shared confused glances with his friends.
"Don't touch me," Amelia spat in her mouth.
"I'm your...."
"I know what you are!" Amelia hissed in her face. "That day you abandoned me to die in the Maze, Thomas and Edward saved me and they told me everything. You are no mother to me. You lost me the moment you placed me in the Maze,"
Ava seemed to feign offence. "I had no choice,"
"There's always a choice!" Mary shouted from where she was. "You just never made the right one," Ava turned her face to her again. "Hello, Mary,"
Mary fumed at her.
Teresa came forward with a group of soldiers. Jerry smiled and came to her but she didn't address him with the same facial affection. "I'm glad you're safe," Ava said to her.
The Gladers stared at her, as if they were just thunderstruck.
"What the hell?" Frypan spoke up. "Teresa..."
"What's going on?" Newt asked.
"She's with them," said Edward bitterly.
Teresa said nothing but shared eye contact with him.
"Since when?" Minho demanded in a low voice.
"Oh Teresa's always had an evolved appreciation for the greater good," Janson said touching her shoulders. "Once we sent her up, it was only a matter of time,"
The moment he said that Thomas shot an accusing glare of cold eyes at Teresa. "You've had your memories this whole time haven't you!"
Teresa didn't need to answer. Her face of betrayal and guilt had already expressed the truth of her intentions from the very start crystal clear.
"You lied to me!" bellowed Edward. "You're sick! And I trusted you!"
"I'm sorry. I had no choice. This is the only way," was all Teresa said back. "We have to find a cure,"
"She's right. This is all just a means to an end. You both used to understand that," Ava reminded boldly.
"Maybe we did once," Thomas accepted his past no longer feeling guilty but stronger than ever with all that he had learnt in a matter of hours. "But that was before we found out you found out you're nothing more than a deceptive liar who's willing to sacrifice innocent children just to get what she wants,"
"No matter what you two think of me...I am not a monster. I'm a doctor. I swore an oath to find a cure. No matter the cost,"
"You call yourself a doctor?" challenged Newt trying to move forward to be near Thomas only to be held back by the soldiers. "After everything you've done to our friends? To Thomas and Edward?"
Ava didn't retort back but she was only very slightly unmoved.
"Did you not listen to a single thing I said back on the cliff?" Edward spat at Teresa, boiling red, outraged at her betrayal. "WICKED did this to us. They created this virus. They brought this upon the world!"
"Such lies!" Jerry denied. "He's just trying to sway you from the right path dearest Teresa," the way he spoke in a flirty manner made Edward wish he could punch him so hard his 'pretty' face would bleed all over.
"We know you used us and our mother to blackmail our father into producing that virus," seethed Thomas bitterly to Ava. "And we know you were behind his death. How can you possibly justify threatening an innocent family? Or killing innocent people for your own ends?"
Ava was befuddled by what he spoke. But in a way, her face was cracked by the truth thoroughly vented in Thomas's angry outbreak. "Whatever Mary told you..."
"Is the truth!" Mary answered back, standing up and pushing past a soldier to stumble forward to her former colleague so she could see her rebellious face clear in the eye. "I regret that I wasn't able to do anything to stop you from forcing Stephen to produce the Flare when you threatened his family. But I don't regret all this which we accomplished thanks to his sons. At least my conscience is clear,"
Ava's cheekbones tightened. "So is mine,"
The bang of a gun made everyones' hearts jump. A girl screamed.
Mary's face fell down. Her abdomen was bleeding rapidly. She fell to her knees.
"Mary? Mary!" Amelia released herself from her captor's hands and she fell to her side. "Mary. Mary. No," Mary's lifeless body fell to the ground and she was gone. "No! No!"
Horrified and hearts truck, Thomas and Edward turned their heads to see Janson blow the gun from the end of his barrel.
"You'll pay for that!" Edward snapped. "I swear you will!"
"And how are you going to do that?" Jerry taunted mockingly, grabbing his chin and forcing his face forward. "Weakling," he hissed and let go, leaving red marks on Edward's shrivelled face.
Thomas struggled to breathe as he watched Mary die in Amelia's arms. She cried and Minho pressed his lips and sniffled watching her mourn her mentor like that.
"Load them up!" Ava ordered. "Let's go! Let's go!"
Amelia was hauled back to her feet by the soldiers. "No! You can't leave her! No!" she tried to fight back as they started pulling her away from Mary but she felt helpless.
"Load the boys onto the main plane," Ava ordered the soldiers holding Thomas and Edward captive. "The others get put in the cargo plane,"
The brothers have pulled away from their friends.
Newt wouldn't allow it. "Thomas! Thomas!" he tried to fight the soldiers who pulled him away from the boy he liked. "Let go of him! Tommy!"
Thomas was urged to fight to reach him when he heard his name. "Newt! Let him go! Let him go!"
Jerry aggressively pulled Chuck by his hair.
"Ow! You're hurting me!" cried Chuck.
His screams reached Edward's ears. "Let go of him! Get your hands off him! You're hurting him!"
But Jerry cruelly continued to pull on Chuck's hair and he screamed out in pain.
"Don't hurt them!" Thomas begged Ava.
"We'll do whatever is you want, just don't hurt them," begged Edward. "Haven't you already spilt enough blood?"
Ava wouldn't answer. Many of the boys and girls were loaded onto the plane. Thomas and Edward prepared themselves with nervous glances as they were about to push into the main plane with Ava, Janson, Jerry and their now former friend Teresa. Edward glared back at her upset face and then at Thomas, who facially expressed to him that it wasn't his fault.
Suddenly they heard the roaring of engines. The entire party turned their heads and they saw a truck with a rough head charging toward them. Thomas recognised a battle cry from inside. It was Jorge. He had come to rescue them. Jorge drove the truck into one of the helicopters, causing it to topple over. Its blades spun into the earth causing pieces of dirt and debris to come flying at everyone who ducked including Thomas and Edward.
This was their chance. Some of the boys and girls managed to break free. Some Right Arm members fought back, grabbing guns from the WICKED soldiers.
"Get her out of here!" ushered Janson urging Ava to get onto the main plane.
Thomas pulled Edward to his feet and they prepared to make a run for it but they heard soldiers cocking their guns.
"Not so fast," they ordered.
"Guys get down!" came the loud voice of Jorge.
The brothers looked up and they saw Jorge throw a small bomb over their heads. It landed on a pile of weapons. Quickly Thomas pushed Edward to the ground and as he shielded him with his body, they heard a loud boom behind them and large pieces of debris clattered near them.
Thomas looked back and he saw a number of soldiers dead. But more were coming for them. "Come on!" He pulled Edward to his feet and they made a run for it. "Come on guys!" he shouted to the few of their friends who managed to break free including Newt.
They made a run for it but Newt looked back. He saw his sister Sonya manacled inside the cargo plane. He couldn't leave her. She saw him.
"Go!" she shouted out.
But Newt wouldn't move.
"You can find me again!" she begged. "I love you!"
Thomas saw how torn Newt was. "Go with the others, Edward! I'll be right behind you!"
Edward didn't want to leave him. "Just go! Go!" Thomas pushed him forward.
"Come on," Frypan clasped his arm and urged him forward.
Thomas ran over to Newt. "We'll come back for Sonya. I promise,"
Taking one tearful glance at his sister, Newt shouted, "I love you to her!" and clasping hands with Thomas, they sprinted and made a run for it.
Whilst Janson helped Ava on board, Jerry looked ahead and he saw a number of boys trying to escape. Grabbing a riffle, he shot electric shocks at his targets. He struck Minho down first.
"Minho!" Amelia cried. She tried to get him up, he was too stunned to master his legs.
"Go," he begged.
"No!" she cried. "I can't lose you again,"
"You can find me. Just go. Go so we can both get out of this!"
Amelia didn't want to leave him but she saw the soldiers gaining on them. If at least one of them made it out, then it meant there was still hope. Already guilt struck she smacked her lips against Minho's and he held her cheek. Then regrettably she pulled back and she pulled her locket off her neck and clasped it in his fingers. "Don't forget me," she kissed him again and with tears falling down her face, she sprinted ahead.
Minho smiled as the soldiers hauled him away. Although Amelia wasn't with him, what remained important to him was that she would be safe from WICKED, from her mother.
Jerry stunned some more boys. He stunned Frypan who can with Edward.
"Frypan!" Edward tried to save him but Jerry suddenly sprinted up to him and he knocked him to the floor. He tried to fight back but Jerry battered his face, bleeding his lips and his nose. He pulled an actual gun out.
"Remember what'll happen to you if you kill me," reminded Edward, unafraid of the barrels aimed at his forehead.
"I don't care. You're such a waste anyway," Jerry prepared to pull the trigger when suddenly a bullet came out of nowhere and struck his shoulder. He screamed and he fell back. Raising his head up weakly, Edward saw Brenda with a rifle. She nodded at him.
He nodded back. He tried to crawl over to Frypan to help him but he croaked out, "No. Go," he begged.
Edward refused to leave him behind but he felt two pairs of arms pulling him away from his friend. He watched helplessly as the WICKED soldiers took Frypan along with Minho away. He cried out their names and tried to fight back to try and save them but he was weak and armless.
Newt and Thomas spotted Amelia, Aris, Chuck, Harriet and a dozen others reaching some safe mounds. Thomas saw a bruised and face-bled Edward being pulled up. He was safe. Suddenly Newt screamed and fell to the ground.
"Newt!" Thomas cried falling to his knees and cradling his body and head. He saw his lower left leg bleeding rapidly. He would not be able to run or walk. He looked ahead and he saw Janson charging towards them with a group of soldiers.
"Go," Newt begged up at him. "Go join the others,"
Thomas looked ahead and he saw everyone already at safety whilst he was down below on the battlefield.
"It's you they want! Not me! Go!" begged Newt again. "Go!"
Thomas looked the other way and he saw soldiers drawing in on them. They would get him if he didn't move and join the others when he had a chance. He made up his mind and looked down at Newt. "I'm not letting you go again," he would stay behind and be captured with him rather than be separated again.
Newt opened his eyes wide, shocked at Thomas's choice but also touched by the love he could feel behind those eyes. . In seconds they were surrounded. Janson hauled Thomas up and cuffed him, shoving him away. Newt was manhandled off the ground, Thomas angrily snapping at the soldiers to not hurt him and bandage his wound.
Edward saw everything below. "No! Tom! Tom!" he tried to sprint down but Jorge who had joined them held him back. "No Hermano. It's no use. It's no use,"
That wouldn't stop Edward. He tried desperately to fight back, to save his brother but his rage turned to pain and his pain made him fall to his knees. As he cried, he watched helplessly as all their friends were loaded onto the cargo plane. Thomas was brought before the main plane and shoved on. Jerry was there too, his shoulder bleeding. Ava Paige and Teresa stood there staring out at the survivors they hadn't managed to capture.
Edward glared at them as the doors closed and the helicopters took off into the dark sky. They disappeared. It was done. WICKED had won. They had lost.
And that's another one done. I hope you are all enjoying this as much as I am enjoying writing this. Thank you all for your support. What did you think of the affection between Newt and Thomas? I would love to see your opinions.