It had gotten quite a bit darker out in the Scorch where many survivors from WICKED and the Flare itself were living in, sand and everything else being seen all around. The group of teenagers had been able to find the Right Arm, all while they had been running away from WICKED. Brenda was able to get something injected into her to stop the Flare from taking over her body like it had done with many other people who had once been normal human beings, now turned into veiny, croaking and gargling cranks as they feasted of any living thing that came into their line of vision.
The sound of the pads of boots climbing up some rocks could be heard as Y/n continued to venture up in the direction of where her sister stood, blue eyes staring off into the distance as if she had been waiting for something. Even if she could hear the crunching of the sand from her younger sister's feet from behind her, Teresa didn't turn around to look at Y/n as the said girl continue to make her way up after leaving their group of friends down back on the rocks. The sky had gotten a bit darker out now, a slight orange-pink-ish color being seen in the distance as the sun was almost fully set.
"Hey, you okay?" Y/n calls out in concern, making her sister look to her. "What are you doing up here?"
Teresa shrugs, turning back around. "Just thinking."
"Alright, I'll let you be alone." Y/n assures, beginning to walk back down.
"Do you remember our mother?" Teresa blurts out, causing her to stop and look to the older girl.
"Uh, I think so." Y/n replies after a moment.
"I remember her." Teresa tells her, fully turning to face her younger sister. "She was a beautiful woman. Everybody loved her. And before WICKED, she was all we had. When she got sick, I didn't know what to do. I just kept her locked up. Hidden. I kept you away. I didn't want you to see her like that. I thought she'd get better. Every night, she'd make these awful sounds, like screaming. You would always hold onto me because you could never sleep, and you didn't want me to leave you. I would always try to read you stories to help you fall asleep. And then, one night, she just stopped. She was finally quiet. After I told you to stay put, I went down to her room. And there was blood everywhere. But she was just sat there, calm. She said she was feeling better. The visions were gone. She'd taken care of them. She took her eyes out, Y/n."
By the middle of her explanation, Teresa had tears pooling in her eyes as she had been staring at her younger sister the whole time. Y/n was frowning deeply, blinking back the tears at the description of the last time Teresa had ever seen their mother. A sniffle escapes the younger girl, wiping at her nose while she looked to Teresa, the two sisters staring at one another.
"There are millions of people suffering out there. Millions of stories, just like ours. We can't turn our backs on them. I won't." Teresa finishes, trying to make her voice firm at her last words.
Y/n furrows her brows, gulping. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying, I want you to understand." Teresa admits.
"Understand what?" Y/n questions.
Teresa frowns. "Why I did it."
Just then, from behind the older girl, Y/n caught sight of distant lights appearing. Squinting a bit while Teresa followed her gaze, realization crossed the younger sister's face when she realized those lights were helicopters and who was no doubt inside of them. Tears pooling in her eyes, Y/n looks her sister while mumbling her name. Hearing her voice, Teresa looks back to the e/c eyed girl with watery eyes.
It was WICKED.
"Please don't fight them, Y/n." Teresa pleas.
Y/n steps back, a look of betrayal on her face. "What have you done?"
The helicopters had gotten a lot closer to them now as Y/n continued to take a couple steps back, taking one last glance at her sister before she was running down the hill as quick as possible while Teresa watched her leave. Just as she was reaching the bottom, a helicopter flew right by her and sent a missile straight to the camp. Explosions could soon be heard all around, fire emitting from the missiles that the helicopters had shot right towards them. Y/n looked at the fire with wide eyes full of fear as she could hear screaming voices from down the camp below when she heard a voice shouting her name.
Spinning around, she felt relief fill her when she saw Thomas running towards her, quickly rushing to him. The couple stopped halfway, Thomas cupping her cheeks while they both looked to the fire. WICKED guards were dropping down from the helicopters, beginning to attack the people in the camp. As Thomas turns to her in panic, about to question what was happening, Y/n pulled away and grabbed his hand as they ran towards the camp, going to search for their friends. Thomas called out her name, but she wasn't answering, hoping to find their friends before WICKED found them.
When they full reached the bottom, her gaze stopped on Brenda's tent, remembering that the said girl and Jorge had been in there the last time she had seen both of them as the tent was now on fire. She ignored Thomas' call when she ran towards it, stumbling back when the fire grew bigger and bigger. Just then, she felt a hand grab her arm and spin her around to see Brenda standing there, a gun over her shoulder. The short haired girl pulls her behind something where Thomas and Jorge were now crouching behind.
"We have to go." Jorge states. "Now, while we still have the chance."
"I gotta go find the others." Thomas replies, getting up to leave.
"No! Look!" Jorge exclaims quietly, grabbing the back of his jacket and pulling him back down as they follow where he was pointing, seeing their friends around a vehicle and fighting back with guns. "You can't help them. Neither of you."
With wide and panicked eyes, Y/n curses quietly to herself when one of the WICKED guards throws an electric bomb towards the vehicle their friends had been standing around, Vince inside of the back of the truck. Before they could run away, the bomb was going off and they were all collapsing to the ground from the impact of the electricity. Cursing again, Y/n drops down a bit as she places her back against the object they were hiding behind, hands going in her hair while Thomas slams a hand on the metal object, making sure not to be loud.
"I'm sorry. There's nothing you can do for them. If we don't move now, we won't be much better off." Jorge points out.
"You guys gotta go right now." Thomas tells them, making Y/n look at him with wide eyes. "They're not looking for you. You'll be safe, but you have to go now."
There was a moment of hesitance for Brenda as she looked between the two teenagers she had begun to consider as her friends while Jorge wished them a good luck after a moment of reluctance as well, ushering Brenda to follow as he ran off quietly. Standing up, Brenda was following right behind him while Thomas looked to his girlfriend, who had been staying at them.
"Go with them." Thomas instructs.
Y/n shakes her head. "No."
"Y/n, go with--" Thomas tries again firmly.
"I said, no." Y/n repeats, making her voice more firm as she places her hands on his cheeks. "They're my friends, too. I'm not letting you do this all on your own."
There was a moment as they stared at each other before Thomas hesitantly nodded, kissing the palm of her hand before they were trying to think of a plan. It was when Y/n caught sight of a bomb in Jorge's bag that he had left behind, slowly grabbing ahold of it. Meanwhile, the rest of the group had found themselves forced down on their knees while a WICKED guards went around each of them, scanning the back of their necks with a small machine and calling out a letter mixed with a number. As they did that, Janson could be seen walking in the middle of the many people they had captured, looking around.
"How many did we get?" Janson asks.
"All of them. Give or take." A man replies.
"Give or take what?" Janson questions.
The man shrugs. "Well, they lost a few."
When the WICKED guard reached Minho, the ex-runner tried to shrug the guards hands off of him as he moved his shoulders, but the guard roughly grabbed his shoulder as he scanned the back of his neck. While that was happening, him, Frypan and Newt had their eyes on Janson as he looked around, knowing he was searching for two certain people that he hadn't seen anywhere at the moment.
"Where's Y/n and Thomas?" Janson calls out in question.
"Right here." A voice replies.
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound of Thomas' voice, seeing him and Y/n were stepping forward, raising their arms in surrender when some guards rushed towards them, guns aimed forward. Two came up behind them, roughly pushing them forward until the couple was right in front of Janson. The said man smirked at them, taunting them with their names before he sent a rough punch to Thomas' gut that had him doubling over. Y/n clenched her jaw, wanting to attack the man but she didn't want Thomas or her friends to be hurt anymore than they already have been.
When Janson turned to her, he met her glared gaze and the next thing she knew, she felt a sting against her cheek. Their friends glared at the man after they watched him hurt their friends as the back of Janson's hand had sent a harsh and rough slap against Y/n's face. The slap had her falling to the ground from how rough it was. Two guards grabbed ahold of the couple, forcing them in the line with their friends as Y/n now found herself kneeling down in between Minho and Thomas, ignoring the stinging in her cheek that she knew had to been red from the slap.
"Why didn't you run?" Minho murmurs to them.
Thomas shakes his head, sharing a glance with Y/n. "We're tired of running."
There was a couple minutes of them all knelt down together, the WICKED guards keeping an eye on them when a bright light was shining all around, followed by a rumbling sound that had them all looking up just when a berg appeared from within the now dark clouds. While it was moving closer to the ground, the wind had the sand blowing everywhere that caused everyone to raise their arms and cover their eyes so they wouldn't get sand in them. When it landed, the hatch opened and more guards were walking out with Ava Paige following behind them, wearing all white clothing.
"Is this all of them?" Ava asks when she reaches Janson.
Janson nods. "Most of them. It'll be enough."
"Start loading them in." Ava orders.
Janson nods, ordering the guards to begin loading everyone inside the berg. The woman in white continued walking forward a bit until she stopped in front of the line of teenagers, gaze moving down the line until she was looking between Thomas and Y/n before motioning towards the guards. Y/n felt herself being forced up to her feet and pushed a bit towards the blonde woman, who was looking at her with some sort of softness in her gaze.
"Hello, Y/n." Ava greets.
The h/c haired girl didn't say anything back, only glaring at her deeply just when a familiar face was slowly walking up. The boys eyes all stopped on Teresa, brows furrowing as they all stood up and stood around Y/n when Teresa stopped beside Ava, who claimed she was glad that the older sister out of the two girls was safe.
"What the hell? Teresa?" Frypan mumbles in question.
Newt furrows his brows. "Wait, what's going on?"
"She's with them." Y/n announces, causing the boys to look at her in shock.
"Since when?" Minho questions.
"Oh, Teresa's always had an evolved appreciation of the greater good." Janson intervenes. "Once we restored her memories, it was only a matter of time."
Teresa frowns, looking between all of them. "I'm sorry. I had no choice. This is the only way. We have to find a cure."
"She's right. This is all just a means to an end. You used to understand that, Y/n. So did you, Thomas. No matter what you think of me, I am not a monster. I'm a doctor. I swore an oath to find a cure! No matter the cost." Ava explains. "I just need more time."
"More blood." A voice corrects.
Hearing the familiar voice behind her, Y/n looks over her shoulder while everyone else does the same to see Mary was standing there. The older woman completely ignores the WICKED guards aiming their guns at her as she steps in their direction, her eyes on the woman she had once worked with a long time ago.
"Hello, Mary." Ava calls to her. "I hoped we'd meet again. I'm sorry it had to be under these circumstances."
Mary nods. "I'm sorry about a lot of things, too. But not this. At least my conscience is clear."
"So is mine." Ava quietly replies.
Suddenly, a gunshot echoed throughout the air that had everyone flinching, some people screaming. Freezing in her spot, Mary shakily looks down towards her torso to see blood seeping through her shirt just as she collapsed to the ground slowly. Vince's voice shouting her name could be heard while he quickly knelt by her side as Y/n looked towards Ava, seeing Janson had a gun aiming towards Mary's direction, showing that he had shot the brunette woman. Vince let out a shout of anger when Mary now laid lifeless right underneath his hands, anger coursing through his veins.
As she looks between Ava and Janson, Y/n makes eye contact with her sister to see Teresa had been watching the thing in shock, clearly showing she wasn't expecting that. Ushering everyone to get the rest on the berg, Ava was leading Teresa with her towards the berg while the guards pushed the group of friends towards the large ship. Sharing a glance with Thomas, Y/n secretly digs into the inside pocket of her jacket before Thomas was elbowing the guard that had been pushing him, quickly attacking the one that had been pushing Y/n as they held up two things.
The couple stayed close together, a bomb in Thomas' hand while a button sat in Y/n's hand as they shouted for the guards to stay back, holding both objects out as the WICKED guards only aimed their guns at the teenagers. Janson had been quick to stop them from shooting at them as he rushed back with Ava right behind him, Teresa trailing behind her. Thomas made sure Y/n stayed close to him as they were now surrounded by the guards as they stood a couple feet away while Janson had his arms raised up.
"Stand back." Y/n demands. "Let them go."
"Kids, put it down." Janson tells them.
"Let them all go!" Thomas shouts.
"You know I can't do that!" Ava argues.
"Y/n, Thomas, please stop." Teresa cries out, stepping forward. "I made a deal with them. They promised we'd be safe. All of us."
Y/n raises a brow, glaring at her. "And we're supposed to trust you now?"
"It's true. It was her only condition." Ava states.
"Shut up!" Thomas exclaims in anger.
"Everything can go back to the way it was. Y/n, Thomas..." Ava begins as she takes a step forward. "...do you really want all of them to die?"
"Listen to her, kids. Think about what you're doing." Janson adds.
Before any of them could say anything else, Minho was stepping forward and standing with his two friends with Newt and Frypan right behind them as the three of them stood on either side of the couple. The couple looked between their three lasting friends as they all looked at them with determined expressions. At the sight of this, Teresa shakes her head with tears in her eyes, realizing she's about to lose all of them.
"We're with you, guys." Newt tells them.
Ava shakes her head. "Don't."
"Do it, Y/n." Minho instructs.
Frypan takes a deep breath in. "We're ready."
"We're not going back there." Y/n murmurs, looking at Ava as she holds up the button, gripping Thomas' other hand. "It's the only way."
The group squeeze their eyes shut as she readies herself to press the button. Teresa does the same, looking away while Ava calls out her name. Before she could do it, though, a loud and echoing horn had everyone looking in the loud direction to see a large truck driving in the direction of one of the helicopters. Inside, was Jorge, as the man was laughing loudly while he slammed the front of the vehicle against one of the helicopters, sending it spiraling down the hill it had ben on as some objects flew off of it and in their direction. Thomas pulls Y/n down to the ground with him before they could get hit with anything.
The girl rises to her feet as Thomas does the same just when some guards looked to them, aiming their guns right at them. Eyes widening, Thomas throws the bomb towards them, making Y/n's eyes widen while they quickly ran in the opposite direction, Thomas having been a bit ahead since she pushed him forward before she fell to the ground while pressing the button after hearing Thomas shout for everyone to get down, the explosion banging around from behind her, instantly killing the guards. Just as she goes to stand up, she's suddenly sent back to the ground when Janson backhanded her again.
Noticing this, Thomas found himself lunging towards the man as he sent a punch to his face, making Janson stumble back before the man punched his gut again roughly, punching him down to the ground before he placed one foot on Y/n's arm, adding some pressure. Janson brings out his gun, glaring down at the two teenagers he had been looking forward to killing ever since they had escaped, even before the maze since he knew what they were like before they had lost all their memories.
"What a waste." Janson grunts out.
As he had been aiming his gun at Y/n first, he wasn't able to pull the trigger since another trigger was pulled beforehand, the bullet hitting him right in the shoulder. Y/n quickly sat up, looking behind her to see Brenda was standing by some rocks, a sniper rifle in her hands to show she had been the one to shoot Janson. Thomas pulls Y/n to her feet when he had been on hers, the two quickly rushing away from Janson and in the direction where all their friends had ran towards. As they did so, they were dodging the shots the guards were shooting at them, Brenda shooting them down when she was able to.
It wasn't long until they caught sight of their friends, Minho having stopped to shoot at the guards while he ushered them to go, knowing he'll be right behind them. Thomas shouted for Minho to follow, hearing him shout something back. The couple hid behind a crate with Newt and Frypan as they watched Minho reloading the gun he had just when a guard shot him, causing his entire body to shake while he fell back and his body collapsed on a crate. This had them all shouting for their friend, Y/n finding herself rushing towards him in hopes of pulling him back, Thomas ready to do the same.
Their shouts got louder when two guards grabbed ahold of Minho, dragging his now unconscious body towards the berg while Newt was able to grab ahold of Thomas while Frypan grabbed ahold of Y/n once they realized it was too late. Jorge helped Newt in holding Thomas back. They couldn't lose anyone else. From his dragging position, Minho could faintly hearing voices shouting his name before he couldn't hear anything. They were pushing the couple back towards the hills, dodging shots being shot at them from the WICKED guards as Minho was finally being placed into the berg where everyone else was.
The couple had stopped fighting against their grips, finding themselves standing with their group while all their eyes were on the berg that was now flying up into the air, the hatch still wide open. Y/n kept her eyes on the people inside, staring right at her sister and Ava. Both females were staring at her, she knew it. From beside them, Minho's unconscious body was being held by some guards as his head had been dropped down towards his chest, his hands flopped down as well.
When the hatch closed, the berg flew off, taking Minho and many others with it.