"𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦," Janson shouted as he stormed down the stairs with his gun still in his hand. The man knew his temper was beginning to flare over the edge so he hoped his guards could actually do their jobs properly.
"We're on it, sir," One of them said quickly, not even sparing a glance in the man's direction as they scurried about.
"You do that," He yelled back.
Janson then stood right in the middle of everything with an angered facial expression. That probably wasn't the smartest idea of his but if he did not actually stop and try to think about what he was doing, Janson was sure his head would explode. He hoped Giada decided to listen to him for once, of course he knew there's a huge chance she would not. So he discreetly told some of the guards to follow her. The woman wouldn't be hard to miss considering how bright her hair was and the fact she was wearing one of his jackets.
Finally, things were beginning to get interesting when Janson caught a glimpse of Newt and Thomas walking around, still completely exposed. Seriously, if they were trying to avoid Janson they could've at least tried to blend in again with the rest of the guards. He thought this whole thing was utterly pitiful. Thomas was pointing his gun at Ava, and Janson couldn't help but dare the boy to actually do it. He probably would've too if Newt hadn't noticed the older man making his approach.
Lovely. Janson thought grumpily as he retrieved his gun again. They were here disturbing the peace; people were screaming and running down the long corridors. Desperately trying to get out of the building that was on lockdown, no thanks to Teresa and her undivided loyalty to Thomas. Janson had already started shooting at them as the other guards began joining him in the gunfire. The former subjects did what they did best; they ran. Occasionally, they would whirl around to fire bullets at the men who were right behind them and only when Newt and Thomas opened a random door to hide in; Janson noticed that Minho was there with them. He rushed over to it and attempted to yank it open. The man was extremely unsuccessful, punching the door so hard that it left a legitimate dent. Technically, Janson should've broken his hand by doing that, but he couldn't feel the pain. Which didn't hurt his feelings in the slightest.
The man rapidly whirled around to find all of his guards yet again gawking at him. "Somebody get this damn door open." He spat as he leaned his back up against the wall. Janson held onto his gun so tight that his knuckles were turning a pearly white, ignoring the hand that was bruising because he'd punched it.
He stood there in silence for a few minutes as he watched them weld the door open. Janson could still hear Thomas the train and his little friend shuffling about inside of the room. Probably attempting to come up with yet another escape method last minute. It turns out Janson had been right again because the second he pushed open the metal door, the trio jumped out the building. The older man and his guards rushed forward to stand at the window sill, staring down at the deep pool.
"Wow, they'd rather jump from a 150 feet building into a freezing pool than be in a room with me," Janson said sarcastically as he started rubbing the end of his gun against his temple. "I'm actually hurt."
Then he pushed past his guards, practically throwing a table out of his way before storming out of the room. The next place Janson headed into was the room where all of the serums were being stored. Of course all of the guards continued following behind him like puppy dogs, and while it was nice to have some extra protection; it did get very annoying. And Janson didn't even need protection in the first place.
The moment he walked into the room, he knew that those stupid kids had already been in here too. If Janson had been in charge of everything here, none of these damn guards would be sprawled out on the floor, bleeding out. He opened up the vault door to see that the serum supply had been ransacked; all of it was gone. Janson felt the urge to slam his hand through the glass, and it took everything in him not too.
One of the guards was on the ground with a gag in his mouth. He kept making noises up at Janson, thinking that he'd save him. He pointed two of his fingers at the man before saying coldly, "Shut up."
Feeling like someone had their eyes fixated upon Janson's back, he pivoted his body slowly behind him to see Ava standing there watching him with a deep frown. Janson did not even try to mask the amount of lacing hatred in his eyes as he shot her a death glare. She told him to let Giada go, so he did, knowing that was the right thing to do. Even though Janson could not help but think that maybe Thomas and the others would've been caught by now if she was still here. He did not know how many people the boy had brought, but there was absolutely no way he could've pulled this all off on his own.
"They haven't gotten out yet," Was all Janson told her after he forced himself to stop glaring at her. Then he jogged past her as madness richeted outside. The man lied right to his bosses face, but the less she knew the better off they all were.
Janson halted in his rushed footsteps to glance outside at the city. There was fire everywhere, buildings falling down on top of people as they screamed out in pain. The people who weren't dying were fighting for their lives out there in the streets, brutally getting killed in the process. He narrowed his eyes to see if he could recognize Giada out there, and he let out a sigh of relief when Janson found he couldn't pinpoint her hair. He told the guards to keep moving, but the older man had different plans.
He went the opposite way, moving to stand against a wall. His arm was shaking again and it outraged Janson to no extent. It wasn't even the fact that it pained him either, it was a setback that messed up his normally good aim. Sweat beaded his forehead and he knew it wasn't going to be much longer before the Flare corrupted his whole entire mind. Janson's only objective was to get Giada out, and he did. The man could just end this whole thing right now, but Janson decided he didn't want to. Especially once someone started talking on the speakers. He immediately recognized the voice as Teresa.
"Thomas, I know you don't trust me. But there's something you need to know, it's your blood. Brenda should've died months ago, but you saved her. Your blood did, and you can still save Newt and anyone else who needs it. Just come back to me."
So Thomas is the supposed cure... ? Janson laughed to himself. What a fucking plottwist. If he decided to come back, that meant Janson could just steal his blood and simply heal himself. Then all the older man would have to do was find Giada and never let go of her again. Voices down the corridor hung in his ears, and Janson craned his neck to get a glimpse at who was speaking.
He could recognize Ava's blonde hair more than halfway down, and she was speaking in a hushed tone to Thomas. He returned then, I see. Janson grinned crazily. The man reloaded his gun to max ammo before coming out of his hiding spot. He crept forward, not giving it a second though as he raised his right arm up. Without a shred of emotion plastered onto Janson's face, he pulled the trigger. For a split second the older man was uncertain if he'd actually aimed at the right area, but then the blood that formed on her back confirmed Janson succeeded in his plan. Ava fell to the ground, revealing a bewildered and grief-struck Thomas.
The brunette glanced up from the dead body and transferred his mortified gaze onto Janson, who glowered back at him on the other side of the gun. Thomas did not even move or try to run away from the crazy man.
"You?" whispered Thomas, not noticing Janson pulling the sedative out of his pocket.
"Me." He confirmed, tilting his head to the side. "You seriously didn't think I was going to let you off the hook that easily, now did you?"
With that, Janson stabbed Thomas in the neck with the sedative. He'd moved so fast that the younger male didn't even know what hit him. Thomas pulled it out of his neck and threw it onto the ground as he began to stumble. He fell on the ground loudly, desperately trying to reach the gun next to him. Janson placed his boot onto it and kicked it out of his reach, fighting the urge to grin coldly. There would've been no way Thomas would've been able to properly aim at him in his current state anyways.
"Oh no, Thomas. You should've run."
When Janson was entirely certain that Thomas was out cold, he picked the boy up and headed to the laboratory where he assumed Teresa would be hiding at. The man did kick Ava's dead body "accidentally" as he went though. Oops. Janson carried him all the way up there, and it was painstakingly obvious that she'd been expecting Ava to bring Thomas, not him.
"What did you do to him?" She asked quietly.
"Sedated him," Janson said bluntly, not bothering to give her a whole ass explanation. He placed the limp Thomas onto the hospital bed and proceeded to place the restraints on his arms. "Oh, and by the way... Ava's dead."
Teresa's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"
"I killed her," He shrugged, moving out of the way as he motioned to Thomas. Janson pulled out his gun and pointed it at Teresa for an extra dramatic effect. "Well? Get started with it already. I want to see if you were being honest."
Janson leaned against the windowsill with his gun aimed at her head. Teresa crept forward and began to draw blood from the limp boy's arm. This had to be illegal somewhere. He thought to himself as he heard more buildings falling down outside.
"Your boyfriend and his little friends are destroying everything we've worked for," Janson spoke up again, watching all of Teresa's movements. "Just so you know, it's all your fault."
"I know," Teresa said defeatedly. Then she added with a bit more confidence in her tone, "Is this why you sent Giada away? So she wouldn't see you like this?"
Janson glared at her furiously. He did not have to explain himself to anyone, especially not to Teresa. The man turned his body away from her to glower out at the world. It was such a shame that all of it was getting destroyed over the course of one evening.
On and off, the building shook from the explosives that were being fired at it. Eventually, the whole place would give out, crumbling into nothing but a bunch of useless ashes. Last he had checked, the black veins had spreaded throughout the entirety of Janson's left arm, beginning to move to the middle of his body. He balled his hand into a fist when his arm began to tremble again.
And when Thomas awoke, Janson didn't even have to look at him before he started speaking. "You know what this place is, Thomas?"
He already knew the boy wasn't going to answer him so Janson continued talking regardless. "It's a lifeboat, and the whole world might be sinking but that doesn't mean we have to go down with it."
The man backed away from the window, glancing at the petrified Teresa, who muttered, "It's almost done." Rolling his eyes at her slowness, he inverted his attention over to Thomas who had begun to sit up.
He blinked at the older man a couple of times. "Why won't you just kill me?"
"Kill you?" Janson exclaimed questioningly. "Since when are you suicidal? I thought you wanted to live?"
"I'd rather die than have you control me for the rest of my life!" Thomas snapped as he started thrashing in the hospital bed.
"That's plausible, I suppose." He voiced tonelessly. Then Janson grabbed one of the shot injectors and made his way over to Teresa.
"The Flare is going to fuck itself eventually, but how many people have to die until then?" Janson took the little blue vile out of her hands, not really caring if it was done or not. He placed it into the shot injector and held it up in the air like a prized possession. "Thanks to this, we finally get to choose who lives or not."
Here goes nothing. Janson rolled his sleeve down, revealing the spreading virus. Thomas's eyes widened at the sight as he made eye-contact with the older man.
"To your health," He congratulated Thomas, preparing to inject himself with the contaminants.
Frankly, the tip of the needle never came into contact with Janson's skin because he felt something collide with the right side of his head. It turned out to be a glass vial, which caused Janson to openly stumble. He glanced at Teresa with a look full of venom. "Fucking bitch." Then Janson's hand slammed onto the floor, and all he could see was black.
When Giada caught a glimpse of Thomas and Teresa running down the corridor, continuously glancing backward at the room they'd just exited, her first impulse was to fire as many bullets at them as she could. The woman hoped a few of them had gotten themselves lodged into their bodies. She didn't have to be a genius to know the only plausible person they were running away from was Janson. Besides, Giada saw Ava's dead body lying on the floor with blood all around her.
The bloody boot prints were the only reason Giada could figured out where any of them were at. She'd been hiding out for a few hours, only fighting if she absolutely had too. Giada had gotten a few cuts and bruises because of it too, but at least she killed two people who were trying to kill her. The protestors somehow had broken into The Last City, resulting in dead bodies everywhere from both sides. It was like an all out war out there.
She then saw who she was looking to find, Janson. And suddenly it made sense why Thomas and Teresa had been able to get away from him because he was knocked out cold. The side of his head was bleeding, and with all of the glass shards that Giada kept stepping in, it was evident they tried to get him unconscious for a short time period. Giada knelt down next to the man, placing his head onto her lap. She tried speaking to Janson in a hushed tone to help him reawake, but the only thing that seemed to work with the man was when you touched his hair. He looked absolutely terrible, not that she was trying to insult Janson or anything. The black veins were showing visibly on his face now, and a small part of Giada wasn't sure if he'd properly wake up again. Now she understood somewhat of why he wanted her to get out of here. Giada ensured that Heath and Violet were gone, so at least she kept that part of the promise.
She kept touching his salt and pepper hair until Janson stirred in her arms again. Giada glanced down at him with uncertainty. What if he tried to attack her? Then his eyes fluttered open to look up at the auburn haired woman in bewilderment. They were still sapphire, but not for much longer.
"Giada?" Janson asked raspily, reaching out to touch her face. Once he realized it was indeed her, that's when the anger began to set in. "What are you doing here? I told you to leave!"
"I didn't have the heart to," She spoke truthfully as the man moved his head off of her lap. There was a pool of blood dripping down his face, and Giada reached out to wipe it away. The woman did not even wince as his blood made contact with her skin. "You look awful by the way."
"Thanks," Janson grumbled as he rubbed his head roughly. "Did you see Thomas and Teresa?"
"Yeah, they went that way but I fired some bullets at them," Giada told him as the man nodded his approval. "I also heard what she said about Thomas being the cure, is that true?"
"I was going to test it out," He said angrily. "Clearly that didn't work out all too well because she decided it'd be a great idea to knock me out."
"Come on," Giada stood up off the glass-filled ground. She couldn't lose him, so if there was any way to save Janson.. The auburn haired woman was going to take it. He saved her life before, meaning it was her turn to save his. "Let's go get it."
Janson stumbled to his feet and followed right after her, both of them pointing their guns forward. They did have some minor setbacks because the explosives collided with the floor they were all on, causing the whole building to shake. Janson and Giada fell down to the ground, him landing on top of her, but then they got up and continued moving. Once again, there were blood spots guiding Giada to where they were. Either Thomas or Teresa had gotten hit with Giada's glorious gunfire. The amount of blood on the floor said that loud and clear.
Most of the lights were flashing, making it hard to see where she was going but then Giada found the room. Glancing at Janson quickly to check if he's as okay as he can be, the man nodded, and the two of them entered. The lights were flashing blue and purple, two very pretty colors in Giada's opinion. On her right side, there were two cranks banging on some glass aggressively.
"Shut the fuck up," Janson hissed at them, rolling his eyes as the sweat and blood continued to pour down his face. Louder, he called, "Hey Thomas and Teresa! We know one of you is injured so you may as well show yourselves."
"If not, we'll find you," Giada added darkly. "All I want is the cure and I'll you two to do whatever the fuck you want."
Teresa stood upright, giving her hiding spot away. She held her hands up in surrender, but Giada couldn't see a vile in her hands.
"Where is it?" She demanded, pointing the gun at her. One wrong move and all Giada had to do was pull the trigger and it was all over for Teresa.
"I don't have it, I swear!" Teresa blurted out desperately. "And Thomas is injured so please don't hurt us!"
"Where is he?" Janson growled coldly from the other side of Giada.
"Please don't-" She tried to say, but Giada cut her off obnoxiously. "Why would we hurt Thomas? Seriously, how stupid do you think we are?"
Then Thomas decided it was an excellent idea to chuck something at Janson and Giada. Except, Janson ended up taking most of the hit and landed onto the ground again with a groan of discomfort. The man had leapt in front of Giada because he'd seen it coming from the side of his eye. His head was beginning to bleed even worse, and Giada began to think it didn't matter if Janson got the cure anyways. If the Flare did not kill him, his injuries would.
"He's gonna die Giada," Teresa whispered breathlessly as the auburn haired woman stared at Janson's bleeding body. He was lying in a pool of his own fucking blood. "It's over."
"You know what? I'm sick of hearing your voice," Giada snapped, pointing her gun back in Teresa's direction. Her head was spinning and her emotions were heightened with fury and distress. She pulled the trigger rapidly as the bullet planted itself right in between Teresa's eyes, causing the younger woman to fall down to the ground like a useless lump of potatoes.
"No," Thomas gasped, falling back down onto the ground with tears filling in his eyes. "What happened to you Giada? We used to be friends, you were my biggest supporter..."
"That was in the past," She responded coldly. A few months ago if Thomas said that exact line to her, Giada probably would've started crying in his arms as she pleaded for his forgiveness. "I was never truly one of you, so why should I pretend to be?"
Thomas stared at Giada perplexingly, clenching his bleeding wound. Dragging his tongue across his lips, he affirmated, "Because of you and WCKD I lost the only two people I loved in this world." The younger man glanced briefly to the back of Giada. "And it looks like you did too."
"Wha-?" Giada turned behind her to see that Janson had gotten to his feet again. Except it wasn't really him because there was no way the normal version of him would glare at the auburn haired woman with such hatred. Tears started falling down her face uncontrollably like a waterfall at the sight of him. They wouldn't stop forming.
Janson's sapphire eyes were gone, only to be replaced with black, soulless ones. There was black liquid that was the same color of the veins coming out of his eyes, mouth, and nose. Blood took over his face too, a large scratch corrupting the other side of his face. The man she loved was no longer there, all Janson was is a monster now.
"No..." She murmured out painfully. This was all too much for her to handle.
He stood there, glaring at her. A small part of the woman wondered if a small part of Janson was somehow still in there, but she knew he was gone. The father of her child had vanished, and he was never coming back to her.
"It's me, Janson." Giada gasped. She reached out to touch him and instantly regretted that decision. He grabbed her wrist, twisting it the other way, breaking it on contact. She felt the pain instantly, screaming out in pain as the man launched himself at her. Janson was on top of Giada, and she visibly struggled underneath him as he held her down.
The woman placed her hands onto his shoulders, desperately trying to hold him back. It was proving to be hard with only one working hand. She screamed and cried as he kept trying to scratch or bite her. Giada couldn't even look Janson in the face, the tears pooling down her face from the grief and pain. He's going to kill me. Giada thought to herself painfully.
But just as she said that in her head, Janson suddenly released Giada, giving the auburn haired woman a small chance to shove him off of her. She rushed to grab the table so she could stand up, and Janson stayed down on the ground on all fours, panting for his breath. Giada felt the knife on her waistband pressing against her hip roughly and with a trembling palm, she took it out and pointed it at Janson's figure.
"Giada," The older man whispered, his voice catching in his throat. He looked up at her with his black, oozing eyes. Briefly, the half human, half crank glanced at the knife blade that was pointed at him. "You're going to have to do it, my love. Or I'm going to kill you."
"Janson, I can't." The knife began to shake in her hand. Giada came back for him to try and save his life, not to kill him.
"You're gonna have to," He said quietly. "You and I both know you won't stand a chance against me."
He then leapt up and sprinted towards the shaking Giada. Janson tried to force her down to the ground again, but she knew if he got her off of her feet, she'd suffer a fate worse than death. Ignoring the pain in her wrist, she grabbed Janson's shoulder as hard as she could, crying out in agony. Giada did not have it in her to look the man in the face when she sank the knife into Janson's chest, twisting it. The gruesome sound of it made her want to throw up everywhere.
She backed away from the man slightly as he stared down at the knife that had just been penetrated into his chest. "I'm so sorry!"
Janson tilted his head upward to make eye-contact with Giada , and for a moment his sapphire gaze appeared clearly. The sweat and blood still oozed restlessly down his face, but there was that final spark in his stare. He was watching her with the same look in his eyes when they first met. If it weren't for Violet, she never would've been able to see the man for who he really was. Janson wasn't mad at Giada for delivering the death blow, as a matter of fact, quite proud. He flashed her a tiny smile, the craziness vanishing from his face as Janson spoke clearly to Giada for the last time, "No, I'm sorry for not being the man you deserve."
Then Giada gawked at him speechlessly. Janson fell onto the ground with a loud thud, and he remained forever still. That left the auburn haired woman with the sickening realization that she just killed the only man she would ever love in this lifetime. Thomas made no comment, still probably stunned by what the older man said, as the woman fell down on her knees next to him, touching his body. It made Giada cry even harder because Janson was still warm. All the woman did was hold the older man's head on her lap, feeling disgusted by what she did.
Familiar voices entered the room, which she figured out was Heath, Violet, and some other WCKD workers, but Giada pretended they weren't there. Even when they tried to drag her away from Janson's limp body. None of them asked any questions, but Giada didn't miss the blundered expression on Violet's face when she caught a glimpse of Janson lying there, his chest bloody from the stab wound. She fought against them, trying to reach the older man again, but they overpowered her without really any effort.
"I killed him, Violet," Giada's voice came out as a weak whisper. The woman's eyes widened at her proclamation, tugging her in roughly for a hug. Giada completely broke, nothing in her body was functioning properly, but Violet never let go of her. Not once. "He turned and was going to kill me- I didn't have a choice..."
"Janson always wanted you to live," She murmured into the ginger haired woman's ear. "He definitely wasn't a good man, but he loved you. Something I never thought he was capable of until he met you."
Giada was utterly numb. She hoped this was all just a terrible dream, and that she'd wake up with Janson still being alive even though she'd been the one to end him. The Last City fell apart completely, turning into a huge ball of fire as the Berg flew the last of the survivors out of there to start their new lives. With a weak and pained smile, Giada leaned her head back against Violet's shoulder and fell into a dreamless sleep.