I practically ran into Ashoka and Brenda. They were worried we wouldn't make it back in time but after turning them around and making them head back to the basement, I explained what was happening. "We have, hundreds of Immunes with us. They were locked in the girls Maze. Did you get in contact with Gally? What about the others?"
"Jorge is leading people down to the basement. As far as I know, Teresa and Aris are fine too. They're with Gally now. Vince and the rest of the Right Arm that aren't immune vowed to hold off W.I.C.K.E.D long enough for us to escape. They've stopped setting off explosives so recklessly at least." I breathed a sigh of relief.
"The Maze was crumbling. I'm with the first group to get out so I don't know about the others." I said honestly. My stomach was in knots thinking about Minho and Clint and Silla.
"Silla is here Ashoka. Sonya as well and the rest of the people from the trials." Ashoka's eyes watered a little.
"I'm glad they're here." Ashoka said happily. We came to the large staircase for the basement and I pushed the door open hard.
"Don't trip!" I shouted at the people behind me as I began to descend. The stairs creaked and swayed as another explosion rocked the ground and I gritted my teeth. Keeping my hand on the rail, I quickly climbed down the stairs, eyeing the bottom with vigor. "Wait, the Flat Trans where does it go?" I asked Brenda as we entered the large warehouse room. Brenda smiled.
"It's beautiful Mallory. It's green and beautiful and.." A large rack full of crates and equipment began to sway.
"Scatter!" I shouted. Pulling Brenda and Ashoka away from the collapsing structure. People screamed and pushed back against the walls and the stream of people still coming through the doors. The rack fell and I didn't take the time to see if people had gotten hurt. "Run!" I shouted, pointing to the other end of the room. I spotted Jorge waving his hands vigorously. He stood in front of a a large, shimmery, icy gray wall. The Flat Trans was here. We were safe.
We ran around the collapsed crates and equipment towards Jorge and ushered people through as they appeared, reassuring them that it was safe, that we were safe on the other side. Clint gave me a quick hug before he disappeared through it and I eventually pushed Ashoka through to the other end when Silla appeared. "I'm going to wait for Minho." I told her. "We'll be fine." She nodded and ran through the Flat trans with Silla as more and more people came.
Eventually the stream slowed. I saw Frypan, Jeff, group B boys and group A girls but I had yet to see Thomas and Minho and there was still no sign of Aris, Teresa or Gally. Brenda and I stopped one of the girl from Group B from going through and she explained what happened.
"The Maze was crumbling around us, I don't know where those guys are. Some of us got separated. It's a miracle we found this place. So many people died I just..." She stopped, on the verge of tears. She was right of course. Out of the hundreds of people I had seen when we first entered the Maze, only about half of that group seemed to be here.
The warehouse began to shake more violently and still there was no sign of our friends. Chunks of the ceiling were breaking off and falling around us. My hands shook violently with the building. What if they died? What if they didn't make it out? What was I going to do? I wouldn't be able to live with myself.
Suddenly, the doors burst open and Minho and Thomas appeared, Aris, Teresa and Gally right behind them as well as another two hundred Immune or so. I nearly screamed in delight as I ran towards Minho and hugged him. He picked me up and spun me around in his arms before kissing me square on the mouth, much to my surprise. "Worried about me?" He asked.
"Definitely." I whispered, touching the side of his face gently.
"We have to hurry.." Thomas said breathlessly as we began to usher everyone through the Flat Trans.
"Well duh! The building is about to collapse!" Brenda shouted, hugging Thomas tightly. He hugged her back as she kissed his cheek. He was sweating hard, shaking his head.
"That's not it. Jansen..." the doors to the warehouse opened again, exposing Jansen and several other W.I.C.K.E.D soldiers. I balled my fists and squared up. I guess that explains the blood staining Minho's clothes. Had they gotten separated, maybe gotten into a fight with some of W.I.C.K.E.D's finest?
"Move!" Jorge shouted, trying to get the rest of the Immunes through the Flat Trans as the rest of us prepared for an attack. It looked like they didn't have any weapons on them. I smiled wickedly.
"If this entire fucking place is coming down, you all are going to die with us!" Jansen roared. We charged.
I was surprised we were even able to run straight with how many aftershocks seemed to be running through the building at the moment. I could hear Jansen to my left screaming about the Right Arm's defeat. How we were foolish for destroying everything W.I.C.K.E.D worked so hard for. But it wasn't foolish. It was the best thing we'd ever done.
I kicked the women in front of me hard in the stomach before punching her in the face. She landed a punch to my jaw and I tasted blood but I kept going, hitting and punching her until she didn't get up. When I turned around, ready to pick another fight, I found myself face to face with Jansen. "Your mother is disgusted with you!" He shouted at me.
"Good! I always hated her." Minho punched Jansen in the face before Thomas tackled him to the ground and began to beat the living shit out of him.
"It's done!" Brenda shouted as another large chunk of ceiling crashed to the ground. The entire room was about to collapse on us. "We need to leave now!" We all turned and ran.
Jorge jumped through the Flat Trans just as Brenda reached it. I stumbled a little and Aris caught my arm, straightening me out as we pressed forward. We were going to make it, we were going to fucking make it. Aris made it through and I was about to step in when I heard Theresa scream. "Thomas!" I spun wildly, just in time to see half of Teresa get crushed by the collapsing left wall of the room.
"Teresa!" Thomas screamed so loud it felt like a punch in my gut.
"We have to go." Minho shouted at me, pulling me towards the Flat Trans. Thomas was on the ground. Teresa had pushed him out of the way it seems. He was grabbing her hand. Gally was trying to pull him to his feet. "Now Mallory!" He shoved me through and I fell out the other end at Brenda's feet. She gasped and helped me up.
"The others!" She cried out.
"They're..." my eyes were brimming with tears. Teresa. After all these years. After everything we had been through. We didn't always get along. We weren't best friends but she always seemed.. Immortal in my eyes. Indestructible. Minho came through, quickly followed by Thomas and Gally. Thomas looked horror stricken.
"Is that.." Brenda said softly. Thomas nodded as Minho came to my side. He took my hand, squeezing it tightly. Brenda nodded solemnly and turned to the control panel. I hadn't realized that we were standing in some kind of small shack or shed. It seemed almost.. weird. It was hardly big enough for all five of us. Gally exited the room and Thomas seemed to robotically follow him.
"What are you doing?" Minho asked Brenda as several beeps echoed from the panel.
"Making sure nobody follows us." She made quick work of powering down the Flat Trans. The icy gray wall disappeared, replaced by the brown wood of the building. I began to quickly survey the room. There were tools in here and a table, a bench, some cabinets, I slowly rummaged through them.
"Now what are you doing?" Minho asked me.
"Making sure nobody follows." I murmured, finding what I was looking for. A small box of matches. Minho, Brenda and I grabbed everything that would be useful to us, nails, hammers, saws and we chucked them out the windows and doors of the shack. We would need them. We couldn't just let them burn. When we finished, I lit a match and threw it onto the floor of the shed. It was wood. It wood ignite soon enough. Minho and I walked out hand in hand, Brenda following us.
Thomas hadn't gone far. He was standing just outside the shed, about five feet away. He seemed to be in awe of the scenery and frankly, so was I. Everything was so green, so lush. And there were so many people here. Everyone was celebrating, talking animatedly, finding their friends. It was a little chaotic actually.
"I'm gonna bring some order to this shuck group." Minho murmured. "Are you okay Thomas?" Thomas said nothing, just slowly turned towards him.
"Maybe one day I will be." I put my hand on his shoulder and he tried to smile for me.
"If you ever want to talk.." I paused. "I have a lot of memories to share." Thomas opened his mouth to say something but shook his head lightly before nodding.
"Thank you Mallory."
"Well.." Minho said a bit roughly, tugging on him arm. "Let's go fucking lead these people."
"Are you really the right guy for the job?" I asked a bit teasingly.
"Damn straight." I laughed a little, smiling as I leaned into him. Brenda and Thomas were still on the small hill, watching us. "Don't worry about Thomas. He's a tough guy."
"He watched his best friend die." I murmured.
"I know but we're free now. Everything's going to be fine." I smiled at his optimism. He was right. We were free. Everything was going to be just fine.
A/N:
So, I watched Death Cure and I'm pleasantly surprised. I thought I would hate the movie because I reallllyyyy hated Scorch Trials with like a fiery passion. But Death Cure had action and suspense and I liked it a lot. It was a good way to end the series, despite the fact that they didn't follow the books like AT ALL. And the three things I wanted to happen, happened. Newt died, Teresa died and Minho was saved. So all in all, it was pretty good.
P.S. I have nothing against Newt. (Teresa I kind of do but her death was pretty epic in the movie and I think she expected not to make it out alive). I loooovvveeee Newt. I cried reading about his death scene in the novel but in the movie, was just happy that it happened. It's such a good climactic scene and I think they did really well with it.