Chapter 32 ━━ Losing The Sanity

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Frypan joins the group out of the city before they head to the underground tunnels to find emptiness and silence hunting the area. 

"Lawrence!" Frypan calls out, his voice echoing through the empty underground base. "Where is everyone?" 

"Wait here, guys. Wait." Brenda stops the kids, moving any further as she and Frypan lookout for a sight of life. "Thomas!" 

"Lawrence!" Frypan calls out once again before turning to the brunette twin and concludes. "Everything's gone." 

There's a possibility that something happened to Katherine's brother, Newt and friends. Most importantly, Newt's time is running out. Panic arises inside her mind and she grabs into her walkie talkie. "Tom, are you there? It's Kat." 

Silence remains from the static and she tries again. "Tommo, are you in? It's Kat. Do you copy?" 

"Yeah. Kat, hey. I'm here." Thomas's voice muffles out of the device just then. 

"Where the hell are you guys?" 

"We're on the way to the tunnels now." 

"How's he?" Katherine asks, wanting to know something positive about Newt's current status. But as always she's out of luck. 

"It's getting worse." 

"Is he hearing this?" 

"Yes." 

"Okay." Katherine takes a deep breath and releases. "Newt, babe. Just hold on and don't lose—" 

"I know. I won't lose hope on us." 

Katherine sighs in relief at Newt's voice and smiles. "Good that." 

"Tommo. One more thing. Something's wrong. Lawrence's gone." She adds up, leaving the message for Thomas this time. 

"What is she talking about?" Gally's voice sounds from the background. 

"Him, his crew. Everything's all cleared out. It's weird. I don't know what's going on. But I think you need to get hell out of there. Now." 

"Okay. Yeah." Thomas tells. 

"Over." Katherine grips into the walkie talkie, hoping everything will be fine. 

After waiting like forever, Katherine's walkie talkie begins to make static noises. She quickly turns it on, not making second thoughts. 

"Kat, are you there?" Thomas's voice hushes through the device along with the noises of explosions and gunshots. 

Brenda and Frypan glance at the girl with worried eyes from their spots on the floor of the underground basement. 

"Tom, I'm here. You okay?" 

"We're not gonna make it." Thomas's heavy breathing is mixed with his voice. 

"Wait, what are you talking about?" 

"Just take the others. Get everybody out while you still can." 

"No." 

"Kat." 

"I'm not leaving you. Okay? So forget it." 

"Even though you should?" 

"Did you hit your head or something?!" Katherine yells into the device with furry. "For the fuck's sake Thomas, don't ask me to leave!" 

Suddenly, a thunderous boom following with whirring pierce through the sky and everyone runs out to discover the large berg winking at them. 

"Tom, don't worry." Katherine smiles, not taking her eyes off the berg. "I'm coming to you." 

"What are you talking about?" 

"Our ride's here!" She replies as the berg descends to the ground. "Just look for us near the tunnels." 

"Let's go, guys! Move!" Brenda squeals at the kids, gesturing at the berg. "Our ride's here!" 

"Vince?" Frypan says in both disbelief and happiness at the sight of the man stepping out of the opened hatch door of the berg. 

"Hey, it's good to see you, too." Vince grins, rooming his eyes through the crowd ahead of him. 

Another figure appears behind Vince with his famous mischievous smirk. "Missed me?" 

"Chris." A feral smile appears on Katherine's face as she takes long steps and jumps into the boy's arms."You're here?" 

Chris wraps his arms around the girl, hugging her back with his goofy smile. "How can I abandon my best friend?" 

"I picked up a stray." Jorge walks out, breathing heavily and stands next to Vince. "Let's get out of here, all right?" 

"We're not done yet." Brenda says quickly. "Thomas is still inside." 

Vince holds his hand out with a smile. "Well, let's go get him then." 

"Hell yeah." Brenda climbs, relaxed at his words. 

"Heard you lost your virginity." Chris whispers into her ear as the kids board into the berg and they follow behind. "How was it?" 

Katherine's eyes widen with confusion as crimson fills in her cheeks. How does he know? But then, the realization hits her. "Jorge told you?" 

He shrugs with a smirk. "So it's true." 

"Yeah. But I wasn't a virgin." She points out. "And it was great." 

"Is he big?" 

"Jesus, Chris. You're disgusting." 

"Oh, come on. Best friends are supposed to talk about that stuff." Chris says, running his hand through his curls as the hatch door closes as the berg rises in the sky and begins to move. 

Katherine nudges her elbow into his side, playfully. "Absolutely not." 

He pouts as the response and then smiles, showing off his dimple. The guy is more adorable than he is already credited. 

As the berg lowers to the ground again, Katherine jumps out instantly and looks around for a sight of Thomas, Newt and her friends. But there's still none. 

"Don't worry. They'll be here soon." Brenda assures her with a sympathetic smile. 

Katherine's hand moves into her jacket pocket and clutches into the serum Mary gave her at the RightArm base long ago. 

There's no goddamn cure existing and they sure can inject the serum Gally stole from WICKED to Newt and fix him temporarily. But according to Mary, he'll need more. What's she going to do next? 

"Thomas? Katherine?" 

A voice breaks in the air, gaining everyone's attention. It's Teresa. Katherine can notice her voice anywhere. 

"Can you hear me? I need you both to listen to me. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I need you to come back. Thomas, Kat, you can save Newt. There's still time for him. There's a reason Brenda isn't sick anymore." 

Katherine's eyes set with Brenda and Jorge before she looks away, a tear strolling down her cheek. She doesn't even know the reason for the tear. 

"It's your blood. Both of your blood. Do you understand? She isn't sick, because you both cured her." 

Katherine wipes the tears and breathes in closing her eyes. She opens her eyes again when she feels a hand rubbing her back, attempting to comfort her. 

"She doesn't have to be the only one. 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 intercom suddenly goes off and three familiar figures approach them. Minho, Vera and Gally. 

"Kat! Brenda!" Minho asks, panting for air. "Where's the serum?" 

"Where are they?" 

"Probably by the alleyway or near. We don't have much time. Newt won't make it if we don't—" 

Katherine pushes past them, not waiting for him to finish his sentence. She can hear voices behind calling out her name and pleading to stop. But she ignores them and moves forward, dodging the bullet passing her from the war between WICKED and Lawrence's people. She finally makes it to the alleyway to see two figures wrestling on the concrete floor. 

Chris appears just behind her to notice Newt hovering Thomas, trying to shove a knife into his heart. "Damn." 

Katherine jumps toward the blond boy and swings her left arm in an arc to smack the knife out of his hand. It clatters across the floor. "Newt, it's me. Kat." 

Instead of looking at her with love and adoration, Newt glares at the girl, screeches inhumanly and when he does his head twitches strangely a couple of times. That's when she notes the black veins all across his face and black liquid oozing out of his mouth. The worst part about him is the wildness in his eyes. Madness lurking behind them, two festering pools of sickness. How has it happened so quickly? 

"Newt, please." Katherine pleads, trying to find a glimpse of humanity in him. "You promised me." 

"Kate, it's not him. Be careful." Chris warns her. "He can't recognize you." 

Those words hurt Katherine's heart even more than the pitiful sight of her lover. 

Newt starts taking lumbering steps forward, his hands ball into fists. But before he attacks her, Katherine tackles him to the ground, knocking the breath out of him. He struggles to fill his lungs as she climbs on top of him and pins him down. 

Thomas and Chris aid her to hold him down as Newt erupts in a flurry of effort to get free, screaming at the top of his lungs. 

An arm springs loose from Katherine's grip and he smacks Chris in the face with

his fist in frustration. 

“Stop it!” Katherine yells as she reaches for it. Her eyes are betraying her with the watering and blurring her vision. Newt arches his torso and somehow Chris gets his arm this time. “Hold him as still as possible!” 

And then Newt’s eyes clear, as if he's gained one last trembling gasp of sanity, and his voice softens. "Don't let me turn into one of them. You have to let me go." 

"I can't." Katherine chokes back. 

"It's gonna be okay." His words are trembling as eyes beg for mercy. "I love you." 

"No, it's not. You promised me. You can't die, okay? I'm gonna save you." Katherine tells and with that, the sanity falls out of its socks and the madness emerges back as Newt shrieks, struggling to break free and claw them apart. "Damn. Hold him down." 

"Where's the serum?" Thomas asks, trying his best to keep Newt down. 

"It's with Brenda." Chris replies. "They got held up by the war going on." 

"Thomas. My jacket. There's the serum. Mary's serum. Take it out. Hurry up." Katherine instructs and Thomas obeys, instantly pulling out the modern injection device. "Inject it. Come on." 

Thomas holds the device above Newt's chest when Katherine halts him. 

"Wait. Give it to me and hold him still." She advises him and takes the device into her hand. 

"I love you too. But you're not gonna die today." Katherine whispers and injects the serum into his system and Newt's body goes limp. Her hands start shaking as she looks down at the empty device. Her words come out shakily as her eyes tear up once again. "Did I kill him?" 

Thomas lurches forward and presses two fingers to Newt's neck, checking for a pulse. "No, he's breathing. He's alive." 

A huge sigh of relief falls out Katherine's lips. But then again, her work is not done yet. She kneels beside Newt's head and pulls her jacket off. Wiping the dirt and black liquid off his face, she stares at his lifeless body in pain. Katherine plants a longing kiss on Newt's forehead, wipes her tears and gets on her feet when footsteps approach them. Minho, Vera, Gally, Jorge and Brenda appear and halt at the sight of Newt. 

"What happened?" Minho asks, kneeling beside Newt's lifeless body. 

"You injected the serum?" Vera questions as her eyes set on the empty injection device. 

"What serum? I had the serum with me." Brenda says, utterly confused. 

"He'll make it for a few days and—and he won't then. It's killing him slowly. If I won't come back or able to send the cure, take him to safe heaven." Katherine grabs the pistol laying on the ground, probably from the wrestling of Newt and Thomas previously and hands the pistol to Gally. "And I want you to shoot him in the heart to end him from the misery. Bury him with respect. Can you do that?" 

Gally hesitates first, but then again he nods. "Be careful." 

"Thank you." She smiles sweetly at him and looks at everyone, imprinting their faces in her mind. Her friends and her family. She's going back to the lion's den to save Newt.