Chapter 33 ━━ The Great Sacrifice

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Katherine resumes her path along the sidewalk and slows down as she approaches the front entrance. A large set of glass doors awaits her, and a sudden, almost painful surge of memory pounds inside her skull. 

The escape from the Maze, the flight through the corridors of WICKED, running away from Janson numerous times. 

And now, after all she's being through, she's standing at WICKED’s threshold, thereby her own choice. She suddenly feels the presence behind her. Not wanting to look back to identify the person, she speaks. "You don't have to come with me, Tommo." 

"You followed me around all the way to this point. It's my time to follow you even if you like it or not. I'm your twin brother and remember, Brenda survived because of us. Not only you. Beside Newt is my friend." Thomas explains to her. 

"Oh, yes. I do remember that you two secretly dated behind my back. I guess you took revenge for flirting with Teresa back at the labs. Good job, bro." She jokes, turning to him with a grin. 

"Shut up!" He rolls his eyes at her. 

"Home, sweet home." Katherine mutters. 

"I can’t believe we’re back here." Thomas says, moving to stand beside his sister. His voice sounds haunted, and it echoes how she feels inside. 

She turns to look at him once again. "Crazy, huh?"

Thomas smiles. "Crazy."

They stare at the entrance a little longer before entering WICKED’s headquarters. They walk into the familiar white hallway to find Ava standing on the midway. 

Katherine doesn't hesitate to point her gun at the blonde in front of her. "Is it true? Newt. Can we save him?" 

"You both can save us all." Ava says calmly. 

Katherine falls to her knees as she lets go of her gun which slides away from her perimeter. "Please. Help him." 

"You can have us. Just leave the others alone." Thomas says, not taking his eyes off the blonde lady. 

"I promise. I will…" Ava gasps for air as a gunshot echoes through the air. Blood covers a patch in her perfect white clothes before she collapses into the ground lifelessly.  

Janson steps out of the shadows with his smirk. "Oh, my favorite pair of twins. You should have run."  

Before either twin can take any action, the electric sound of a Launcher’s charge fills the air and smashes into Katherine's 

chest and lightning tendrils envelopes her body as she falls screaming to the ground,

writhing, legs rigid, from her neck down she's numb, and terror flares inside her. 

"Crazy bitch!" Janson yells at the girl on the floor. 

Wheezing at the unbearable pain striking through her body, Katherine looks up at a panicked Thomas. "Tommo, run. Leave." 

"I won't leave without you!" 

"Fucking leave!" 

"I can't." 

"This is why he's always smarter than you Katherine." Janson throws the Launcher into the floor, not forgetting to point his pistol at the elder twin. "I got the gun, he got nothing. If he runs, I will shoot. We don't want that now. Do we?" 

For a long time, Katherine knows only darkness. Somewhere on the edge of it, she floats in this confusing mass of blackness, she hears a voice. Calling her name. 

After hearing the same voice several times, she finally decides to go after it, find it. She makes herself move toward the voice. Toward her name. She continues struggling, hears herself moan, feeling her whole body in pain. 

"Kat. Can you hear me?" 

Finally, she opens her eyes. Blinking against the brightness of the overhead lights, Katherine feels a prick in her arm, glances down to see Teresa inserting a syringe, withdrawing blood. 

All the while the only movement she can manage is in her hands. And the lights, so bright. The room is spinning, though she lies perfectly still. The sounds distant shouts and an occasional rumble like thunder. Her mind begins to clear, and she realizes that other than a little grogginess, she feels fine. Another rumble sounds far away, jarring her back to reality. 

"Do you know what this place is, Katherine?" Janson's unpleasant face appears behind Teresa. "It's a lifeboat. And the whole world might be sinking, but that doesn't mean that we have to go down with it." 

"Why don't you just kill me?" Katherine asks, but it comes out as nothing more than a gravelly whisper. 

"Kill you? No, we don't wanna do that. We're gonna take special care of you and your brother. We'll keep you two alive. Just. And in return, you will give life to the rest of us. The ones we choose to save, anyway." Janson explains his master plan with a sly smirk. "Of course, there's not gonna be enough for everyone. Hard choices are gonna have to be made. In time, the Flare virus will burn itself out. The only question is, who will be the ones left standing? And thanks to you two, to this, we finally get to choose. A future of our own making. To your health." 

"As a start, I requested Teresa to withdraw half of the blood off your system. It'll keep you weak for a few hours." He adds. 

Katherine laughs at this. "You think you can keep me in place just because you sucked half of my blood out? Oh please, Janson. There's a reason why they call me feral. I thought you knew." 

"Since you mentioned that. Do shit and you can accompany those cranks in there." Janson points at a cell. Katherine gulps at the sight of two figures dancing inside the glass cell. They're gone cranks. No control. No sanity. No nothing. "I'm sure they'll love you since you got a thing for them. I almost forgot… How was it?" 

Katherine takes her eyes off the two cranks to look at the man with a raised eyebrow. "How was what?" 

"Kissing a Crank? Your guy is a crank. Isn't he? A gone crank." Janson smugly asks, expecting her to hit a nerve and flip into an angry mood. But she remains calm. Dangerously calm. Then she cracks up into a wide grin which confuses Janson, not expecting it. 

"I didn't stop at just kissing him. We…" She clicks her tongue suggestively and whistles. "And honestly, it was fun." 

"Just between us, girls. Newt was turning crazy and I was already crazy and it was totally crazy. I don't blame him. I mean…oh man that tongue." She dramatically moans at the nostalgia. "I never expected him to be that good. But he was great. You should have some too with your significant other. If you have one. Crazy sex is good for your health." 

"So… I was right. You're not just crazy. You're a sick psycho." He mutters with a disgusted expression that Katherine almost loses the laughter bubbling up in her. 

"Dear Janson, if you won't embrace her madness, then you'll never taste her magic." Katherine winks at him. "Talking about sick. Aren't you the one who tried to hit on Vera and got beaten by her sister? Heck, that was fun to watch." 

"Oh, yeah. I remember how that bitch died during the surgery. Heck, it was fun to watch." Jason mimics her, his smirk spreading across his face once again. 

"Why does it feel like you were a part of her death, Janson?" 

"Because I was." He shrugs. "Not just a part. I planned it myself and made sure the work was done. And successfully it was done without a suspension. Brilliant. Aren't I?" 

Katherine's coolness falls apart at that. Vera has to go through a rough time because of the man standing in front of her. She remembers herself comforting Vera months after Tara's funeral and it's still bothering her deep down even though she doesn't admit it much. Katherine grits her teeth together glaring at the man in pure irritation. "I'll kill you damned piece of shit!" 

"If I were you, I wouldn't waste either my time or energy on that. It's pretty useless with the situation you're in, Katherine." Janson gives her a sadistic look. 

~~~ 

The room lapses into silence, broke only by the hum of machinery and a very faint beeping sound. 

Is Thomas okay? Will she ever get the hell out of this again? Will she ever see Newt again? 

The sickening fear she's feeling when she found out how WICKED kept immune kids hanging by their necks and drained them came flooding back. She swallows the lump of her throat at the thought. Katherine struggles against the strains that keep her tie to the bed she's lying. But with the lack of energy she has, it's hard. She wants to scream and act like a feral woman. But her conscience keeps distracting her with the different worst ways she'll end up in the upcoming few days. She looks around for something that can help her at the moment. She's in a medical wing. She remembers herself working with Thomas in this medical wing before. Those were good memories to a certain extent. Her eyes stop at the cell that is holding the two gone cranks. Their eyes are glued to her with bloodlust. It's like they're daydreaming of how to feast on her flesh and blood for dinner. The thought itself turns out to be more uncomfortable than Katherine Imagines it. 

"Stop staring at me like that, you creeps!" She yells out with her full energy. Her day is ruined. 

The cranks shriek in response, clawing at the glass, wanting out of the glass cell. The lights are turning on and off in a wild pattern until it completely goes off, filling the wing with complete darkness. 

Katherine groans, laying her head back on the bed and closing her eyes in frustration when the door opens with a click. 

Echoes of the mix of a heel-clicking and boot under the cold tile thump near her along with heavy breathing and stop right next to her. Then she begins to hear two familiar voices. 

"Shit Sherlock! Are we too late? Is she already dead?" 

"Gosh, I wish I brought Aris with me instead of you." 

"Too bad. I'm the available twin right now." 

"Shut up before I kick your butt off, Chris." 

"Love you too, Vera." 

"You two are giving me a headache." Katherine mutters, opening her eyes to look at her friends. 

"Hello there. We should seriously stop meeting like this." Chris says in a robotic voice, wiggling his eyebrows playfully. Even in the dark, his absolutely pearl white skin is glowing perfectly. "I know I'm cute. But staring is extremely rude, Kate." 

"Duh." Katherine snorts. "Free me from this shit, will ya?" 

"Gladly." 

"Do you guys have any idea about Tom's whereabouts?" 

"Yes. He's in the 10-B wing with Teresa and that jackass which is a few rooms away from this lab." Vera says, losing the last strap that kept  Katherine tied to the bed. "Can you walk?" 

"I don't know. I kind of feel dizzy." Katherine tells and gets on her feet with the help of Chris. But her legs give up with the lack of blood running in her system. "Shit." 

Chris's arms tighten around the girl before she falls to the floor. "I've got you." 

"What's next?" Katherine asks as the door opens with a click unexpectedly. Thomas and Teresa stumble in. 

"You guys." Teresa trails her eyes on Vera, Chris and Katherine. "We need to get out of here." 

Thomas gasps, holding his bloody stomach, shirt soaking with his blood. He's shot. A bomb blast, ending him on the floor with blood loss. 

Katherine is the first to crawl to her brother, lifting his shirt to find the bruise where he's shot. Her eyes swell up with tears. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." 

"Okay. Okay, we need to…" Vera mumbles, looking around for anything that can help in the situation. "Find something." 

"Here. Here!" Teresa pulls out a cotton ball from a bag and pressures it on the wound. "Just put pressure on it. Hold it." 

"You guys gotta go." Thomas tells. "You gotta go. Take Kat with you." 

"I'm not leaving without you, Thomas." Katherine snaps. 

"Sorry, bro. I'm here to be a hero." Chris says with a grin, lightly patting on Thomas's shoulder. "So pull it together. We're all gonna get outta here." 

"Here. It's yours." Teresa hands the small tube with the serum to Katherine. "It's for Newt." 

The brunette nods, taking the serum and pocketing in. There's hope for Newt's life. 

The door suddenly clicks open once again and Janson walks in bearing his gun, ready to shoot. As his eyes stop at the empty bed, his scowl deepens. 

The group quickly take cover, not wanting to be in the sight of Jason and go separate ways to hide. 

Using her full energy, Katherine crawls into a perfect hiding, a space in between two cupboards and leans into the darkness to avoid Janson's eyesight. She spots Chris helping Thomas with his wound. 

For the relief, Janson passes them as he walks around to find the sight of life as he only finds the two Cranks, watching him with bloodthirst. 

"I admit, Teresa, you had me fooled. I thought we were friends. Maybe it's just in your nature to betray the people closest to you." 

"Come on. Let's not prolong this. We both know there's no way outta here." Janson says and shoots into space as Vera tricks him. His disappointment pins on his face as he realizes he just wasted a bullet for nothing. "Let's not make this any more painful than it needs to be." 

Unexpectedly, Janson corners Teresa and Vera while his gun directs at them, ready to fire as the girls gasp in shock. 

"Look who we have here." Janson smirks at the girl behind Teresa. "Vera. Where's your new boyfriend." 

Vera snorts in annoyance. "Away from you and your shit of guard dogs." 

Without an expression, Janson steps forward making the two girls cower back in fear. "I think you have something of mine." 

Vera shows him a serum in her hand and offers it to him. "Here. Take it." 

Janson shakes his head, refusing the serum. "Not that. Where are they?" 

"Just take it. Leave them alone." Teresa tells him. 

"What is it with you two? You think they're so special? They're lab rats. They were born with a gift. They never had to fight for it, they never earned it. They don't deserve it." Janson says, taking slow steps forward. His gun is still pointing at the two girls. 

"Maybe. But it's his." Teresa replies with a serious face, even though she's shaking inside, so is Vera. 

Without giving a second thought, Janson pulls the trigger and Teresa gasps for air this time, her white shirt getting bloody every second and falling to the ground. Lifelessly. 

"Teresa." Vera calls out, holding the lifeless body of her former friend in her arms. Trying to bring life to her. Which she fails obviously. 

Katherine closes her eyes, trying not to cry. Teresa might have betrayed her and her friends before. But there were good memories of them. 

"Next will be our lovely Vera." Janson announces, smugly. "What do you have to say, twins? Don't you have enough blood on your hands already?" 

Katherine opens her eyes and looks around for something to see a broken stool. She slowly crawls from her hiding spot and grabs the stool without making any noise. 

"Okay. Fine." Janson says with the silent treatment, loading his gun. "Have it your way." 

"Janson!" Katherine throws the stool across the room and falls to the floor at the loss of her energy. 

Meanwhile, Janson bends before the stool hits his head as it directly hits the glass cell containing the two gone cranks. "Missed, you crazy bitch." 

"Did I?" Katherine smirks this time and with that the glass cell begins to crack, gaining the attention. 

"Oh, shit." Janson mumbles under his breath. The two cranks jump out of the cell and onto him, attacking him to the ground as he screams. 

"As the peace offering. Hope you like to have some!" Katherine laughs maniacally, watching the show. "I swear Newt was much gentler on me!" 

Vera comes to her senses and gets up on her feet before rushing to Katherine. "Come on. We need to go." 

Thomas's right arm is slinging around Chris's shoulder as they move to the two girls. 

"Take Kat with you. I got Thomas." Vera says to Chris. 

"Okay." Chris nods and switches Thomas to the feral girl. He scoops her up in his back and makes it out along with Vera and Thomas since the cranks are almost done with Janson, who is still struggling to be out. "What was that?" 

Katherine smiles tiredly. "He asked for it." 

"This way. Here." Vera points at the hallway that leads them to the stairs. But as they reach the staircase, they find fire growing up and there's no way they can alight without getting burnt to crisp. "Come on. Up." 

They somehow make it to the rooftop and stop. The whole city is burning with flames and so is the building. 

Not finding any sign of survival, Vera guides others to go back but then, the door explodes with fire, making them step back. 

"Got any final prayers?" Katherine asks the boy as he sets her on the floor as Vera checks on Thomas's wound. 

Chris raises an eyebrow. "For?" 

"We're gonna die." 

"We're still alive and we're gonna survive." 

"You and your optimism." A smile makes it to Katherine's face even though it soon drops. "I lead you guys to this. I'm sorry." 

"Don't you dare apologize. We're besties. Remember?" Chris grins with pride. 

Katherine wonders if the boy is really brave or if he's faking it. Either way, there's no sight of fear in his eyes. Just happiness. "I have a confession." 

Chris borrows his eyes. "Go on." 

"I mean I love Newt but there's a part of me liking you more than I should. I know it sounds crazy but we're gonna die now so it won't matter to hide anymore—" Katherine rambles but Chris cuts her off by smashing his lips into hers. There's no sparks or fireworks. Just a kiss full of sorrow and despair. 

"Wow. I just cheated on Newt with a guy who likes boys." Katherine gasps in realization as they pull apart. 

"Stop being dramatic." Chris laughs, sweetly. "And for your note, I'm bisexual. Don't tell Newt though. He'll kill me if he finds out." 

"You mean the kiss?" 

"Yeah. Just don't wanna die with a ruined face, alright? I am cute and I like to die cute." He pouts. 

"Like if we survive to tell him." Katherine points out. 

"I know right." Chris shrugs, carelessly. "I have a confession too." 

"Go on, Christian." 

"Eww… it's Chris. Christian sounds like an old man." He grumbles. 

"Whatever." Katherine rolls her eyes. 

"So I found an important piece of information from WICKED database." 

"What is it?" 

"Sonya and Newt are biological siblings." 

"Really?" 

"Yup." 

"That's crazy. I mean—Newt will be thrilled—he's not gonna make it without the cure." She sighs in distress. "I wish I could tell him how much I love him for the last time." 

Chris opens his mouth to comfort her but then, a familiar berg rises above them. "Looks like we're not totally screwed." 

The building is groaning as the flames and smoke rise on the rooftop. Chris helps Katherine onto her feet and slings her hand over his shoulder, taking all her weight upon him before limping to the edge. 

Since Thomas is about to lose his consciousness, Vera guides him first to the berg, which Jorge tries his best to hold steady and away from the fire at the same time. 

Vince leans out of the hatch door, his hand reaching forward. "Come on, Thomas! Give me your hand!" 

"Get closer!" Vera exclaims. Thomas stretches out his hand as Vera supports his weight. 

Katherine watches Vince successfully pulling Thomas into the berg. Even though her ragging breaths are not helpful at the moment to inhale her more oxygen into her system, it actually brings some relief at the sight of her brother safe. Vera looks back at Katherine only for her to shake her head. 

"You go first." 

She nods and after another harrowing amount of attempts, Vera jumps into the berg, almost missing her grip on the jump. 

Minho wraps his arms around her, pulling her up and into his arms. But then again, he looks back to his mission to save his friends. 

A loud boom echoes through the air as nearby buildings crumble down. 

"Tell him how much you love him for me. Would you?" Chris whispers to Katharine's ear. 

"What do you mean?" Her voice fills with confusion. 

"Shh. I like you a lot, you crazy girl. But you're annoying sometimes." He says with a smile before looking back at the hatch. 

"Jump!" 

"Lower!" 

"You gotta get closer!" Gally yells to the pilot as Minho stretches his hand out. "Come on, reach! Come on! Reach!" 

Just as the berg closes to the edge again, Chris pushes her into the berg while Minho and Vince catch her at the last second, her lower body dangling in the air. 

"Pull her up!" Vince yells and they pull her up into the berg, so she's now laying on her side on the hatch door beside them, her conscious dangling on strings. 

"Come on, boy!" Vince gestures at Chris, holding his hand out. "Come on!" 

Another boom echoes in the air before a nearby collapsing building falls onto the other end of the building Chris is standing in. His eyes meet with Katherine's. They're teary and vulnerable right now. But his face is still craving a light smile. 

"Chris." Katherine calls out. 

"Thank you for being my best friend." Chris says with a low voice as a tear falls down his cheek before the cracked floor below him collapses along with him. 

"No!" Katherine screams as she watches his body disappearing into the darkness and falling to death. 

Black dots floating in her eyes as she hears people calling for her. She reaches for the serum in her pocket and hands it to the person kneeling next to her. She can't make it who the person is, even though she sees a blurry figure. "Newt." 

With that, she passes out in the cold.