"Hello, Thomas."

The way his name looked falling from his worst enemies mouth sent chills down Thomas' spine, and he tightened the grip on his gun once more. "Ratman."

"We meet again." Janson spread his arms before bringing them to rest at his side. "I hoped you would have reflected upon your decision and come here today to discuss a truce, maybe even how you might join WICKED and help us, knowing first hand how hurtful losing a loved one to this virus might be. But alas, the weapons in your hands as well as the noises I heard earlier suggest you come for a different reason. Here I am."

Thomas raised his gun, and placed his finger on the trigger. But he couldn't do it. He needed answers.

"Was it necessary? Were all the trails really necessary?" he asked, his voice shaking.

"Some, like the maze, were. Others...no." There was something almost like regret or guilt on the man's face, though it was quickly replaced with impatience. "Are you going to kill me or do I have to fight you for it?"

A tear of sadness fell down Thomas' face, though it wasn't because he was about to kill this man. It was because of the answer.

The maze needed to happen. He understood that much. But the deaths...they didn't.

They were for nothing.

And he was going to make the man responsible pay.

Click, boom and it happened.

A bullet shot across the room, the loud noise resounding in the small space. Minho didn't flinch as a hole appeared in Janson's head, blood splattering everywhere.

There was almost complete silence in the basement as Ratman's body dropped to the ground.

Almost.

A sound, unclear on what, could be heard from the small room in the corner.

Carefully, Minho and Thomas made their way over. Opening the door proved more difficult than it should have, seeing as Aris had disarmed the security, but apparently, the basement has a separate system.

Eventually though, they managed to open the door to see a bare room with a dark shadow huddled in the corner.

The figure was whimpering, probably from pain, and as they opened the door wider, shining some light on the thing, they realized it was shaking.

Minho went to touch it, wanting to move it, but it jumped up, unsteady and fell forward. Thomas rushed to catch it, and it relaxed in his arms, with it's face up so he could see it.

What he saw almost made him drop the person he was holding.

There, in his arms, was a boy a year or two older than him, a boy he had not seen in a year, eight months and 21 days, a boy he had hoped to see again but knew it was impossible, due to cercimstances.

Yet...there he was.

Alive, not like the last time he was seen.

The boy's lips trembled and a breath was released, a breath of relief, perhaps.

Minho heard the boy laying in Thomas' arms whisper something.

Something he had never thought he would hear again, in a voice he never thought would talk again, from a boy he never thought he would see again.

"Tommy," was whispered from the blond boy as he brought a hand up to his best friend's face.

~-~-~

Scott, Liam, Lydia and Malia were currently walking around the city, looking at the half destroyed buildings and the people walking around in masks.

They should have listened to the survivors, they knew that, mostly Liam, who kept trying to tell them this was a bad idea, but he had no choice but to listen because Scott was his alpha.

They were heading toward the biggest building that could be seen, the one Thomas strictly told them to stay away from. If that was the most important rule, then there must be something important there, right?

That was Scott's logic.

Sneaking inside proved easier than expected, considering how Thomas and his friends talked about how dangerous it was.

As they walked the halls of the lower floors, they were astonished at how much equipment the doctors had and how much technology was needed.

They had no regrets of walking in...that was until they came across the first bodies.

The ones they stumbled upon were of a nurse and a bodyguard.

It wasn't anything gruesome, just a bullet wound and a quick death.

"Oh my god!" Liam exclaimed out shock, covering his mouth with his hand and gagging. "Oh my god, that's disgusting."

He turned to walk away but stumbled, falling into a cart full of chemicals and other equipment that you shouldn't mess with.

A bang sounded, along with sparks and he fell back, into another cart which also sparked, one of them falling on him.

He cried out, fumbling to get the jacket he was wearing off of him. In doing so, he knocked into a third cart.

Lydia shushed him and helped him get the jacket off, before moving him away from the chemicals.

Scott coughed and felt weak. Whatever had happened to his hand had now spread past his elbow and continued to grow at a fast pace. His werewolf abilities were getting more out of control and his temper was running short.

He almost snapped at Liam for messing up the carts but he refrained, focusing on the body.

"Come on." He turned to follow the sent to stairs and up. The others followed, Liam bumping into two other carts because he tripped over his own shoe laces.

~-~-~

Brenda was getting impatient, as was Jorge and Gally. Fry was trying to calm them down but "they should have been back by now."

It hadn't even hit 30 minutes before they were supposed to be here. The meeting time was 6 and it was only 5:27.

The killing group had just gotten back, quickly followed by Harriet and it took them a few minutes to realize that no one had seen the McCall pack since they started the mission. That wasn't their problem though.

If they wanted to get lost and then blown up, so be it. They wouldn't or couldn't stop them.

Little did they know...

just one more chapter left.

what are some therioies?