Chapter Sixteen.                16
( that won't save us! ) ━━━━━━━━
↳ gladers to the rescue ↲

❝ I GOT YOU. YOU'RE SAFE NOW. ❞

↢ ❦ ↣

RESCUE
lauren daigle

i hear you whisper underneath your breath
i hear your s.o.s., your s.o.s.

i will send out an army to find you
in the middle of the darkest night
it's true, i will rescue you

i will never stop marching to reach you
in the middle of the hardest fight
it's true, i will rescue you

1:26 ─────⊙───── 3:35
↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

↢ ❦ ↣

ROSIE fluttered her eyes open to see the boy she'd been missing for months. He stood by the door looking concerned for her state. It had been months since they moved her to the basement. The girl remembered everything by now. She had retrieved her entire memory including what happened before she was sent up to the glade. She remembered her entire childhood and how she had to survive.

"Rosie?" His familiar voice warmed up her heart.

The girl wanted to get up and rush to hug him, to feel his warmth. Gally was always able to hug her and somehow make her feel safe and happy. He didn't know how he was able to do that, it just worked when it came to Rosie.

"Gally? Is that really you?" Rosie asked trying to reach him but she was pulled back by soldiers. The girl panicked for a few seconds feeling their hands push her down back to the ground.

Blinking a few more times, Gally was gone.

"Rosie, can you hear me?" The girl blinked a few more times and instead of Gally standing at the door it was Teresa.

"Oh, it's you, Teresa."

       "Did you hear me, Rosie?" Teresa asked softly as she nodded to the soldiers to walk out of the room.

      Rosie shook her head, "uh, no, I'm sorry. I thought I saw Gally again."

      Teresa sighed as Rosie had been having hallucinations right after the first month of having her in the basement. She had seen Gally and Ander. A lot of more dead people.

      "I wanted to remind you that we're leaving today." Teresa explained. "There has been sightings of an army, they're thinking it's the Right Arm. They've hit one of our bases and luckily we had evacuated before their arrival. Everything important is already packed up. We think they're hitting this place next."

     "Why are you telling me this?" Rosie asks.

      "I told you the last few days Rosie." Teresa explains as Rosie had been having trouble remembering information. "They plan on leaving you here."

     "And Minho?"

     Teresa shook her head, "he's coming with us."

     The girl looked down at the ground hearing the sound of sirens going off in the compound. It was a signal that they had one hour left before all the cars and bergs were gone.

      "Rosie?" Teresa crouched down getting closer to the freezing girl. "Just say the words and you can come with me." Rosie didn't say anything as Teresa continued. "Please, they promised me that they were going to stop all of this if you cooperated." Nothing. Still silence. "You deserve more than this. Please. I don't want you to die in here all alone."

     Rosie looked over at her speaking, "I asked you three months ago to kill me. And you didn't."

     "You have potential Rosie. So much potential. Please just tell them where the Right Arm is and what you know about your memories. Everything's going to be okay." Teresa pleaded trying to save her life.

      "I don't have anything to say."

     Teresa let out a small sigh before deciding to whisper one last thing. "Jess made it out." Teresa admitted. "They haven't been able to find her. We don't know where she is. Hopefully she's safe. They think she's the one leading the Right Arm our way. We don't know for sure."

      Rosie held back her tears turning away so Teresa wouldn't look at her. "Here." Teresa added on her hand grabbing a small bag. "I'm not suppose to give it to you but have it. Please. Everyone will be gone in less than an hour."

     The girl wondered what was in the brown lunch bag. It could be something useful. Teresa grabbed something out of her pocket speaking again, "I think you'll want this back. I know it's important to you." Teresa shows her Gally's bracelet. Rosie's eyes widened snatching the bracelet away. "They made me cut it off you and throw it away but I retrieved it to give it back to you one day. I guess that's today."

     Rosie didn't say anything as she just held back her tears staring at the bracelet Gally had made her almost two years ago. The girl just wanted to be back with her friends. She wanted Gally but she knew he was dead. Or maybe he wasn't? Who was the man in the city? Was it really him? Or was she just hallucinating him the entire time? Because if it was him then that meant she kissed him. She kissed him and he kissed her back.

     "I hope we see each other again." Teresa states standing up.

     Rosie turned to her replying, "if we ever do, I'll make sure it's your last."

     Teresa dropped her gaze feeling hurt by her words. "Goodbye Rosie."

      "Wait—" Teresa stopped and turned back to look at Rosie who had tears down her face. "Don't hurt Minho." Rosie begged. "Please. I don't want him to end up like me."

     Teresa chewed on her bottom lip as she nodded, "okay." Rosie turns away as she hears the door shut and lock.

     The girl waits hearing the sirens continue blasting throughout the entire compound. Cars were heard leaving and helicopters from a distance. For the first time, Rosie could hear complete silence. There was no more sirens, no more shoes walking upstairs, no more chattering. Nothing. 

      Rosie tried to open the door to see if it was able to open but it couldn't. Someone needed to open the door from the other side so she could get out. Hours passed as she somehow hoped for someone to free her but no one came. For a moment, Rosie thought Teresa was going to help her. She thought Teresa was going to leave her something to escape with. But instead Teresa gave her a bag with a water bottle and a pack of crackers.

     They left her here to die.

↢ ❦ ↣

     DAYS had blurred into an endless stretch of darkness and silence, the basement's cold concrete floor leeching the last of her warmth. Her body once trembling with fear, had grown numb, too weak to even shiver anymore. She lay curled in the corner, her limbs heavy, her throat dry as sandpaper. The single water bottle and pack of crackers Teresa had left her were long gone, consumed in a desperate attempt to stave off the gnawing hunger that now twisted in her stomach like a cruel, unrelenting beast.

Each shallow breath felt like an effort, her chest rising and falling with painful slowness. She couldn't even cry anymore; she had no tears left, only a hollow acceptance that this was it. They had left her here, forgotten, while the world outside moved on. No one was coming. She would die here, weak and starving, in a place where her screams had once echoed but now faded into silence.

Rosie shut her eyes closed hoping that this time when she falls asleep, she wasn't going to wake up again. There was no reason as to why she'd try.

"Wake up." His voice spoke causing a tremble of her lips. "Get up, Little One." Rosie opened her eyes again seeing him crouch down with a soft smile on his lips. "I need you to get up."

"Gally, no." She mumbled out shaking her head turning away from him.

"Yes, come on." She could feel his arms trying to pull her up. "They're here."

"Leave me alone." Rosie replied trying to get him to leave her alone. "No one's here."

"Baby, please," Gally spoke hearing the sound of cars getting closer to the compound, "you need to make noise. They need to hear you. Please."

Rosie shook her head, "it's okay."

The boy looked concerned for the girl. "Look, at least sit up. Maybe if they see you sitting they'll come in to get you." Gally explained sitting her up.

She didn't want to do anything. Rosie had already accepted her fate. "Leave me alone."

"I'm not leaving you." Gally shook his head pulling her to sit against the wall. "Here, lay your head on my shoulder. I'll wait with you."

Rosie laid her head on his shoulder shutting her eyes closed not realizing that Gally was telling her the truth. At this very moment footsteps were heard entering the compound. Gally looked up hoping that they'd come check down the basement.

"Stay awake for me, sweet girl." Gally whispered.

Rosie opened her eyes again listening to Gally's plead. "Why?"

"Thomas is here." Gally explained. "They're here for you. You need to stay awake, okay?"

      "Thomas is here?" She asked.

      Gally nodded sounding a little hurt with what he was going to say, "yeah. He'll save you. I'm sorry I couldn't but he can."

     The group rushed in, their hearts pounding as they all fanned out through the compound. Each and everyone of them were working urgently and determined hoping they'd find something or someone. The air was thick with tension boots pounding against the concrete floors, flashlights cutting through the dim, dust-filled rooms. They kicked open doors, swept through hallways, and tore through filing cabinets, searching for any sign of life, any clue that someone—anyone—might have survived.

The static of their radios crackled with frustrated voices. "It's empty!" Jeremy shouted from across the building slamming his fist into the wall. "There's nothing! There's no one!"

Thomas' throat tightened as he pushed forward, refusing to believe it was too late, that they had come all this way only to find a graveyard. The mission wasn't just about dismantling WICKED's operations—it was about saving whoever was left. But with every empty room, every wall, hope slipped further away, leaving behind only the cold, haunting reality that maybe there was no one left to save.

Thomas walked down a hallway noticing a locked door that no one had tried to break open yet. The boy kicked the door a few times before successfully opening it showing a set of stairs going down. "Newt!" He called out.

Newt was by the entrance of the compound when he heard his name. The boy jogged over knowing it was Thomas who called for him. "What, mate?"

"I'm going down." Thomas explained as Newt tried to convince him not to since they were on a time crunch.

"There's probably nothing down there. No ones found anything." Newt replied.

Thomas shrugged his shoulders, "I'll be quick."

Newt nodded, "Okay, but be quick. Everyone's probably outside by now."

"Go tell Vince not to leave yet." Thomas pleaded as Newt nodded.

"Alright," he agreed starting to walk off, "yell if anything!"

A little chuckle left Thomas' lips, "Will do."

     Thomas headed downstairs looking around the basement spotting a locked door and what seemed a surveillance computer setup. It looked like they were surveilling whatever was on the other side of the door. Thomas wondered if the power button worked and when he pressed the button, the computer display turned on. The computer showed a girl sitting against the wall. Her hair covered her face so Thomas couldn't get a good look at her. There was no movement from her but Thomas still wondered if the girl was alive or not.

It didn't matter to Thomas who the girl was he kicked open the door hoping he'd find her alive. His eyes widen immediately when he spots the girl sat against the wall who resembled a lot like his missing friend.

     "Look, see, Thomas is here." Gally whispered in Rosie's ear. "C'mon, try to get up. He'll get you. I promise."

      Rosie looked up for a few seconds realizing Thomas was there. Thomas rushed over to her when she falls forward looking like she had no strength to hold herself up.

"Rosie?" Thomas kneeled down dropping his gun to check on the girl as his hands quickly slid to her wrist to check her pulse. The other hand moved her hair out of her face and realized that it was Rosie.

"You came." She spoke weak and defeated when he sat her up. "Mm, knew you'd come." She whispered shivering with goosebumps displaying on her entire body.

"I got you." Whimpers left her lips as Thomas draped his jacket around her and picked her up in his arms, "I got you. You're safe now." She shook her head not knowing if what was happening was real or if she was hallucinating. "I'm getting you out of here."

     Gally stood up walking over to them, "he's got you now, okay?" Gally reassured her. "You're in good hands. You'll be okay. He won't let anyone hurt you."

     Thomas tensed when he felt how ice cold her body was. "She left me here to die." Rosie mumbled trying to get closer to Thomas' warm chest and nodding listening to Gally. She didn't understand what he meant, she wasn't able to process Gally's words as she was just focused on the warmth that radiated off of Thomas.

     Thomas' jaw clenched after her words and he stopped mid walk when he saw the tally marks on the wall. 97 days. They had her caged inside this room for over three months. Thomas exited the room and walked up the stairs trying to comprehend how Teresa could allow such treatment.

"You're okay now," Thomas reassured holding her tighter and keeping her closer to his chest trying to kept her as warm as possible. Rosie didn't say anything else because she could feel somehow a sort of guilt and shut her eyes closed hoping she wasn't dreaming.

Thomas rushed up the stairs noticing that everyone was already outside waiting on him. A few arguing with Newt over Thomas' impulsiveness. They didn't like that the boy took his time when they could be using that time for something more useful.

"He just needs a few more minutes guys." Newt tried to explain. "Cmon he just wanted to make sure there was nothing in the basement."

"We can't just be waiting on Thomas whenever he wants—" Jeremy wasn't able to finish his sentence before he got cut off by a girl speaking.

"Is that—" Mara's eyes widened when she saw Thomas walking out of the compound with a girl's body in his arms. "Rosie?!"

Frypan and Newt turned around as fast as they could. Their chest somehow beating at a faster pace both full of hope of finding the girl. Jeremy turned as well shocked that Thomas found her. Guilt started to form in the pit of his stomach as he realized if Thomas hadn't searched downstairs, they could have left Rosie to die.

Mara jumped off the truck bed with Jeremy followed right after her. "Is it her?" Mara asked the walking boy.

Thomas nodded, "yeah. It's her."

"Is she—" Jeremy's eyebrows furrowed in concern as the girl wasn't moving, "dead?"

Newt and Frypan had rushed towards them hearing Thomas say, "she's still breathing. Her pulse is very slow."

Thomas walked towards the truck he had arrived in as Vince approached him making sure she wasn't infected. "Put her in the back. Where's Fran? She'll check her." Vince questioned the kids around as some rushed to find the girl they needed.

"Found a survivor!" Jeremy yelled out grabbing people's attention. "Fran c'mon she needs to get checked!"

Fran turned around as she nodded rushing towards the car they were at. Thomas sat Rosie in the back of the car waiting for the woman to arrive. Newt and Frypan looked at one another both worried about Rosie's state. She looked hopeless.

Thomas sat at the edge next to her feeling protective of Rosie. He fiddled with his fingers thinking how easily she could have died if he didn't have the instinct to check downstairs. Fran got into the back of the truck starting to check her vitals as everyone else hopped into cars and started to drive back to base.