𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙣

𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚 closes her eyes and lays her head on Thomas' shoulder—waiting for him to push the button. Her heart hammers against her chest as she draws in a deep breath.

Just as the boy goes to push the button—a loud horn blows through the canyon, echoing and honking continuously as entire group of people freeze and whip their heads around to see a vehicle rushing through the camp.

"What the—" Minho starts as he and the rest of the gladers furrow their eyebrows.

The truck knocks barrels and crates over as it runs through the camp till eventually colliding with a WCKD helicopter, making sparks fly as the metal collides with the spinning blades above.

"Look out!" Someone screams as sparks and debris off of the aircraft fly all over the place.

Thomas quickly grabs onto Blake's arm and hauls her down to the ground, covering her body with his as everyone screams and ducks away.

Gunshots and screams ring out as the teens and right arm start fighting back.

"Get her out of here!" Janson yells as he guides Ava back to the aircraft.

Blake blinks her eyes rapidly in disbelief as Thomas pulls the girl back up, steadying her on her feet as they start to back away.

"You good?" Minho shouts to the two before turning around to land a punch at a guard's mask.

Thomas and Blake spin around quickly when a buzzing of a loaded gun cocks, making the two widen their eyes in fear.

"Freeze! Drop it, kid!" A guard shouts, referring to the bomb still laid in the boy's hand.

"Like hell." Blake mutters as she connects her emerald orbs to Thomas'. As if the two silently communicated, Thomas nods to the girl as she slowly takes a step back.

Thomas lets his finger go, off of the button as chunks the bomb toward the guard—ducking and pushing Blake down as he yells "Get down!"

The girl flinches and covers her head as Thomas wraps an arm around her small frame. A loud boom cuts through the air as sparks and bright orange light glow from behind the two.

Blake pulls Thomas up to his feet as she squints through the thick smoke, noticing a figure running up to the two. "𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖-"

A quick and hard punch lands to the side of the girl's face and sends her to the ground as Janson steps over the groaning girl. The man throws another punch, but to Thomas' face as he moves to stand over the boy—blocking his movements.

Blake winces and pushes herself up to her feet behind Janson—spitting the blood now dripping from her mouth as she glares at the back of the man's head.

A click sounds from Janson's gun as he cocks it—aiming it at Thomas' petrified form. "What a waste."

Blake looks around her and quickly picks up an abandoned gun, shaking as she pulls the trigger aimed on the man's back. Janson shakes and groans as he falls to the ground.

Thomas' eyes widen as watches the man fall to the ground with electricity cracking through his body—twitching and groaning as he lays on the ground.

Thomas blinks and releases a breath he didn't know he was holding as he stares at the figure standing in front of him a few feet away.

"It just had to be a taser, didn't it? Why couldn't it have been a real bullet." Blake rolled her eyes as she stepped to Thomas' side, wiping the blood dripping down her chin with her wrist.

"Let's go! Hurry!" Blake shouted as she reached her hand out to help the boy up, settling the gun in her other hand—aimed away.

Quickly, Thomas latched his hand onto Blake's and stumbled to his feet.

The two kicked their feet into a sprint as they ran away from the stray bullets and flinched at the gunshots every now and then. Dodging the sparks that flew past them as they ran.

Vince screams as he shoots the automatic, aiming at any guards coming his way.

"Get out of here, Blake! 𝙂𝙤!" Thomas shouts as he picks up an abandoned gun behind a barrel. "Minho! Take her!"

A hand latches onto the girl's upper arm—dragging her away from Thomas. Heart pounding against her chest Blake looks up to her best friend with worried eyes.

"Let's get out of here!" Blake says as she sprints away—feeling Minho's grip loosen.

Blake quickly skids to a stop, having felt the boy's grip no longer on her arm. "Minho! Let's go!" Blake shouted as she spun back around to see her best friend loading a gun.

Aiming the boy shot at a guard and hit the target. Blake continued to scream for the boy to leave as smoke and orange glow clouded around them.

"Thomas! Get down!" Fry yelled as he pulled the boy's arm down to crouch behind a wooden crate.

"𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚!" Thomas shouted as he watched the girl pull her gun up to her shoulder, stepping closer to Minho.

Electricity shot through Blake's gun—paralyzing some of the guards as she turned in different directions.

Clicking sounded from a few feet away as Minho's shaking hands gripped the metal in his hands tightly. "Shit. Shit." The boy cussed as he realized he was out of ammo.

A sudden groaning and buzzing noise made Blake's head whip back to her best friend.

"No!" Blake shouted as her heart dropped. "Min!" The girl shouted again as she tried rushing to her best friend, but froze as she felt electricity tingle her body.

"𝙉𝙊!" Thomas shouted in panic as he watched Blake and Minho fall to the ground with guards piling in behind them.

Shouts of protest left Newt and Fry's lips as they watched two of their friends being dragged away.

"𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚! 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙝𝙤!" Thomas shouted as he pushed his hand off of the crate to run to help the two.

Blake groaned as a tear slipped out of her thick lashes, knowing she was caught.

"Come back!" Fry yelled as he chased after Thomas

Blake fluttered her eyes as she felt a guard lift her paralyzed body into their arms.

"Blake! Minho! No!" Thomas continued shouting as he sprinted towards the two. A hand gripped onto the boy's shoulder and then wrapped around his chest, holding him back as he thrashed.

"No, Thomas. No!" Jorge shouted as he kept his arms around the thrashing and upset teenager, shooting more WCKD guards that tried to come closer.

"𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙝𝙤!" Thomas shouts as he tries to push the older man's arms away "𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚!"

More gunshots echo throughout the canyon as Blake lets another tear fall off of her cheek. Lifting her dazed emerald orbs to beside her she watches as her best friend is dragged into the plane beside her.

"Thomas we gotta go now!" Jorge shouts as Thomas finally manages to get free. The boy's legs shake as he turns back around to his two friends being hauled away—fluttering is whiskey orbs as he watches the door slowly start to close.

Teresa and Ava come to stand by the edge of the opening—glaring at the boy as he watches from afar before the door finally shuts, leaving Thomas to stare at the aircraft—heartbroken as it takes off into the sky.

Cheering erupts from the crowd around the boy as tears blur his vision—watching as his girl and his friend disappear into the night sky.

The cool breeze of the crisp morning air blew through Thomas' short locks as he shook his head.

𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰—

The boy continued shaking his head, fighting back the tears as he lifted a silver van into his bag.

"What do we do now?" Fry questions as Thomas pauses what he's doing to fiddle with his hands.

"Well, we pick up what's left of us. Stick to the plan and get you kids to the safe haven." Vince spoke as he pushed himself up to stand—taking a look around him at the destruction caused by WCKD. "Then we start over, I guess."

Thomas shakes his head and glides his tongue over his bottom lip in aggravation. Reaching down below him, the boy quickly grabs onto the straps of his backpack and stands up, swinging it over his shoulder.

"I'm not going with you." Thomas says as he looks between the group.

Newt and Frypan's eyebrows furrow together in confusion as Vince whispers "What?"

"I made a promise to Minho. I wouldn't leave him behind. I have to go after him—and 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚."

Newt lets his mouth hang open as he pushes his hands against his thighs, pushing himself up to stand.

"Hey, kid. Look around you." Vince calls as he gestures with his hands to the destruction. "All right? WCKD just kicked our ass. You think about where you're headed."

Thomas shook his head "I'm not asking anyone to come with me."

"Thomas, listen to me." Newt shook his head as he stepped closer to the boy. "I've known Minho and Blake for—well, as long as I can remember. So, if there was anyway that we could help them, trust me, I would be up there standing next to you. But—this what you're talking about...is impossible."

"More like suicide" Jorge spoke up as he and Brenda came to stand near the others.

Thomas nodded as he looked toward the man "Maybe. But I know what I'm supposed to do now. It's not just about Blake and Minho. It's about all of us. It's about everyone WCKD's ever taken, everyone they will take."

The boy's voice cracked as he thought about the pair of emerald eyes he loved.

"They'll never stop. They'll never stop—so I'm gonna stop them." Thomas pauses as he looked around the group formed around him.

"I'm gonna kill Ava Paige."