Newt watched all his friends follow the Cured Crank back to WICKED. The world had completely fallen apart by now. It was full of Cranks past the Gone. The only people left were the few Immunes that WICKED continued to test relentlessly. And they were almost all dead too.
Thomas and Minho found Ava Paige. She was amazed by their find. They had brought a sample of the herbs they made their soups out of and cooked it up. Then she had some armed guards nab a poor Crank past the Gone to see if it would work on someone almost completely infected by the virus.
Within a few days, the Crank had become a man and was wondering why his body was so sore.
"This is a truly amazing discovery. Is there any way that WICKED and the rest of the human race can repay you?" Chancellor Paige asked.
"Actually, yes. We know you have DNA cloning tech from older experiments. And we had a Crank friend who, uh, died." Thomas told the story again, still choking up a bit towards the end.
Newt was getting restless just watching this. He was standing literally right next to his friend and couldn't say anything to comfort him.
"We were thinking maybe get samples of Newt's DNA from somewhere in the Maze and rebuild his body and bring it back to life, if his ghost is still hanging around, well I think I remember reading some books as a kid where ghosts could possess things, maybe Newt could come back and repossess his body. Remember Thomas, when that Crank came into our camp? That tree branch was moving for no reason. We forgot about it when we saw the Crank. Then we can give him the Cure, make him Immune to the Flare." Minho said.
Chancellor Paige was looking at them with a mixture of sympathy and sadness. From where he was floating/standing, Newt could see that she really didn't think their idea was possible, that maybe their grief was running away with them. Really it was, but he wanted a try and hoped that she'd at least humor them enough to give it a go.
"Alright, we can try, but before I do, I want to ask you: How do you think you'd handle it if you were to see your friend as a blank slate? Science can only do so much, and we don't have his mind or thoughts or personality on a drive. It might be that the clone is just a living breathing piece of cardboard, unable to think or feel. Do you still wish to try?" Her voice sounded sad and weary.
Thomas and Minho nodded eagerly. Newt did too, although nobody could see him. He wanted to live again, and apologize to Thomas for making him shoot him and actually have him hear.
"Just don't show the clone to us until we know whether it worked or not. If it didn't, just tell us. That way we can spare ourselves having to see it." Minho said. Chancellor Paige nodded.
The technicians worked all night, looking at lots of DNA from the Maze, until they found Newt's, they started cloning and 3D printing all the necessary organs and putting everything together very carefully.
Soon, Newt could look at the operating table and see his body actually looking like his body.
Finally, they used the defibrillator to shock his heart into beating. Due to their general knowledge of Newt's behavioral patterns, they were able to manipulate the neural pathways in his brain to match what they'd been before, except now they inject the herbs to make him Immune to the Flare.
He felt a tug towards his body. He didn't resist for a moment.
When he opened his eyes, Newt saw the operators jump back a bit and start asking him questions to make sure he really knew who and what he was before they allowed him to see Thomas and Minho.
Finally, Thomas and Minho came in and stood awestruck as they saw their "dead" friend sitting up and smiling at them. When the three hugged each other, they all had tears falling freely down their cheeks.
"Tommy, I'm sorry I made you shoot me. I realize now that it was the worst thing you ever had to do. I was there with you and Minho the whole time. I'm sorry for what I did to you both." He said through his sobs.
The other two didn't respond, just kept hugging him like they weren't ever going to let go.
When Newt was strong enough to walk, they took him to the safe haven and showed him around.
"Now that we have a cure, we eventually hope to return to the normal world, the one that we remember before the Flare. Sound like a nice idea?" Thomas asked.
"Definitely something to look forward to." Newt said.
Newt was quite happy. He had a second chance at life, and now so did the rest of the world.