Disclaimer – I own nothing.
AN – Hello Maze Runner fandom! Ever since I first watched the Death Cure, I have had this plot in my head, along with another one that I will hopefully be working on soon, and thought I would write and post it. It was supposed to be a one-shot of Thomas's thoughts after Newt's death to the end of the film and a bit after, but due to how long it was getting, I ultimately decided to make it multi-chapter story instead of one after talking to a fellow Maze Runner fan. The first two chapters detail events that happened in the movie while the chapters after that are more original. This is my first Maze Runner story. Hope you all like it!
Enjoy!
Thomas stared in horror at Newt's body, the knife still sticking out of his best friend's chest. This wasn't supposed to happen, not at all. They were supposed to be immune, Newt should've been immune. But he wasn't, and he got the Flare. They were supposed to rescue Minho and get the serum for Newt. While they succeeded in saving the former runner, they didn't the serum in time. And now, their friend was dead. Newt was dead because none of them were fast enough, not this time.
Thomas, you can save Newt.
It's your blood.
That was what Teresa said. If she was telling the truth, then that meant, that meant he could've saved Newt. He could've saved Winston. If he had stayed at the WCKD base after he and the other Gladers were taken from the Maze and let them check his blood and realize he was the cure, then maybe his friends that he lost in the Scorch would still be alive. The Right Arm would still be alive. Minho, Aris, Sonya, and several other immune kids wouldn't have been taken and tortured. WCKD did all of that in order to try and find their precious cure.
Then, a sudden thought came to his mind. If he continued to run, would WCKD keep rounding up kids? Would WCKD come after them? Would the rest of his friends die like the others? Before he could come up with an answer though, he heard the sound of feet on the pavement running towards him. Thomas looked up in time to see Brenda come to a stop a few feet away, the shocked and grief-stricken expression revealing that she had just realized that Newt was dead, that she was too late.
Thomas stared at Brenda as both of their eyes filled with tears over the loss of their friend. He then noticed that her right hand was clenched tightly, as if she was holding something tightly. It only took him a second to realize that it was the serum, the one that was supposed to help Newt. It wouldn't have saved the blonde though. Apparently, only Thomas's blood could do that, and that serum wasn't made from his blood.
You can save Newt.
No, he couldn't save Newt, he was too late for that, but he wasn't too late to save the others. If WCKD had him, if they had their cure, they wouldn't need the other Immunes. They would leave them alone, they would be safe. The only thing Thomas wanted to do was save his friends, but in his attempts to do that, he endangered them and got them killed. He wasn't going to do that anymore. He was going to keep them all safe.
Thomas took another look at Newt's body before looking over at Brenda, the tears in his eyes making his vision blurry. Then, he turned and started walking away from her and the lifeless body of his best friends, and towards WCKD. Luckily, Brenda didn't try to stop him, not that he would've let her if she did. He was on a mission and no one was going to stop.
He had to know, had to know if Teresa was telling the truth. If she wasn't, then he was going to kill Ava Paige and Janson. It was the only way to ensure his friends and the other Immunes stayed safe. And if Teresa was telling the truth, then he'd make a deal. He'd stay, he'd be their cure, as long as they promised to leave the rest of the Immunes alone. That was the only thing he cared about now, and it wasn't like WCKD would need them when they had an actual cure.
It stops when we find a cure.
Teresa's words from earlier echoed in Thomas's ears as he walked down the street towards WCKD's headquarters, not even really aware of the fighting going on around him. The sound of gunfire and bombs going off were nothing but white noise to him. He didn't care, the only thing about was ending this, ending all of it. Teresa said all this stops when they find a cure. Well, they found it now, found him, so it was now time to end this.
Thomas broke out of his dazed reverie when he entered the WCKD building. He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting, guards running around or something, but no. The place looked completely deserted. The guards were most likely fighting outside, but Thomas held his gun tighter in his hand, ready to fire at anyone who got in his way. No one did though, allowing Thomas to make his way through the building without any problems. It was almost like it was meant to be. He tried leading his friends away from WCKD, Jason and his agents went after them. He willing walks into their headquarters and no one stops him.
He found Ava on one of the lower floors. She was standing by the window, staring out at the fighting that was happening below. The doctor looked a bit more like a normal person than the cold, professional, WCKD figurehead that Thomas had always seen her as. Sure, she was still wearing her trademark white clothes, but her hair was down and she was wearing a gray sweater. Silently, Thomas walked towards her, lifting up the gun in his hand as he did so.
Ava didn't notice him until her cocked the gun. The place was so quiet that the sound echoed loudly enough for the doctor to hear it clearly, causing her to turn her head to see who made the noise. When she realized that it was him, and that he was pointing a gun at her, she turned completely to face him. She didn't say a word though. Instead, Ava looked a little like she was worried about him.
"Is it true?" Thomas asked her, a little shocked at how his voice sounded. He was so focused on reaching Teresa and Ava that he didn't realize that there were tears still streaming down his cheeks and there was a sob trying to rise to the surface until now. The teenager ignored it though and when he saw the confused expression on Ava's face, he elaborated, "Newt. Could I have saved him?"
A look of realization crossed Ava's face as she heard the way Thomas talked about Newt before she gave him a small nod and said, "You can save us all."
Thomas stared at her for a moment, trying to see through his tears to see if she was lying or not. Despite how little he trusted her, he knew that Ava and Teresa wouldn't lie about something that serious. They wouldn't have any reason to. His shaking arm suddenly seemed to lose all strength and he lowered it as he dropped the gun.
The sound of the weapon hitting the ground echoed loudly throughout the hallway as Thomas lowered his head, the tears he had been trying to hold back threatening to overwhelm him. They weren't lying, he could've saved Newt. He could've saved his best friend. If he had gone with Teresa to let her run those tests she wanted to do when she asked only hours ago, she could have made a cure for Newt. They could have saved him. He could have saved him.
"It's okay." Thomas heard Ava whisper as she placed her hand on his shoulder. He didn't even realize that she come closer to him.
Slowly, he raised head to look at her and with tears in his eyes and a broken voice, Thomas begged, "Just leave the others alone."
Ava gave him a small, but reassuring and sincere smile as she said, "I promise. I will-"
BANG!
Thomas instinctively flinched at the sound of a gun going off while a stunned and pained expression came upon Ava's face. As her eyes began to become empty and lifeless, Thomas looked down and saw her white shirt turn red with blood on her chest. She then started to fall forward, causing him to take a step back so she wouldn't fall on him. As the doctor fell limply to the ground, Thomas looked up to see who had fired the gun, who was it that apparently wasn't Ava Paige dead besides him. It took a few seconds for the smoke from the gun's barrel to clear, but once it did, Janson's figure became visible.
Thomas didn't know whether or not he should be surprised at Janson's presence, at the fact that he just killed the woman he worked for and was now pointing a gun at him. He knew that the head of WCKD's security was a bit trigger happy, and knew that he hated him, but why would he kill Ava? And if he heard Teresa's broadcast, he would know that Thomas's blood was the cure. Did Janson really hate him enough to let all those that were infected die so he could kill him?
Slowly, Janson stalked towards him, keeping his gun pointed at Thomas's chest. Thomas instinctively took another step back, but didn't try to run. He found he didn't care if the man shot him, if the man killed him. Death couldn't hurt worse than the pain that he was already in. So many of his friends were already dead. Newt, Chuck, Winston, Alby, and more. His friends that were still alive were safe, or at least, he hoped that they were. He didn't have any reason to fight anymore.
Janson didn't fire though, even when he came to stand in front of the teenager. Thomas stared at him, waiting, but still nothing happened. The two just stared at each other. Finally, Thomas decided to say something, though he wasn't exactly sure what, when Janson made his move. It happened so fast that Thomas barely saw it, his brain working so slow it didn't really register what the older man did. He sure felt it though.
Janson had moved his arm and the next thing that Thomas was aware of was a sharp pain in his neck. As he stumbled back a few steps away from Janson, he lifted his hand to the source of the pain and found a small needle sticking out of his neck. He pulled it out, but it was too late. Whatever it was that Janson had injected him with had already taken affect. Thomas's limbs grew heavier and heavier with each passing second, and his mind became foggy. Everything was swimming in and out of focus. His legs then buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.
Thomas tried to move, knowing that he needed to get away from Janson, but found that he couldn't, he was too weak. As he tried to move though, he saw his gun still lying on the floor where he had dropped it only minutes earlier. Weakly, the teenager tried to reach for it, but WCKD's head of security quickly saw what he was doing and kicked the gun far out of Thomas's reach.
"Oh Thomas." Janson said with a slight singsong tone, though Thomas barely heard him. The sedative had almost completely pulled him under.
As the teenager's gaze drifted from Janson's face to Ava's lifeless body, his vision blurred. The last thing he heard before he completely passed out was Janson's voice saying, "You should have run."
AN – I hope you all liked this chapter. Please remember that this is all just what I think was going through Thomas's head when all of this was happening. If you guys don't agree or don't like it, sorry. I do hope you guys enjoyed reading though. Next chapter will be up, hopefully soon. See you then!