"Do it before I become one of them!"

"I…"

"KILL ME!" And then Newt's eyes cleared, as if he'd gained one last trembling gasp of sanity, and his voice softened. "Please, Tommy. Please."

With his heart falling into a black abyss, Thomas pulled the trigger….

xXxXx

A woman with sleek black hair and a white lab coat watched the camera. Her eyes widened after she heard the deafening BANG of the gun, blinked rapidly then turned to the men and women dressed identically to her.

"That was not supposed to happen! Get him out of the there!" she screamed, half panicked and half frustrated.

People were bustling around now, preparing to rescue the boy who lay on the ground, nearly swimming in a pool of his own blood.

"Hang in there, Alex," she whispered quietly to camera. "You can make it." She watched the remaining Gladers and Brenda run off. "We'll bring your friend back, I promise."

xXxXx

"He'll make it, but it's most likely he won't be able to use his left side anymore," a deep voice said from somewhere in the dark abyss. "The bullet was also found to eat away the rest of the Flare." There was a small pause before the voice said incredulously, "He's cured.

He flinched – which only made the pain throughout his body worse – as he heard snapping of fingers in his right ear, then his left.

"Newton, can you hear me?" a softer voice asked.

How did they know his name?

His eyes opened to meet bright lights directly above him. Feeling the flat surface below him, he realized he was on a metal table. Squinting, he tried to make out the people standing over him. He tried raising his arm to shield his eyes, but he couldn't quite bring his arm all the way up.

"Incredible... I guess the bullet didn't damage as much as we thought," the deep voice said. "We should've shot all the boys."

"Ha ha, very funny, Jack" the soft voice said sarcastically.

Newt's eyes were still adjusting to the blinding light, but now he could make out the shape of a woman standing to his right. She stepped closer to Newt.

"How are you feeling?" the woman asked him gently

"Who the bloody hell are you?" Newt asked, his temper rising.

"I am Liana, and that is my cousin Jack." She motioned to the man standing to the left of the table. "We're part of Wicked. We're the doctors that saved your life".

Newt's heart beat fast against his chest. "But... Thomas... h-he was supposed to kill me! I'm dangerous!" Newt exclaimed. Suddenly he felt like running away from these people. To spare them from himself.

"You were dangerous, until he shot you. He's pretty good with a gun, don't cha think?" Jack asked him playfully.

Liana jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow and Newt looked at the man with rage in his eyes. Liana turned back at Newt.

"Newt, that bullet... It destroyed the Flare," Liana told him slowly.

Newt gave her a confused look, mixed with fear and anger. "But... but I could only get a cure in the Safe Haven." Newt stated.

Liana laughed. It was a sweet, gentle laugh. "You actually should thank your friend Thomas. If he hadn't shot you and let you kill him, you'd be one of those Cranks by now."

Newt's eyes widened. "But where are my friends now?" he asked, trying to control the shaking of his voice.

"They made it to the Safe Haven" Liana replied. "You can call him if you want. We issued them all cellphones."

Jack tossed a phone to Newt. To Newt's surprise, the phone didn't hurt him when it hit his leg. Liana helped Newt power on the strange looking phone.

"But I don't know his number," Newt said to the WICKED employees.

"Already in the phone. All you have to do is press his name in the contacts," Jack said a bit impatiently.

With some minor difficulty, Newt opened the contacts and scrolled until he saw Thomas' name. His thumb hovered above his name, wondering if all this was a trick. A clever ruse.

He pressed Thomas' name. He pressed the call button and raised the phone to his ear. It started to ring.

After a few heartbeats, the ringing stopped and the phone clicked.

"Hello?" came Thomas's voice. He sounded broken. Tears welled up in Newt's eyes.

"Tommy," Newt whispered longingly into the phone. There was a silence on the other side.

"Who is this?" Thomas asked shakily.

Newt smiled.

"The name's Newt, Greenie."