"NO!"

Rachel stood in the middle of the courtyard as the serum clattered to the ground beside her.

It was strange how a couple of seconds could change her entire world. When she had first run out into the plaza a few seconds ago, she hadn't understood what she was seeing as she saw Thomas and Newt collapse to the ground. Then, as she got closer, she saw the way Thomas was bent over Newt… and then she'd seen the knife protruding out of Newt's chest.

And just like that her entire world tipped over into darkness.

"No. No. Newt."

Rachel stumbled forward, her scream ringing in her own ears as she tumbled to her knees beside Newt while Thomas slowly drew away. Rachel vaguely heard the others arriving, coming up behind her as she had found Newt and Thomas first - but clearly not soon enough. She heard Thomas stumble away but she couldn't look at him as she stared down numbly at Newt's face.

He lay unmoving, his face still veiny and his irises as black as the blood that coated his lips and stained the front of his shirt. She reached out a trembling hand toward Newt's face, touching his still warm cheek and she felt the tear that he must have shed as he died. Rachel's breath caught and she realized she was sobbing without tears.

"Newt."

Minho was suddenly beside her, his voice as numb as hers had been. Another faint noise on Rachel's other side made her realize Frypan was there as well, crying softly as he knelt beside his former second in command and his friend.

"He… He's…"

Rachel shuddered and Minho's hand landed on her shoulder. The soft touch, comforting but not the one she wanted, sparked the waterworks and Rachel heaved as the hot tears spilled down her cheeks.

"He… He…" She cried and Minho's hand on her tightened.

"I know." He murmured, his grief evident in every syllable he uttered.

Rachel choked as she tried to breathe and cry at the same time, and she bent her head over Newt's in utter misery. Only to jerk back abruptly.

The others jumped a little, startled by her abrupt change as Rachel stopped crying and stared at Newt before she leant down to press her cheek near Newt's mouth again.

"Rachel-?" Gally began in confusion when Rachel cut him off.

"He's still breathing."

The others stared at her, stunned and unable to believe her as Rachel sat up and looked at them.

"He's still BREATHING!"

Her scream woke them up while Rachel was already scrambling around Newt's side.

"Brenda, help me. Help me!"

Brenda moved instantly, helping Rachel as she tore off pieces of her shirt and began to press it around the knife wound.

"Put pressure on that and don't let go. Minho, the serum. Where's the serum?"

"I've got it, here." Gally quickly hurried to pick up the bottle Rachel had dropped and she thanked whatever higher power might exist that it hadn't broken when she had.

"How are you going to administer that, we don't have-" Brenda began when Rachel pulled one of the syringes she had stolen earlier that night from her pocket.

"Why-?" Minho gaped.

"I thought they might come handy in a fight." Rachel muttered as she tore open the packaging on the needle.

"Woah, wait, what are you doing?" Gally asked as Rachel stabbed herself with the needle and drew blood.

"If what Teresa said is true, then my blood can save Newt." Rachel answered as she removed the needle - ignoring the stinging - and injected the contents into the serum.

"Wait, is it as simple as-?" Minho asked worriedly as he watched the serum swirl before turning a more brilliant blue.

"No, but this is good enough for now. If he needs a better treatment, we can get that to him later but right now we've got to stop the Flare before it can eat at his mind."

Rachel pulled a fresh syringe and stabbed it into the serum.

"And it doesn't matter what blood type?" Minho asked, remembering what Rachel had said about Thomas being an O-blood type.

"Newt's an AB - universal recipient." Rachel explained shortly as she stabbed the needle into Newt's arm.

His veins were extremely easy to find, given how black they were and the way they protruded out of his skin and Rachel pushed down on the syringe.

"How do you know all of this?" Minho wondered while Rachel removed the needle.

"I looked at Newt's file. Thank God I did."

Rachel looked around as she spoke.

"Where's Thomas?"

"Uh..." Brenda cleared her throat uncomfortably. "He… left just as I was arriving."

"Thomas was here?" Minho asked, surprised by this information; he hadn't seen the boy when he arrived about half a minute after Brenda had. "Where'd he go?"

"Where do you think he'd have gone if he thought Newt was dead?" Gally asked impatiently. "He's given himself up to WCKD; that's the kind of Greenie he is."

Rachel turned to stare toward the WCKD main building. It was almost completely dark and empty now, very different from when she had seen it before. Strangely, the lack of any visible life made the building more menacing than before - but she knew what she had to do.

"I'm going to go get him."

"I'm coming with you." Minho answered determinedly but Rachel shook her head.

"You need to get Newt to the Berg."

"But will he survive long enough?" Gally asked worriedly, glancing at the wound punctured near the centre of Newt's chest. "I hate to be a downer but-"

"There'll be some emergency medical equipment inside and Jorge's trained as a doctor. We might be able to save him but we need to move him, now." Brenda explained while Minho grabbed Rachel's arm as she started to walk away.

"You're not going alone." Minho insisted, and Frypan agreed. But Rachel turned to them.

"I'm the only one who can go. Someone needs to keep steady pressure on Newt's wound and it'll take all three of you guys to carry both Newt and Brenda."

Minho frowned unhappily but Rachel murmured softly, "We can't have it both ways: either you guys save Newt and I go find Thomas, or we lose one of them. Or both of them."

Minho couldn't fault her logic but that didn't mean he liked the plan any better. Still, he let her arm go reluctantly although he said fiercely, "Just be sure you get your shank butt back too. Newt would never forgive me if anything happened to you."

Rachel smiled faintly before she looked over at Newt one more time. Brenda was keeping pressure on the wound and Rachel could see the worry in the older girl's eyes.

"Don't worry. I'll bring Thomas back; I swear it." Rachel promised.

Brenda nodded her thanks before she gestured at Newt with her head. "And we'll do our best to keep this one alive for you."

Rachel nodded before she turned and she ran toward the WCKD building while the boys congregated around Brenda, searching for a way to carry Newt and Brenda with as little movement as possible. Rachel trusted they would figure out something and she knew she had to believe Newt would be fine. So she forced herself to believe it and push the fear out of her mind. She couldn't worry about him or the others now if she wanted to make it back alive to them as she'd promised Minho.

The streets around the WCKD building were quiet - it seemed the protestors believed the building was empty and were further away, chasing people in the residual areas of the city. But Rachel still kept her eyes and ears open as she tentatively slipped into the building from which she had escaped just an hour or so earlier and stuck to the walls and shadows. The last thing she needed was for her or Thomas to get captured (or killed, and Rachel honestly didn't know which was worse) because they were careless.

As if in reaction to her thoughts, there was a sudden, loud bang. The sound of a gunshot seemed to crack the silence like it might break glass, and Rachel froze in place. She waited a few seconds for any kind of sound but there was none aside from the thud of a body hitting the ground. Glancing around and still seeing no one, Rachel tentatively slid along the walls until she could peer around the corner and into the main lobby.

Rachel had to stop herself from screaming as she saw Ava Paige lying on the ground, dead, her blood blossoming like a hideous flower on her paper-white shirt and coat. Right in front of the former head of WCKD's body stood Thomas. The boy looked as stunned as Rachel felt as he stared down at Ava and there was a strange mix of emotions - shock, confusion, alarm, pain, remorse. But more importantly, right across from Thomas was the man who held the gun that had killed Ava. And even though his back was to her, Rachel knew immediately who it was.

Janson stepped back from where he had apparently tapped Thomas's shoulder; but something was wrong with Thomas as he started to stagger. Rachel's eyes widened in alarm as she saw Thomas's legs buckle before he finally fell to the floor, gasping as though short on breath. And all the while Janson kept his gun fixed on Thomas's chest.

"Oh, Thomas." Janson sneered. "You should have run."

Thomas appeared to pass out as Janson put away his gun, tucking it securely into the back of his belt before he stooped down and hauled Thomas up. The boy's head lolled about, not that Janson cared as he heaved Thomas over his shoulder like the boy was a sack of potatoes.

"Teresa."

Rachel jumped when Janson spoke again, thinking she was about to get caught, but Janson continued on his comm instead.

"I got him. I'm bringing him to you now, wait for me in the lab."

Rachel swallowed, trying to slow down her wildly beating heart as she watched Jason stride away. The man was clearly stronger than he appeared as Thomas's deadweight appeared to cause only minor inconveniences to the man as he left Ava just lying sprawled on the ground. Rachel waited until Janson was out of sight and she could no longer hear his heavy footsteps before she dared to slip out into the hallway after him.

She stuck to the far walls, staying in the shadows as she moved quickly across the empty lobby but she couldn't stop herself from briefly glancing down at Ava as she passed the woman's body.

It was… odd, seeing her like that. Rachel couldn't forget the cold and calculating woman who had arrived in the mountains and killed so many of the Right Arm, the woman who had kidnapped Minho, Aris and Sonya amongst many others. And Rachel knew very well Ava could be cruel and pitiless from her memories of the woman while they watched the Maze Trials for three years, watched children being brutally slaughtered. But Rachel also felt a strange pang in her heart, because Ava was the only mother she could (admittedly only partially) remember. And seeing her lying there like that, so empty and so fragile… it twisted her heart.

But Rachel roughly pushed the feelings away; she was going to need her head on her shoulders if she was going to have any hope of breaking Thomas out and getting both their arses back to others. It was then that she noticed a handgun lying near Ava's body - that had to be Thomas's. Rachel remembered him having one handgun still left on him after they had escaped WCKD.

She quickly scooped up the gun before moving on; checking the chamber, she noted grimly that there was only one bullet left. She would have to save it and use it wisely. Tucking the gun securely into one of the empty holsters on her leg, Rachel continued on in the direction Janson had gone.

They had already come this far - and Rachel refused to lose any more than she already had.

Rachel stood before the door to the medical labs where they had rescued Minho just hours earlier, stumped. She knew Janson and Teresa were inside, she even had an idea where they would be (the deepest sector, the only place she, Thomas, Newt and Minho hadn't run about in during their earlier escape). But the door could only be opened by a passkey and thumbprint.

'Come on, Rachel… Think!'

Rachel searched around the thumbpad and key reader, using her fingers to try and find some kind of opening. She finally found a tiny indent that she could squeeze her finger into. With a grimace, she pulled at the pad, tugging on it and threatening to break a nail. She ripped off some cloth from the bottom of her shirt (trying not to look at Newt's blood and black pus that was stained all over her shirt) and wrapped it around her finger before tugging again at the panel. The last thing she needed was to be injured and bleeding all over the place.

At last, the panel ripped out enough that Rachel could pull at it with her whole hand; within seconds, the panel was out of the wall and the wires behind it were revealed. After a brief pause and examination of the wires, Rachel shrugged and tugged at the panel until it was ripped completely away. Wires sparked and Rachel grimaced; but it did the trick, the doors unsealed for emergency purposes although they stayed closed. She sighed; it was a good thing most of the city's power was out and the building was operating on emergency power otherwise she suspected she would have tripped more than one alarm.

It took a lot of pushing and shoving, but finally Rachel was able to pry the door open enough that she could squeeze through.

Once inside, Rachel carefully made her way into the facility, sticking as close to the walls and shadowed areas as possible. While she had no doubt Teresa would be focused entirely on Thomas, there was no guarantee what Janson would be up to - unless he was gloating to Thomas. Rachel hoped that was what he was doing at least; the last thing she wanted, aside from Janson possibly having already killed Thomas, was for the man to be wandering about on guard.

Finally, she heard faint voices. Sneaking in the direction they were coming from, Rachel quickly backed away from one of the glass walls after glimpsing Janson through them. Luckily, he had (as predicted) been gloating to Thomas so his back was turned and he didn't see her. Unfortunately, they were about two rooms down and not only was there no way Rachel could get close without someone seeing her, it appeared Thomas was being somehow held down. There was no other explanation for the boy remaining lying back on a gurney while Janson stood over him; Rachel knew Thomas despised Janson more than anything else in the world.

Rachel peeked out again, trying to get a better look at what she was dealing with; only to lock eyes with Teresa.

The dark-haired girl had been standing by one of the lab tables, cleaning up after whatever she had been doing. Rachel saw the way Teresa's breath seemed to catch when she saw Rachel and Rachel cringed; they were doomed. But she was surprised when Teresa quickly glanced back over her shoulder at Janson before looking back at Rachel. The older girl's blue eyes were almost vividly bright with her determination as she indicated something to Rachel.

Rachel had no idea what Teresa meant, but it turned out it didn't matter. As Rachel remained hidden, Teresa grabbed a glass tray and whirled around to smash the tray over Janson's head. Rachel's eyes widened as Janson dropped like a stone while Teresa hurriedly grabbed something Janson had dropped. Rachel dashed out as Teresa leaned over Thomas, who Rachel could now see was indeed strapped down to the gurney.

Unfortunately, Janson was not down for long and he rose like a menacing shadow behind Teresa.

"Teresa!"

Both Janson and Teresa jumped at Rachel's shout; Teresa turned to see Janson just behind her while Janson turned toward Rachel in disbelief. He then yelled and ducked as Rachel pulled her pistol at him; but not before he grabbed Teresa and hauled her down with him.

"NO!" Thomas yelled.

"Teresa!"

Rachel tossed a knife over to Thomas, who began to saw at the restraints holding him down as he couldn't figure out how to undo them properly while Rachel lunged at Janson. She didn't dare fire with Teresa in the way, she wasn't that good a shot. Janson did a good job keeping the raven-haired girl between him and Rachel even as he clawed at the thing in Teresa's hand.

"Give it to me! Give it to ME!" Janson roared as he tried to pull what was in Teresa's hand out while throwing her about like a ragdoll.

Rachel opted for tackling the man's legs, throwing him down and she punched him in the thigh with the butt of her gun. Janson roared while Teresa wormed her way free from his grasp as she twisted his fingers. Rachel scrambled backwards, readying her gun but Janson - furious - leapt at her before she could fire. The gun went off in the chaos, Rachel's last bullet hitting the light above them while Rachel screamed as Janson tried to strangle her. Teresa hurried back over, grabbing a metal tray as she tried to land another hit on Janson - but he saw her coming and tossed Rachel into the other girl.

Both girls went crashing down on the ground and Teresa's head hit the edge of a metal table leg, hard. She collapsed immediately, knocked out cold.

"Teresa! Rach!" Thomas yelled, finally breaking free of his restraints just as Janson grabbed Rachel by the head.

Rachel yelled as Janson whacked her head against the edge of a table. She felt like something had exploded and she felt blood dripping down the side of her face; and then Janson was gone as Thomas launched at the man with his knife raised. Janson managed to block Thomas's arm, stopping the boy from stabbing him with the knife, but he couldn't stop Thomas and the two went crashing through the glass wall, tumbling out into the empty hallway.

Rachel meanwhile shook her head, trying to clear the blackspots and she turned painfully over in time to see Janson struggling against Thomas… and choking him with his own shirt. Thomas was gasping, growing redder and redder in the face as he fought to breathe while his hands scrambled uselessly behind him in an effort to throw Janson off. His knife was nowhere to be seen, clearly lost somewhere in the melee; he was going to lose.

"Thomas!"

Rachel pushed herself to her feet and launched at Janson. Apparently the head wound was worse than she thought as her aim went completely wrong and she crashed into the man's side instead of on him. Still, it was enough for Janson's grip on Thomas slipped as he tried to decide whether to hang onto the boy or stop the girl coming at him; Thomas broke free and he spun them around just as Rachel swung the empty gun around and whacked it hard against Janson's chest, right above the heart (although she had been aiming for his head).

The man roared with pain but he turned around and swung a punch at Rachel, catching her right in the face. Rachel went crashing down against a wall, head pounding once again only this time it was from around her eye which was likely already starting to bruise. Trying to shake off the pain, Rachel raised her head to see Thomas engaging Janson in a fistfight, a fight Thomas appeared to be losing.

Janson threw Thomas to the ground after a couple good knees in the stomach, and the boy slid across the ground with a pained groan. Rachel grimaced as she tried to pull herself up, but she gasped as Janson finally pulled his own gun from where it had been tucked in his belt behind his back.

"Okay." Janson said breathlessly. "That's enough."

Teresa stumbled out of the ruined lab at that moment, and she stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the scene before her. Thomas and Rachel could barely glance her way, their gazes trained on Janson's gun as he sneered at them.

"I only need one of you. And Thomas, unfortunately for you, I hate you just that little bit more."

Rachel's eyes widened and she prepared herself to push off the wall and at Thomas as Janson cocked his gun… when suddenly, two missiles exploded right into the side of the building.

*A/N Happy new year everyone! Posting this because I think we all need a little bit of good news to start off 2021! I am so grateful to all of you who continue to support my writing, you have made me feel incredibly blessed. In return, I hope everyone who reads this is gifted with good fortune in the new year. May you all stay healthy and don't forget to stay safe as we ring in the new year.