Rachel yelled as the explosion shattered the glass on their side of the building while flames exploded and came flying through the broken windows. Janson disappeared amidst the smoke and debris while Rachel threw up her arms to shield her face from the blast, and she slowly lifted her head in shock.

"What the-?" She gasped as the whole world appeared to spin before it vaguely righted itself.

"We gotta move."

Thomas was beside her, grasping his side in pain but his eyes were wild with panic as he grabbed Rachel by her arm and hauled her up.

"Come on, Rach, we gotta move! Teresa!"

Teresa appeared beside them, her own eyes wide with terror - but she was grasping something tightly in her hands. Rachel realized it was the same white medical device Janson had been trying so desperately to win from her before, although she had no idea why.

"I got the cure!" Teresa gasped, holding up the device for Thomas to see as well.

'Oh… That explains that.'

The thought crossed through Rachel's mind rather numbly as she tried to shake off the aftereffects of the explosions and ignore the pounding in her head. Thomas was slightly more alert as he nodded at Teresa before he grasped Rachel's wrist and pulled her quickly along with him as he started to run quickly down the hallway, away from the debris and where Janson had disappeared.

"Come on!"

Rachel forced her legs to keep up with Thomas, lest she trip and fall over, and she kept shaking her head as she tried to clear her blurred vision. Teresa jogged beside them, pulling out the small blue vial from inside the medical device. The sight of the cure jerked Rachel back into alertness.

"Newt's alive." Rachel wheezed, only realizing when she tried to speak that some of the dust and smoke must have damaged her voice.

Still, Thomas heard her and he screeched to a halt in shock.

"What?"

He whirled around to stare at Rachel. Teresa looked at the younger girl in similar shock, but they were interrupted as another explosion erupted on the other side of the building. This time, it was too far to break anything nearby but it still shook the whole building and the trio looked around in alarm.

"They're bringing the building down." Rachel realized.

"Shit." Thomas swore before he tugged on Rachel again while urging Teresa to keep up beside him as well. "Come on, come on! We gotta get out of here."

Thomas glanced back as he spoke and suddenly he shoved Rachel down a side corridor at the same time he lunged for Teresa.

"Teresa!"

Rachel whirled around as Thomas grabbed Teresa just as a gun fired and bullets started to ricochet off the walls near Thomas's head. Thomas barely avoided getting shot as he pulled Teresa with him into the side corridor after Rachel.

"Come on!"

Rachel didn't need to be told twice as she broke into a run with the other two, adrenaline pumping through her as they escaped Janson while he chased after them in a fury.

"Why won't he just give up?" Rachel cried.

"He's got the Flare too; he's after the cure for himself!" Thomas spat. Rachel whipped her head around incredulously.

"The son of a bi-!"

A bang and a bullet ricocheting off the wall just to Rachel's left cut her off as she yelped.

"Down here!" Thomas yelled as he quickly indicated to a door.

Teresa and Rachel moved quickly while Thomas shooed them on ahead, covering for them as they evaded Janson… by entering a medical ward.

"Oh, sh*t..." Rachel swore when she saw the Cranks locked up in the holding cells lining each side of the dark lab, lit by an eerie faint green light that was the only light in the darkness. And the Cranks weren't even the worst part.

"We need to get out of here." Teresa gasped as she realized the same thing Rachel did. They were trapped in a dead-end.

Thomas was uncharacteristically quiet and both girls glanced at where he was leaning against a lab table with one hand pressed to his side.

"What's wrong?" Teresa asked.

Thomas responded by slowly lifting his hand away from his side and Rachel sucked in a sharp breath as she saw the blood that covered it.

"Oh no."

Rachel hurried over to the boy quickly, bending down to examine the bullet wound while Teresa seemed to stagger with the shock of seeing Thomas injured.

"Thomas?" Teresa asked in a meek voice, sounding for once like just a seventeen year old girl.

Rachel meanwhile tore off the cleanest strip of her shirt she could find and she pressed it against Thomas's side grimly as she eased him quickly to the ground, hidden behind some of the lab tables.

"Thomas, hold on." Rachel whispered while Teresa hurried over with equal worry. "Just hold on, okay?"

Teresa began rummaging around for a bandage or something they could use to clean his wound while Rachel pressed down on the bullet wound on Thomas's stomach.

"You gotta… you gotta go..." Thomas mumbled weakly, trying to push Rachel's hand away.

"And leave you behind?" Rachel muttered, ignoring his feeble attempts as she kept a steady pressure on his wound.

"Newt… You gotta… Newt..." Thomas gasped, and Rachel's heart constricted.

She'd be lying if she said there wasn't a part of her that was tempted to do as Thomas was suggesting; a part of her that was screaming at her to take the cure from Teresa and run while she could. Newt needed that cure, otherwise there was a high chance he was a goner whether they managed to save him from his chest wound or not. And a selfish part of her told her she couldn't risk that for anything or anyone else. An even more selfish, albeit smaller, part of her was also screaming that she was going to die if she didn't leave Thomas. But…

"I'm not leaving you, Thomas."

Rachel looked up at Thomas, grey eyes locking with dark brown. Her vision was starting blur slightly again as the adrenaline slowed down in her system and the incessant pounding in her head came right back to the forefront of her mind but she forced herself to focus as she continued determinedly.

"Our fates were entwined the moment you asked me to help you betray WCKD. I made my choice then: I'll follow you to the end. And I'm not going down without a fight."

Teresa glanced over as she brought over some clean bandages she'd managed to rummage out of a medical kit from one of the nearby cabinets. Thomas also stared at Rachel, his gaze pained although Rachel couldn't tell if it was because of the hole in his stomach or the idea of possibly all dying together. She shoved the thought brusquely away; they would get out. She had to believe that. Even if she didn't think it was entirely possible.

As if in answer to her thought, the door to the medical ward hissed as it was opened once more. All three teens tensed, knowing who it had to be. Teresa slid down behind the lab table while Rachel quietly crawled between tables to try and circle behind Janson without him noticing. She managed to get a glimpse of the man as she carefully peeked around cabinets. Rachel grimaced as she saw Janson staying firmly in view of the doors with his gun held out before him.

"I know you're in here."

Rachel flinched slightly as Janson began to speak in a low voice that still carried easily in the quiet ward.

"I admit, Teresa, you had me fooled. I thought we were friends."

Rachel froze in her spot as she realized there was no more cover for her; she couldn't get around Janson without him seeing her given where he had moved to. He now stood in about the center of the room, although he still had a clear line to the door. Even if Thomas wasn't injured, there was no way any of them could get out without Janson noticing and now he was getting closer.

Suddenly, the sound of glass clattering against the ground made Rachel flinch slightly at the same time that it drew Janson quickly to the side of the room where Teresa had been. Rachel held her breath as she quickly slipped into a gap between cabinets on the off-chance Janson came her way; she just hoped he wouldn't see Thomas before that.

"Maybe it's just in your nature to betray the people closest to you." Janson continued slowly.

Rachel glanced around, looking for something she could use as a weapon. She remembered what was in her pocket and she fumbled inside at the same time that Teresa knocked over a tray as she moved hastily around the room.

'Teresa, stop moving!' Rachel screamed in her head. She could understand that Teresa was probably trying to lead Janson away from Thomas, but the man was clever. It was only a matter of time before he questioned why it didn't look like Thomas was on the move.

"Come on. Let's not prolong this. We both know there's no way outta here. Let's not make this any more painful than it needs to be."

Rachel carefully ripped open the plastic seal on the needle she still had, tearing it so quietly there was no way Janson could hear it above the sound of his own footsteps as he slowly stalked about the room, searching for them.

"Thomas. Rachel."

Rachel grimaced as she heard the man calling her name from his foul mouth and she gripped the needle in her hand as she carefully slipped out and crawled toward where Teresa had been earlier.

"Teresa."

Rachel tracked Janson by his footsteps and his voice; when he suddenly stopped moving. Rachel paused, realizing Janson was waiting for one of them to crack first. For the first time, Rachel was glad Thomas was injured since it meant the noble idiot could hardly move. The problem was Teresa; and of course at that moment, Teresa - impatient as she always had been - moved.

Rachel flinched as Teresa let out a sharp gasp while Janson's footsteps quickened as he caught the girl right in his trap.

"No. No!" Teresa gasped in terror as she backed away quickly from Janson.

Rachel used the noises to quickly skid around a few tables and she stopped at a cabinet right across from Teresa - and behind Janson.

"I think you have something of mine." The man said as he stood triumphantly, right in front of Teresa and right before the locked cells where the Cranks were banging softly against the door as they watched the scene with empty eyes. He had his gun pointed directly at Teresa's heart, keeping it locked on her as the girl slowly got to her feet.

Teresa carefully held out the little blue vial toward Janson; but the man shook his head.

"Not that. Where is he?"

Teresa's entire posture tensed again and her voice was tight as she shot back, "Just take it. Leave him alone."

"What is it with you two?" Janson sneered. "You always were like that, then he roped Rachel in too. You really think he's so special? He's a lab rat. He was born with a gift. He never had to fight for it, he never earned it. He doesn't deserve it, and now that I know I don't need him, I'm going to kill him."

"You can try." Teresa answered defiantly.

Rachel watched Janson's whole posture straighten just slightly and it was like he trembled with fury. She fixed her grip on the needle just as Janson called out loudly, "What about you, Thomas? Rachel?"

She really hated how he said her name.

"Don't you two have enough blood on your hands already?"

Rachel let out a slow, quiet breath, trying not to let the images of dead boys and girls fill her mind as they had lately in her dreams.

"You two really want another on your conscience? Thomas might not have been able to shoot her," Janson's gun cocked, "but I can."

Rachel peeked around the cabinet, measuring the distance. There was nothing she could do to change the past; but she sure as hell wasn't going to let this monster take the future.

Janson looked around again, and he seemed to grind his teeth when it appeared no one was going to save Teresa. He turned his upper body slightly more than he had been doing, and his gun drifted slightly away from Teresa.

"Fine. Have it your way-"

Rachel stabbed Janson in the leg with the needle. He roared, accidentally firing his gun but the bullet harmlessly hit a cabinet instead. Teresa dove out of the way as Janson whirled toward Rachel in a fury; only for Thomas to stand up and yell, "JANSON!"

Janson turned in time to see Thomas throw a stool with all his might; the man ducked, barely avoiding having his head taken off and the heavy metal stool crashed into the wall behind him. Thomas collapsed to the ground, his energy drained from his recent exertion and he clutched his side as Rachel quickly backed away from Janson.

Janson stopped her in her tracks by pointing his gun at her before he glanced back at the tiny crack the stool had made in the wall.

With a sneer, he looked back at Thomas even as he kept his gun pointed at Rachel.

"Missed, you little sh*t."

Thomas just raised his head wearily to stare right back at Janson.

"Did I?"

Janson frowned, but then they all heard it - a small crackle. Janson slowly turned back to stare at the wall where the crack in the glass wall was slowly becoming bigger and bigger… the glass wall that was the only thing standing between them and a trio of Cranks.

"Oh, sh*t." Janson breathed.

"RUN!" Rachel screamed, just as a Crank launched at the breaking glass and smashed right through it.

Janson screamed as the Crank landed right on top of him. Rachel was already running for Thomas, Teresa doing the same from the other side of the room and between them the girls were able to haul the boy up. Rachel tried to block the sounds as Janson screamed while all three Cranks crawled all over him, snarling and snapping their jaws onto whatever piece of him they could get.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Rachel gasped as she and Teresa heaved Thomas along with them and they hurried out of the medical ward. Thomas could barely keep his feet straight beneath him as the girls carried him between their shoulders, and Rachel grimaced under his weight.

"We won't make it outside." Teresa gasped at Rachel, who glanced back to where yet another part of the building was apparently being blown to smithereens.

"The roof." Rachel gasped. "We have… a Berg…"

Teresa nodded and together they carried Thomas toward the emergency stairs. The trio stumbled along, Thomas doing his best to sustain his own weight as they threatened to topple down the stairs several times.

"Just… a little… more..."

Rachel wasn't sure if she was urging her friends on or herself and by the time they reached the last of the stairs she wasn't even aware she was babbling anymore. Utterly exhausted, she and Teresa barely managed to get the door open and they basically crashed their way through onto the burning roof. They'd barely made it out before Rachel's legs finally gave out and she went tumbling down. Thomas fell with her and Teresa, just as exhausted as them, was unable to stop herself from collapsing alongside Thomas.

"We… I..." Rachel mumbled as she stared out to where they were trapped atop a burning building. All around them, as far as they could see past the flames licking up the sides of the building, was only more destruction, more fires and smoke and explosions. The world was lit in only reds and oranges, painted with blood - just like them.

'Is this… the freedom we were fighting for?' Rachel wondered in despair as she stared out to where she could just make out a building collapsing into shadows as it was finally swallowed by the flames that had lit it up against the darkness. 'Is this… really the end we were running toward?'

Thomas meanwhile turned painfully on his side to gaze at Teresa. The girl stared back at him tearfully before she glanced down. Removing the blue vial from her pocket, she handed it to Rachel.

"I'm sorry." Teresa whispered. "I tried… I..."

Words failed her; but there was no more to be said. Teresa bowed her head as she began to sob while Thomas gripped the girl's hand as hard as he could while he continued to bleed out all over them. Rachel meanwhile enclosed her hands around the vial tightly while she blinked back tears as she stared out at the burning chaos that was apparently going to be the last thing she ever saw.

'Newt...'

Suddenly, a white light flashed up past the side of the building accompanied by the sound of loud humming. Rachel squinted against the sudden brightness that bathed them all, wondering why the noise sounded familiar… and then her eyes widened as she realized it was the Berg. The others had found them after all.

"No… way..." Rachel gasped. Teresa was faster to react.

"Come on. Come on!"

Teresa hauled Thomas up, half-carrying him toward the Berg. Rachel stumbled behind them, falling to her knees more often than she actually stepped forward. The light disappeared, and Rachel vaguely wondered if the Berg hadn't seen them; and then strong arms were wrapping themselves under her arms and she was pulled up against a muscular body.

"Come on, Rach, don't die on us now!"

Minho's voice jolted Rachel and she peered up at him in confusion even as he hauled her across the roof and toward where the Berg was flying dangerously close to the rooftop edge, the hatch scraping along the concrete as the Berg fought to remain steady.

"Wh… Minho?" Rachel gasped.

"Duh, now come on! Keep fighting!"

Rachel started as she realized this was all real and she struggled to find her feet as Minho basically carried her to where Teresa and Thomas were struggling to get on the hatch as it scraped about near the edge of the roof.

"You... dumb shank!" Rachel gasped out as she realized Minho had to have jumped off the Berg and onto a crumbling building that might collapse at any second, just to get to her. "You...!"

"Atta girl, that's the spirit!" Minho yelled back at her as they reached the edge of the roof. "Now, hang on!"

Rachel didn't have a chance to do any such thing as Minho hauled her up and basically tossed her across the gap toward the hatch. Harriet and Frypan caught her and dragged her further inside to safety while Minho helped Teresa get Thomas aboard. Rachel's eyes found Newt's unconscious body lying safely on the very inside of the Berg while Minho had to jump onto the Berg to receive Thomas, who no longer had the strength to even try stay upright, but finally between them and with some help from Vince they managed to haul Thomas aboard.

As soon as Thomas was aboard, however, there was an ominous bang. Everyone turned to watch in horror as, as if in slow motion, the nearby building finally collapsed as well. The crumbling tower toppled over… right onto the back of the WCKD building.

"Teresa!" Thomas yelled as the girl fell over when the building bucked from the impact while the Berg shook and flew slightly away from the building as a result of the shock in the air waves.

Teresa stared up at him with shimmering eyes, while Rachel turned over on her side to stare out the hatch toward the girl as well. There was something utterly... broken in the girl as she stared up at them. The blue-eyed girl didn't even seem to care that she was going to die. There was no fear in Teresa's eyes, only despair and hopelessness. And it made it so much worse as the building finally collapsed from right beneath Teresa's feet and the girl fell far from their reach.

"NO!" Thomas screeched as they watched the girl for as long as they could before she was swallowed by the destruction. The Berg took them further away from the chaos now that there was no reason to linger. Rachel was vaguely aware that Thomas was sobbing but her head was feeling extremely light. The stress, the exhaustion, the emotional turmoil, the blood loss - it was becoming too much. It had been too much for a while.

"Rach? Rachel!"

Rachel heard Minho starting to shout her name instead of Thomas's and she felt warm, strong arms holding her. Belatedly, she realized she'd been keeling over; not that it mattered much.

"Here..." Rachel mumbled, giving him the vial she'd been clutching like a lifeline. In a way, it was. "Newt… give this…"

She felt Minho's hand close around the vial.

"We'll give this to Newt, Rach. But you gotta stay with us, too. Stay..."

But Rachel's body finally deemed it was enough. Far more than enough. She couldn't hear Minho anymore, his voice was just noise. Rachel tilted her head so she could see around Minho; her eyes found Newt's unmoving body one more time. And then she closed her eyes.

"Rach? RACHEL!"

But she was gone.