The nurse clicked the radio off and placed it back in her pocket, all the while keeping her eyes trained on both of them.
She was enjoying this way too much.
"Such a pity." she inspected the nails on her right hand. "You come all this way, come this close, only to be stopped now." She let out a small chuckle. "I always enjoyed those movies where the heroes got away from the villains." Her fingers brushed aside her coat, revealing a holster housing a pistol. "But if this was a movie, then I would have to be the villain, wouldn't I?" Her voice darkened as she fingered the weapon. "And you're not getting away this time."
Thomas looked frantically around the room, knowing that any second this place would be overrun by soldiers.
And then they'd never get away.
Suddenly, Newt slipped out of Thomas's grip and dropped to the floor with a cry.
"Newt!"
Newt was clutching his shoulder, his face scrunched in pain.
"Newt, what's the matter?! What's wrong?!"
"My shoulder. You didn't set it properly, it slipped out!"
"Shit!" Thomas dropped to the floor beside Newt. It looked fine to him, but Newt was moaning in agony, so he looked back up at Clarisse. "Can you help him?"
The nurse's face remained expressionless.
"You're a nurse, damn it! Isn't it part of your oath?! Help people in pain?"
She clenched her jaw, but then smoothly slid to her knees beside Newt. "Okay, this is going to hurt. More than it should if some jackass didn't set it improperly."
Thomas pretended he didn't hear, and stubbornly kept his eyes on Newt. Then, weirdly, he felt Newt's other arm surreptitiously push him away, gently. Thomas was puzzled, but gave Newt some space.
Suddenly, his arm whipped up and grabbed something from Clarisse's lab coat pocket. Before either one of them could register what was happening, Newt stabbed the stolen needle into the nurse's arm. She stood up quickly, angrily, but it was too late, and the injected substance made her sway on her feet, before dropping to the floor like a stone.
"What the hell Newt?"
"It's a sedative. Help me up. She's used them on me enough times for me to know what the needle looks like."
"Is your shoulder good?"
"It was never bad. You set it right the first time Tommy."
Thomas laughed and helped Newt to his feet. With an arm of support, they managed to hobble out of the hospital room.
It had been a minute since Minho and Gally heard footsteps. It sounds like a minimal amount of time, but when huddled in a crane cab, hoping that someone with a gun couldn't hear you breathing, a minute was an extraordinary amount of time.
"Where are they?" Gally breathed into Minho's ear.
"You think they gave up?"
Their question was answered by a crackling over the loudspeaker, and a whiny woman's voice sounded around the factory.
"All soldiers left in the Southeast Wing are to disperse through the building immediately. Thomas has been spotted. Repeat, disperse immediately."
"Shit!" Minho scrambled out of the crane cab. "That dumb shank!"
"You think he got Newt?" Gally asked, fighting to free his foot out from the dashboard.
"Dunno, but we gotta get up there. He's not going to get out of this alone."
Minho took off running down, dodging fallen debris and shelving, feet slapping on hard, polished concrete.
Come on guys. Hold on. We're coming.
Thomas winced at the voice coming out of the loudspeaker. Both the voice and the message were worrying. He pulled Newt into the Extraction-Replication room, and they waited as a wave of boots thumped past.
"How well do you know your way around this place?" Newt asked under his breath.
Thomas shrugged. "I mean...well...sort of…"
"Figures."
Newt slowly opened the door, but hurriedly pulled it closed as another wave stormed past.
"How well can you walk?" Thomas asked, listening at the wall for more guards.
"Dunno." Newt eyed the ER tech warily, but used the gurney to haul himself upright. He cautiously took a few wobbly steps forward. His limp was heavier, and his balance unsteady, but he seemed to grow more confident as he walked around the room.
"As well as expected, me being horizontal for 'bout a month."
Thomas suddenly noticed Newt was shivering, as he was only wearing a thin cotton shirt.
"Here." Thomas shrugged out of his overcoat and handed Newt a jacket.
Newt smiled at the suede brown jacket with the fleece collar. "You kept this?"
"Yeah."
"You've been wearing this? The whole time? In the Scorch?"
Thomas shrugged. "I...figured you'd need it."
Newt pulled on the jacket, and Thomas handed him his extra holster. When he was ready, Thomas had to smile.
He looked like Newt again.
Standing freely (grant you, a little shakily), his jacket on, a holster around his waist, extra boots on his feet.
Newt smiled at his ensemble, and walked towards the door. "Let's go."
Newt was unsteady on his feet as they ran, and Thomas kept constantly by his side. The Medical Wing was clear, but as soon as they entered the hallway, shots popped out from one side.
"Oh shit!" Newt pulled Thomas to the side as bullets whizzed past them. Thomas turned and fired, sparks raining off the metallic ceiling.
"Come on come on!" Thomas pulled Newt down the hallway towards the cafeteria. Gunshots followed their steps, back and forth shooting like ping pong. Somebody threw an electric grenade, and it slid down the hallway towards them. With an angry roar, Thomas kicked it back, and it detonated right by the feet of the soldiers, sending them in a web of electricity. But more soldiers came to take their place.
Thomas guided Newt around the corner, before coming face to face with another group of guards. They were maybe 50 metres ahead of them, coming at them, ready to capture Thomas. They spun around, ready to turn back the other way, but another group was thundering from that direction.
They were cornered.
But 5 metres in front of them were the doors leading to the cafeteria.
Thomas lunged forwards, throwing them open and pulling Newt inside. Boots echoed behind them as they zigzagged around the picnic tables.
"Get down!" Newt cried, pushing Thomas below a table as shots buried themselves in the pillar behind them, missing Thomas's head by mere centimetres.
"You good Tommy?!"
"Yeah, thanks Newt!"
But as they rose up out of their temporary shelter, a storm of soldiers were running down the aisle way between the rows of tables.
"What do we do now?!" Newt yelled, panic lacing his undertones.
Thomas glanced hurriedly around their surroundings, before landing on a large serving table lining the wall.
It had wheels.
"Help me with this!" Thomas ran and grabbed the table, wheeling it to where Newt was standing behind the pillar, firing occasional shots to keep the soldiers at bay. With a grunt, the two sent the table flying down the aisle way. Some of the soldiers dove out of the way, but others weren't quick enough, and the table bowled them over like toothpicks.
"Nice one Tommy!" Newt pulled Thomas away, patting him briefly on the shoulder. "Now let's go!"
The two used the temporary table distraction to run out one of the doors, leading down a plain corridor.
"Newt, look!" Thomas pointed to an inconspicuous door that could easily be overlooked as it blended into the off white walls. He threw it open, leading to a small room with a furnace in it, obviously one of the inner control rooms of the building.
The two crouched silently in the darkness, listening to the thundering of the boots running past. They waited for 5 minutes or so, before slowly pushing the door open and crawling out.
The silence was eerie.
"Y'know where we are?" Newt asked, leaning slightly on the wall to take some weight off his leg.
"Nope."
Thomas walked slowly down the hall, before waving Newt over to a side door, leading down a stairwell. Dusty footprints ran right past it, heading for the door on the opposite side. It was the perfect way to avoid them.
"Hey Newt, c'mon."
"Don't rush me." Newt got off the wall with a small groan, before limping towards the stairs. "Shucking leg."
"I'll help you down, c'mon, we're almost free."
With the help of Thomas, they managed to struggle down the stairs, before coming to another corridor. This one had floor to ceiling windows on the right side, revealing the night sky over the Scorch. Multiple doors came out of the left wall, leading to different stairways and offices. Newt limped over to the window, a look of slight amazement on his face.
"It's been so long since I've seen the sky," he said in wonderment. He frowned at the smirk on Thomas's face. "Hey! You try laying down for a month. It's not as nice as it sounds."
Thomas joined Newt by the window, the inky black sky housing millions of bright stars. He put an arm around Newt's shoulders, finally feeling at peace, something he hadn't felt...well...he couldn't really remember real peace. It was funny he would experience it for the first time running for his life in a torture facility, but...the stars were beautiful out there.
"Well. I hate to interrupt this little reunion."
Thomas jumped at the slimy voice behind them, and they slowly turned around, hands up. A man stood there, holding a gun, and Thomas's heart dropped in shock, and his insides twisted with fury when he saw who it was.
It was Janson.