Chapter 13

A scream pierced through the air like a sharp dagger. Thomas knew who's it was, and dreaded what he would see as he walked through the crowd.

Aris lay in the middle, a small hole had appeared in his neck; blood covered his body and the grass he lay on.

Ashleigh was the one screaming.

"That was your first, and only warning Thomas. Come with me now, or I'll start killing your other friends. I'll pop them like balloons. Pop, pop, pop!" Paige shrieked, wickedly.

Thomas nodded at her, and quickly kneeled down towards his fallen friend. He was evidently dead, his chest no longer rose and fell, and his skin was no longer vivid with colour.

Life had left him.

"I'm so sorry" Thomas cried. He clutched his arm around Aris' body, ignoring Ashleigh's plea for Thomas to save him.

There was nothing that could be done.

Thomas wept across Aris, his breathing unnatural as his tears spilled across his corpse. He steadied himself as he let go; Aris was really gone.
"One minute Thomas" called Paige.

Thomas leapt upwards, running towards Brenda. Ashleigh had fallen to her knees and taken his place – cradling her fallen man.

Thomas found her, vomiting.

"What, why are you being sick?" he asked frantically

"Thomas…I didn't sleep alone because I was mad at you. It was just the hormones"
"What hormones?"

"Have you not caught on yet? I'm fucking pregnant Thomas. All the signs are there – I'm pregnant!"
Thomas stumbled backwards – stunned beyond belief.

He wasn't even wise enough to know the implications of having sex without protection – but it was all flooding back to him now. How could he be so careless? Or more importantly, how could she let him if she knew?

"Thirty seconds my dear" the bitch called.

Thomas gently kissed Brenda on the lips, trying to ignore the fact she had just vomited.

"I can't let anyone else die. I have to go" Thomas cried
"I love you Tommy" was all she could muster.

"I love you too, sweetie. Everything will be fine, okay? I'll come back for…for you and… for our baby" he whispered.

Thomas looked across his friends faces. They were all either watching him, or watching Ashleigh sob over Aris. They must have been lost for words – even Frypan – the champion in having the last word, was speechless.

"Okay everyone…I'm leaving Gally in charge"
No one argued, some didn't even respond. The most Thomas got was a few nods.

Thomas heard the Paige calling the last ten seconds. He hesitated, watching over his friends as they now – all stared towards him.

"Look after my girl" was the last thing he said to them.

Thomas sat in a dark, damp room with Teresa. He was still on the jet, or the Tiger as he heard someone call it. He was handcuffed to her; his right hand attached to her left. Their feet were chained to a ring that had been nailed onto the floor.

Prisoners.

They must have been gone an hour at least now yet neither of them had spoken. In fact, they hadn't even moved. Thomas had thoughts tumbling through his head as always, and Teresa appeared to be sleeping.

He couldn't believe it all.

Brenda was pregnant.

Teresa was alive.

Aris, Sonya, Jorge – all dead.

Minho was missing.

He had no idea where he was going.

Too much had happened in the past few weeks for Thomas to focus on all at once; he decided to try and sleep himself. Wherever he was going, he would probably need energy for it.

He closed his eyes.

It was cold, really cold. Thomas realized he was in a dream, not reality. He sat on a chair, looking at blueprints of the maze. Teresa stood behind him; her arms cradled round him – keeping him warm.

"Looks amazing, doesn't it?" Teresa said smoothly, the tone of her voice not altering at all. Thomas couldn't tell whether she was happy about it or not.

"I can't believe we are doing this Teresa" Thomas whispered, his eyes had begun to well with tears.

"Shush baby, you have me – that's all that matters" she whispered back. She kissed him gently on the lips, the warm sensation cheering him up instantaneously.

"What if it doesn't work?" Thomas asked.

"It will work, and we will save so many people"

"I guess"

"How about we go out for dinner tonight, I hear there's a nice new Italian opening only two streets away?"

"Sure, sounds great"
"What we do after certainly will be"

She winked at him, and then moved towards the door – shutting it gently behind her. Thomas watched through the glass windows of the lab as she moved down the corridor.

When she was out of sight; he burst into tears.

A gentle nudge stirred him from his sleep. He welcomed the relief; disliking the memories he had just got of him and Teresa being together.

He hated the memories of them two creating the maze.

Teresa had woken him. Once she saw he was awake, she pointed to the small glass window opposite them. Thomas looked, and saw Chancellor Paige was standing outside – appearing to unlock the door.

She entered.

Thomas suspected she was going to talk to them, but instead she chucked a water bottle between them, followed by a packet of crisps, and then walked out again.

"Well, it's better than nothing" Teresa muttered.

"Teresa?"

"Hi"

"I'm really sorry you know"

"No no…I overreacted"

"Huh?"
"It was rude of me to expect you'd be single…and even ruder to get mad at you when I found out you weren't. I'm sorry Tommy, I'm happy for you. "

"I'm really happy you're alive Teresa. Despite the fact we didn't really end on good terms, it killed me to lose you"

"Really? I didn't think you cared"

"Please! You were all I cared about"

Teresa smiled, and strained herself to lean over and kiss Thomas on the cheek. He blushed, and immediately done his best to hide it. Thomas shifted the hand that was handcuffed to Teresa's, until he was able to link his fingers with hers – holding her hand gently.

Smiling – they both went back to sleep.

A loud bang woke them both this time. The Tiger jet had stopped moving; the constant whir of the engines was gone.

They had landed.

It took half an hour before anyone came to get them. It was a pair of guards, most likely apart of WICKED that freed them. They instructed them 'not to try anything'; Thomas knew full well there was no point anyway. The burning hot sun reminded Thomas of the scorch as he stepped out with Teresa. The light and heat both unbearable. They were hurried into a large, gray building. It was a replica of the WICKED compound they had blown up. Thomas wondered whether they were in the same place, or it was another one built elsewhere.

The landscape looked familiar.

After being rushed through the doors, they were thrown into another prisoner room. Chained similarly as to how they were on the flight.

Thomas heard the whir of the Tiger jet leaving them in the distance.

There was no way out now.

They had shared the drink and food in the half an hour before being taken off the jet.

At least they were refreshed.

Teresa was shaking with fear; Thomas squeezed her hand to comfort her. Only ten minutes passed before they heard the door unlocking. Thomas and Teresa huddled close together; they were suspecting Paige to be there as it opened.

She wasn't.

Thomas' eyes stretched unnaturally as he stared in horror.

It was Minho.

"Holy shit…" Thomas muttered.

Teresa had no idea that he had been missing, and for that, looked even more shocked than he was.

"Okay, so I understand this may look weird but, Hey" Minho called.

"What the shuck are you doing here?" Thomas spat.

"I work for WICKED now"

"What?"

"After you ditched me, WICKED somehow knew I was in need of help and they picked me up in a small jet thing. After healing me and treating me at a hospital - I had tons of questions but they went unanswered. All I got is 'We never stopped watching you' or 'you never won'. I then realized, how awesome WICKED was. I mean look at this place? Look at their jets and their armed security guards. It's luxurious to think about – no? So I asked one of the doctors if I could work for them – instead of being dropped off in paradise"

"You sick bastard"

"Oh slim-it, you know that place is no better than here"
"Sonya is dead"
"I know, I saw…meh, never cared for her much anyway"

Thomas was taken aback. Minho used to be someone Thomas looked up to. He was his best friend; he was a leader. He led them to paradise and he set them up for their future. He knew Minho as a cheery guy, fun and loving.

There was nothing cheery about him now.

"Yeah, maybe this is my natural self" Minho spat, as if answering his thoughts.

"I don't believe this"

"Try to"
Teresa hadn't uttered a word – she had simply sat there, listening to the boys argue. She decided to speak this time:
"What are you doing for them then?"
Minho was taken aback by her voice, as if he had forgotten she was there. He seemed happy enough to answer though.

"I am working on their final plans, I hope to cure the Flare with them. You may think I'm doing wrong, but I'm just trying to help people! They just need a few more bits in order to get the full plans. I know Paige may have led you to believe otherwise, but that was all part of the plan. That's why you two are here. You two are our strongest candidates. And we need you to map our final brain plan"

Thomas exchanged a brief glance with Teresa. She simply shrugged.

"You'll be made aware of the gritty details later" Minho said, making his way to leave. He stopped at the doorway, turning round to look directly at Thomas.

"By the way – I know about Newt"