the scorch trials
chapter thirteen

❛❛ i'm tired of running ❜❜

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It was chaos in the camp. People were running and screaming. Anton was screaming out Poe's name as he tried to run where Poe had been but Newt held the boy back. Newt pulled the crying boy away from the flames with Frypan's help. Newt wanted scream like Anton, he could feel the boy's loss and the devastation. He can feel it too.

It's that same loss he felt... when he lost Nick. That familiarity of despair, this time he cannot hide it, it's like he had lost everything, he just lost one thing that mattered the most for him, that one thing that gave him a reason to hope and the will to live.

"We have to go!" Frypan came running before he grabbed Anton's arm, "We need to go now!"

"No! Poe!" Anton cried out.

"He's gone! We have to go now!" Frypan yelled and began to pull the boy to run with him. "Let's go!"

He's gone, he said. Newt had a surge of denial, there was a moment he couldn't move, the world around him was crashing, as if with Poe's death have done that, and his will to live came crashing down with it. He was back into that mile-deep hollow.

Frypan had already taken Anton away meanwhile Newt stood at his ground as he stared where he last seen Poe and ignoring the chaos around him. He never moved until Minho came running. "Newt! Let's go! Let's go!" He yelled and grabbed Newt's arm to move.

That's when the focus of the chaos around him came at him. Fire, there was fire everywhere. The screaming were now loud to his ears. Newt started running after Minho and they were following Frypan and Anton.

The WCKD guards were now on the grounds and they started firing their launchers at everyone, one by one, the rebels fell as they got shocked by the launchers.

Frypan, Anton, Minho and Newt hid around a burning vehicle and took cover behind the barrels. "Where's Thomas?!" Frypan shouted. They peered over the barrels.

There was Vince, Teo and Harriet by a pick up truck and Vince was on the back of the truck trying to get the machine gun going. "Harriet! Ammo!" He began firing his shotgun at the WCKD guards. Teo was carrying a heavy small case and set it by the truck and Harriet quickly helped along.

"Teo!" Minho called, "Vince, Harriet!" He and the three boys went running to the truck.

"Get over here!" Teo shouted at them.

Minho, Newt, Anton and Frypan stayed low as they went running as the grenades missed them by inches. "How can we help?" Frypan asked.

"You need to cover us!" Harriet said. While Vince gave the rifle to Minho, Newt and Frypan grabbed one each for their own from the back of the truck, Anton was given a handgun by Harriet and they began firing at the guards without even hesitating or to wonder how the guns work. The guns merely had their safeties off and were loaded. Teo was helping Harriet with the ammo for the big gun.

"This fifty's our only chance!" Vince declared as he started to load the big gun while the boys were firing their weapons at the guards.

The teens were covering Vince while he was setting up the ammo, they shot down couple of WCKD guards before more of them came slowly charging at Vince and the teens. Anton was the first to run out of his gun's ammo, he crouched down to take cover. The more they shot down the guards, more of them came.

"Vince! Hurry up!" Newt urged, "There's too many of them!"

Vince had finally got the gun ready while Frypan's weapon ran of it's ammo. "I'm out!"

Vince was about to fire the gun until something was thrown into the truck, some sort of a large grenade that made a rapid beeping noise, "Oh shit!" Vince uttered before the grenade erupted into a massive spark of electric that spread around the truck, zapping and stunning Vince and the teens at once. They were the last ones to be taken down.

The helicopters made their landing onto the camp while the guards were rounding the kids, the adults in one spot, they lined up the adults in one side while the others who are kids and teens on the other side where they were being scanned.

Anton was kneeling between Aris and Frypan, he watched Sonya being forced and dragged into the group and she was set beside Aris. They began scanning Anton's line starting from Sonya. It was a similar device that was used back in Jorge's compound when Thomas was scanned. "B-5–" was Sonya then to Aris, "B-1" and Anton was "A-10"

"Nico's missing" Frypan murmured after he was being scanned, "I don't see him anywhere. Neither Thomas"

Thomas, Nico, Teresa and Leigh were missing, even Jorge and Brenda. They were nowhere to be seen meanwhile Poe was last seen being caught by an explosion. That's what Anton saw, he saw Poe running down the hill, Anton saw the missiles coming and the massive blast was between him and Poe and between them was a large tent.

There was Janson standing in front of the two groups, he was glancing around then spoke loudly, "Where's Thomas?"

"Right here" there was a voice coming from behind the group of captured-adults. There's Thomas standing with his hands raised and the guard near him grabbed him and pushed him to the front.

Once Thomas was at the front, close to Janson who said, "Thomas" then he grabbed the boy and thrust his fist into the boy's stomach. Making the Gladers to fidget and attempt to charge forward at Janson but guns were raised at the Gladers. Even Vince wanted to charge at Janson but was stopped by the guards. "Get him in the line"

Thomas was dragged back into the line beside Minho. Janson approached the man nearby who had some sort of a tablet in his hand and Janson whispered something to the man.

"Why didn't you run?" Minho asked Thomas.

Thomas didn't respond for few seconds. "I'm tired of running"

"Poe. Come on, Poe" the voice was hollow. There was this deafening-ringing sound. It was all dark and fading but everything was fading back in and the voice was getting clear. "Wake up, you shank"

The voice was male. There were other sounds of deep rumblings. He opened his eyes slowly and he saw two figures looking down at him. It took seconds for his vision to become clear. There's Nico and Leigh, kneeling beside him, he noticed his chest was hurting as he breathed as if it was being crushed just now.

"What... happened?" He said softly in between his breaths.

"Son of a bitch just can't die, can you?" Nico said as he weakly smirked.

There was Leigh who let out a soft laugh and she looked relieved. "Can you get up?"

Poe instantly remembered the blast, he was barely close to it when it exploded and he remembered the blast throwing him away then it was all dark before he hit the ground. He thought of before that, Teresa... what she has done. She betrayed him and everyone. She had sold them all to WCKD. His friends; Newt, Anton, Teo... Frypan. And everyone else. He has to help them and save his friends.

He shifted to his side, arms against the ground as he pushed himself up, "Newt—" he responded, he didn't expect he'd say the name, but that's how much he was scared for Newt. "Anton..."

"You gotta take it slow, okay?" Leigh said.

But he didn't care about himself, he only cared for them, for Newt and Anton and Teo. He has to save them. "Where are they? What's happening?" He noticed he was on a hill, but on the other side where they can't see him. He crawled up until he reached the top, he stayed down as he saw what was happening in the camp.

WCKD. WCKD has everyone. They rounded up the Right Arm and the kids. The guards were everywhere and also too many of them.

"They've got them all" Nico said as he went beside Poe. "There's too many of them and we don't even have anything to defend ourselves or to fight them with"

"How the hell did they found us anyway?" Leigh wondered.

Poe let out a long and deep sigh as he thought about Teresa. About what she said earlier. "She sold us out" he murmured, "Teresa... she sold us out"

"What? I thought she— I don't get it"

"She's been with WICKED all along" he told them.

"I don't get it" said Nico.

"Yeah, well, neither do I, honestly" Poe sprung forward as he stayed low, keep himself unseen by the guards.

"What are you—!" Nico hushed harshly before letting out a frustration sigh then followed Poe. He wanted to get closer and maybe find a plan or a weapon to use and save his friends. He knew he can't just stay and hide and wait for something to happen.

Poe hide behind the barrels, there was a deep whirring sound coming towards the camp, that sounded different than a helicopter but only it was larger. It was a Berg and it was flying into the camp. Poe saw the opportunity to move quickly and go around to search for weapons while every guard in the camp were all distracted as they watched the Berg flying.

As everyone watched the Berg landing, making winds that blew onto everyone as it's spotlight beamed around and it almost caught Poe, Nico and Leigh but they quickly took cover behind a vehicle from the light. Moments later after it landed, the hatch opened and more WCKD guards came out as they were escorting Ava Paige.

She approached Janson, "Is this all of them?"

"Most of them" Janson answered. "It'll be enough"

Ava Paige gave a nod, "Start loading them in" She ordered.

"Yes, ma'am" said Janson, "Okay, you heard. Let's go! Get them on!"

The guards started to take the kids to the Berg starting from the back. Thomas was being pushed to go forward and approach Ava Paige. "Hello, Thomas" she greeted. While the kids were being forced to the Berg, Teresa was being escorted to Ava Paige who motioned her to come closer. Teresa had a hint of guilt on her face. "I'm glad you're safe"

Thomas was confused for a moment and so were the rest of the Gladers. "What the hell?" Frypan uttered. "Teresa?" He stood up and so did Anton.

There was Minho and Newt standing beside Thomas. "Wait, what's going on?"

It made sense to Thomas, he remembered back in the Scorch of how Teresa implied that they should go back to WCKD and how they restored her memories. It also made sense how WCKD found this place. "She's with them"

"Since when?" Minho said.

Janson came around Teresa, "Oh Teresa's always had an evolved appreciation of the greater good. Once we restored her memories. It was only a matter of time"

The Gladers stared at Teresa in disbelief, the girl who had helped the boys to escape the maze had betrayed them.

"I'm sorry" she began, "I had no choice. This is the only way. We have to find the cure"

"She's right" Ava Paige said, "This is all just a means to an end. You used to understand that, Thomas. No matter what you think of me... I'm not a monster, I'm a Doctor. I swore an oath to find a cure! No matter the cost... I just need more time"

"More blood" Mary added, she was behind the Gladers and everyone turned to the woman.

"Hello, Mary" Ava Paige sounded almost disappointed, "I hoped we'd meet again. I'm sorry it had to be under these circumstances"

"I'm sorry about a lot of things too. But not this. At least my conscious is clear"

Ava Paige looked rather displeased by Mary's response. "So is mine"

Then there was a sound of a gunshot, there was a woman screaming as everyone fidgeted. "Mary?" Vince turned to her, "Mary? Mary?!" The woman fell to her knees as Vince continued to scream her name. He got off the guards' grips and caught Mary into his arms. He kept saying her name over and over. "No!"

Janson had shot her.

"Come on, Janson" Ava ordered, "Load them up, let's go. All these people, get rid of them! Let's go! Let's go!"

"Sonya! Aris!" Harriet called as she watched her friends being taken away.

Then Thomas pulled out the detonator and the bomb out of his coat. It's the same ones Jorge was planning on using earlier this evening. He thrust his elbow at the WCKD guard behind him. "Get back! Get back!" He raised the bomb and the detonator at everyone around him. "Everybody, stand back!" He warned them all and threatened to trigger the detonator.

Janson urged the guards to stay back and to hold their fire.

"Let them go!" Thomas demanded.

"Thomas, put it down!"

"Let 'em all go!" Thomas demanded again.

"You know I can't do that!" Ava Paige urged.

"Thomas, please stop!" Teresa begged. "I made a deal with them. They promised me we'd be safe. All of us!"

"We're supposed to trust you now after what you've done?!" Anton blurted as he approached closely to Thomas. "Did you promise Poe he'd be safe, huh?!... they killed him, Teresa! You killed him!" He yelled angrily. The boy have never been this angry ever before. "You killed him!"

I'm not dead, Anton. Poe wanted to say and scream it out. I'm right here, I'm right here. He lowered down behind the barrel, frustrated as he didn't know what to do.

"What is Thomas doing?" Nico murmured under his breath.

"Everything can go back to the way it was" Ava assured. "Thomas... do you really want all of them to die?"

"Listen to her, Thomas" Said Janson, "Think about you're doing"

"I'd rather die than to go back there" Teo said, "I'm not going back"

When Poe heard of this, he popped his head back up over the barrels and saw what his friends were doing. Thomas, holding the detonator and Minho approached closely to him, Poe quickly knew what they're going to do. "We're not going back there. This is the only way!" Anton, Teo, Frypan came close to Thomas... and Newt.

"They're going to blow themselves up" Nico realized.

Anton, Teo...

My Newt.

No. No. "No" Poe said abruptly and promptly got up then shouted, "NEWT!"

Everyone snapped their heads to see where the voice came from. Newt immediately recognized that voice before he even saw who it was, "Poe?" then he saw him.

Then something else happened. A loud horn blared as everyone shifted their gazes again and see a vehicle driving full speed towards a helicopter. The vehicle crashed into the helicopter. It flipped to it's side down a hill, causing it's propellers to shred and send it's shrapnels across the camp. Hitting some people while everyone else ducked down to cover.

That's when the Right Arm and the teen fought back.

"It's now or never" Leigh got up and ran off to fight then Nico followed. Poe was right behind them.

There was an explosion where the Gladers had stood, Poe, Nico and Leigh halted and spotted the Gladers on the ground as they took cover from the blast. Poe spotted a rifle on the ground by a burning tent, he grabbed it then ran forward to get his friends. Nico got a pistol from a body while Leigh ran off after getting herself a weapon as she called out her friend, Harriet.

"Newt! Anton!" Poe began firing the rifle at WCKD that were trying to capture his friends. "Teo! Get over here now!"

One shot. Second shot. Third shot. Forth shot. Fifth shot. Only missed two of WCKD but managed to shoot three of them. As he and Nico covered Newt, Anton, Teo, Frypan and Minho to come their way.

Poe kept his focus ahead to cover his friends even when they managed to get behind him. "Let's go! Let's go!" Nico yelled.

There was Thomas still on the ground that was being smacked by Janson. Poe aimed his rifle at Janson. But then he heard someone else "Poe!" A woman calling, coming from his left. Poe shifted his glance and find Ava Paige. The person behind all of this. Teresa was behind her. "Poe! Please stop!" Ava begged.

Poe stopped firing his rifle, this woman is behind all of this, she's like the leader of WCKD. And without the leader, perhaps no more WCKD. Poe takes the opportunity, he shifted his rifle and aimed toward Ava and Teresa. But he was aiming it at Ava.

The woman's eyes widened and even looked afraid. Her head shook lightly "No"

Poe pulled the trigger.

But it didn't fire.

Shit.

Then a sharp pain shot into his arm as the sound of a gun blasting echoed across the camp. "No!" Teresa cried out.

Poe was on the ground, holding the wound on his arm as he scrambled backwards. Janson came and kicked the boy's face. "Over here!" He yelled at the guards. Poe saw stars in his vision from the kick his head took and barely kept his conscious up.

Janson was about to grab the boy but they never saw Anton came charging at Janson. The boy barely got the man down but he managed to slam himself on Janson's wounded arm that made the man yelp in pain.

Anton... you goddamn brilliant boy. Poe wanted to say.

But he saw what was happening, when he shifted around and saw Anton on the ground. Janson got up and grabbed the young boy instead. "You little shit!" He dragged the boy to the Berg.

"No" Poe uttered. "Anton!"

Two of the WCKD guards were coming for Poe. But then they dropped dead in front of him, Nico and Leigh shot them both. Poe was being pulled away by Newt and Teo.

"No! Anton!" Poe shouted as he sawAnton struggling to shake off Janson's grip before a guard took him from Janson and dragged the boy into the Berg. "ANTON!"

Newt and Teo pulled Poe. "We have to go, Poe!" Teo said. "We gotta go!"

"No! Anton!"

"Poe, come on!" Teo and Newt forcibly pulled Poe back, there was Minho, Leigh and Nico firing their weapons at WCKD. More guards were coming.

"Get outta here!" Minho shouted, "Go! Go!"

"Be careful, Minho!" Newt urged him.

Leigh's weapon was first to run out of ammo, forcing her retreat and followed the rest. Then it was Nico's.

"Come on, Thomas! Get outta here!" Minho was still at his ground, firing the rifle and covering everyone while they run.

"Minho! Let's go!" Thomas ran past him.

As Teo and Newt had Poe behind cover, along Frypan, Nico, Thomas and Leigh. Minho fired one more shot before struggling to load the weapon. That's when he got hit by a grenade launcher, stunning him.

"MINHO!" Thomas bellowed.

WCKD has Minho.

The Right Arm tried to shoot at WCKD, they already grabbed the Runner and dragged him away. Thomas was screaming for his friend as he tried to run after him. But he was stopped by Jorge. There were too many of them and they all had to retreat.

"Come on, we gotta move!" Teo grabbed Poe as everyone of what's left of the Right Arm retreated and so did WCKD.

Poe finally moved along.

The Right Arm and the Gladers went up to the hill until stopping and watch the Berg's hatch closing.

"Anton" Poe breathed out. Feeling the failure of protecting his friend, he promised Anton that he would protect him, he made that promise back in the Glade.

But he failed to keep that promise.

The Right Arm and the Gladers watched the Berg hovering up then flew away. WCKD has taken Minho and Anton.

*****

Well that was kinda intense and I am now sad.

Next chapter is the last of part 2! ^_^