< PART THREE: REVOLUTION>

But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time. Honey, I rose up from the dead.

I do it all the time. I got a list of names, and yours is in red, underlined.

< • >

< Thomas >

Searing white light detonated in front of him, throwing him through the air again. Even as he flew backward, he screamed, trying to regain his footing. Thomas had been the last of the group, desperately trying to make sure everyone got to the building. He had seen what happened to Joey. It made him sick. It made him panic. He hadn't seen Jina in the chaos. And then, even over the rattling in his head and the buzzing in his ear, he had seen her. Minho had her. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Until he saw her pull free and turn around. The explosion had happened right where Jina had been standing.

"JINA!" Thomas tried to scream. All the air was knocked from his lungs.

Thomas landed with a jarring thump that felt like every joint in his body came loose, then popped back into place. He ignored the pain, got up, ran forward, his vision full of darkness mixed with blurry afterimages, amoebas of purplish light. Then he saw flames.

It took a second for his brain to compute what he was seeing. Rods of fire dancing about like magic, hot tendrils whipping to the right from the wind. Then it all collapsed to the ground, a heap of flame. Thomas reached it and understood.

It was Jina. Her clothes were on fire.

With a shriek that sent sharp pains through his head, he fell to the ground next to his... girlfriend? Partner? Love? None of those names seemed to fit, they felt so arbitrary. So juvenil. She was so much more to him. He felt the panic rise inside of him. She wasn't moving. He dug into the earth- thankfully loose from the explosion of electricity that hit it- and shoveled it on top of Jina with both hands, scooping frantically.

A few seconds of panic and another figure emerged from the chaos of the storm. Minho. Thomas hardly acknowledged him, too busy trying to put the fires out.

"Help me!" He screamed.

Minho, finally, shook himself from his stopper and started to scoop sand and swat at the flames. In a matter of seconds, the fire went out, leaving behind charred clothing and countless angry wounds. Thomas was glad he couldn't hear the wails of agony that appeared to be coming from Minho. Jina was unresponsive. And that scared him more than anything. He knew they didn't have time to stop. Someone else had appeared. Aris. Thomas couldn't understand what he was saying. He had to focus on the hand gestures. His panic induced brain finally understood.

Aris would help Minho. He would take Jina.

Thomas scooped Jina up, one arm under her shoulders, the other under her knees. He didn't have time to check for any other damage. He lifted her, as fear and panic tried to paralyze him.

He couldn't lose her. Not again. He ran. Ran towards the door Frypan was holding. He ran and stumbled closer. He moved as fast as they could toward the building, Jina held tight in his arms, close to his chest. Her head rolled around and he winced each time.

All around them, the lightning continued to fall like arrows of white fire. Thomas could feel the silent impact of the explosions, each one rattling his skull, shaking his bones. Flashes of light all around. At one point the explosion hit so close to Thomas, he stumbled and Jina fell from his arms. With a wild cry, and scrambled to his feet and scooped his burnt girl back up to his chest. If he was capable of crying, he would have. He was so scared for her. And for himself. What if she was dead? Gripping her harder and tighter to himself he stumbled closer. He could see Frypan now waving him on.

A blinding arc of lightning went right over his head, pummeled the earth behind them; Thomas didn't look, kept moving. He hoped Aris and Minho made it. A blast of lightning, just ahead and to the right. Another to the left. One straight ahead. Thomas had to pause, blinking viciously until his sight came back. He started up again, huling Jina along with him. Until finally he reached the door. Frypan ushered them in. Right at his heels was Aris dragging a shell shocked Minho.

The doors behind them slammed shut. It was pitch black inside. Thomas couldn't hear. And now he couldn't see. He sunk down to the ground, still holding Jina. He was shaking so bad she trembled in his arms.

Someone was now in front of him, pulling her from his arms. He tried holding her, fighting whoever it was. He needed her. Why were they taking her?

"No!" He cried, though it was just vibrations in his head.

A flashlight flicked on. Clint and Teresa were kneeling in front of him, yanking Jina from his arms. Thomas fought, they couldn't take her. Someone grabbed his arms holding him back as the other two laid her down. She flopped, lifeless on the ground. Teresa immediately started pressing on her chest and what he thought at first, was suffocating her.

Thomas struggled harder against the person holding him back. "No! No! Don't! Please!" He screamed.

After the second round, Thomas hesitated. His chest rising with wild gasping inhales. He was watching now the rhythmic and methodical movements of what Teresa was doing. He frowned, it now looked like she was kissing her. Until he saw, each time she pressed her mouth to Jina's, her chest went up. Teresa was breathing for her.

CPR.

The word floated across his numb mind. He watched helplessly as Teresa tried to start her heart and keep her breathing. Thomas collapsed into whoever was holding him back. They held him upright. He wanted to get closer. But he was stuck. To numb. To scared. He saw from the counter of his eye movement.  Frypan and Aris holding Minho back. So it must be Newt holding him. He gripped Newt's arm. Despiritly trying to keep himself from spiraling into a worse panic.

It was agonizing. He didn't know if it was one minute or twelve minutes or four hours. He had stopped breathing himself. His lungs were being squeezed by some invisible hand. His vision was dark on the edges. He couldn't hear anything around him. All he was focused on was Jina's lifeless face. And then like being slammed into by some great force, his hearing came back. Thin beams of light from the few flashlights were focused on Jina and Teresa. The only sound was the booms of thunder that shook the building and the explosions of earth from the lighting.

"I can't lose her, Newt! I can't!" He gasped between wild ragged breaths. "I can't!"

"I know man. I know..." He replied.

Finally after what felt like many many agonizing hours- which was probably only a few munutes- Jina's eyes fluttered open she let a small cough out.

"Jina?" Thomas whispered. He was too scared to move. Newt wasn't holding him anymore, but he was paralyzed; Every joint frozen, every muscle coiled and tight, yet unable to move.

Minho just about pushed Teresa out of the way to get to her. She flopped backwards into Aris. Who caught her and started to whisper to her.

Jina's dark eyes were full of pain and confusion. They locked onto Minho for a second and then slid and found Thomas's. She stared at him, let an exhale out and then her eyes slid closed and stayed closed. But she was breathing.

Thomas could have cried if his body had any kind of moisture left. He reached out a shaking hand and placed it onto Jina's chest, feeling her heart beating again.

He finally crumpled forwards. Placing his forehead down onto her and stayed there. For a long time he stayed and didn't move. He heard hushed voices and movement, but he didn't pay them any attention. He was scared to move closer to her, he was scared to move her.

At some point after it got quiet around them he felt a hand on his shoulder. He slowly sat up and looked around. Minho sat on his knees his eyes looked terrible. Haunted and ghostly, full of anger and sadness and a brokenness Thomas understood.

"If you ever break her heart....I don't care who you are Greenie, my friend or not, I break your shucken face. After I'm done with your legs and arms."

Thomas didn't know what to say. Or how to react to that. It wasn't what he was expecting from Minho. Well it's definitely something he would say, but not in this situation.

"What...?" Was all he could muster. His voice felt like sandpaper.

"I ain't stupid shank."

Thomas had a moment of panic. Did Minho know they snuck off a few hours ago? Did he see them? Thomas felt his face go hot as the blood flushed his cheeks in a blush. He was glad it was dark inside the building.

"No one..." Thomas cleared his throat, it was a little rough, and tried again. "No one said you were. Also...why the shuck would I hurt her? That's stupid."

Minho glared at him and then he nodded. His face became less hard and his muscles relaxed. He looked down at his sister.

"She save me...if she hadn't shoved me...I'd have ended up like Joey."

"Ya." Was all he could say.

Thomas felt his body aching, he just crumpled. He lay on his side, head on the ground, body crumpled in a weird way. Thomas stayed in the exact same place for who knows how long as he watched Jina's chest rise and fall. He huddled right beside her, exhausted and sore, willing her eyes to open.

He could now hear the rain as it pourd. The sky opened up and it fell in torrents, like God had sucked up the ocean and spit it out over their heads in fury.

The other Gladers sat hunched up or lying on their sides around the room. Minho was leaning against the wall, eyes open and blank, staring at his sister.

Jina had at some point rolled and curled up in a ball, whimpering and barely moving; it looked as if every shift sent waves of burning pain through her nerves. Newt was there, also, close, as was Frypan. But no one tried to talk or get things organized. He knew he needed to talk to Teresa. To thank her for saving Jina's life. But he couldn't bring himself to move. Everyone sat or lay as lifeless as Thomas, probably pondering the same thing he was- what kind of messed-up world could create a storm like that?

At some point he finally reached an arm out and scooched his body closer and curled up around Jina. He noticed some of her whimpering quieted down. His eyes eventually slid shut and he was pulled into nothingness.

< • >

By the time he woke up, his body was so stiff it felt like glue had dried in his veins and muscles, all the machinery in his ears and head was back to fully functional. He heard the heavy breaths of sleeping Gladers, heard the whimpering moans from Jina.

Two things woke him. First, was the glow of sunrise and a sudden rush of silence. The storm was over, and he'd slept through the remainder of the night. But even before he felt the stiffness and soreness he expected, he felt something much more overpowering.

A sense of dread.

He blinked a few times and tried to rub the goop from his eyes. There was something. The hair on his neck stood up, and he felt his heart picking up it's pace.

Danger. His internal danger radar was going off.

He slowly pushed himself to sit up, not wanting to startle whatever or whoever was near by. His eyes wide open and on high alert. Looking around he saw nothing out of the ordinary. They were in a big open room. Dirt floors, broken windows and holes in the ceiling around them. But something was off. He caught Minho's eye who also was awake now, sitting up straight and tense. His eyes narrowed and swept the room again.

Thomas and him had a quick silent conversation.

Thomas shook Newt awake pressing a finger to his lips. Minho doing to the same to Frypan. Everyone but Jina was awake and up on their feet. Minho scooped up his sister before Thomas could.

"You guys smell that?" Teresa whispered. "It smells disgusting..."

Thomas had just opened his mouth to answer when huge massive doors on three walls swing wide and cranks ran at them. It was chaos.

Someone grabbed Teresa, yanking her back to the group. Guys were yelling. Everyone did their best to back up and get out of the way. A particularly gone crank lunged at Thomas. It was jerked back, landing on its back. Another one tried to lash out and bite, but something was holding it back.

As Thomas threw his arms out protectively, he noticed each crank had a thick chain wrapped around it. Some around the waist, some wrapped around ankles or wrists a few around their necks. But try as they might, not one crank came within a few of the front door. Where the group was huddled.

"I see you've meet our guard dogs." A voice echoed through the warehouse, over the sounds of cranks screaming. Thomas tried to see what or who this new threat was. He stepped forwards, trying to keep Jina out of harm's way, she still hadn't woken up.

"Who's that?" Someone yelled.

"Stay back! Stay back!" Thomas warned, trying to coral and keep the guys in a group and out of reach of the angry clawing hands and biting teeth.

Two groups of cranks were pulled backwards, revealing a path. And at the end, by the door stood a girl. A few years older than them, at most, early to mid twenties. She had short brown hair and ragged clothes, but she was clean and she stood arms folded with a smirk. Her eyes swept the group. Landing on Newt and then swept to look at Aris and Teresa, him and then lastly resting on Jina in Minho's arms.

"You guys look like shit."

Thomas was quite offended. They had been in the scorch running for their lives. They lost how many so far and survived cranks, heat and the storm...they were entitled to look like this. The girl kept her eyes on Jina for a second, like she could analyze what was wrong, from her spot on the other side of the room.

"Come on. Follow me." Her voice was demanding, leaving no room for debate. She spun in her heel and started to walk away.

"Unless you want to stay here with them. And your unconscious friend could use some much needed medical attention."

Thomas glanced at Newt who looked skeptical and then to Minho. He looked hard at the girl, he clearly didn't fully trust her, but when they both looked down at Jina who whimpered, they knew they would follow. If this stranger was offering Jina medical attention they would follow.

Resigned to their fait, Thomas followed the Strang woman, through the path of cranks. One by one the guys and Teresa followed. Thomas heard the sounds of gears. He glanced over his shoulders, the cranks were being pulled back, back behind the sound proof doors that kept them hidden.

The stranger led them down a hall and then slid a huge door open.

Behind the sliding door was what Thomas would have described as a homeless camp. Tents set up everywhere, people in groups around fires right on the ground or inside big barrels. People eating from cans or cooking on camping stoves. People from all ages and races. Thomas noticed not many kids their age. A lot of older people and seniors and a hand full of young kids ran around playing tag.

"Oh, my." Newt sputtered. Everyone stopped walking and it took them a moment, especially Thomas to process what they were actually seeing. His mind felt under attack again. This was the largest group of people they had encountered that weren't cranks- other than kids from the Waystation.

"Come on, keep up."

Thomas saw their strange leader walking towards a set of metal stairs by the wall. It led up to the second floor of this warehouse. Thomas hurried to follow, Minho on his heels.

"Jorge wants to meet you." She called over her shoulder. Her eyes again landed on Jina. Thomas saw her wince

"Who's Jorge?" Thomas demanded.

"You'll see." She shrugged.

Thomas ground his teeth. He wasn't in the mood for games. "You said medical attention... will you help? She hasn't woken up yet! Please, can you help?"

"No one's come out of the Scorch in a long time. You've got Jorge curious. And me, too."

She ignored his question as she led them down a hall full of rooms. Everything about this place was shabby. The wall paper was peeling, doors hung off their hinges. A few windows were missing. But what gave Thomas pause was not the stranger they were following who promised Jina medical attention, or this mysterious Jorge who wanted to meet them - though he must have known they were there all night- or the full homeless camp downstairs... No what made him pause were the few huge men who suddenly appeared blocking their way back down the hall. So even if they decided to turn around, they couldn't.

Each man had some kind of weapon. A shovel that was sanded down into a point, or barbed wire wrapped around a baseball bat or long deadly shards of glass, that's what gave him pause. Thomas felt Minho stiffen beside him.

They shared another glance with each other.

"Anyone else starting to get a bad feeling about this place?" Newt asked the group quietly.

Yes, Thomas thought. This whole world gave him a bad feeling. His whole life and existence gave him a bad feeling.

< • >