< Thomas >

Thomas heard her scream, it was shrill and full of fear. He had her hand in his. He looked over his shoulder, as his foot pushed off the ledge and her hand slid from his. Janson had a hold of her hair and was pulling her backwards.

"No!" He screamed.

And then he was falling. The cold air ripped at him. His stomach dropped, he didn't realize how far up they were. He couldn't blame Jina for being so scared. After being trapped in white silence for so long, this must have been horrendous for her.

His hit the water. It was such a hard impact it hurt his feet even with boots on. His head was submerged in the icy waters and his lungs stopped working. He sucked in a sharp breath and took in water. He tried to cough it out but took in more. He sunk deeper. His feet hurt something solid. He pushed off the bottom. His head broke the surface of the water. He gasped and coughed.

Looking back up at where they came from he saw Janson leaning out the window. He had a split second of satisfaction and flipped him off. But then he nearly fainted. Jina was still up there with him.

He struggled to the side of the pool and pulled himself up, still sputtering and coughing. He spat out some more water and as soon as his mind had proper oxygen he was back in his feet.

"Come on! Let's go!" Thomas cried.

"Wait!" Minho yelled, "where's Jina?"

"Janson still has her!" Thomas cried frantically, he stripped off the wet jacket.

"What?" Minho roared and rounded on Thomas. "What do you mean he still has her?"

"Hey! You three freeze!" A guard yelled, they had climbed up the steps and now stood with guns raised and pointed at Thomas, Minho and Newt.

"Dammit!" Thomas cursed. He saw Minho and Newt raise their hands immediately. Thomas tried to slowly reach for the gun he took from Jina.

"Hey! You!" A guard cried. "Don't move! Don't think about it!" A gun was pointed directly at Thomas. He froze and slowly raised his hands. His mind was working furiously, how can he get himself and his friends out of this and still get to Jina?

"Stand up, nice and slow." One demanded.

The middle guard stepped back, turned to the left, pulled a trigger and turned to the right and dropped the guard. Thomas blinked for a moment, surprised at this turn of events, but he scrambled to his feet as the guy ripped off his mask.

"Gally!" Thomas had never been happier to see him.

Gally nodded and looked up at the place they had just jumped from.

"You guys are nuts!" He said rather calmly.

"Gally?" Minho asked, " what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you."

"David radioed, said you had some problems, and got separated. We got the kids out, Tim and the guys are working on getting the other munies out of the basement. The building is sketchy... And as the workers come pouring out we're cutting them down. Though... It seems like Laurence has been in touch with Crank city, and not only do we have WICKED to deal with we now have cranks to contend with. The city is a fucken mess. We were supposed to take down WICKED. Not the whole damn city."

"We gotta go guys. They still have her." Thomas cried and started towards the building.

Something caught his shoulder and he was shoved back.

"Newt? No, come on, they have her!"

"Just wait! Wait a second!" Newt protested, giving him another shove.

"I don't have time to wait!" Thomas cried. "They still have her and who knows what he's doing to her!"

"You guys got her then?" Gally asked. The group went quiet for a moment. And then Thomas nodded.

"Ya, until the shank let go of her and she's now back with Ratman."

"Well shuck."

"I let go? I was the one who went after her the first time! You were literally in the doorway and your five foot three a hundred pound little sister in a straight jacket pushed you over!" Thomas yelled back as rounded on Minho now.

Why was it always him the was blamed, he always had to save everyone else, no one could think of a plan themselves; always with the 'Thomas will save us' but when it doesn't work it's always 'Thomas's fault'. And he was sick of it. The only one he wanted to save right now was Jina.

"Whoa guys, slim it nice and cool." Gally said stepping between Thomas and Minho.

"It's a little overwhelming seeing your sister that fucked."

"And? What's your point?" Thomas asked, feeling his frustration and fear bubble to the surface.

"Nothing... "

"No, Minho. Tell me. You didn't even come into her cell, you didn't want her free from that jacket, and if I remember, I was the one to pick her up and carry her, I was the one trying to talk her into escape. What's your problem with her?"

"She's fucked man! And maybe-" He yelled but then stopped abruptly.

Thomas froze and realization hit him. Like a hard punch in the gut. "You want to leave her." He gasped. "You want to just... You're scared of her."

"You aren't?"

"No! None of what she's doing is her fault!" Thomas argued.

"You saw what she did to that guy!"

"No. I saw what they did to her." He yelled at Minho. He shook his head, and stepped back. "Fine. You don't want to come. Fine. Stay. I'm going." Thomas turned to Newt, who was shifting back and forth. "Newt?"

"I... Tommy, I gotta find my own sister.... " He said quietly.

Thomas felt a knife to his chest. His two best friends, Jina's own brother was backing out.

"The girls are out. David came storming out of the building to find Jorge. Sonya and Taylor are with Flossie and Brenda, the buss of kids and munies just made it to the Resistance building. Vince was going to pick them up in the Berg.

"Great. See. Sister is safe. Now I'm going for Jina." Thomas said, he pulled off another layer of wet clothing and dropped it to the ground, leaving him in cargo pants and a t shirt.

"Tommy wait..."

"No. I'm done waiting Newt. Look what waiting did for me." Thomas shook off his hand and started towards the building.

"Just wait!" Newt roared, angry now.

"No! I'm going after her!" Thomas ignored him, and shoved passed him again.

"Tommy! Listen to me!"

Thomas ground his teeth and looked at Newt. "What? What is so important?" Newt stepped in front of Thomas. Newt's usually gentle brown eyes were full of anger. Thomas was so impatient and angry to figure out why.

"Maybe Minho has a point."

"You too?" Thomas cried, "What if it was your sister? What if Janson fucked with her head so much she broke? Would you leave Sonya in there? I know Jina is still in there. And I'm not going to leave her alone. She needs me!"

Something passed over Newt's face. Maybe Thomas finally said something to make it click, but what came out of his mouth made Thomas's stomach fall.

"What if...if I need you too?" Newt said quietly.

"No..." Was all he could say and shook his head. He didn't have time to figure out what Newt fully meant. The longer he stood here the longer Jina was alone with Janson.

"No, Tommy you don't understand."

"I think I do. And...no...." Thomas shook his head again. "I'm sorry Newt. I love her. And I'm not leaving her!"

"You hardly know her!" Newt protested. "We were in the scorch for like a week and a half!  You and I? We've been together..."

"Stop!" Thomas cried, tears in his eyes. "I do though, I do know her. And if you knew anything about me, you know I won't leave her. Don't do this, don't make me choose. You're either with me or your not."

He glanced at Minho who stood stuff and tense, his jaw clamped.

"What if you can't save her?" Newt asked.

"I have to try."

"If you just wait, I can call for back up." Gally said hesitantly, finally added to the conversation.

There was another explosion from a building close by. Everyone dropped, hands over heads and they all were yelling. Chunks of building and dust and whatever else rained from the sky. While the others ducked down under the half wall by the pool, Thomas took his chance. He scrambled to his feet and took off towards the WICKED building.

Everyone was hesitant about her. So why were they here? They all saw the surveillance tape, they knew...they all agreed to come. And yet now that they were here they all backed away. And it made him hurt. It made him angry. Was it because they didn't really know her? The girls seemed more determined...maybe it was because they knew her from the maze...Sonya and Taylor and her had been together for a year. But it hurt that his two best friends were backing out to help him.

Thomas used the back of his hand to clear the tears from his eyes. He had no idea where to look for her. He ran into the building blind. He skidded to a halt and looked around the lobby. It was in ruins. The whole building was falling apart. Sparking wires hung from the ceiling. Plaster and ceiling tiles were hanging, the fancy front desk was squashed under a chunk of roof that collapsed.

He decided to start with the first floor.

< • >

Thomas skidded around a corner. He had been going from floor to floor, screaming for Janson or Jina or someone...anyone. He came around a corner and stopped. A woman stood in the hall. Thomas stopped. His anger and hurt and fear and everything came out.

"You!" He spat. He lifted the gun he took from Jina's suicide attempt.

"Hello Thomas."

Doctor Ava Paige, the Chancellor of WICKED stood in his path. She had her white suit and lab coat on, her hair pulled into a tight bun, she looked exactly like in his memories. And he shivered.

"Where is she?" Thomas demanded.

"I don't know."

"Bull shit. Where's Jina?"

"I honestly don't know Thomas. I told Janson we were done. The company was done. There was a gift of biology given to a few and it needs to stay that way. Let the world figure it's self out."

"No! Did no one listen? Are you guys really that stupid? Doctor Mary has had a cure for months! We kept trying to tell you! But your all too stupid! Too ignorant, too wrapped up in your own stupid shucked up ways to listen!"

"Thomas..."

"No!" He screamed. The gun shook in his hands. "You took my best friend and turned her on the girl I love. You used me to turn on her. On all my friends! You broke her! You pushed her so far her mind snapped! You took her best friend and twisted his thinking so bad he turned! No! I'm done playing. I'm done being used. I'm done with you trying to gaslight me into thinking I'm wrong!"

"Thomas, listen...we did it all for a reason-"

"Shut up!" He screamed, the tears in his eyes made seeing hard. "You ruined everyone's lives. You ruined my life! I was a child! You ruined an entire generation! We were children, Ava. Children!"

"We made you stronger." 

"We didn't need to be stronger! We needed a mother! We needed love! We needed to be safe! We were children!" Thomas screamed.

"Thomas-"

Thomas pulled the trigger. Ava stumbled backwards, holding her stomach. Red seeped through her fingers. She collapsed to the floor, as Thomas let a sob escape. He had done it. He had killed her. He felt an increased rush of adrenalin, a twisted exhilaration, which came crashing down quite hard. He had killed her. The woman who had practically raised him. He had shot the woman who he viewed to that of a mother for a long time. Tears pooled in his eyes and clung to his lashes. He watched her collapse and the life leave her eyes. Lowering the gun with shaking hands he turned around to go find Jina.

"Well done Thomas."

Janson stood in the empty hall behind him. He had a twisted smile on his thin twitchy face. Thomas could see the black veins creeping up under his white turtle neck. The rumors were true. Janson was a crank.

"Where's Jina?"

"Oh...she's waiting for you. A little...top candidate reunion."

Before Thomas could understand, Janson raised a gun and shot him. He felt a sharp sting in his neck. The gun in Thomas's hand fumbled and fell to the floor. Thomas felt his body going numb and tingly. His brain felt sluggish and his eyelids left heavy. Janson had drugged him.

His eyes rolled and he was out.

< • >

His eyes slowly peeled open. He groaned slightly. 

"Tommy boy is waking ups now, My Precious!" 

Thomas groaned again, and tried to sit up, something cold bit into his wrists. He shook his head trying to get rid of the drugs from his system, his mind felt sluggish. Thomas looked around to the wild laughter beside him. Jina was beside him. She was strapped down to some kind of metal bed. She lay still, but laughing wildly. Thomas tried to sit up again, but he was stuck. 

"What...?" 

"We's is tied down...chained like a dogs, yes we is...We will kills the rat, Precious."
"Good and dead, yes yes yes." 
"But we must wait...yes, Precious, wait to gut the rat like a fishes." 

"Jina?" Thomas asked hesitantly. 

"Tom?" 

Thomas looked the other way, beside him on the other side was Teressa, strapped to her own table. 

"What..?" He stammered. He was so confused. Why was Teresa here? 

"Tom...we don't have a lot of time, he'll be back with Aris right away. Aris heard on Jorge's walki talkie, that Janson had Jina- we came looking. But Janson is cranking. I don't know what he's planning, but he's going to end up killing us all!"  

"Aris is here?" Thomas asked. 

"Yeah, stay up to speed, Tom. The building is ready to come down. Janson has Aris, using him. Janson is a crank and is as crazy as Jina. Jina hasn't come back, right now... the voices have taken over, but my guess would be they're trying to protect her from Janson. So... we gotta figure out how to get out of this." 

Thomas's mind was reeling with this information. He slammed his wrists into the restraints, just to test them. His feet were free, Jina on the other hand was cuffed around her ankles. But she just lay and laughed hysterically as tears slid down her face. 

"Jina..." He called, "Jina, look at me." 

Jina just continued to stare up at the ceiling, laughing and crying. He clamped his eyes closed thinking hard, how could he get her attention. His eyes snapped open. 

"Jina... my Precious." 

Her laughing stopped abruptly. 

"Tommy boy knows us, he knows my name, Precious." 
"Well, you just told him, dumb dumb." 
"We did not!" 
"Did too."
"Shut up! Tommy is talking." 

Her head slowly tipped to look at him.

"Hey, hi, Jina." He said gently, "I need you to listen to me." 

"We is listening..." 

Thomas tried to suppress a shiver, the wildness in her eyes was even worse, they looked like black pits. But he knew Jina was there, she was listening, she was looking at him. 

"We are going to get out of this, but I need you to listen to me, and do everything I tell you, okay? Jina, Hun... Precious...can yo do that for me?" 

"We wants to kill the rat." She whispered with such malevolence, the blood in Thomas's veins went cold. 

"Yeah...ya me too, Precious. I killed Ava Paige already..." 

Her eyes went wide, and the crazy dimed, Jina was fighting to come back. 

"You...you did...Thomas..? Is that true?" 
"Yeeees, it's true, Precious...We sees it in Tommy Boy's eyeses." 
"Thomas...please tell me!" 

Thomas nodded, "Ya, Ji. I shot her. She can't hurt you any more. But now you have to listen so we can get out, and if we can, ya, we kill Janson. That way he wont ever hurt you or anyone else again. Okay?" 

Jina blinked a few times. Her eyes were big and full of fear anger and madness, but he could see Jina fighting for control. He knew as soon as they were free from WICKED and Janson, they could heal, and Jina could get better, he saw how she was fighting and struggling. She clamped her eyes closed and her body trembled, her jaw quivered, but her head nodded slowly.

"Okay..." She whispered so quietly, "Okay Tommy. I...I trust you." 

Just then the door to their room, was thrown open and Janson walked in, dragging Aris. He had a split lip and his nose was bleeding. He looked like he tried fighting back. Janson tossed Aris onto the floor. 

"No!" Jina pleaded. "No no no no." 

"Look at this! I have all four of my favorite top candidates!" Janson grinned at them, it was so twisted and evil. There was definitely a greedy wild glint in his eyes. They almost matched Jina's when she was in the thick of the crazy. But unlike Jina, he could still see his gentle calm Jina, Janson was just fully gone, given over to the crank. 

"Get up boy. We have work to do! They have something I need inside them, and nothing can stop me now. Thomas so conveniently killed my last obstacle. Did you know Chancellor was starting to get cold feet? I was going to kill her myself, but you did it for me, you clever boy." 

Aris picked himself up off the floor, and slowly went to the table behind Janson. He kept his down and averted his eyes, until he was behind Janson. Thomas watched as his blue eyes flicked to Janson, and then to Thomas. Aris was staring at Thomas like he was trying  to tell him something, but Thomas had no idea what. Janson was talking about something, Thomas had stopped listening, he was having a staring contest with Aris, trying to figure out what he was trying to silently tell him. Janson picked up a big long needle, with something sinister inside. 

"Now...hold still my dear..." He cooed to Jina. 

Jina was screaming, and hissing, snapping her teeth, struggling and fighting against the restraints. She thrashed her head, cursing Janson, trying to hurt him. There was nothing for Thomas to do, he was strapped down. Teresa and him yelled and pleaded for Janson to stop. And then something smashed against the back of Janson's head. He crumpled to the ground. Aris was standing there, breathing hard, a fire in his eyes.

"You filthy nasty lying rat!" Aris spat at the unconscious man. 

He went to Thomas and started undoing his restraints. "I'm sorry Thomas. I'm sorry!"  

"Hurry!" Thomas cried, "We did what we did... right now we gotta hurry, come on Aris!" He got one arm free and he helped Aris get his other one free. "Go, help Tess." He demanded

Thomas turned to Jina, and started undoing the first restraint. That's when there was a loud angry snarl at the end of the bed. Janson didn't stay knocked out for long. 

< • >