The Purge. Even the name made a shiver ran down Jina's spine. That sounded ominous. She swallowed hard and glanced at the others. Aris looked slightly skeptical, Rachel was chewing her bottom lip. Teresa didn't looked shocked at all. Thomas looked horrified, and confused at the same time. She had to suppress the urge to pat his cheek and go aww, you're so cute. She restrained herself and looked back to Doctor Paige.

She marched to the door and pulled it open. "Well come on then."

The five of them jumped up and followed her down the hall. She marched in front of them, confident step after confident step. Her demeanor had changed drastically, she had accepted some invisible mantle of responsibility and she held herself differently. Jina secretly watched how she acted, wishing to emulate the same confidence. Jina was skeptical of her lately but she truly believed she could save this situation...whatever horrible mess the facility had fallen into.

She unlocked a surveillance room door and ushered them all inside. She went to one of the computers and pulled up some footage. The group crowded around the screen. Teresa and Rachel had pushed to the front.

"You must see this with your own eyes, so we can say, confidently, you saw with your eyes and chose to help..."

On the screen was the outside of the grounds, close to the forest fence. At first Jina didn't see anything but snow, as it slowly and softly fell from the sky.

"This was about 1230 in the morning, when you were all in your rooms."

Jina felt a hand brush the back of her hand. And her stomach flip flop. A finger carefully and slowly wrapped around her pinky. She bit her lip. Her heart was racing again.

"Now watch the corner of the screen." Doctor Paige said, pointing. Jina looked back at the screen. Thomas's finger didn't let go this time. And she felt the anxiety of the unknown situation ease slightly. She knew she trusted Thomas...in whatever situation was being thrown at them.

Out of the corner of the screen a figure stumbled out of the woods and fell. Whoever it was got up, brushed the snow off then started walking, almost straight towards the camera, like they knew it was there. From somewhere off screen a muffled voice came. "Another fucken' crank."

"Ya, let's get inside and tell someone." 

There was some rustling and then the first voice spoke. "Wait a sec, hold up, that's...not a... that's Director Randell!"

Randell was lurching through the snow as if he'd lost something there and hoped to kick it into the air.

"Well I'll be damned!" The guard said. "It is him."

"We should go tell Ramirez!"

"Shhh!" The guard scolded.

It was too late and Randell heard them, he turned and looked at them. For a long moment nothing happened. And then he broke into action. Struggling to get to the guards through the snow.

"Wait! Stop! I know you two! Marion! Moureu! I just gotta say something!"

Randell stumbled out of the snow onto the pavement. He was now closer to the camera and out of the shadows. It was easier to see him and Jina sucked in a sharp breath and clutched Thomas arm.

"He looks terrible!" She whispered horrified.

Bloodshot eyes, his nose was bleeding, his cheeks were hollow and gaunt. The skin on his right brow had split open, a streak of blood painted his face. There were thick black veins working his way up his neck.

"Speak fast Randell. You don't look too good. You need a doctor."

He let a wet cackle out which turned into a cough. "Guess I can't hid this anymore." He spat some black goop onto the ground at his feet. He bent over, his hands on his knees. "It's the darndest thing!" He lurched upright, swaying left then right, before getting his balance. "The darndest thing, trying to hide the Flare from your bosses!"

Even through the screen Jina felt the tension rise and the air grew cold.

"Okay...were done here."

Randell suddenly lurch forward, "you think those kids are gonna save you?! You think those kids are special?? Did you know those special ones are gonna get the same treatment as all the others! They ain't special! You hear me! They think I'm scary?! You should see-"

The feed cut off and the screen went fuzzy. Ava turned towards the five of them.

"Our guards went out to look for him. We couldn't find him after that. He's gone...lost to the haze of the Flare."

Jina was still clutching Thomas's arm, and she didn't really want to let go, even if someone saw. She felt her world spinning. Randell had the Flare. Who else had it? And the Purge Doctor Paige had said...Jina had a horrible feeling she knew what was going to happen. She slowly let go of his arm. She felt Thomas slowly intertwined his fingers with hers and then squeeze her hand. 

"But...we haven't noticed anything?" Teresa asked, "we haven't seen signs of other sick people."

"It might be early still for many of them. Others who are further along maybe in hiding. Makes me wonder if Randell got out from where they were hiding the sick." She paused and straightened her shirt. "If results of workers blood work are being faked like I think, I need to initiate the safety protocol to ensure we remain healthy and we can continue our work."

"And that means?" Jina asked hesitantly. 

"It means," Dr Paige said, squaring her shoulders, "I take charge. Tonight."

Jina couldn't believe how fast this was all escalating. Ava Paige never looked so grave and so determined. Jina gripped Thomas's hand like a life line. She was glad he stood so straight and somehow so calmly, she was sure his mind was moving about a thousand miles a second and in about as many different ways. But right now he held her hand firmly, like he needed it too. Right now they kept each other from spiraling into full panic.

"We need to get the real results from the original results. Not the summary report. We'll find out who's sick and who isn't. And that'll be in Chancellor Anderson's office. And then we will deal with things."

"And you think Chancellor Anderson is one of them?" Aris asked.

Dr Paige nodded solemnly. "I do. I haven't seen him in many weeks."

"How do we get into Chancellor Anderson's office? Aren't there security camera watching?" Thomas asked.

"Which one of those would you like answered first?" Doctor Paige asked.

"The second one." Teresa answered, looking at Thomas, 'the security." She did a quick double take and then turned a bright red. Jina was too worried about this Flare outbreak to worry about what Teresa might do with this display of public hand holding.

"Well, let's just say, there are many people who owe me favors here. That and everyone is scared about getting sick, they're depending on us to guarantee their health. Ramirez is terrified of succumbing to it. And he thinks I'm best suited to make sure the cure actually happens. The sad truth, guys? Chancellor Anderson's time leading WICKED has to come to an end."

And with that she pulled out a surgical mask and slipped it on. "Guess you guys don't need this."

Jina  could see a smile in her eyes behind the mask. She yanked the door open and led the group down the hall to an elevator. Thomas didn't let go of Jina's hand. Even with the others throwing them weird looks. Jina raised her chin. With Thomas holding her hand she walked down the hall behind Doctor Paige. She could feel Teresa's glares on the back of her head.

Dr Paige unlocked the big oak door. She stepped in and let the the others in. A terrible smell hit Jina like a wall. Jina had been in this office before, many times. And the office part was dark and silent, no Chancellor was here. She knew there was a smaller room attached to the back of his office. Anderson was asleep in the back, half his body draped on the couch.

"How did you know?" Aris whispered.

The doctor motioned for them to come back to the main office.

"You can't imagine the precautions I've taken to avoid catching the Flare. They are pretty extreme. But I'm a doctor...I have to take some risks."

"But what about...this?" Teresa pointed to the back office.

Dr Paige nodded, "he's one of the reasons I've taken precautions. We were quite close, we had a... friendship over the years. I knew him. Or at least thought I did. He started to change."

Jina tried to feel sorry for the doctor. She really did. She seemed to have lost a lot, but then so did everyone here. Each person here had lost friends and family to the disease. It didn't make them more special then the next person.

"So...who else do you think has it?" Rachel asked.

"Were about to find out." Dr Paige said, "if he hasn't destroyed the original results. It shouldn't take long. He was never very original with passwords."

She sat down and got to work. The others spread out or stayed at the desk. Jina walked to the shelf where he had pictures of his family. She felt someone come up beside her. She glanced up at Thomas. He looked at the pictures on the shelf and frowned.

"You doing okay?"

She laughed bitterly. "No, Tommy, I'm not. Nothing is okay."

"Yeah..." He sighed. "I'm...I'm sorry we were uhh...we were interrupted..." He stammered, his ears grew pink at the tips and he gently tapped his foot against the shelf.

"Not your fault there was an outbreak."

"No...but seems like ...I dunno, we don't really get a lot of time together." He shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. Even now Jina felt eyes on the back of her head and she was uncomfortable.

"Ya...someone doesn't seem to like when I talk to you."

"What? Who? What do you mean?"

"You serious?" Jina asked now turning her body to look at Thomas, he looked so lost- he genuinely didn't know how Teresa had been treating her.

"Okay! Got it!" Doctor Paige called quietly. "And it's not good."

The others came back around the desk and looked at the screen. Chancellor Anderson's big smiling face was on the screen, along with many others all with big red flashing words stamped across them.

Chancellor Anderson had the Flair.

< • >

Nineteen of one hundred and thirty nine doctors, Psyches, scientists, technicians, nurses and other staff inside WICKED had turned out to be infected. All high ranking, mostly inside Anderson's inner circle.

Dr Paige whisked the five of them out of the office and back to her room locking them inside, saying she now needed to fully initiate the Purge protocol and make sure everything was in motion for a smooth shift in control. She left them there for two hours. It was long and uncomfortable. Teresa sat and glared, arms crossed. Rachel tried to figure out what the Purge meant until Aris finally got frustrated with her.

"Purge by definition, means get ride of something. All the people inside WICKED will be purged, Rachel, get rid of." Aris explained.

"Probably to the crank pits or killed." Jina said quietly.

"You really think so?" Thomas asked, he had stayed beside her most of the two hours, except when sitting still got too much and he got up to pace the small room. Jina nodded with a sad hum.

Doctor Paige came back and dumped five full backpacks on the ground.

"What are those for?" Thomas asked.

"I'll explain everything," she answered, "I'm going to need the five of you desperately today."

She didn't seem like the anxious worried doctor anymore, she had taken charge of this with gusto, and it made Jina feel a little better, she did seem to know how to lead and keep a level head in a crisis situation- even if Jina had some reservations about her lately. The five of them glanced at each other and got up from their various places around the room and came to stand in front of Doctor Paige.

"Okay, this is what my people have figured out." She explained. "Anderson has all the infected hidden away in sector D. And judging from symptoms a few of them appear to be pretty far along. It explains why we haven't seen their faces around here in a while. I've locked down the entire wing of the complex. I've checked and rechecked the results. Other than Anderson who is in his office and Randell out in the woods, everyone who is sick is contained. Everyone outside that sector is clean."

She paused and took a deep breath. It was Jina's turn to reach for Thomas's hand. She brushed the back of his hand. She felt him shift slightly closer and hook a pinky around hers. She knew something awful was coming. The final nail in the coffin. Ava Paige kept going with her explanation.

"We can't waste any more time. We need to clear those people out, and we need to do it fast. I have some brave guards who are willing to risk infection, but I just can't bring myself to lose another life to this awful disease. Which ...is where you five come in."

There it was. She saw Aris recoil and Thomas straightened and she felt his muscles tense.

"Wait...you mean..."

The doctor nodded, her face was hard, her lips pressed together into a thin line. Her expression told them this next part was hard to say.

"You're all immune, and your the leaders of your groups. You may not be the oldest, but you have been given more responsibility, the overseers of the mazes trust you- I trust you. You're the strongest we've got. We are dealing with people who are very sick and weak- more importantly, though, is that most of them are asleep, which is why we have to act right now. These backpacks have syringes filled with a solution that's been prepared for this task. All it takes is a quick plunge into their necks and the job is done. You should be able to do it with no problems."

Jina felt Thomas suddenly pull away and sit down.

"Whoa whoa, Tommy!" Jina cried kneeling in front of him, "are you okay?" His eyes looked unfocused and full of anxiety, his face was pale, like he had lost all the blood in his face all at once. It was silent in the room.

Then Aris said what they were all thinking. "So... we're just going to kill them all?"

"They'll die anyways." Teresa said immediately.

Thomas looked up at her shocked. "Whoa whoa whoa." Thomas said, holding up a hand.

"This some kind of attempt to settle your guilt for murdering people? You can't be that callused!" Jina said standing up, and facing her.

"Let's think this through." Thomas agreed, standing up behind Jina.

"No, Tom." Teresa snapped, "it's be tough now or everyone dies later."

Thomas slumped into the wall, Jina wrapped her arms around herself. She didn't sign up for this. Find a cure not kill people. She was hardly 15. And a doctor she had been raised by (someone who she had known longer than her own mother) was asking her to risk her life to kill people. She looked to Thomas. He seemed unfocused and pale again. This time he didn't seem to care about the others and reached out and grabbed Jina's arm and pulled her closer, into a hug. Maybe because they both needed some grounding and human connection, she laid her head on his shoulder.

"I don't...don't know if I can do this Tommy!" She whispered, her words muffled by his shoulder.

"Look... I'm sorry." Teresa said, some of the harshness was gone, it seemed strained, like she was trying hard not to get emotional. "I'm sorry, Tom. Really. I just...I know this whole thing is awful, but it'll be less awful if we just accept it and get it done. And Jina. You want to be in the high position your in, you gotta make hard choices."

Jina turned her head. "Sure...but taking a life and finding a cure are very different, Teresa." Jina snapped lifting her head from Thomas's shoulder. She looked Teresa's dead in her cold icy blue eyes, "have you ever taken a human life?"

Teresa's clamped her jaw and looked away. Aris looked troubled, he caught Jina's eye though. He looked at her with pleading.

"She's right." Doctor Paige said quietly. "The five of you will be adults soon. You can handle this. We know exactly where the infected are. You just need to go from room to room and give them an injection." She gestured towards the backpacks. "We've packed guns, and launcher's for you as well. Just in case. I think you'll be able to this, they will be asleep. And I'll have guards posted, despite the risk of infection...if things go south."

The room was silent as they all thought this through. Jina looked up at Thomas again, he slowly looked down at her, he hadn't let go of her, his rather muscular arms were still around her shoulders. She had two fists full of his shirt in her hands. They had a quick silent exchange. They didn't need to have the mind link to know, they would do it. It would suck and they would hate it, but they would.

"Count me in." Teresa said, she grabbed a backpack.

"The ends justify the means." Rachel said rather bitterly. As she grabbed a backpack. "It should be WICKED's logo or something. They should have a banner draped across the front entrance. The ends justify the means. But ya...I'm in."

"Well it's true... isn't it?" Aris said hesitantly. He also sounded weary, resigned to this horrible situation they all found themselves in.

"If you can save a billion people by killing a million, shouldn't you do it?" Teresa added. "You know...hypothetically speaking.."

Jina looked closely at her, there was something oddly suspicious about that. Oddly close to killing a whole bunch of people with a virus because there wasn't enough food to go around... Something oddly similar to what WICKED did with the Flair. Thomas also seemed to pick up on that and hummed angry.

Dr Paige nodded at the three who already accepted. She looked to Jina and Thomas. "Well?"

They didn't respond right away.

"Tom?" Teresa tried the sweet innocent pleading voice (Jina wanted to shudder.) "I need you with me on this. Please."

He still didn't respond he blinked a few times and then looked down at Jina. He looked at her with concern and anxiety.

"Together." Jina whispered. "We can do this together. I don't like it, I feel sick about it...but..."

He nodded slowly. "Together we can do it." He paused and then added, "This sucks."

< • >