< Jina >

Jina knew with half her mind they were in grave danger, and they needed to move, but the other half- the murky madness was trying to take over. 

"Tommy...I can't...I can't fight it!" 

"You can! You can fight it! You have to! You're stronger then-" 

Thomas was jerked backwards. Janson stood  there now, he was snarling like a wild animal. 

"Not so fast!" 

"The dirty rat!" Jina snarled right back, the snap in her brain was so fast. With her free hand she swung, and clawed at his face. Her one hand was still stuck in the restraint, but she could at least fight a little, he stumbled back with a scream. Someone swung a fist into Janson's face.

Thomas was back undoing her other restraint. Aris was working on Teresa's. Aris and Teresa were free. 

"The filthy dirty rat is next! We is gonna gut it like a fish!" Jina screamed as her wrist was freed. She lunged at Janson with a snarl. Janson easily pushed Jina off, his fist connected with the side of her head and she crashed into a table and slid over the top. She landed with another crash on the ground.

"Jina" Aris screamed. 

She lay dazed. Janson was a lot stronger then a bent old man, especially now that he was cranking. She saw feet running around and yelling and screaming. She clamped her hands over her ears, and squeezed her eyes closed. She could still hear the explosions of the fight in the street, the groaning and crumbling of their building, the screams and yells, the emergency sirens and her screaming. 

Someone grabbed her. She screamed even harder, tears ran down her face. The voices were gone, but she couldn't function much longer. Her brain was shutting down. It was too much. She fought the arms.  

"Jina! Ji, it's me! It's me!" 

Jina snapped her eyes open. Aris's big watery blue eyes were looking at her, he had tears in his eyes, his lip was split and there was blood all over his face, his eye was starting to swell. He looked awful. 

"I'm so sorry. I know you wont ever forgive me for what I did, but I'm sorry!" He whispered urgently as he pulled her to sit up. Teresa showed up and the two of them got her up. Jina looked around, and saw Thomas and Janson struggling. Thomas landed a solid hit to Janson's face, sending him backwards over a table full of glass test tubes and other instruments.

"Go!" He yelled. 

Aris threw one of Jina's arms over his shoulder and started to pull her from the room. Teresa was already at the door, ushering them out. 

"Thomas..." Jina managed to slur out. She tried to twist around.

"I'm right behind you!" 

That calmed her slightly, Aris pulled her from the testing room, and into the hall. The lights were all out, most of the windows were blown out, and parts of the ceiling was starting to sag. Teresa was already half way down the hall when she stopped and called them to hurry. She was glancing nervously at the ceiling.  There was another explosion, the building shook wildly. The neighboring building came crashing down into theirs. Jina was thrown from Aris and she slammed into the wall and fell in a heap on the ground. Her head was pounding, and she felt sharp pain in her arms and back. She had to hold onto her head, it was spinning, from smacking it on the wall. Blinking away the dizzy spell, she saw small speckles of blood all over her bare arms. A window had exploded and the glass shards had found a home in her skin. Someone was there pulling her to her feet. 

"Come on Jina! We gotta go! Come on!" 

"Aris..?" 

"Ya, ya it's me Ji. You got help me!" 

She heard a crack and groan. 

"I can't...I can't see straight..." 

Aris hefted her to her feet. Jina tried as hard as her spinning head would allow, her energy was almost spent. Whatever Doctor Crawford had given her earlier in the injection, had worn off. She was loosing the adrenalin, and the fight. Her heart was beating so hard it hurt, her limbs were shaking. But, they were up, she saw Thomas sprinting towards them just as Janson scrambled into the hall. 

Many things happened at once. 

Jina screamed in warbing. Janson pulled a gun and pulled the trigger. Teresa screamed. The caving ceiling gave out. Jina was shoved away and she fell backwards smacking her head again. Jina coughed and sputtered. Her hearing was cutting in and out. Her vision was spotty. The dust settled as she struggled to her hands and knees. She blinked a few times as she saw the scene in front of her. She couldn't process what her eyes were seeing. 

It wasn't real. This couldn't happen. Not now...

Aris lay half buried under the concrete, bricks, and metal beams. 

"No!" She screamed. It was horse, but it came from her broken heart, deep from inside her. She scrambled over to him. He was struggling to breathe. 

"Aris! Aris, no, please, come on, we need to go! Please get up!" She grabbed his face, holding it. His blue eyes were full of pain.

"I...I love you Ji...I'm..I'm sorry..." His eyes fluttered closed

"No, Aris!" She screamed, "Open them! Please! Please wake up! I'm sorry I called you a traitor! I'm sorry! You're my best friend. Come back, please! Please come back to me. I forgive you! I forgive you!" 

His eyes fluttered just for a moment, and a ghost of a smile showed on his lips. "I can...see Rachel..." 

"Aris! No, please!" She shook his face. His eyes slowly slid to hers. "I forgive you Aris! I do! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" 

"Ji..na...live...free..." His eyes went distant and then they faded. 

"No!" She screamed, it was so broken and full of despair. Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her. "No! Aris! Wake up! Wake up! We need to go! Please!"

"I'm sorry...we gotta go! He's coming!" Teresa cried desperately.

Jina couldn't think, she couldn't process what had just happened. Aris was gone, he had shoved her out of the way, he had saved her life.

Teresa didn't pull her far, Jina stood swaying slightly. She ripped her eyes from Aris's broken body. Her eyes landed on the next traumatic thing. Thomas was on his knees, holding his side. It took Jina a second to realize what the bright red was. 

He was bleeding. And it was a lot. Janson had shot him. Her brain snapped again. she dropped into a crouch. Her mind was somewhere between the madness and protectiveness.

"The filthy rat shots Tommy Boy...the rat dies!" 

"Jina..." Thomas gasped through the pain. He reached a bloody hand out to her. She crawled closer, cautiously. He placed his hand on her cheek. "Please...stay. Stay with me." He coughed and groaned in pain, dropping down onto one hand as he held the other pressed to his stomach.

"We wills stay with you...but the rat dies!" 

Teresa somehow got Thomas to his feet, by some miracle, the roof missed him. Any closer and he would have had the same fait as Aris.

Somehow Jina's mad mind knew they needed to get Thomas up and away. They could hear Janson struggling on the other side of the cave in. 

"He..shot me!" Thomas hissed through clenched teeth.

"Yes...the filthy rat is nasty, nasty nasty. It wills be dead soon. Its as good as exterminated. But we's is must be hiding Tommy Boy. 

"Jina...in there!" Teresa panted, pointing, they ducked into another science lab.

Jina and Teresa placed Thomas onto the floor behind one of the work stations. They were hidden from the big glass windows. Teresa grabbed some gauze from a cart of medical supplies.

"Here. Here!" She handed Jina some, "Just put pressure on it." She directed her and she reached for more.

Somehow Jina's fractured mind followed the directions. Even the wild voices were listening. Jina was still struggling to come back to the surface, even as she watched Thomas wince and gasp in pain as she pressed on the bloody wound, the voices were listening to Teresa.

"Hold it." Teresa said again.

"You gotta go... You gotta go." He tried to push them away. "Jorge...Jorge and David...are waiting..."

"No. Not without you!" Teresa said, there was a fire in her eyes.

"Tommy boy made Precious a promise." Jina whispered. "That would make hims a promise breaker. We is not like promise breakers, Precious. They makes us very angry. And you don't likes when us is angry."

"Jina..." Thomas gasped again, and ground his teeth. His bloody hand grabbed the back of her head. And pulled her forwards she tipped forwards, letting go of the bloody cloth and placed her hands on his chest. "I love you. So shucken much."

Jina struggled and fought with everything left inside of her and for a moment she was back at the surface.

"Thomas..." She whispered. Her eyes filled with tears. Despite the pain in his eyes, they softened.

She was determined, to stay in control. Please, she begged herself. Let me stay in control.

They heard Janson enter the lab, he was cackling, it was wet and riddled with a hacking cough.

Jina's mind snapped. She shook her head violently. And ripped from Thomas's hand. He clamped his jaw hard to keep from groaning.

"There's is a rat infestation, My Precious." "We needs an exterminator."
"I knows, Precious, where's to be finding one."
"Oh, me too Precious."

< • >

< Thomas>

Thomas's pain filled mind was shocked at how fast Jina switched. He could see her struggle and then it was just Jina for a brief moment. And now the madness had taken over. He was still reeling when she slipped into the shadows.

There was nothing he could do. He couldn't move much without flares of white hot pain. Teresa was busy trying to slow the flow of blood. It was like watching a horrible horror movie. Jina was trapped inside her own mind, in her own body, like she was possessed.

"I admit, Jina...you had me fooled. The way you violently ripped the old Psyches throat out...I thought you were dangerous."

Thomas shivered. The mental image of Jina doing that made him want to vomit.

"Oh we's is violent, Precious..." Jina's voice hissed from the other side of the room.

And then she started to sing, but all the words from the songs were mixed and jumbled and it was haunting and creepy and it sounded like it was coming from all over the room. It gave Thomas the creeps.

"Look what they made us do...first the filthy old psyche, then the rat. Oh look what you made me do...are you, are you coming to the tree. Wear a necklace of rope...London Bridge is falling down, Precious, falling down...I trust no body and no body trusts me..."

If Thomas was creeped out, it must have made Janson's skin crawl, he shrieked like a wild animal.

"Come on. Let's not prolong this. We both know there's no way outta here." He paused.

Jina's wild deranged cackle came from the other side of the room now. Thomas saw a reflection of Janson in the window and he was spinning around, the gun flinging all over the place. He had no idea where Jina was.

Thomas was still holding the cloth to his bloody stomach, and trying to breathe quietly, but he kept gasping and whimpering every time he moved.

"Let's not make this any more painful than it needs to be." Janson said, slowly stepping further into the room, the gun swinging back and forth. His feet crunching over broken glass.

"You's is shooting my poor Tommy Boy. It's painful enough...and the rat must die now."

Teresa gave him another wad of cloth and made him press down on it.

"Hold it." She whispered. "We started this together...Let's end it together! I have an idea."

"I hope it's better then any of mine...they end up...not working out..."

"Let's hope so. Jina has him distracted. We divide his attention some more. If you have a clear shot. Take it."

Thomas nodded. With every effort he pulled himself into a crouch. He had to clamp his eyes closed as tears threatened to fall, the pain seared through his body again. Teresa went to the right. He stayed where he was, and Jina seemed to be all over the place at once.

"Leave them alone." Teresa called from the one end of the room. "You've done enough damage!"

"What is it with you elite candidats? Huh? You think you're so special? The fucked up one, the disappointment and the dimwitted on and I saw the traitor is dead..."

Thomas winced at his harsh words. Jina let out a feral scream. Aris's death was still fresh and raw for everyone, especially Jina. Janson seemed to ignore it and kept talking.

"Somehow you can save the world! You doesn't deserve it! You all belong to WICKED. You born with a gift! You never had to fight for it, never earned it! You don't deserve it." Janson screamed.

Janson had walked into the middle of the lab. He was only a desk away from Thomas. He couldn't see Teresa anymore.

Jina poked her head around the corner at the end of the row of tables. She had a twisted smile and her eyes held the lunacy that scared everyone. She held a finger to her lips indicating he should be quiet.

Thomas didn't know what to do about that so he just nodded. Clamping his molars and swallowing the desire to scream in pain. He had to move or else Janson would see him.

"Maybe. But it's ours." Teresa called from the other side of the room.

"What about you, Jina? What do you have to say? Don't you have enough blood on your hands already?" He cackled.

"We's is killing the filthy Psyches and next the dirty sewer rat, Precious. Oh yes we is. Killing it very dead..."

"Thomas... you're awfully quiet...what do you have to say?"

Thomas struggled to stand up, but he made it to his feet. Teresa doing the same. Thomas had to lean on the desk, blood seeped over his hand, as he held his stomach. Janson turned, a manic glee in his black eyes. A twisted smile on his face. He saw the deep nasty scratches on his face from Jina's attack.

"Shuck you Ratman." Thomas groaned through the pain.

"Fine. Have it your way!" He raised his gun but Jina sprang from nowhere in the shadows and pounced on him, she had found a scalp from somewhere, and as she landed on his back she slammed the sharp object down into him.

At the same time Teresa threw a stool, which hit the glass wall behind Janson and Jina.

Jina screamed and slammed the knife into him again and again. Janson screamed and withered and tried to throw her off. But she clung to him.

There was a loud crack, and then another, it sounded like ice breaking. Jina sprung from Janson's back, and scampered away from him.

"What? Too scared to finish me off?" Janson spat. He coughed up black and blood. Spitting it into the ground.

"Oh no, My Precious...but we's don't wants to be in the ways of the real crazies." She grinned. "Oh no... We just kills the rat. They's will eats the dead rat."

Thomas looked over Janson's shoulder. Teresa's stool had made cracks in the thick glass, behind the glass wall, where three fully gone cranks slammed themselves into the glass, making the cracks bigger and bigger.

"Bye bye rat." Jina cackled.

Janson had collapsed to his knees, the scalp still stabbed into his back.

Teresa scrambled away from the wall. The cracks in the glass were spider webbing, getting bigger. Thomas's knees gave out and he slid down.

Someone caught him before he hit the ground.

"It's time to go." Jina whispered, fear laced her voice, her hands sticky with fresh blood. She was scared of herself, he could see it in her eyes and the way her lip trembled, and how her hands shook.

She struggled with his weight. While Thomas continued to grow in muscle with the Right Arm, Jina wasted away in her cell. Teresa was there suddenly on his other side. He tried to help the girls, but his legs were going numb and he was shaking as bad as Jina.

They turned and left the lab just as the glass shatter and the unmistakable sounds of cranks were heard. Thomas saw through the window, Janson on his knees and the cranks pouncing on him, ripping him apart.

Jina shivered and let a small whimper out.

Jina and Teresa half carried and half dragged Thomas down the hall. Something exploded, the windows around them shattered, the building shook. Thomas collapsed to the ground, on his knees, and one hand holding his side. Jina sunk down beside him.

"Come on, Tommy. I can't do this by myself." Her voice was so thin, like it would shatter any moment. "I...I can't. I need you. You told me you would help me get better."

Her body shook, and she grabbed her head and shook violently, she was covered in bloody spots from the glass shards, and now from Janson's blood and still the old blood from the Psyche from earlier. "No no no go away!" She demanded. Her voice was weak and fragile.

Teresa grabbed Thomas's shoulders and yanked him up, he yelped in pain. But he was up and moving. Jina somehow found it in her mental copacity to follow. They were all unsteady on their feet. The building was rocking.

"Up." Jina said. "We need to go up..."

"Are you sure?" Teresa asked, she was taking most of Thomas's weight now. Jina was holding her head like a vice grip, thashing it around.

"Yes. The roof. To the roof."

After many minutes of stumbling up the stairs. Thomas slid from their grip. He made some kind of noise of pain. He leaned his head back against the wall. Jina was beside him instantly, her hands holding the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Girls....please...just go! It's okay...." His head flopped. His breathing was becoming shallow and ragged. His hands were now numb.

"No!" Jina wailed.

She ripped her t shirt off, leaving her in a sports bra, and pressed her own shirt to his blood soaked stomach, trying to staunch the flow. Thomas stared wide eyed at her torso. It was full of bruises and welts and scars.

"Ji? Honey..." He wheezed. "You're... you're covered in..."

"We is not feeling it so much anymore. We is used to the constant pain." One of the voices whispered.

"I'm not leaving anyone behind!" Teresa said firmly, stomping her foot.

"I'm...just slowing...you guys..down." Thomas groaned.

The blood was soaking the thin white shirt Jina was holding. His eyes were fluttering closed.

"No! Tommy says...Tommy says we would do it together. And we is holding that promise." One of the voices whimpered. "If Tommy is givings up, then we is too. He says that to us. So we says it back to him."

Thomas rolled his head to the side and looked at her. She was looking back at him with such a childlike fear it made his eyes water.

"Jina..." He whispered.

"Please Tommy...get up." His Jina pleaded.

With whatever remaining strength he could dig out, and with help from both the girls, he got to his feet. They didn't say anything, saving all the energy to put one foot in front of the next. One stair and then the next. His breathing hurt, his heart was slamming, each movement sent waves of pain through his body.

They finally made it to the emergency exit door. Teresa shoved it open and their awkward three legged race stumbled into the open air.

"Fresh air!" Jina gasped.

It wasn't very fresh, with the dust and smoke and ash of the fires raging around them.

They made it to the middle of the building when it shook again as another explosion went off. The building shook so much Jina's legs gave out and she took the rest of them down.

Thomas let out a scream of pain. His vision was clouded and blurry, black spots danced in his vision. His hands and legs were numb. He was hot and cold at the same time.

"I'm sorry Tommy! I'm so sorry!" She cried out.

Jina was holding him in her arms, tears ran down her dirty gross face, it smeared the soot, sweat and blood, leaving tracks down her face. Thomas could feel her body shaking with the effort of climbing the stairs.

Teresa scrambled to her feet and was spinning in a circle, like she could hear something. Thomas was exhausted. He could feel everything draining from him. The pain was taking over, clouding his vision. He felt something gently lay on his chest.

He knew it was Jina, laying her head down. His vision was black and his body was shaking with pain. As the pain slowly pulled him under he heard a small voice whisper.

"I love you Thomas." 

< • >