Me, Newt, Thomas, and Teresa walked into an elevator. I was relieved we walked through the building safely until someone joined us right in the elevator before it closed. And of course, it had to be Rat Man. The person I hated the most in the world. Seriously.

"You're working late." Rat Man stood next to Teresa. "See, that's what I like about you, Teresa. No matter how bleak things get, you just... Well, you never give up. Times like this, you need a friend that you can count on."

I felt myself tense up.

"I'll bear that in mind." Teresa tried to stay calm.

"There is one thing you should know. One friend to another. Thomas is here." 

My breathing hitched and I was scared Rat Man could hear my fast heartbeat.

"A surveillance picked him up outside the walls. Ava didn't want you to know, but there is a chance that he may try to contact you, and if he does, I'd like to think that I'd be your first call."

"Are you going to kill him?" Teresa carefully asked.

"Would that be a problem?" Rat Man grinned. I tightened my grip on my gun and kind of wanted to shoot Rat Man, but eventually chose not to. 

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. "This is me," Teresa said, walking out of the elevator. Me, Newt, and Thomas followed. Thomas couldn't resist bumping into Rat Man's shoulder.

"Thomas, you have to listen to me," Teresa said once we walked further away from the elevator.  "Getting that serum won't save Nora."

My breathing hitched when she even mentioned me.

"It might buy her some time, but..."

Newt interrupted Teresa by grabbing her arm. "Just ignore her. She's trying to get inside your head."

"Thomas, listen." Teresa kept going.  "You know what's going on out there. People are dying. The world is dying. There's something about your blood I don't understand."

Thomas didn't seem to be interested in Teresa. We stood in front of a closed door. "Open it," Thomas ordered.

"If you let me run some tests..." Teresa said. "I promise I can protect you."

"Yeah?" Thomas roughly turned around and pulled his mask off. "Like you protected Minho?"

"What are you doing?" Newt quietly asked Thomas once his mask was off.

"How many people is it gonna take? How many more people do they have to round up, torture, kill? Huh? When the hell does it stop?" Thomas questioned through his teeth.

"It stops when we find a cure," Teresa responded.

"There is no goddamn cure!" Thomas raised his voice.

"Don't waste your breath, Teresa." A sudden male said. Rat Man. He stood in front of us with a gun in his hands, pointing it at mostly Thomas. Newt moved in front of me more, which made me feel kind of fluttered. "He made his choice long ago."

Slowly I tried to grab my gun, but guards from our right came our way. "Drop it, kid!"

"Back up." Thomas suddenly grabbed Teresa and pointed his gun at her head. She gasped and I almost did too.

"Hey, Thomas, come on." Rat Man grinned. "It's me. I've known you longer than you can remember. You're not gonna shoot her."

Though I rather not admit it, Rat Man had a point. There was no way Thomas would shoot Teresa. He liked or maybe even loved her too much for that.

"You don't think so?" Thomas threatened.

"Okay. Go on then." Rat Man held his gun in the air. 'Shoot her. Prove me wrong."

Thomas didn't move, but kept holding Teresa tightly until suddenly, Teresa spun around and pushed us away. We landed in a hallway and before we could walk back, Teresa closed the glass door. 

"Damn it," I muttered, already angry at Teresa, but maybe she saved us from Rat Man.

I pulled off my mask and Newt did too. He inspected my face for a few seconds.

"Somethin' wrong?" I frowned.

"No, it's just- nothing."

~

With our masks still off, we walked through a hallway. An alarm went off and people were running around. I tightened the grip on my gun. Suddenly Thomas stopped walking when he saw Ava. She stopped too and looked at Thomas in disbelief.

Thomas grabbed his gun and pointed it at the woman, but Newt interrupted him. Rat Man was on our left. "Thomas, no!" He pushed me and Thomas to the side since Rat Man and his guards already started shooting. We started running and held our guns in front of us, causing people to scream and run away. 

"Minho? Minho!" We started shouting for the boy. I wanted to find him so badly. I didn't realize how much him and his stupid jokes and comments. He made me a lot happier.

"Minho, where are you?" I screamed, shooting some guards in front of us. We ran away again but more guards ran after us. After a while, I ran out of bullets so I grabbed another gun from my pocket. Too many guards were showing up.

"Get down!" Thomas yelled. We jumped behind a corner. My heart beat in my throat. Newt looked at something and crawled towards it while me and Thomas started shooting around the corner again. 

"Get back!" Newt pushed us to the side and threw the same black object the guards had used on us in the Scorch, towards the men. An explosion made them get electrocuted and fall onto the ground. 

"Nice, lizard," I said through my pants. 

Newt grabbed my hand and we followed Thomas through the hallways again. "You three, freeze!" Another guard appeared in front of us with a gun in his hands. I was out of bullets and none of the boys had one in their hands. Panicked I closed my eyes, waiting to get shot, but I didn't. None of us did. 

"I said-" The guard got interrupted by someone pushing him against the wall, screaming at him, and smashing him through a glass window. Stunned I looked at the person, who turned around. Then I gasped and almost got tears in my eyes. It was Minho. Minho had saved us. I was so happy to see him. 

Without hesitation, we ran over to him and hugged him tightly. "Is this real?" Minho looked at us in disbelief once we let go. I smiled and nodded. Minho didn't look very well, though. Especially his hair looked different. I guessed WICKED had no hair gel. Bags surrounded his eyes, but he was alive. Again, I was very cheerful.

"I got him!"

"Over here!"

Guards tried to shoot us, but we ran away. Thomas came to a stop, causing me to almost bump into him. Rat Man stood in front of us and started shooting.

"In here!" Thomas opened a door and pushed us into a room. Then he locked the door behind us.