the death cure
chapter ten

❛❛ we're all bloody inspired ❜❜

————————————————

After Gally got all of the serum out, he, Nico and the kids had the security men locked in the vault. Nico closed the vault, "Okay, let's get outta here"

Gally nodded as he walked to the entrance, "You stay close to us. Stick together. Nico, you have the back and I'll take the front" Nico responded with a nod. Gally turned to a boy near him, handed him a black pouch that had all the serum in it. "You, you guard this with your life. You understand?"

The boy took the pouch and nodded.

"All right" Gally cocked his Launcher then started jogging to the exit, "Let's go"

The kids followed him while Nico stayed in the back to keep an eye and make sure no one gets left behind. Gally led the kids to the garage where they'll be supposed to be meeting Brenda and Leigh with transport. They had no problem passing by the security, they merely snuck around the garage without being seen with Gally leading them and Nico running behind them.

As they passed the last security, they ran down the tunnel that led to the exit of the garage. "Brenda, where are you?" Gally called on the walkie, "We're here"

With only seconds later, a black bus came rushing in and halted in front of Gally, Nico and the Immunes. Brenda slid the driver's window open, "Come on, let's go!"

"All right, let's go!" Nico urged the kids as they all rushed around the bus to get to the doors. "Quickly!"

Leigh stepped out the bus and moved aside to let the kids in. She looked around and noticed few were missing. "Where's Poe?" She asked Nico. "And Thomas, Newt?"

"We were hoping they were with you" Nico answered.

Leigh shook her head in concern, turned her glance to Brenda. Leigh was about to leave to find Poe. And Thomas and Newt. But Gally halted her, "Wait, wait. Stay here with the kids. Just wait here" he nudged Nico's arm, "We're gonna go find them"

Nico gave a quick nod as Gally was leaving, he turned to Leigh. "Wait for us, okay?"

Leigh responded, "I'm not going anywhere" she watched him and Gally jogging away as they made their way back to the main building.

Once all of the kids were in the bus, Brenda and Leigh went inside, Brenda sat back down on the driver's seat while Leigh took the empty seat behind Brenda's as they waited for the Gladers to come back.

It was not more than ten minutes when an upcoming vehicle was heard, it's loud tires screeching against the ground echoed through the garage, a black van came, it stopped abruptly ahead.

"Get down!" Brenda urged everyone quietly in the bus, the kids ducked down and hid below the bus's dashboard. "Stay quiet"

Leigh stayed down as she moved forward to the front, stopped beside Brenda and they both peek up. Spotting WCKD guards rushing to the main building. Two of them went ahead but as for the third guard, he stopped and was looking toward the bus. Leigh sighed softly, "Shit" she and Brenda exchanged glances.

The guard was approaching the bus, followed by the other two, slowly and cautiously approached the bus. Both girls were thinking the same, what else can they do to avoid this?

"Sorry, Thomas" Brenda muttered. She reluctantly turned the key, starting the engine, followed by the lights within the bus. Brenda sat up straight and Leigh moved back to her seat.

"Someone's got the bus!" One of the guards yelled.

"Hold on!" Brenda told everyone in the bus as she stepped on the accelerator and the bus thrust forward. Leigh and the kids hung onto their seats. One of the guards was slammed against the bus on the side and Brenda kept driving forward to the exit.

Leigh glanced back where they parked, hoping to see his friends and Nico back, but neither of them was sighted.

The bus drove through the security gate before making a sharp right turn, and every person in the bus holding on to the seat's bars as they all nearly flung to their left side and the kids were screaming and whimpering. Brenda drove onto the streets of the city meanwhile WCKD got on the vehicles to chase after the bus.

*

Every doctor and nurse in the hallways were staring suspiciously at Poe, Thomas and Newt as they walked almost casually around the halls. Who knows how long until they realize that the boys are imposters, or they know already and they're intimidated by the weapons the boys are holding.

Poe didn't expect the medical wing would be this large, there were too many rooms and halls to go to. They'd have to go through every one of them to find Minho and Anton.

As they were walking, Poe shifted his glance back over his shoulder then spotted a WCKD guard. He pushed both Thomas and Newt forward, "Go, go, go!" The three boys rushed ahead, then turned left when they reached the intersection. They took right when they reached another intersection before Newt ushered both boys to get into a lab room on the right and hid.

They hid in the lab room until the guards passed by, about a group of guards jogged pass by the room that the boys were hiding in. They didn't stay there for too long. They left the room when the hallways were empty. They proceeded to stroll around the hallways.

It started to feel like they were going in circles. Poe looked through every windows and door to check the rooms, hoping to find Anton and Minho. He starting to get frustrated that his chest felt like fire and everything was starting to warm.

As they were walking down a hall, Newt and Poe walked side by side. It took them a moment to notice Thomas had stopped, they turned around and saw him raising a gun and aimed ahead. Aiming at a blond woman, standing at the end of the hallway, this blond woman was Ava Paige. Poe wanted to pull out his weapon also, aim it at her and pull the trigger. But Thomas wanted this instead.

Poe and Newt stood next to each other, Newt was the first to spot Janson at their left with few of the guards. "Thomas, no!" Newt pulled Thomas back into the corner while Poe ducked his head when Janson started shooting and Poe quickly shot back before dashing after Newt and Thomas.

They ran down the hall before taking the left hall when they reached a three-way intersection. The employees in the hall panicked that some of them screamed and ran for cover.

"Minho!" Thomas started to call, "Minho!"

Poe was in the far right when they reached another intersection, ahead, more WCKD guards appeared, they started shooting and the Gladers shot back. As Poe couldn't get to Newt as the grenade launchers shot between him and the two boys, causing him to take cover in the right hall while Newt and Thomas took the left hall.

"Poe!" Newt called frantically from across.

Poe couldn't get to them as the shooting from the guards got too intense. "Go! Go!" Poe waved forward, "I'll meet you around!"

Thomas was seen pulling Newt as he hesitated to go on. Poe ran down the hallway, caught two guards ahead which he shot them quickly and continued to run.

He tried to take the left hallway when reaching the intersection that could be leading around where Newt is, but three WCKD soldiers were spotted at the end of the hall, he attempted to draw his gun and shoot, but his launcher wasn't firing as it ran out of ammo. "Shit" he tossed the weapon down as the guards started shooting him. He rushed around the corner on the left to take cover. Before he could take his handgun out, more soldiers shot at him from where he ran from. Forcing him to run down the hall until he reached the end of the hall and turned left. It gave him time to take out his pistol as he continually jogged down the hall.

He attempted to take another left hallway, but saw more guards and kept going straight ahead with multiple guards still chasing. It was like a goddamn maze, taking twist and turns, left and right, guards were everywhere, left and right. They were all over. And too many.

He had no choice but to lose them in the corridors, once no guards were in sight, he took the chance to hide in a room nearest him.

*

After an intense firefight against the guards, and they had no ammo left. Thomas and Newt ran. Took a left turn, only to find a soldier in front of them, raising his gun at them. "You two! Freeze!" He ordered, both boys halted. "Get down on the ground, now! I said get your ass down—"

Out of nowhere, he was cut off by being shoved from the side against the wall. Minho roared as he grabbed the man before tossing him through the window. He yelled once again before his attention turned to Thomas and Newt.

Minho recognized his two friends immediately, but he wondered if he was seeing things like he had been seeing a lot that wasn't there.

His two friends were stunned and also surprised to see him, "Minho" Thomas and Newt rushed forward, their arms catching Minho, there was so much joy from Thomas and Newt. It felt that everything was complete and whole. Reunited, at last. They smiled at him when they pulled apart while Minho still looked stunned.

"Is this real?" The former Keeper of Runner asked.

Thomas and Newt merely smiled.

But then they were feet shuffling behind them, soldiers showed up. "I got them! I got them! Over here!" One of them shouted.

The three Gladers dashed down the hallways, taking a couple of turns, eventually were cut off by Janson who had caught them around, forced the trio to take cover and went into a room near them as they were being shot at, missed by inches.

Thomas locked the door behind him. Someone pounded against the door as they tried to budge it open. The room was small, as it looked to be a small office, a small lab with various types of equipment. "Newt, come on" Minho and Newt pulled a heavy shelf and tipped it against the door to block it.

They looked around the room for a way out until they realized that they were trapped. There was no other, no vents or anything but a large window.

For long several moments, loud machinery was heard in the hallway, like some sort of a machine saw, followed by a loud scratchy and screeching sound on the door. On the door, where the lock was, orange sparks were spitting out, the Gladers knew that Janson's men will manage to get the door open.

"Any ideas?" Minho asked.

Thomas was looking out the window as he had an idea, "Maybe" he told them and revealed the idea.

Next, they lifted a large and heavy silver cylindrical object, they charged forward before tossing it through the window. They watched the object falling twenty floors down until it landed into a pool of water.

The height of the jump got the three nervous, but there was no other way out. "Okay, it's doable," Thomas said nervously. "Just need a little running start" he moved further from the windows. Minho and Newt followed along.

"Are you sure about this?" Minho said as he stood beside Thomas as the three are about to charge forward.

"Not really" Thomas admitted.

"Nice pep talk," Minho said as he grew even more nervous.

"Yeah, we're all bloody inspired" Newt responded sarcastically.

They took a moment to get courage in, but the moment was cut off when WCKD slammed the door open, the boys twisted around and see the guards and Janson coming in. And with that, trio charged to the window and jumped out.

They were screaming as they were falling, it was terrifying, and luckily, the pool was very deep when they landed.

It was like the whole time that they realized they didn't even take any breaths while falling until they finally took a breath when they swam up the surface.

"Poe—" Newt coughed, "Where's Poe? I'm not leaving him, we gotta find him, he's still in there" he quickly swam to the ground. "Janson's gonna find him, I have to go find him, I have to—"

"Newt" Thomas swam after him.

"Poe's here too?" Minho uttered.

The three boys climbed out of the pool, "Yeah, he's looking for Anton" Thomas strained as he pulled himself out of the water. "Newt, I'm sorry, but we gotta go, we have to keep moving, we got Minho. Poe has Anton, he must be, and they're on their way down to us, okay?"

"Guys, guys," Minho said worriedly.

He was interrupted when there were six WCKD guards approaching the three Gladers, "You three, don't move!"

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me" Thomas groaned.

"Take it easy" they approached slowly to the boys. Thomas attempt to reach for his gun slowly but the guard warned him. "Don't even think about it! Get on your knees with your hands in the air"

All of the sudden, the two uniforms on the left started shooting at the four guards, stunning them to the ground. One of the guards seized as he could barely yell out, "You—sons of a—bitches!"

One guy approached the boys, took his helmet off and it's Gally. Thomas and Newt sighed in relief, the other guy in the back took his mask off and it's Nico. He let out a loud breath, "God, it's hard to breathe in this damn thing!"

Minho was so shocked to see Gally, it's the same look that the Gladers gave when they saw him. "Gally?" Minho stared in stunned.

Gally nodded, "Minho," he glanced up to where the boys had jumped off from. "You guys are nuts" then walked back to where Nico was standing.

Thomas turned to a shocked Minho, "I'll explain later"

Newt went to follow Gally and Nico before Minho fell out of a daze. His mind immediately went to what Thomas said earlier about Poe. About Poe looking for Anton. "Thomas, Thomas" he grabbed Thomas's arm, he turned to him with a questioning. "Is Poe really still in the building looking for Anton?"

*

Somewhere in the city, Brenda and Leigh were still on the bus with full of Immune children. With Leigh glanced out the windows for a large crane where Frypan should be waiting.

"Shit! Hold on!" Brenda yelled as many patrols were chasing after them.

Leigh spotted a vehicle on their side, "Watch your left!" A black van slammed against the bus, the kids screamed in terror as they hung on.

Brenda turned the wheel, crashed against the black van and kept it against it until the van crashed against a block. It flipped forward and the van after it crashed onto the flipped vehicle. Multiple vehicles went around it and kept chasing the bus. Brenda let out a laugh and cheer before cursing out again, "Shit!" Four more vehicles were waiting ahead, forcing to take a sharp turn to the right.

She took another right turn before slowing the bus down. Then she slammed the brakes as there were multiple more patrol waiting ahead and the vehicles that were chasing them stopped behind them. Blocking them and prevent them from continuing to drive.

"Oh, great" Brenda murmured, "Now what?"

"Brenda," Leigh said, "I think we're here. I think we're close enough"

"Get out of the vehicle!" One of the men ordered from ahead.

"All right" Brenda nodded as she met Leigh's glance, "I'll go. I got this. Start firing when I give the signal"

Leigh nodded in agreement.

Brenda got up, opened the door, she looked at the kids, "Don't move" she said, she was about to step out but turned back to the kids, "You're doing great" she half smiled then stepped out of the bus.

Brenda just halted in front of the door meanwhile Leigh got her weapon readied in her hand. She shifted her gaze front to back, planning on which side she should start firing. "Don't worry, guys" she said, "We'll be out of here soon"

"Now step away from the vehicle!" The man ordered Brenda. She didn't respond at all. "I said step away from the vehicle! Put your hands in the air!"

Brenda moved slowly to the front of the bus. More patrols showed up. "Drop the weapon!" Instead, Brenda raised her hands up over her shoulders, slowly, with the flare gun still in her hand. Pointing up at the sky.

Then she fired the gun. Sending a flare up before explodes to bright red sparks like a firework.

Seconds later, a large hook dropped in front of the bus by Frypan, Brenda quickly hooked the bus as the soldiers rushed forward. Leigh reached her hand out of the driver's window and started firing at the guards in the front. She got at least three of them down.

Brenda rushed back onto the bus. "Come on, hold on to something!" She urged everyone and took a seat down where Leigh sat before.

The chain started to be pulled up. "Here we go!" Leigh said loudly.

Then bus moved. It was being pulled up, lifted up off the ground, it swung back and forth as it continued to lift up higher. Every kid in the bus was screaming.

They were being moved toward the building nearby as they were about to crash into it. "Brace yourselves!" Leigh warned as she gripped tighter onto the wheel. The bus hit the building. It reached over the first building, it lifted a little higher until it was high enough to go over the walls.

The bus was hanging as it passed building to building, toward the walls of the city.

Brenda found herself laughing while Leigh couldn't find the possibility to share the laughter with her while they're in this situation.

Then they stopped moving, they were hanging in the air as they had reached behind the walls. Leigh couldn't dare herself to look back.

Then the front rack of the bus was about to be pulled off apart from the bus. It was about to come off any second. "Hold on to something!" She yelled.

Without warning, they dropped down to the ground. For a second, Leigh thought they had been actually falling that rack had come off. They were all screaming.

The bus suddenly halted for a second that her head fell back against the seat, but there was a loud snap which the sound of the rack snapping off and the bus dropped again but landed quickly on the ground. Landed on the back of the bus, standing still.

They were on the ground, Leigh was about to catch a breath of relief when all of sudden, the bus tipped forward and she found herself finally screaming.

It was a harsh fall. They were finally in the right position. Leigh couldn't believe what just happened. "Holy shit" she uttered softly.

*

Back in WCKD, Poe has been sneaking around, room to room eventually found a WCKD helmet that he grabbed from one of the unconscious guards and put it on. Managed to blend in.

He passed every guard without any of them noticing that he's an imposter. He continued to search every room for Anton. To see that everyone was retreating, which he found it strange. Do they think that the Gladers have left the building?

He didn't want to get his hopes up, he kept on searching around the area.

"Where are you? Where are you?" He whispered softly.

He stopped in the corner when he heard three guards speaking. "We may have an imposter, Janson said one of them haven't got out, he may still be around. Be sure to check every uniform we see and have them to identify themselves. Let's move"

"Shit" he muttered. He turned back and moved quickly.

Moving and turning in every hallway, avoiding any guard, he'd turn around quickly when he sees one of them and head to an opposite direction. Frantic as he wondered how the hell will he able to get out of this, and out of the building. Especially with Anton, it will be more difficult.

Or what if Newt had found Anton? He couldn't take that hunch.

He spotted two guards ahead, he turned around but also saw another guard ahead. Panicking, he just went to a large lab on the left. The transparent doors opened, there was a heavy pressure blowing on him before passing another transparent door and he quickly turned around the corner and hide. He crouched down as he moved away from the doors.

He didn't take a good look around until now, he found himself in some sort of a procedure room, some sort of a lab, no one was around.

His thoughts were interrupted when the first door opened, hinting that someone was coming here. He quickly moved behind a desk to hide.

He stayed still and quiet as he heard someone coming in, there was another person with them. They were heard walking around the room before announcing, "This room is clear, let's go"

He can hear them walking back to the entrance then left the room.

Poe heaved a sigh, relieved. He dropped his weapon on the floor then took his helmet off. He dropped his gaze down, sighing again as he was out of ideas. He rubbed his head, wiped the sweat off his head with his sleeve. He was aching a lot, either from all the run and the shooting.

It hit him that Newt must've left the building, that he got out because he heard them saying that Janson said one of them is still in the building and he meant Poe. This hints that Thomas and Newt have made it out. Does that mean they found Minho? And possibly Anton?

Poe never noticed the other sounds in the room, the banging. Like someone was pounding on the walls or glass. From across the room. He took a peek around the desk and looked across the room.

It's Cranks.

Cranks locked the cell, behind the glass, they were pounding the glass. "What the hell?" He muttered. Why keeping Cranks? He may know the answer. They're test subjects perhaps.

I gotta get outta here, Anton, wherever you are, where are you?

Poe got up, checked his ammo, grabbed the helmet and took a quick last glimpse at the Cranks as he moved to the exit.

The door automatically opened for him, but Poe halted when he noticed something.

Someone.

He glanced back at where Cranks were. In the other glass was a single Crank. He wasn't sure if he was seeing things. He wished he was seeing things. He wished it wasn't someone he thinks it is.

He stepped forward, toward the Cranks, they were all pounding against the glass, snarling and growling at him. One of them. One of them, the one in the other glass, all alone in one cell...

No, no, no... please no.

The closer he took, it was getting clearer. The Crank was small. Dark hair with a large bald spot on the side of his head, black veins spread across his body, black goo spewing down his chin, some sort of roots growing out of his face, wearing a white dirty gown, snarling at Poe. The boy he once knew. The boy he took care of once, back in the Glade, the boy who protected him, looked after him and saved him.

The Crank he was seeing is Anton.

It's Anton. It's Anton. It's not Anton, not anymore.

"No, no, no, no" Poe's eyes instantly swelled up, burned by tears and his throat grew. He reached forward until his hand touched the glass, trying to reach Anton, "No, no, no... no... Anton?"

Hoping. Hoping there was still some of him left, where he could recognize his friend.

Poe never heard someone coming into the lab behind him as everything around him and the-once Anton were so far away. Too focused on the Crank boy.

Until the person behind him spoke. "I tried. I tried to tell you"

It's Teresa.

*****

........
I have no words
but I'm so sorry.
This was the most difficult chapter
I've written in this series so far tbh