The Priceless Variable

The Interrogation

Teresa leaned up against a wall to catch her breath after Minho attacked her.

A nurse walked up to her.

"Teresa, they need you in the med lab. It sounds serious." she told her.

An alarm was going off and people wearing hazmat suits were running down in the hallways. Teresa ran next to Dr. Ava Paige, who stood outside the med lab.

"I'm sorry, Teresa." she said to her.

In the lab, she saw Cheyenne as a Crank, while two people in hazmat suits were holding her down and a doctor was trying to give her a shot. That only meant one thing...the serum didn't work.

It was hard for Teresa to watch because she felt like a failure.

"It's not your fault. You did everything you could." Dr. Ava Paige said.

Teresa walked away and called it a night. She started to make her way home. She was walking through a sea of people, most of whom were wearing masks for personal protection against the virus.

She stopped at a sidewalk to cross the street. Teresa looked over to her left and saw WICKED guards holding down a person who they were accusing of being infected with the Flare virus. She looked away and she saw a familiar face on the other side of the street.

Teresa couldn't believe who it was...Thomas!

Then, he turned away and walked in the opposite direction. When it was safe to cross, Teresa maneuvered through another crowd of people as fast as she could to catch up with him.

When she came to a clearing, Teresa looked in every direction. She couldn't find him and thought that she lost him. Then, Teresa spotted him walking towards the subway station. He looked like he was walking faster to get further away. But, Teresa continued to follow him.

"Thomas?" she said to get his attention.

Teresa finally walked into the subway station. It was empty, not a soul around. She looked around and tried to catch her breath. Then, there was the sound of footsteps behind her. She turned around and Thomas stood in front of her.

"Thomas." Teresa said.

"Hi, Teresa." he said.

"You shouldn't be here. If Janson finds out you're here." she said.

"I'm not staying. It's just uhh, I had to see you. I have to ask you something. Do you regret it? What you did to us?" Thomas asked as he walked closer to her.

"Sometimes, but I did what I thought was right. I'd do it again." Teresa admitted.

"Good." Thomas simply said.

"Hmm. How's Mallory? Is she doing okay?" Teresa asked to change the subject.

"Mallory?" Thomas scoffed. "She turned against us too."

"What?" Teresa questioned.

Then, there was a muffled sound coming from behind them. A hooded person dragged Mallory over to the two of them. They had a hand over her mouth and forced her down to her knees.

"You want her back? Take her!" the hooded person said.

Mallory looked up at her former friend with hopelessness in her eyes. Teresa couldn't stand to see her like this, so she bent down and put a strand of hair behind Mallory's ear to show sympathy.