One Day Too Late

13

Thomas and Lacey walked into the WICKED compound, the latter being supported so she wouldn't fall.

Ava Paige was standing in the middle of a hallway, windows covering one side. She was looking out at the city. Thomas held the gun up to her. Thomas' hand shook as he held the gun. "Is it true? Newt. Could I have saved him? Can I save Lacey?"

"You can save us all," Ava said softly.

Thomas dropped the gun and a sob escaped his lips. He didn't want to cry, so he did his best to hold it in.

Lacey took his hand as Ava walked up to them. "It's okay."

"Just leave the others alone," Thomas said quietly.

"I promise. I will..."

A gunshot resounded. Ava looked down at her chest and fell to the ground as her hand limply stained Thomas' shirt red.

Janson jabbed Lacey in the neck with something to make her sleep. He did the same thing to Thomas and said, "Oh, Thomas, Lacey, you should have run."

Thomas woke up to see Teresa extracting blood from him.

"Do you know what this place is, Thomas?" The teen didn't answer him. "It's a lifeboat. And the whole world might be sinking, but it doesn't mean that we have to go down with it. How much longer?"

Thomas realized he was strapped into the chair, as was Lacey. He tried to yank the restraints even though he knew it'd prove useless.

"It's almost done," Teresa replied as she secretly injected Lacey with some of Thomas' blood.

"Why don't you just kill me?" Thomas asked.

"Kill you? No, we don't wanna do that. We're gonna take special care of you. We'll keep you alive. Just." Thomas lunged at Janson. "And in return, you will give life to the rest of us. The ones we choose to save, anyway. Of course, there's not gonna be enough for everyone. Even with you. Hard choices are gonna have to be made. In time, the Flare virus will burn itself out. The only question is, who will be the ones left standing?" He took the vial from Teresa's hand. "And thanks to you, to this, we finally get to choose. A future of our own making." He readied to inject himself with the blood. "To your health."

Teresa hit Janson's head with a hard object and he fell to the ground unconscious.

"Okay, let's get out of here," Teresa said, undoing Thomas's restraints.

"Come on," Thomas encouraged as he glanced at a slowly waking Lacey.

Janson stood up and grabbed Teresa's hair. "No!"

She did her best to dodge him, the vial in her hand. Thomas got out of the restraints and glanced at Lacey who said, "I'll be okay. Go help her. Give him some payback."

Thomas nodded and lunged at Janson, forcing him through a glass window. Janson punched Thomas and twisted his shirt around the choke the boy.

Thomas slammed Janson against a wall and stood up.

Teresa woke up and ran to Lacey's bedside to free her from the restraints.

"Come on," Janson said.

Thomas swung a punch at the infected man. Janson got tired of it and pulled out a gun. "Okay. That's enough."

Teresa and Lacey appeared and the latter ran at Janson, head first.

A blast from outside racked their floor and they fell to the ground.

Thomas helped Lacey up, and the trio ran in the opposite direction. Thomas glanced back and saw a gun pointed at the girl he'd come to hold dear.

"Lacey!"

Thomas pushed her out of the way.