To The Shucking End

Chapter 38

A missile had been launched right through the window Janson had been looking out of when Thomas woke, and the entire building was shaking as more were launched.

Thomas and Tanya had gripped onto each other when the shaking started before they began running behind Teresa who'd taken the serum out of the needle.

"We gotta get to the roof!" Tanya urged as they moved towards the end of the corridor, Teresa about to head left.

"This way –"

"Get down!" Tanya screamed as she turned back to see Janson with his hand around the gun as Tanya pulled Teresa to the right as Thomas threw himself over her, shielding his sister and the love of his life with his body as they ran into a bigger laboratory. This one with a holding space for Cranks as they raged against the glass wall.

"We need to get out of here!" Teresa said, her eyes on the white smoke of the disinfectant chamber they'd just rushed through. "There's a door to the stairwell – what's wrong?" she asked when she noticed Thomas not answering and Tanya noticed the warm feeling of blood on her hands.

"Tommy?"

"Thomas! Thomas!" Teresa cried out as she rushed to his side as crashed to the ground, Tanya unable to keep him up. Teresa's exclamation was full of pain as she watched Thomas lift up his shirt to reveal the bullet wound that Janson gave him.

"Ok! Ok – we need to find something –"

"I got it!" Tanya shouted as she found some gauze pads in a drawer and she and Teresa pressed it to his wound as Tanya's hand felt Thomas' back. "It went straight through you," she revealed as she pressed some pads to his back.

"Is that bad?" he panted.

"No, unless it hit your internal organs –"

"Just put pressure on it!" Teresa implored, her voice preventing Thomas from panicking at Tanya's words.

"You – you gotta go. You both gotta go."

"No. Not without you," Teresa said, her gaze not leaving his eyes as Tanya pulled out more gauze pads.

"For maybe the second time ever, I agree with Teresa," Tanya said, the two girls sharing a small smile as she swapped out the gauze pads. "Don't give up on me now, little brother," she encouraged as she worked. At least until the sound of steam hissing drew their attention.

Janson entered the room with his gun drawn as they hid, the Cranks banging on the glass as they drew his attention for a second.

"I'll admit it, Teresa, you had me fooled," he confessed. "I thought we were friends."

And Janson jumped around the benches, pointing the gun at the empty spot where they were once sitting. "Hold this," Tanya whispered to Thomas as she held his hand to the gauze and pressed down.

"What are...you...going to do?" he heaved and Tanya's only answer was to pull a small switchblade from inside her bra, the weapon having been sewn into the garment for just such an occasion. It also meant that Janson hadn't touched her while she was unconscious or else, he'd have found it.

"Maybe it's just in your nature to betray the people the people closest to you," Janson rambled as he moved slowly through the room, scanning every inch as Tanya got within Teresa's eye line.

"Distract him," the dark-eyed girl mouthed and received a nod in response as Teresa darted from behind one bench to another, dodging the bullets that Janson fired.

"Come on. Let's not prolong this. We both know there's no way outta here. Let's not make this any more painful than it needs to be."

And Teresa put all of her trust in Tanya as she stood, smashing a beaker as she got Janson's attention.