The Fight Club

I don't trust her

Teresa started fiddling with the keys in her hands. 

"If my friends have to go through the pain, then so should I." She says quietly, Thomas scratches the back of his head. 

"Is that really necessary?" He answers, Teresa just nods. Standing up, Thomas ushers Teresa to follow him. They walk up a flight of stairs to the first balcony running all the way round the dome. He walks silently to a small metal door and brings out a key card and swipes it on the door frame. Teresa watches intently as the door creaks open, inside the door is a swirling mass of shimmering greys. Thomas turns to look at her.

"Why did you want to go outside?" He asks. 

"Since escaping them, I've watched the sunset, helped me calm down when I was scared." She replies staring at the sea of greys. Thomas walks forward as the wall swallows him up, Teresa watches as a hand slowly comes back out, she holds it as the hand gently pulls her into the wall. She feels a gust of hot air hit her face. Shutting her eyes tightly she feels a slight chill. Opening her eyes she sees Thomas facing her; still holding her hand. His face is painted with the soft glows of oranges and reds. They are high up, that is for sure. 

"Turn around." Thomas whispers. Teresa slowly turns around. The sun illuminates the sky in front of her, she walks up to the metal balcony edge and looks out over the sand below. The warehouse where she was taken earlier that day lay about 1 mile away. 

"The flat trans." Teresa whispers. 

"These are our watch towers, stationed at every corner of the warehouse, haven't needed to use them for about 1 year now." He says. Teresa watches as the sun falls to the horizon point, lightening up the sand. Everything around her is a golden orange. 

"Why did you bring me here?" She whispers looking over her shoulder. Thomas smiles.

"I don't trust the scorch, it would only take a minute for something to happen to you out here, this is a lot safer." He says standing next to her, looking at the sunset with her. Teresa felt horrible for shouting at him in front of everyone, he was only looking out for her. She shut her eyes for a split second, pretending to take a mental picture of the sunset she could use if she ever felt scared or anxious.

"People act differently around you than anyone else." Teresa whispers looking at the rest of the watch tower, there is a small ladder leading up to some sort of small terrace.

"Private Webb?" He asks, Teresa remembers her as the woman with the gun. She nods.

"We have a history, if you can even call it that." He says awkwardly. Teresa nods showing genuine interest in him and 'Webb'. Teresa walks over to the ladder and looks at Thomas to see if she is allowed to go up, Thomas nods. She climbs up to see a long fabric bean bag seat capable of fitting four people. The view of the place is amazing. Thomas comes up behind her and sits down next to her. 

"What do you mean history? Don't mind me asking." Teresa says, Thomas sighs and leans back. 

"She came into us about 9 months ago, we became pretty good friends, went out for a few weeks actually until..." He paused, contemplating on whether or not to tell her the rest. 

"She used to work for Wicked, brainwashed to help them take kids from their families, that she never knew what she was doing." He adds, looking at Teresa intently to see if she would get upset by this.

"Why would Wicked stop controlling someone, give them their memories back after being brainwashed?" He adds, Teresa thinks about this, he has a point.

"Then why is she still here?" She asks, her voice slightly breaking, she was very angry that she was still allowed here when she could be responsible for killing innocent children. 

"She's nice once you get to know her and she can be trusted." He says smiling and sitting back up. Teresa rolls her eyes and leans her head on her arm. Thomas laughs.

"What are you laughing at?" Teresa says, a sense of annoyance in her voice. Thomas coughs on the thick air.

" You have some serious trust issues." He says. Teresa takes a deep breath, he is right of course. She didn't trust Webb in the first place, now there is no way she will ever be able to trust her. 

"What about me and my friends huh? What about the hundreds of other kids like us who's life has been ruined by these people?" Teresa snaps. She looks as Thomas smiles quickly then hides it with a frown. 

"I really wish we could save them all, honestly." He replies. Teresa shakes her head and looks back at the sky, it was a deep burgundy; the stars penetrating the abyss.

"She still likes you then?" Teresa asks, watching Thomas watch the stars. 

"Probably." He replies coldly.

"Why don't you push her to the back of your thoughts and tell me a little bit about yourself." He adds grinning. Teresa let out a small laugh at his noticeable non interest in 'Webb'.

"Why do you want to know so much about me?" She asks, he looks down then by back up, meeting her eyes, the sky was now pitch black, the stars scattered like sprinkled salt.

"Because you are different." He says for the second time that day. 

"What do you mean by that?" She replies. 

"When I walked into the choosing room, everyone stood still, everyone stood straighter and looked intimidated. Even your friends, and you? Standing there with an injured eye and looked so comfortable. You wouldn't let me hold your hand and yelled at me in front of like 200 people".

"And what's good about me shouting at you?" Teresa asks quietly, still feeling bad for shouting at him. 

"I haven't gotten into the tiniest fight since becoming general, 2 and a half years ago, Minho has friendly banter but it all gets a bit boring you know, I want someone who will slap me across the face when I say something wrong, who will yell at me when I do something wrong. You haven't even been her 24 hours and you've already ticked those boxes." He says smiling. 

"And... I find it hard understanding people, especially women, but you are even harder to understand." He adds,

"Why am I hard to understand exactly?" She asks, slightly annoyed.

"Because everyone is an open book, their whole personality coming at you at once, you are a closed book, which interests me." He says standing up. 

"Now lets get you to your room then shall we?" He says walking down the ladder. Teresa follows taking one more look at the dark sky, the air is icy and thick. They walk back through the flat trans leading them straight back to the balcony. Thomas walks down the balcony heading around the dome, passing door after door of people's rooms. Thomas stops at a white door with 381 written on the front and looks back at Teresa. 

"Here we are!" He says happily. Teresa opens the door and walks inside the doorway then turns back around.

"Goodnight Tess." He says.

"Goodnight uh...Tom" She says tiredly then stops before closing the door.

"I don't trust your ex by the way, thought you might wanna know that." She says then closes the door.