Burnt; TDC ➵ Thomas [DISCONTINUED]

A7

[...]

JUST AS the guards whom Thomas had attacked fell to the ground, Minho and Newt acted as well. Newt tackled a guard to the ground, Minho was punching another. But the fifth - a woman - hadn't been touched, she raised her Launcher.

Thomas knocked her weapon towards the ceiling before she was able to pull the trigger. The woman brought the weapon around and smashed it into the side of his head. Thomas was thrown off balance and crumpled to his knees. Then he fell flat on his stomach.

He tried to get up but a crushing weight fell on his back; it slammed him back into the hard tile and knocked the breath from his lungs. Thomas gasped had the searing pain ripped through his body. A knee dug into his spine and he felt hard metal pressing against his skull.

"A.D. Janson, give me the word! I'll fry his brain!" the woman yelled. Thomas was unable to see the others, however, he did hear the sounds of scuffling stopping.

"What are you people thinking!" Thomas heard Janson bellow from behind. "You really think three... children - teenagers - can overpower five armed guards? You kids are supposed to be geniuses, not idiotic delusional rebels. Maybe the Flare has taken your minds after all!"

"Shut up!" Newt screamed. "Just shut your-"

Something muffled the rest of his words. The image of one of the guards beating Newt outraged Thomas to the core. The woman pressed her weapon harder against his head.

Janson ordered for the guards to make them stand. The guard pulled Thomas to his feet by the back of his shirt, the Launcher was still aimed at his head. The other two boys were held at gunpoint as well. The guards who were free aimed their weapons at the rebels.

Rat-Man was as red as chilli. His face contorted with anger as he spun to face Thomas.

"I was just a kid," Thomas spat.

"Excuse me?" Janson did a double take.

"I was just a kid. They brainwashed me into doing those things - into helping. I stopped being a kid the day you sent me here to die." Thomas' eyes flashed with anger. Janson seemed to be a little too stunned for words.

"I wasn't there in the beginning," Janson admitted. "But you, yourself, approved me for this job after the original founders were purged. And you should know, I've never seen someone, child or adult, as driven as you were."

Thomas felt vehement to rip the smile off of Janson's face. He opened his mouth to talk back, but Janson cut him off and ordered for him to get tested first.

"Get a nurse down here. Brenda's inside - she's been insisting that she wants to help. Maybe he'll be easier to deal with if she's the technician working with him. Take the others to the waiting room. I'd like to do them one at a time. I need to go check on another matter, so I'll meet you there."

Thomas was so focused on his anger towards Rat-Man that he wasn't able to register Brenda's name. Another guard joined the one behind him, each took hold of an arm.

"I won't let you it!" Thomas screamed, hysteria rose up in him. "There's no way you're putting that thing on my face!"

Janson ignored him, speaking directly to the guards then he walked away. As the guards pulled Thomas towards the door, his feet dragged behind him. He struggled in trying to free his arms, but their hands were like iron manacles. Thomas finally gave up to save his strength.

Brenda stood next to a bed inside the room. Her face was stony. Thomas searched her eyes for any sign but she was impossible to read.

"Just keep your mouth shut. I need to trust me, I know we aren't close but I just need you to. This is for the best," Brenda told him.

The male guard lifted Thomas by the shoulders and slammed him onto the mattress of the bed after he refused to lay down. The metallic mask with its wires and tubes hung above him. The guard took both of Thomas' wrists and held him down, ordering for Brenda to sedate him.

Thomas pleaded for Brenda not to, but the girl seemed to be on WICKED's side, not his as he had thought. "Thomas, it's my job."

"Do you have the Flare?" he asked.

"I was acting. Jorge and I are immune. We've known it for a long time. That's why they used us. Now, just be quiet," Brenda answered in quick, short bursts. Her eyes flickered to the guards. The male guard bellowed for her to get on with it. Brenda gave the man a stern look, she faced Thomas and surprised the boy with a wink.

"Once I inject the sedative, you'll be asleep in seconds. Do you understand?" She stressed that last word, then subtly winked again. To Thomas' luck, the guards seem to be more focused on him than Brenda.

She moved to the counter behind her and prepared what she needed. The male guard leaned all his weight on Thomas' wrists, possibly cutting off the circulation. The other guard, a female, had her Launcher aimed at his face.

Brenda turned back, a syringe in her left hand, its nozzle pointing up with her thumb on the trigger. Inside the syringe was a yellowish liquid.

"We're gonna do this really quickly. You ready?" Brenda asked. Thomas nodded. She began to move forward, then tripped on something and stumbled forward. She caught the bed with her right hand but she fell in such a way that the syringe's nozzle landed on the forearm of the guard gripping Thomas' wrists. Brenda pushed the trigger with her thumb, he jerked himself away.

The man let out a string of vulgarities, his eyes were glazed. Thomas acted immediately, he pushed down the bed and swung his legs in an arc towards the other guard. One foot hit her Launcher, the end hit her shoulder. She released a yell which was followed closely by the smack of her head hitting the floor.

Thomas scrambled after the Launcher, he grabbed it and aimed it at the woman who held her head in her hands. Brenda ran around the bed to get the man's weapon. She pointed it at his limp body.

"Good thing I convinced Janson to assign me to you for this procedure," Brenda said, taking the unconscious man's key card and slipping it into her pocket.

"We have to get Newt and Minho. Then everyone else," Thomas rushed.

"Don't worry, we'll save them. Your girlfriend too, I know where she is."

[Written 14 March 2018]