Divided // The Death Cure [Book 3]

TWENTY-FOUR

With heaving puffs, Leah was taken back to the Berg. She would've rather stayed with Newt but Minho knew it was no longer safe. Leah had fought him but Minho was stronger than her, especially at the moment. 

Kasey exited the Berg when she heard voices outside. "Leah!" she called and the red-haired girl looked up. 

"Kasey," she breathed before hugging her friend. 

"How are you? What happened?" Kasey asked. Leah clenched her eyes shut as a contraction passed. 

"Not good," she grunted. 

"She's in labour," Minho stated. 

 "Get her inside," Vince said and took Leah's arm from Minho's shoulder. He took the girl inside and sat her down on one of the seats on the side. Kasey plopped down next to her and grabbed her hand. 

"Where is Thomas?" she asked Minho, looking around in confusion.

"I don't know, he took off. We have to find him," Minho replied and Jorge nodded before sitting down in the pilot's seat. He waited until everyone was inside before he shut the hatch and took off to find Thomas. 

***

Thomas's eyes slowly pulled apart as a bright, white light shone down on him. His head was pounding as the anaesthesia started to lose its power over him. He blinked a few times before he glanced to his left where he found Teresa drawing blood from his arm. She looked at him shortly before his attention was drawn to a voice behind him. 

"Do you know what his place is, Thomas?" It was Janson. Thomas looked over his shoulder to find the man looking out of the window at the war that was happening on the ground. Several buildings had already collapsed and it wouldn't be long until this building would also be attacked. "It's a lifeboat," Janson continued. "The whole world might be sinking but we have to go through with it."

Thomas felt something straining him down and found that he was strapped to the bed he was lying on. A strap reached around his waist and his hands were cuffed to the bed. "You know, originally, it was the plan to get the blood from your baby because Teresa here figured out that if you mix the blood of two immunes, you'll have the cure, especially because your blood was already so close to perfection. But since your little girlfriend ran before we could get to her, you'll have to suffice," Janson chuckled. "But I mean, if your blood doesn't work, we can always track her down." 

Thomas glared at the man who had taken everything from him. "I swear to God, Janson, if you even lay a finger on her-" 

"Then what? I believe you're the one strapped to a bed, not me," he grinned sinisterly. 

Thomas struggled against the straps but they wouldn't budge. Janson grabbed the syringe. "We'll be taking special care of you, Thomas. You'll be the one to save us. But of course, there won't be enough. Hard choices will have to be made. The virus will be gone eventually, but the question is, who will be the ones left standing?" 

Thomas's jaws clenched as anger took over his body. Teresa had finished creating the serum and handed the test tube with a blue liquid to Janson. He inserted it into the syringe and rolled up his sleeve to reveal an infected wound. 

Right before he could inject himself, a glass vase hit the side of his head and a shower of glass splinters rained down on Thomas. He ducked aside to find Teresa breathing heavily. She quickly snatched the syringe from the floor and moved to release Thomas's hands from the cuffs. 

Thomas was taken aback for a moment before he helped her by wiggling his hand around. He looked up and found Janson back on his feet. He grabbed the back of Teresa's neck and tossed her aside. She was thrown over the table and landed harshly on the ground. 

"No!" Thomas shouted and instantly went to work releasing the other cuff. Once that one was open, he released the strap around his waist but was too slow as Janson had already reached Teresa and slammed her head on the table, knocking her out cold. He took the syringe from her grasp but Thomas was quicker and threw his body against Janson's, sending both of them flying through the window into the hallway. 

Janson stumbled to his feet and delivered a punch across Thomas's jaw, but Thomas managed to place two more on Janson's face. The broken glass had cut his skin open but he was ignoring the stinging pain as he pinned Janson to the wall. 

Janson was quicker and whipped Thomas around, grabbing the back of his shirt and pulling it tight, making it impossible for him to breathe. 

Thomas let out choking noises and reached for his throat. He used his last breath before he passed out to slam his body back and Janson hit the wall behind him. The man released his tight grip on Thomas's shirt and Thomas was able to throw him off. 

Janson was quicker and punched Thomas in the face, leaving the boy to stumble backwards and nearly collapse to the floor. The punch triggered something in his mind and he got enough strength to whip around and land a couple of hard punches in Janson's face before moving to kick him. Janson grabbed his leg in the process and landed another punch in Thomas's face. He then kneed him in the stomach and pushed him to the floor.

Thomas let out a grunt as he landed on the floor and looked up to find Janson pointing his gun at him. "You were never going to be a good father anyway," Janson sneered. As he was about to pull the trigger, a loud explosion erupted behind him and he was thrown off his feet. Thomas dropped to the floor as well but to his surprise, Teresa had regained her consciousness and helped him to his feet. 

He found Janson also standing again and raising his gun at them. "Teresa!" Thomas exclaimed and pulled her out of the way from Janson's rain of bullets. He pulled her into the lab and as he stood straight, he felt a piercing pain in his side. He looked down to find a pool of blood staining his shirt. He clasped his hand over it and turned to Teresa. 

"Thomas? What's wrong?" she asked and as her eye fell on his hand stained with blood, she gasped. He fell to the floor and raised his shirt to find a bullet wound with blood oozing out of it. 

"Shit," he cursed.

"Okay, okay. Here, take this." She shoved a cloth in his hand and he pressed it to the wound, letting out a grunt as a twinge shot through his body. "Put pressure on it," she ordered. 

"Teresa, you gotta... You gotta go," he breathed. 

"No," she said. "Not without you. Not when you have a girl out there carrying your child around."