Run With Me ➵ Newt [2]

THE END | that's a promise

▬Ava stumbled back, shocked, as she clutched her jaw where I had punched her. Janson whirled his gun to me and wrapped his finger around the trigger, his eyes full of fury.

He was about to pull when someone shouted "NO!" and pushed me back. Newt stood in front of me, getting in the way of the gun's target instead. The blond glowered at Janson, almost daring him to shoot.

"Get out of the way!" Janson yelled. "Unless you want me to shoot you instead!"

"No!" Ava regained her composure and placed a hand on his, lowering the gun. "We need them alive, Janson!"

"The stupid girl just punched you!"

"It doesn't matter," Ava said firmly. "We'll find a way to make her cooperate. For now we need to move. Load the kids up. All these other people you can get rid of. Let's go!"

A guard started dragging Vince away, ignoring his struggling and shouts. Another dragged Sonya and Aris away to a Berg, and Harriet and Felix shouted at them to stop, though it was no use. I tried to reach them, but the guards shoved me aside as they continued marching towards the Berg. Harriet screamed at them, her throat raw, and Felix tried to shove people aside as he shouted his voice hoarse for his friends. But the guards didn't stop - Aris and Sonya disappeared from view.

Another guard went over to Thomas but he elbowed them - hard - and pulled out something from his pocket. It took me a long moment to realize it was a bomb, and my eyes went wide at the horrifying sight of it. Where on earth did Thomas get that?

"Get back!" He yelled, turning it on. "Everyone stay back!"

People gasped and stumbled back in a flurry of panic. Even I took a nervous step back. The guards aimed their guns at him but Janson stopped them before they could pull the trigger.

"Stay back," Thomas said, clutching the bomb tightly. "Let them go. Let them all go!"

"You know I can't do that!" Ava said.

"Thomas, please stop!" Teresa begged. "I made a deal with them - they'd promised - they'd promised we'd be safe! All of us!"

Thomas glared at her. "Oh, and I'm supposed to trust you now?"

"It's true!" Ava said. "You and your friends being safe was her only condition!"

"SHUT UP!"

"Everything can go back to the way it was. Thomas, do you really want all your friends to die?"

Ava nodded at the bomb in his hands, then towards us at the side.

"Listen to her Thomas," Janson said, breathing heavily. "Think about what you're doing."

There was a silence where no one moved or spoke. We glanced at each other and caught Thomas's tear-filled eyes. Then, as moving as one, we walked forward to his side, gathering around him. I put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a small, weary smile.