Sacrifice

Chapter Sixty-Two

Despite the fact that they were still stuck deep inside WCKD's main headquarters and were currently being chased by soldiers, Thomas felt some happiness in the mix of all the chaos. He had his running partner back, Claire was okay, and Newt had just a hint of a smile on his face. 

Thomas led them down another hall, but Janson suddenly appeared in front of them. 

"In here," Thomas said, running into a room on their right. 

Once Minho, Claire and Newt were inside, Thomas shut the door and turned the knob to lock it. Minho and Newt dragged a table in front of it, creating a barricade. Claire looked around the room, trying to find a way out. As far as she could tell, there wasn't a secret passage or even a vent they could crawl through. They were trapped, but they were at least safe from Janson for the moment. 

Just as they allowed themselves a moment to breath, they saw sparks flying through the door crack and heard a machine on the other side of the door. Someone was trying to saw the door open. The teens took a step back. 

"Any ideas?" Minho asked. 

Claire looked around the room again, still no exit in sight. 

"Maybe," Thomas said, looking out the window. 

Claire felt her stomach drop. "You've gotta be kidding me." They were twenty stories up. 

"It's all we've got." Thomas tried to act casual about his idea, but his friends could tell he was just as scared as they were. 

The boys grabbed a heavy stack of stools and used them to break open the large glass window, creating a hole large enough for them to jump through. 

"Okay, it's doable," Thomas said. "We just need a little running start." 

"Are you sure about this?" Claire asked as they backed up. 

"Not really," Thomas replied. 

"Nice pep talk," Minho remarked. 

"Yeah, we're all bloody inspired," Newt added. 

He then grabbed Claire's hand, she squeezed back. 

Just then there was a loud bang behind them. The table went sliding as the door was opened. The Gladers turned and saw Janson stumbling past the table to get into the room. 

"Go, go, go!" Thomas shouted. 

Going against every survival instinct, the four teens jumped out the window. 

"Thomas!" Minho yelled as they started falling. 

Claire screamed, she and Newt griped each other's hands even tighter as if their lived depended on it. 

"Oh shit!" Thomas shouted just before they hit the water. 

Once they were under, the suction made it hard to get to the surface for a while. Claire and Newt lost their hold on each other. But a moment later, the four teens made it to the surface, each taking in a huge gasp of breath. 

"Shit this is cold!" Minho said. 

"Claire, are you alright?" Newt asked as he swam over to her. 

"I can't believe we just did that!" she gasped. 

Thomas looked up at the window they had just jumped out of. Standing there was Janson, looking down on them. Thomas glared at the man, and gave him the middle finger for good measure before swimming to the edge of the pool, climbing out with Minho. Thomas helped Newt get out, who was looking noticeably paler, while Minho pulled Claire out.