Sacrifice

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Thomas didn't have a difficult time getting into the WCKD building this time. The power was off and there were no guards to stop him. He wasn't exactly sure of where he was supposed to be going, he just let his feet carry him up the stairs. 

He had come because he wanted the truth, he needed to know if he really was the answer WCKD had spent years trying to find. At least, that's what he told himself was the reason he came. 

He came because this was easier than facing his friends. Not after what he did, and it didn't matter if Newt had asked him to do it. 

Thomas had killed his best friend. 

He had driven the knife into Newt's chest. 

And he had done it in front of Claire. How could he ever look her in the eyes ever again? 

Somehow he found his way to a long hallway with large glass windows overlooking the city below. Standing alone by the window was Ava Paige. She didn't even seem to notice Thomas was there until he approached her and held up the gun. She wasn't even startled by the weapon. They just stared at each other, neither speaking for what felt like a long time. 

"Is it true?" Thomas finally asked, his voice cracking. "Newt...could I have saved him?" 

"You can save us all," she answered in the gentlest voice Thomas had ever heard her use. 

It was those words that broke him. Thomas's hand was shaking so much, he couldn't hold the gun up anymore. A small part of him still felt on edge around Ava Paige. For so long he had been dead set on fighting her, on stopping her, on killing her. But now he just didn't have the energy to fight anymore. 

Thomas dropped the gun onto the floor and let out the tears he'd been holding back since he left his friends. 

"It's okay," Ava assured, stepping closer to Thomas. 

"Just leave the others alone." 

"I promise," Ava said, and for once Thomas believed her. 

Ava opened her mouth to speak again, but she was interrupted when a gun went off. Ava fell to the ground as she bled out. Thomas didn't even move to catch her. He looked up and saw Janson coming toward him, gun in hand and a cold look of determination. 

As Janson brought the gun closer to his head, Thomas was convinced that he was about to be shot, but that didn't happen. Instead, Janson jammed something into Thomas's neck. 

Thomas realized it was a tiny dart when he plucked it out. By now his world had become fuzzy and he lost his footing. He weakly reached for the gun on the ground but Janson kicked it away. 

"Oh, Thomas, you should have ran." 

The last thing Thomas saw before the world faded away was Ava Paige's dead body. 

************** 

When Thomas woke up he was in a different room. He was in one of the labs on the floor where he had found Minho and Claire. He turned his head and saw Teresa beside him, extracting blood from his arm. 

"Do you know what this place is, Thomas?" Janson said, looking out the window at the growing chaos below. "It's a lifeboat. The whole world might be sinking, but that doesn't mean that we have to go down with it." 

That's when Thomas noticed the restraints. They held down his hands and waist, strapping him to a stretcher. 

Teresa was over at one of the tables, making a new serum, one that would actually work. 

"Is it ready?" Janson asked her. 

"It's almost done." 

Thomas and Janson glared at each other.