The New Horizon ~ A Maze Runner Story

- 53 -

Relief hit Thomas in the gut like some epic, unhindered tsunami; its strength was like he had never felt before. Only eleven days later, the world's cure was manufactured and distributed to AFA and the hundreds of people that desired it.

Thomas was there all day, along with May who wanted to see the excitement for herself. He was incredibly glad she was by his side--he didn't know if he could have handled the overwhelming emotions by himself.
AFA announced to the world one week ago that the vaccine was coming out soon. It spread like wildfire. The news showcased it everywhere, on every channel. Every newspaper wrote about it. Every other billboard was plastered with it. Nearby areas of land around British Columbia buzzed. Thomas was told that people were traveling all the way from Nova Scotia to California, and all in between, to make it to AFA. To the very day their dreams of a better life would finally come true.

Thomas had to remind himself to breathe. Cameras and the media were relentless, this time for a good cause: to capture the amazing news and shine it even brighter for the entire globe to see. AFA had just begun saving lives, and they would continue for as long as they had to--as long as the world needed it. And Thomas would savor every day of that.
He and May stood in the vaccination dormitory, watching as the doctor's in hazmat suits--Owens and Wells included--injected non-Immune after non-Immune. At the end of each recipient's injection, Thomas would shake their hands, thank them for trusting AFA, and everyone would thank Thomas in return. Their expressions overwhelmed, as if they were still in denial of truly being healed. Thomas understood why.

He understood the tears that would run down their faces, he understood the dumbfounded silence in the dormitory after they had been told they were cured. He could see their eyes physically change--he studied the way the fogginess would diminish, replaced with glossy tears.
Thomas could only imagine the recipient's individual lives and what they had all gone through, trekking miles away from their homeland to be cured. The family they had lost along the way. All their heartache. Every fear. All the burdens. Many times Thomas fought back his own tears as they pleaded with gratefulness, from the youngest of children, to the oldest of adults. They were all so thankful.

AFA continued administering the cure from the early hours of the morning until nightfall. Two hundred and seven people received their vaccine. All of them one hundred percent cured within an hour. Thomas had exerted so much energy just by watching it all that it felt like he had been back at the Glade, running all day and night, his legs sore from standing so long.
He shook the final five recipient's hands and watched them being led away by Nurse O'Brien who went on congratulating them and giving them directions to the restrooms and cafe and elevator banks--to their new lives, as she would say.
The doctors threw their hands up in the air, congratulating each other, whooping and hollering. And before Thomas knew it, Doctor Wells was inviting him and May into their congratulatory huddle.

When the other doctors left the dormitory, Doctor Owens stayed behind with Thomas and May, shaking her head in amazement. "Well, all of our recipient's have been given a room to sleep in for the night. I'm sure by morning most of them will be out in the City, enjoying a life they never thought they would live," she said, sighing heavily as she took off her medical gloves.
Thomas nodded, trying to conjure anything to say. His throat was sore, having knotted up several times that day. "I can't believe it."
Owens' chin quivered, though somehow she remained professional, holding her emotions inside. "I'm in shock myself. I think it will hit me after I'm done being interviewed by the press."
The press. Thomas had completely forgotten.
"Don't worry," Owens said, it was almost if she had read his mind, "I've steered them away from you--for now. I would recommend leaving as soon as possible before they do find you."

Thomas couldn't have agreed more. He nodded, embracing Owens in a hug that was very well needed. When he pulled away, the doctor's eyes were glistening.
"What a beautiful world this will be," she said, voice on the brink of breaking in half, then excused herself, leaving Thomas and May alone together in the dormitory that had just saved two hundred lives.
What a beautiful world this will be.

Thomas and May snuck away from the opportunistic interviewers, only by seconds. If it weren't for Doctor Owens, they would have been stuck for a few hours more. Thomas was just thankful to sit down in the taxi as they were escorted to his apartment. He let his brain try to catch up with the day's events. He tried to absorb every tidbit. It was shameful to say that Thomas had never thought he'd live to see the day when the world would find a cure; it felt almost foreign and impossible. He felt like he was still drowning in relief from that tsunami wave.
May's warm hand found his and he clung to it, relishing every second.

Paparazzi followed them up to their apartment. May answered most of the questions as they made their way to the door. When she politely asked them to leave, they surprisingly did, adding to Thomas's existential relief.
Silently, May and Thomas went to their bedroom, plopping down on the bed. May wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him in closer. And just like that, Thomas let every single emotion out. Everything that had ever hurt him, every friend he had ever watched die, every loss that he had troubled him, all the doubt he had stuffed down inside--everything--was relinquished.

He cried. May cried. The entire world cried, and not because it was sad, but because it was happy. Because the healing it needed so desperately was finally there.