little immune {the scorch trials} (request)

˜*°• 31 •°*˜

Thomas didn't stop running until he had reached flat land once again, though only because a fireball that had been shot from one of the Bergs exploded mere inches from his body. All of a sudden, more began to rain down on the Right Arm camp, engulfing the desert in a fiery gloom. With people scrambling left and right,  Thomas struggled to locate his friends and sister. Finally, he caught sight of Y/n crouching behind a car, Minho, Newt, and Frypan standing over her with guns in hand. They seemed to be mid-battle with a bunch of WICKED guards who had dropped down from their ships, weapons blazing.

Somewhere in the crowd, Thomas heard Vince barking orders at Harriet, Sonya, and Aris. Mary, Jorge, and Brenda were nowhere to be seen. Now that he knew his friends were alright, he ran to the tent Brenda had been recovering in earlier, and was distraught to find it completely aflame.

Someone grabbed his arm from behind. Thomas jumped, then flooded with relief when he realized it was only Brenda. "You dumbass," she said, and tugged him back towards the others. "Come on!" They crouched together behind a truck next to Jorge. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Brenda scolded.

Thomas didn't reply, suddenly unable to take his eyes off the scene before him. He watched Right Arm soldiers clash with the WICKED ones, thwacking and shooting and forcing themselves to remain upright. They put up a good fight, but WICKED still clearly had the upper hand. They had had an advantage with the element of surprise, after all.

"We have to go," Jorge hissed. "Now, while we still have the chance."

But Thomas's mind was elsewhere. "I gotta get to the others." He made to book it from the hiding spot, but Jorge lunged forward and grabbed him.

"No!" the man shouted. "Look!" He pointed at the other Gladers, still fighting for their lives. "You can't help them."

As if on cue, a WICKED soldier tossed a grenade into the area where Thomas's friends were battling. Thomas heard them cry out just as it detonated, electrocuting each of them. "No!" he screamed, trying helplessly to wrestle against Jorge's firm grip on his arm. Finally, he admitted defeat and collapsed back against the truck, remaining hidden from view.

"I'm sorry," Jorge said, as if that made anything better. "There's nothing you can do for them. And if we don't move now, we won't be much better off."

However, Thomas's mind was already made up. He did not care for his own life, only the life of his sister. He had to save Y/n, even if it killed him. "You guys gotta go right now," he told Brenda and Jorge.

The pair stared back at him in disbelief.

"They're not looking for you," Thomas continued. "You'll be safe, but you have to go now."

Brenda's eyes were misty. "Thomas ..."

"I can't leave without them." His voice was firm; he could see in their faces that they understood he would not be changing his mind. "Go." This time, he was pleading.

Jorge nodded in acceptance, and clapped Thomas's shoulder. "Good luck, kid." Brenda gave his arm a quick squeeze, and then they were gone, hurrying off into the desolate parts of what had once been the Right Arm camp.

Thomas took a deep breath. Once again, he was completely and utterly alone, no one to rely on but himself. He needed a plan. And then he saw it.

***

Y/n woke up to the feel of a pair of rough hands binding her own behind her back. Then she felt her frail body being yanked upright and dragged into a line of people, and shoved to her knees to the right someone who felt very familiar. Minho, she realized. Y/n began the row, with nobody to her left. The others were all there as well—Newt, Harriet, Frypan, Aris, and Sonya—and none of them looked too happy.

To top it all off, Y/n's head began to ache and spin like crazy. She was still supposed to be resting and taking it easy until she fully recovered from her fever. Everything going on now, however, quite literally prevented that. Being in the midst of a battle was certainly not helpful, and getting electrocuted and knocked unconscious was just the cherry on top of the sundae.

Tommy, Y/n thought. Nobody knew exactly why WICKED was here—more specifically, who had called them—but all the girl could think about was that she had not seen her brother since before the evil people arrived. And she desperately needed to know that he was okay.

Someone must have turned us in! was what she had heard Vince yell to Mary not too long ago. But who?! Not Tommy, surely; he never would have done something like that. So where was he, then?

All of a sudden, Y/n was drawn out of her thoughts at the sound of another voice, one that sent shivers down her spine: Janson. She had foolishly thought that perhaps she'd never have to see his ratty face ever again after escaping the compound, but of course she'd been wrong.

"How many did we get?" Ratman asked one of his colleagues. His tone was unsettlingly cheery.

"All of them," the colleague replied. "Give or take."

This response seemed to agitate Janson. "Give or take what?"

"Well, they lost a few."

Janson surveyed the Gladers, growing angrier as he realized that the one he desired above all was nowhere in sight. "Where's Thomas?"

"Right here."

Heads snapped in the direction of the voice like a hundred compasses finding north, and Y/n nearly burst into tears. There he was, approaching the crowd with his hands raised in surrender. Within a millisecond, every WICKED gun in sight was trained on him, and Y/n's heart skipped a beat.

"Thomas," Janson said as the boy staggered towards him, an evil grin slicing across his features. He moved to clap him on the arm, then grabbed his shoulder and punched him hard in the gut. Thomas doubled over and fell to his knees with a grunt. On Janson's orders, a soldier dragged him into the line and deposited him next to Y/n. There, he finally met his sister's concerned eyes, wearing an expression that said, I'm fine. Don't worry about me.

Janson shrugged dismissively and turned away from the kids. "Okay," he muttered. "Bring her in."

Meanwhile, Minho and Newt had taken to staring at Thomas as well. "Why didn't you run?" asked Minho. The question almost sounded accusatory.

Thomas shook his head, letting Y/n lean into his side. "I'm tired of running."

They kneeled together like that for what felt like an eternity, until a sudden gust of wind sent their gazes into the sky. The gust had been caused by the arrival of another WICKED Berg, though this one was evidently larger than any of the ones already. The ship descended into a careful landing on the desert floor, sending bits of sand and debris whipping into everyone's eyes. The door drifted open, and out walked none other than the chancellor of WICKED herself, Ava Paige.