WCKD Love | A Newt Fan-Fiction

Chapter 23 - Third Time's the Charm

Katya's POV:

Thomas races over to me, his eyes wide with adrenaline. "I'm picking you up again, okay? Let's hurry!" Thomas swoops me up before I can say anything, but I wouldn't have objected. I'm still too tired to stand on my own, let alone climb onto a hovering Berg.

Thomas races me over to the edge of the WCKD roof, Teresa hot on his heels. They stop a metre away, waiting for the Berg to steady itself and come closer. Vince- the man from the Right Arm, Gally, and Brenda are on the hatch, reaching their arms out for us.

"Send Katya first," Gally yells over the roar of the Berg.

Thomas looks down at me, concern knitted in his brow. As he steps closer to the Berg, something behind my head catches his attention. I turn around and see what it is. One of the neighbouring buildings is starting to topple down. Thomas snaps out of his daze, nodding back at Gally and closing the rest of the distance between us and the hatch door.

Thomas carefully passes me up to Vince, strapped into the Berg by a wire. Vince slips his arms under me, taking my weight as Thomas moves his arms away. I look behind me at Thomas and Teresa as Vince sets me down a safe distance from the door. Thomas smiles at me before pushing Teresa forward. She's about to jump onto the Berg when the building beneath them starts to shake.

From where I'm sitting, I have a clear view of the city, or what is left of it. Almost every building is gone now. But not the ones surrounding WCKD. It's one of these buildings that is causing the shaking of WCKD. Its frame has given up under the stress of the flames scorching it. It starts to tilt, heading down. But the skyscraper's path isn't clear to the ground. The WCKD complex is in the way.

Teresa eyes it and makes a quick decision while Thomas is distracted. She nods to Brenda and shoves Thomas towards the Berg. He loses his balance, but Brenda and Gally are there to catch him. They drag him over the lip of the door and drop him on his side before swiftly bringing their attention back to Teresa.

Teresa stares back at the building behind her as it starts to near the roof she's standing on. She isn't going to make it, and she knows it. Teresa locks eyes with Thomas. She smiles at him and then latches her eyes on me. Her smile doesn't falter but grows wider. I can't muster a smile as I watch the neighbouring building land behind her. It rocks WCKD's headquarters, throwing Teresa to her knees.

Thomas cries out, crawling to the edge and reaching his hand out toward her. I try to shuffle closer but struggle to move from the weight of my limbs.

In a matter of seconds that feel like an eternity, other surrounding buildings fall onto WCKD. In slow motion, the roof starts cracking, pieces descending into the depths of the frame. Flames lick up through the gaps, and smoke takes everything from sight. Teresa looks up at us one last time as the piece of concrete she's kneeling on breaks apart and falls away.

"Teresa!"

"No!" I race to the edge next to Thomas, but the smoke has already swallowed Teresa. I stare down at where she had been, tears spilling out of my eyes once again. The Berg lifts into the air, away from the city, away from all the death and destruction.

My heart has been breaking over and over again tonight, and just when I think we have finished losing people, we lose another person who was so close. Teresa had been my best friend for years. Even through all of the drama since she had gone into the Maze, I still loved her like a sister. She was the sister I never had. And now she's gone.

I have lost the four people closest to me. All in one night. I can't help but list them over and over in my head. Ava, Janson, Teresa, Newt.

I slump against the wall, and Thomas plops down beside me. He looks shattered. I lace my fingers through his and rest my head on his shoulder. I can feel him sniffling against my hair. I absent-mindedly watch as the hatch door closes, catching the last slivers of the city shrouded in smoke.