WCKD Love | A Newt Fan-Fiction

Chapter 17.5 - Crazy

Newt's POV:

My heart jumps into my throat. Ratman turns his head, confusion covering his face as he looks between the two of us. But my focus doesn't stay on him for long. My gaze shifts to the figure in his hands. Her body is completely limp.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Janson barks, dropping Katya's lifeless body to the floor and stepping towards us. Heat grows inside me, red hot and uncontainable. I yank my helmet off, rush forward and tackle him to the ground.

I straddle Janson and pin his wrists under my knees. He doesn't fight, but just lays there, smiling. I punch him in the face, but it does nothing to quell the anger inside me. I land punch after punch into his smug face, blood spraying out of his nose and mouth. The smile never leaves him.

"I always knew you were a bad egg," Ratman whispers, grinning wide and showing his red-covered teeth. I knocked a couple out, but he didn't seem to notice. I punch him again. None of them are making me feel any better. Out of everything he has done to the hundreds of immune kids and sick people, hurting Katya is the worst of them all.

I feel a rough pair of hands on my shoulders, tugging me off Janson. He continues lying on the floor, laughing. He's laughing. I turn away, feeling sick to my stomach, and focus my attention on Katya. Thomas had laid her out flat so she could appear more comfortable. I look to Thomas, who has taken his helmet off, and he nods slightly.

"She's still breathing. I'm sure she'll be alright. We have to give her time. But we have bigger problems right now." He points behind me, and my eyes follow his finger. Through a wall-sized window, I can see Minho lying on an operating table, doctors and nurses milling about, preparing surgical utensils and IV drips. "I think they're going to extract his immunity," Thomas says and looks away, thinking.

"What?" I ask, impatience filling me where the anger had been only seconds before.

Thomas turns back to face me, a small smile playing on his lips. "If we go in there, we could distract them with Janson and grab Minho. But we need to figure out how to get him and Katya out of here and onto the bus."

I nod slowly, taking the plan in. It's sucky, but it might work. I put the strap of my launcher over my chest, with the launcher against my back, and then bend down next to Katya and brush some hair out of her face. Positioning my hands under her shoulders and the backs of her knees, I gently cradle her in my arms and stand up. I look over at Thomas and smile halfheartedly.

"Don't let Teresa see you carrying her," Thomas jokes, and a pinprick of warmth flows through me. Even through the worst situations, he finds a way to make things a little better. He heads over to the window and bangs on it loudly. Every member of the medical staff on the other side stops moving and turns to look at the window. I notice Minho slightly turn his head toward the window, which is a good sign. He's still partially conscious. The doctors mutter to each other and then decide who should see what's going on.

As we wait for the doctor to arrive, we stand to the side, watching Janson intently. He still hasn't moved from the floor, but he is no longer laughing. There is no expression on his face. He just stares blankly up at the ceiling.

The doctor bustles in, and his attention immediately goes to Janson. He looks at us with wide eyes, marches over to the window, and slams his fists on it repeatedly. The rest of the staff immediately exit the lab. Thomas nudges me. This is our moment.

We slip past the doctor before the other medical staff arrive, leaving our helmets behind. We hide behind the corner outside the door. As soon as we hear the staff enter the room and the conversations turn to alarm, we race back down the corridor, finding the door that leads into the lab. The staff left it wide open. Thomas runs in, unbuckles Minho's restraints, and helps him to his feet. He pulls the tubes and needles out of Minho's arms and then leads him to the door. I can't help but smile. We have him back.

"You look terrible," I say and nod to Minho, and he laughs through the sedative. He looks at Katya in my arms, concern written on his face before a knock on the window distracts him. I quickly look at Thomas. It's time to go.

We leave the lab and walk back down the same corridors we had gone through before. We turn three corners before we hear a loud scream behind us. Pausing in our tracks, we look at each other briefly before continuing on our way. I have no intention of finding out what that was.

Minho is wobbly on his feet and relies a lot on Thomas to help him walk. I want to know what WCKD has been doing to him. He looks like he's been through hell. But we have him back now. He'll be safe.

Katya moves in my arms, her eyelids fluttering slightly. Looking down at her, I notice bruises forming around her neck. Bruises caused by her father.

We keep walking until we reach a door sealing off another hallway. "This is the way we have to go to get to Brenda and the bus," Thomas says, pulling Teresa's key card out again. He scans it, and the doors open. But too many things happen before we can walk through.

"N-Newt?" Katya's eyes are open, and she takes in a big gasp of air. I smile at her and put her feet on the floor. I hold her up by her arms as she continues to stare at me in shock. "What happened?"

"We've come to save you, Love," I say, and a smile spreads across her face. She looks around and takes in Thomas and Minho before her eyes stop at the corridor we just came from. Her smile quickly drops as she steps back and starts shaking her head.

I turn around and spot Janson. He has a needle jabbed in his arm, but whatever is in it never got to be injected into him. He pulls the needle out and tosses it behind him. "What are you doing, Katya? You know you shouldn't be going with them. What would your mother think?"

"My...mother? Has been dead for thirteen years!" Katya yells and then coughs. Her hands reach up and touch her neck gingerly; she winces. I step over and rub my hand along her back. She peers up at me, and I try to give her a reassuring smile. She smiles back for a brief moment before she squints her eyes and furrows her brow.

She stares at me for another second before her eyes go wide. She looks scared. No. She looks absolutely terrified. 'Of me?' She looks away from me and back to her dad. But she does something unexpected. She holds my hand.

Maybe she isn't scared of me, maybe it's something else. She had the same look on her face that Teresa did when she realised I had the Flare.

What I didn't realise while Katya was looking at me, was Janson had taken steps closer to us. Thomas raises his launcher and points it directly at Janson.

Janson lifts his arms in a mock sign of peace. "I'm not here to harm any of you. I just want my little girl back. I'm all she has."

"Now, now, Janson. I'm not sure that's quite true," Chancellor Paige says, her heels clacking on the polished floor as she walks up behind Thomas. "These boys seem to care a great deal about her. As do I."

"What would you know?" Janson spits, taking another step forward. Thomas lowers the launcher a fraction, unsure who he should be aiming it at.

Chancellor Paige smiles at him with pity. "I know a lot more than you think. About you and your daughter's conditions." She walks through the middle of our group and stands in front of Katya, blocking her view of the Ratman.

"What do you mean my...condition?" Katya asks, her voice trembling.

"I need to show you something," Paige responds simply. In one swift motion, she shoves Katya to the side and pushes me, Thomas, and Minho over the line of the doors. She slams her hand down on an emergency seal button, locking us on the other side, away from Katya.

I watch as Chancellor Paige lifts Katya from the floor by her arm and guides her over to Janson. She grabs them both by the elbow and leads them back down the corridor.

I turn to Thomas and Minho, my chest heaving. "What the hell just happened?"

Thomas looks at me and shrugs. "We'll get her back, Newt. Don't worry. But we have to find a way to get over there." He starts heading down the corridor we're sealed in. Minho and I can't do anything else but follow him and hope he's right.