Burn; TMR ➵ Thomas

Nine | ✓

"There's nothing left to map, we just lied saying we're still mapping it just to give everyone hope," Minho paused, stealing a quick glance at Amelia before continuing. "Although some had lost it a long time ago.".

"If there was a way out, we would've found it by now. Maybe earlier," Amelia remarked. Thomas looked at her.

"It was Alby's call not to say, he said we needed people to think we had a chance. But maybe now we have a real chance," she beamed holding the machinery in her hands.

Minho explained to Thomas about the numbers they had found one year ago while running the Maze.

"Tomorrow, Thomas and I'll be taking a closer look," he told the two, pointing at Section Seven. He opened his mouth to say something else but was cut off when the two Med-jacks came running.

"What are you two doing here? You're not allowed," Amelia questioned, considering that they were in the Runner's room.

"The girl. She's awake.".

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"Girls are awesome," Chuck laughed, pointing at the tower where Gladers have been crowding around, holding all sorts of things for protection.

Minho, Thomas and Amelia ran to the commotion, defending their heads from the rocks which were being thrown down at them.

"I don't think she likes us very much," Newt stated the obvious, sharing a 'shield' with Winston. Amelia instinctively moved to the side when a rock had almost hit her.

"Hey! Hey! It's Thomas!" Rocks stopped falling from above and half of the girl's face could be seen as she looked over the edge.

"I'm gonna come up, okay?" he announced. The girl stayed silent and moved back to her original position.

Amelia stepped ahead. However,  Thomas put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her from walking any further - unknowingly giving her goosebumps from the touch.

"Just me," he told her. She looked at him and asked if he was sure with his decision. Thomas nodded with hesitation and started to climb up the ladder.

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"Tom, do you really not remember me?" the girl who claimed her name was Teresa asked.

"You mean ... You remember me?" Thomas asked, hanging his legs over the edge, Teresa soon following his actions.

"Yes. No. Maybe," Teresa threw her hands up in disgust. "I don't know how to explain it. I remember remembering. Feelings. Emotions. Like I have all these shelves in my head but they're empty. As if everything before this is just on the other side of a white curtain. Including you.".

Thomas felt like the walls were spinning around him. There was a long pause between them until Thomas interrupted the silence.

"How ... How can you talk in my head," Thomas asked. Teresa shook her head. Not sure - I can just do it she thought to him.

She spoke aloud again.

"You should've brought Amelia with you," Thomas was taken by surprise and looked at the girl beside him. He queried how was it possible that she remembered Amelia.

"Like I said, I don't know how to explain it. All I can say is that you used to be inseparable," Thomas did not say a word, he looked down at the Glade as he processed what she said. His brown eyes landed on Amelia's small figure in the distance, talking to Frypan as they prepared the Gladers's next meal.

"You sure you don't remember anything else?" he asked, changing the subject.

Teresa thought about it. "I remember water like I was drowning. And there was this woman, saying the same thing over and over again."

"Wicked is good," Thomas muttered. Teresa nodded and searched her pockets for something.

"These were in my pocket when I came up," she handed him three syringes with blue liquid in it. The word that was engraved on them was WICKED.

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Amelia looked back and forth at the syringe and Alby before stating that it could kill him. She handed the strange item to Newt who examined it and agreed with her statement.

"He's already dying, how could we make it any worse?" Thomas fumed pointing at the sick boy on the bed. He looked like Ben. Black rope-like veins ran along his body, he kept groaning and squirming in pain. It hurt Amelia to see Alby like this.

"All right, do it," Newt gave Thomas the syringe. Amelia stared at the British boy in disbelief, still refusing to inject Alby with the peculiar substance.

"What if it's the same liquid that saved Gally?" Newt turned to face her, stone-faced. The blue eyed girl pursed her lips and folded her arms. Gally had once been stung when they first discovered the Maze, it made him the same whacko he was that day.

Thomas moved to Alby's side, hesitating to do it. Alby's breathing increased when all of a sudden, he grabbed Thomas by the collar and brought him close to his face.

"You shouldn't be here! You shouldn't be here!" he kept repeating his words as Newt and Amelia tried to get Thomas out of his iron grip.

Thomas yelled for someone to take the serum. Teresa took the syringe and injected the sick boy with it.  All the Gladers stood around the bed, trying to get their heartbeats back to its normal rate as their leader slowly grew unconscious.

"From now on, someone stays here and watches him around the clock," Amelia ordered.

"You okay, Tommy?" she asked, Thomas nodded - still shocked by what had happened. Gally appeared by the door and gestured Thomas to follow him.

"Sundown, Greenie. Time to go," he ordered.

Everyone in the room stayed silent as Thomas slowly walked out the door and followed Gally to the pit.

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Happy New Years! Even though it's already been a month.... Anyway! Happy CNY too since I'm kind of updating a couple of days after it. I need to stop procrastinating.