The New Horizon ~ A Maze Runner Story

- 21 -

Mystery Man directed Thomas into AFA's main building, maneuvering through one of the many sterile hallways. Pleasant pictures of flora and fauna adorned the bland, windowless walls. Mystery Man stopped abruptly at a door, catching Thomas off guard. "This is it." He muttered, mockingly polite. Dark, bold letters were plastered on the center of the white door, contrasting so noticeably it seemed impossible to miss.

DR. APRIL OWENS

A doctor? Suddenly Thomas's curiosity morphed into fear. Mystery Man interrupted his uneasy thoughts with a few swift raps on the door, "Thomas is here, Ma'am."
"Send him in, please." A stern, feminine voice replied.
The orderly stiffened as if he were a soldier in his colonel's presence, and quickly opened the door, giving Thomas just enough room to pass through. Thomas heard the door close shut behind him as his eyes inadvertently scrutinized his surroundings.

In the center of the room sat a desk, and behind that desk, sat a woman. He almost had to blink twice to clear the identical image of Chancellor Ava Paige. This woman was younger though; Thomas guessed somewhere in her late thirties. Her blonde hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail. Studious dark eyes perused him.
The office was smaller than what Thomas would've expected. Document-filled shelves inhabited the walls, and simplistic art pieces hung; all of them modern and cubicle. It reeked of professionalism.

"Thank you for joining me, Thomas. I am April Owens, head doctor and surgeon here at AFA," she smiled professionally, as if she had grown accustomed to introducing herself daily, "please, have a seat."
Thomas did as she instructed, pulling out the chair that was tucked in front of her desk, doing his best to tamper all the questions he desperately wanted to blurt out.
"I brought you in today to speak with you regarding news of a serious breakthrough," Doctor Owens finally spoke, and Thomas's attention was caught. "Sorry if this seems so soon. This entire ordeal must be overwhelming, but you're in wonderful hands here at AFA. I hope you can trust us, Thomas."

Thomas nodded, wanting to truly believe he was in good hands, but his trust had been shot long ago, and he was struggling to acknowledge what was believable or not. Though something in the doctor's eyes confirmed that she was being sincere. He nodded, slowly.
Doctor Owens sat back in her chair, looking at him straight on. "Doctor Wells--as you met yesterday--and I are the two doctors who founded AFA. We started off with multiple failed attempts, but once we began taking in more and more doctors, we all created the concept of the RBI." 

"Just two years ago we began successfully implanting them into Flare-infected brains, and we have saved thousands. However, news has started to leak out about our decline of RBI's, and very sadly, they are becoming more difficult to manufacture. Which means we are beginning to fail our own association and what it stands for. Within time, we will run out of the ability to manufacture RBI's entirely."
Thomas sat there, staring, unsure of where he fit into all of this. Doctor Owens was getting somewhere though, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

She continued on. "Now, I know you're confused, but this is where you come in--if you choose to follow through with the eventual plan."
Eventual plan? Thomas questioned, becoming more anxious with each passing moment. He nodded anyway, and Owens took that as a sign to continue further.
"As you also know, WICKED was in competition with our association for years. Though they had finally surrendered when they figured out they had lost. And one woman surrendered a very valuable asset she had kept in secret . . . Chancellor Paige created a way to cure the world, using your blood."

"W-what did she create?" Thomas asked. He was completely dubious, his mind swimming with all sorts of possibilities.
"She created a device to regenerate blood cells--originally intended for WICKED's use, though they never had the time to test it. Paige swore the device over to AFA, knowing your blood was the only hope left in this world, and that one way or another, you would find us--or we would find you. She believed you can still save us all."
Thomas was glad he was sitting down, because if he'd been standing he would've staggered.

Too many thoughts tangled his brain. He had no idea how to form a question. Or how he could even choke it out if he had one. Fortunately, Owens still had much to say. She laid intertwined hands on the desk, her eyes alight with knowledge. "What I found in your blueprint Paige sent me was, I have to say, very impressive. Your type of immunity is unbelievably rare. Paige knew it was everything we needed to save humanity."
Thomas was still stuck in a swarm of confusion. Why in the world was he so different? So important? He felt like some sort of alien set far, far apart from everyone else on a solitary planet. "Why am I so . . . rare?"

Doctor Owens let out a chuckle, breaking her stoic professionalism. The corners of her mouth formed as if she were about to speak, but words never came out. Thomas pushed. "No, seriously. Is something wrong with me? You're a doctor. You should know."
"Nothing is wrong with you, Thomas. Your immunity is just one-in-a-million."
Nothing made sense, but then again, when had it ever? The world was slowly dying due to cannibalistic monsters, and yet one boy could--supposedly--save it all. Thomas felt like a complete nutcase. 

"The RBI's were only temporary before you came," Owens continued. "Yes, they work, but we have to sacrifice lives; not everyone can adjust to them. Some bodies do reject it; some are either too young or too old to adjust. It's all unfortunate, but we had to do something. We had to give hope to those un-Immune. But as we've seen in recent weeks, the RBI's are beginning to fail us."
"And this is where my blood comes in?" Thomas asked, already comprehending the answer he knew all too well.

Owens nodded calmly, satisfied with his perception. "Yes, with your special blood, and our advanced technology, we will create a vaccine that can permanently cure our devastated world, but--" the doctor stopped speaking so abruptly, Thomas felt that it'd given him whiplash. He could sense the apprehension swimming in her eyes. He shifted in his seat; the tension was becoming agonizing. "But, what?"
"Thomas," Owens' gaze was piercing, even more piercing than he'd thought possible,"I know that we've just met, and I understand the obscurity you must feel right now--I just hope that you will trust me . . . Unfortunately, there is no possible way to lighten the blow of the news I am about to tell you."

Thomas was itching. If she didn't tell him right then he would have exploded with impatience. "What is it?"
"This process will require you to be drained of just enough blood needed to stabilize your heart."
Thomas felt his eyes widen involuntarily as fear choked him. No, not just fear--panic, alarm. He had to compose himself. He closed his eyes, struggling to apprehend the horrible news. "So, you're going to drain me until I'm . . . almost dead?"

Owens nodded, and Thomas could see the sheepishness in her eyes when he looked close enough. "Our advanced surgeons will be extracting four pints from you. Then we will give you a transfusion of a non-Immune's blood, for the purpose of keeping your rarity. Since you will have an un-Immune dosage of blood, the amount left of yours will fight off the Flare entirely, restoring to normalcy."
Thomas sat there completely still, willing himself to breathe, but even that was difficult. Near-death experiences were not a first for him, but that didn't justify the terrifying concept. 

Doctor Owens shifted in her seat, eyeing Thomas carefully, sympathetically. And he sat there, silent, his mind calculating the news, absorbing every last ounce of it. What in the Flare-infected world was going on?
"I--uh," he swallowed audibly, "I want to help, I really do . . . This is just . . . intense."
"I completely understand. I will give you a couple days to think about it, if you like? I know it's terribly difficult to agree with something this drastic in less than an hour."
All Thomas could do was nod. And more than ever before, he just wanted to find his friends.