SACRIFICE {Newt | The Maze Runner}

ix. Janson

Song: LEAVE A LIGHT ON; tom walker

     AVA Paige sadly watched on as the city below her descended into chaos, choked by fire, explosions and gunshots, the street littered with bodies: cranks and soldiers alike.

Tommy and I slowly approached her, my friend raising his pistol in his shaking hand. For once, stopping the violence seemed useless. Just like I had felt when Newt had fallen limp in my arms mere minutes ago.

"Is it true?" he asked through strangled sobs, the doctor making no attempt to run or hide, "Newt. Could I have saved him?"

"You can save us all."

He shifted the gun in his grip, before throwing it down to the floor, our hands gripping tightly together as we cried.

Ava walked slowly forward, putting one hand on my cheek and one on Tommy's, "It's ok."

"Just leave the others alone." he begs, my mouth dry and unable to form words.

"I promise. I will..."

She stops, the sound of a gunshot echoing through the air cutting her off. Grunting, she falls, Janson stands behind her, smoke still curling in the air from his pistol.

Smirking, he prowls forward, gun still raised until he stands right before us. His hands are too quick, the sharp pain registering in the sides of our necks top slowly for us to stop.

Our eyelids become heavy, the ground meeting us as everything becomes a blur of blues and greys. Tommy's hand reaches for his weapon, but Janson kicks it away.

"Oh, Thomas," he chides, "you should have run."

*

Leather straps bind the both of us to surgical chairs, Teresa hovering between us, drawing some of Tommy's blood from his left arm.

"Do you know what this place is, either of you?" Janson asks, gazing out of the window, "It's a lifeboat. And the whole world might be sinking, but that doesn't mean that we have to go down with it."

He turns to Teresa, "How much longer?"

"It's almost done."

"Why don't you just kill me?" I snarl at him, straining against my bindings, "Like you did my mother?"

"Kill you?" he scoffs, "No, we don't wanna do that to either of you. We're gonna take special care of you. We'll keep you alive. Just."

Tommy lunges for his neck, before being pulled back by his straps, groaning in annoyance.

"And in return, you will give life to the rest of us and your pretty friend over there," he smirks at me, "won't wind up dead like both her pathetic parents."

Janson takes a digital needle from the side table, "Of course, there's not gonna be enough for everyone. Hard choices are gonna have to be made. In time, the Flare virus will burn itself out. The only question is: who will be the ones left standing?"

We both thrash on our beds, kicking and writhing and screaming, though we know it is completely futile.

"And thanks to you, to this," he holds some Serum, "we finally get to choose. A future of our own making."

He lifts his shirt, black veins sprawled across his arm. Tommy and I glare as he readies to inject himself, "To your health."