𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐒, thomas ✓

twenty five.

25

THE TRUTH

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Ava Paige had been the last person that Rosa had wanted to see, especially right this second. Her slim figure walked down the hill before she stopped beside Janson, talking in hushed tones as she refused to meet anyone's straying eyes.

Rosa thought of the word mother. She had read magazines and watched movies that her father had collected for her. She watched mothers dote on their children. She watched as mothers would smile, and laugh, and care. She knew that the the lines around their lips and eyes were caused by love; a permanent reminder of the lives that they had lived. And then she thought of her own mother. The wrinkles around her mouth caused by frowns and the wrinkles around her eyes caused by scowls; a permanent reminder of her constant dissatisfaction. A constant reminder of her lack of mothering.

Ava walked past Janson after finishing their conversation, "Okay! You heard. Let's go! Get 'em on!"

Soldiers started to load up the immunes onto the aircraft, shouts of refusal now sounding around them. Yet Rosa was held firmly in place, a gun being held to the small of her back to keep her from moving. Ava motioned for Thomas to get dragged forward, along with Rosa. Still, they didn't ever look at each other.

"Hello, Thomas," Ava spoke, her voice just as cold and heartless as Rosa remembered from her childhood, Teresa walked up to the trio, "I'm glad you're safe."

"What the hell. Teresa?" Frypan muttered with shock.

"Wait, what's going on?" Newt asked as well.

"I'll tell you what," Rosa answered, "Teresa betrayed us. Again. I mean, it wasn't a shock. We all knew it was going to happen."

Ava finally turned to her daughter, an unknown expression on her face. Could it be sympathy? Regret? "Rosa, my child. Teresa is simply saving us, when will you finally see it that way?"

A scoff escaped her lips, "When will you finally see it? You never gave the immunes a chance to help, you forcefully captured them and hurt them. There were other, more efficient, ways of doing this."

"She's with them," Thomas pointed at Teresa, hurt still glimmering in his eyes.

"Since when?"

Janson neared them, "Oh, Teresa's always had an evolved appreciation of the greater good. Once we restored her memories, it was only a matter of time."

It was unbelievable that Teresa had been working with WICKED since the end of the Maze, they had travelled across the Scorch with someone who had completely different intentions and beliefs as them, working against them at every chance.

"I'm sorry," she apologised, "I had no choice. This is the only way. We have to find a cure."

"She's right, this is all just a means to an end. You used to understand that, Thomas. No matter what you think of me. I am not a monster. I am a doctor. I swore an oath to find a cure! No matter the cost. I just need more time."

"You forget that you aren't just a doctor," Rosa remarked, pulling out of the guard's grasp, "You are a mother. How can you do this to children? To your child!?"