Chapter 5 ━━ The Betrayer

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Soldiers begin to land from the bergs, shooting with their biological advanced weapons. WICKED Helicopters are flying around the sky as they shoot missiles down the camp. The screams of the people are all above that.

"I hate WICKED." Brenda murmurs and collects her gun.

Jorge, the fatherly figure of Brenda walks in with a stressed look. "Brenda, come on. Let's get outta here."

Brenda takes a final bite out of her bacon before following behind the man, not forgetting to drag Vera with her. They hide behind the small area with tall grass and watch the scene in front of them.

How did WICKED find them?

Another booming explosion quakes the earth and the flames slowly creeped in, engulfing what is left of the camp.

Gun shots can be heard and some soldiers drop dead on the ground. That is when the men start shooting their biologically advanced guns. The victims of the intimidating weapon convulse wildly on the ground as they scream in pain. The devices from the shoot are deeply rooted in their chest, constantly sending electrical pulses across their body.

Vera gasps, covering her mouth with her hands. She's frightened and mostly helpless at the moment. She's not a fighter like her twin sister and there's not at least a hint of bravery in her to go and fight with her friends. She sees a figure frantically running towards the tent where Brenda was. "Is that Thomas?"

"It is him." Brenda confirms before running after him and Jorge and Vera follow the noirette.

"Brenda!" Thomas yells, looking at the burning tent with wide eyes.

Brenda smacks his head, making him jump in surprise but sigh in relief at her presence. "You dumbass. Come on! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

They hide together behind a truck when Jorge speaks.

"We gotta take cover! We have to go. Now, while we still have the chance."

"I gotta go find the others." Thomas says, trying to leave and Jorge stops him.

"No! Look! Look. You can't help them." Jorge says gesturing at Thomas's friends and twin sister fighting against WICKED. It seems like they're losing but no one seems to give up. "I'm sorry. There's just nothing you can do for them. If we don't move now, we won't be much better off."

Thomas stares at her friends and turns to Brenda and Jorge. "You guys gotta go right now."

"What?"

"They're not looking for you. You'll be safe, but you have to go now." Thomas replies.

"Thomas..." Brenda trails off.

"I can't leave without them." Thomas states. "Go."

Jorge pats on Thomas's back. "Good luck, kid. Bren, Vera, we have to go. Come on."

"I'm staying with him." Vera tells, not recognising her voice at all. She needs to fight for her friends. That's what Tara would do if she's here. She might not be a fighter, so is Thomas. But the confidence in him is inspiring her.

"Come on. Let's go, come on. Come on!" Jorge says to Brenda and they disappear into the smoke.

Vera turns to Thomas, expectantly. "Do you have a plan?"

"I guess, yes." Thomas nods, showing her his bag with a few hand bombs.

Vera blinks, not just once but twice. She's so ready to fight for her friends. But she's not ready to die this soon. "Just don't get me killed."

Later on, the WICKED soldiers arrange all of the Right Arm volunteers and Immunes into lines, scanning the tattoos at the back of their necks to check them in.

After talking to Katherine, Janson looks around to catch a glimpse of her twin brother to finally fail. "Where's Thomas?"

"Right here." Thomas walks out of his hiding place gaining everyone's attention, a flashlight shining down at him. Vera walks behind him, terrified. A guard pushes them towards Janson, who has another grin on his face.

"Thomas." Janson fondly greets Thomas with open arms and in the next moment, he punches the kid in his stomach and Thomas doubles over as he lets out a groan. "Get him in line."

The guard forces Thomas into the line next to Katherine as they speak in whispers.

Janson turns his gaze at Vera at the same moment with an amused grin. "Vera, it's nice to see you again."

"Fuck you." Vera's face is scrunched up with disgust. Janson opens his mouth to reply when a whirring pierces the silence.

Vera looks up to find a berg finding space to land. As the berg gets closer to the ground, the sand begins to fly like a sand storm, making her hold her arm over her eyes to avoid sand getting into her eyes.

Ava Paige steps out of the berg dressed up in all white. She walks to Janson but she freezes in utter surprise as she notices the young blonde standing.

"Vera?" Ava reaches to touch her daughter's face, not believing her own eyes. But Vera turns her head away before her hand meets her cheek, bringing her into a wave of upset. She covers it up and turns to Janson once again. "Is this all of them?"

"Most of them." Janson states. "It'll be enough."

"Start loading them in." Ava orders and with the leadership of Janson, the guards begin to load the kids into the berg. Two heavily armed soldiers grab the group A twins and push them to the woman dressed in white.

"Hello, Thomas. Katherine." Ava greets the twins with an unreadable expression and Katherine glares deadly in return.

A guard stands behind Vera to make sure she won't do anything stupid and she prays for the god to get Thomas's plan work. Then another figure appears, escorted by a guard behind her.

"I'm glad you're safe." Ava smiles at Teresa as she makes it to the side of her. Teresa's eyes are filled with guilt.

Minho jumps on his feet. "What the hell? Teresa?"

"Wait, what's going on?" Newt asks, his eyebrows furrowed at Teresa.

"She's with them." Thomas replies, bluntly, not making eye contact with anyone.

"Teresa, how could you?" Katherine expresses her disbelief, upset at her betrayal.

"Since when?" Minho asks Thomas.

Janson steps forward, a sickening smirk on his face. "Teresa always had an evolved appreciation of the greater good. Once we restored her memories, it was only a matter of time."

"I'm sorry. I had no choice." Teresa croaks, her eyes watering. "This is the only way. We have to find a cure."

Katherine chuckles, coldly as her eyes stakes into Teresa. "Yeah. WICKED is good. Right, Teresa?"

"Teresa's right. This is all just a means to an end." Ava defends the former friend of the Gladers and looks between the twins. "You two used to understand that. No matter what you think of me... I am not a monster. I'm a doctor. I swore an oath to find a cure! No matter the cost. I just need more time."

"More blood." A voice echoes behind them and Mary comes into the view. Her eyes show the hatred she contains for the leader of WICKED.

"Hello, Mary." Ava greets her with a calm tone. "I hoped we'd meet again. I'm sorry it had to be under these circumstances."

"I'm sorry about a lot of things, too. But not this." Mary gestures to her surroundings. "At least my conscience is clear."

"So is mine." Ava replies blankly and a gunshot echoes through the air.

Mary gasps as blood covers a patch in her shirt before she collapses into the dusty ground lifelessly.

Vera gasps in shock. Tears stroll down her face but she's too shocked to move. The only family who cared for her is now dead. There's nothing for her to leave behind. She darts her eyes back and notices Janson lowering his gun with a smug.

Vince sprawls out of the crowd and runs towards the lifeless body. He hugs her tightly and weeps, bewildered by his sudden loss. The Right Arm and Gladers only look at them solemnly as they are incapable of doing anything.

"Load them up. Let's go." Ava orders her soldiers, before heading to her plane. "All these people. Get rid of them."

Teresa spins her head and looks at Thomas for the last time. She has guilt written all over her face, she didn't expect WICKED to be that ruthless.

The guard behind her, tries to drag her to the berg, only for her to struggle to set free. She hears Harriet screaming her name and she tries to look back only to end up failing.

"Get back! Everyone, stand back!" Thomas charges out of the crowd and takes out a bomb he has in his jacket, the detonator in his other hand. He is prepared to take his own life to save others. After all, WICKED is here to take the subjects. "Let 'em all go!"

The guard comes to a halt with Vera, watching the scene. She prepares herself to join her loved ones again with hope. It's better than going back to WICKED.

Ava arches her body a little, catching a quick glimpse and gasps in shock. She turns around and seems worried and scared. She tries to console Thomas in her usual authoritative tone and raises her hands to gesture to him to put the bomb down. "You know I can't do that!"

"Thomas, please stop. I made a deal with them. They promised we'd be safe. All of us." Teresa pleads.

"And I'm supposed to trust you now?" Thomas accuses, his voice full of hurt at her betrayal. His hands tremble around the button more.

"It's true. It was her only condition."

"Shut up!"

"Everything can go back to the way it was. Thomas... do you really want all of them to die?" Ava asks, motioning to the kids.

"Listen to her, Thomas. Think about what you're doing."

The well-equipped soldiers take a step back and point their Launchers at Thomas, prepared to shoot.

"You know that I'm always following your lead, Tommo." Katherine tells, rests her hand on Thomas's shoulder and pats it lightly and gives him a look of trust. "Even if the destination is hell, I always will."

They vote to die with the twins, despite Ava and Teresa's pleas. But before Thomas can detonate the grenade, Jorge charges at WICKED soldiers in a borrowed car and in the momentum of distraction, the Right Arm starts fighting back while some of the Immunes are loaded into the berg.

Without much hesitation, Ava and Teresa turn around and rush for the plane for safety. And unfortunately, the guard holding Vera drags her with him to the berg with her thrashing to escape all over the way.

A half unconscious Minho is the last to bring by the soldiers onto the berg before it ramp starts elevating and finally fully sealed.

The berg lifts off the ground with a thunderous boom, the twirling rotator whirls the sand about and it blasts off in the night sky.