Disclaimer: James Dashner owns all the rights

Rating: T for Glader language, violence, and some disturbing imagery

Author's Note: The last chapter! I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Chapter 50

Thomas scanned the area for Teresa frantically, but she was nowhere to be seen. Newt touched his arm, pointing to the facility. Thomas quickly raised his binoculars just in time to see the back entrance explode, the explosion drawing attention from all the approaching armies. That was the Gladers' cue.

Minho started moving out, the others following him. Thomas couldn't focus on the task at hand as he was too busy worrying about Teresa. Where was she? They couldn't leave without her.

"We have to find her," he insisted to Newt, who was motioning him forward. "What if she's in trouble?"

"You didn't know?" Newt asked, a puzzled expression on his face.

"What?" Thomas returned. "You know where Teresa is?"

"The explosion," his friend replied. "Teresa was sent to rig the explosion. She's down there waiting for us. All of us knew that."

What? Teresa was sent on a sub-mission to create a diversion so that the Gladers could get inside the compound? And Thomas was the only one who wasn't told that? He felt betrayed beyond all measure. Teresa was his friend, his confident, and everyone lied to him about something as big as that? What if something had happened to her?

Something still could happen to her. Thomas followed the others as they shuffled low to the ground, making their way towards the WICKED building. The armies were at a standstill, but only for so long. It was only a matter of time before someone fired a shot and then everything went to hell. And the Gladers had to be able to infiltrate the compound, get to the very bottom floor, find the time machine, program the machine, then step into the unknown. All the while avoiding being caught by Janson, of course.

At the bottom of the ridge the Gladers paused and regrouped. Minho had taken up leadership again, his voice strong and commanding, his gaze hard. He had been born for this, Thomas could tell. Minho was never more powerful and bold than in a position of leadership. WICKED had been wrong all along; Minho was the real leader, not Thomas.

"This is it, shanks," Minho said, loud enough that the Gladers could hear him but not loud enough that the armies would notice them. "This is the moment where history happens, blah blah blah. You guys know it, so I'm not going to get into it. But you all have to believe it. If we fail this last mission then everything we've worked for and survived for is for nothing. And I can't have that. We've all sacrificed too much. Now Ava's army is going to hold off the others long enough for us to get into the facility, but once we're in the rest is up to us. Thomas here has the instructions and all the important things. If he dies then we might as well die too, unless you want to search his dead corpse for the envelope."

Newt rolled his eyes beside Thomas and Thomas himself groaned internally. Thanks, Minho. Really inspiring.

The boy went on. "And—"

Suddenly the sound of gunfire and explosions erupted, and the battle of the three armies commenced. Minho jumped up, his face hard and focused.

"Never mind. Let's head out."

The Gladers crouched low to the ground as they ran. The sounds of battle grew louder as they neared, and Thomas was almost tempted to cover his ears. But they had to find Teresa and get in. Minho, leading the charge, made sure to circle around the outside of the fighting groups. A few people noticed them, but not many cared. The Right Arm wanted both Janson and Ava gone. Janson wanted Ava and The Right Arm gone. Ava wanted Janson and The Right Arm gone. It was a three-way battle with every man for himself, and the Gladers were to be caught right in the middle of it all.

They finally reached the section of the facility where Teresa had blown up the wall. This was on the opposite side of the battle, but there were still a few guards lingering around. As the Gladers came around, guns raised, the guards yelled for them to surrender, despite the fact that they were outnumbered. A few shots went off, and the guards fell to the ground.

As they slowed down and stepped carefully through the rubble, Thomas couldn't help but realise that Teresa wasn't here. Worry filled him; what if she had been captured by the guards? What if she had died in the explosion?

Brenda must have sensed his worries for she came up to his side, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Thomas. We're going to find her. She's strong enough to hold her own."

He nodded, thankful for having her near. At least he hadn't lost both of them yet.

Up ahead, Minho entered into the building, firing off a few quick shots. The others followed him, but there weren't many guards to deal with. Most of them were battling Ava and The Right Arm.

Thomas, Newt, Minho, Harriet, and Sonya met up in a little huddle while the other Gladers secured the hallway. So far neither Dr. West nor her scientists were to be seen. Thomas couldn't imagine what happened to them.

"Do you have the blueprint, Tommy?" Newt asked, shaking him from his thoughts. Thomas reached into the waistband of his pants and pulled out the two envelopes. One of them is the one Ava gave them to give to the authorities once they travel to the past. The other is one they used to store the computer drive to program the time machine (provided it works), the blueprint, and a few other basic instructions. Thomas opened the second envelope and pulled out the blueprint, spreading it out so the five of them can look it over.

The lines were dark and straight against the light blue paper, and it wasn't hard to locate where they were currently at and where they needed to go. Minho used a marker to draw the path they would need to take, and they all committed it to memory.

"Let's just hope Ava can distract Janson's soldiers long enough for us to be able to get down there," Sonya said, and Thomas had to agree. The facility had a lot of stairs and hallways and rooms, and it would take them a while to make it down to the last level. With any luck all of Janson's guards were outside fight and not patrolling the building.

"We have to find Teresa," Thomas insisted, looking around the small group. "I'm not leaving her behind. She deserves to escape just as much as we all do."

"I agree," Newt added. "We're going to have to search every room to make sure the guards didn't tie her up somewhere."

Minho looked like he wanted to argue, but instead he nodded. "Fine. But if we don't find her in the building then we're not going to go back outside. Ava's men are dying to protect us and our chance to go back, and their lives can't be a waste because one of our friends got left behind. Got it?"

Everyone nodded and the group disbanded, all of them going back to the big group. Minho relayed the instructions and everyone began jogging down the hallways. Two or three people would kick open a door and search the room quickly before joining the main group again. It went faster than Thomas would have thought.

Near the fourth level down he kicked open a door, only to find a dozen guns pointed right at his chest. Fear flooded him and he lowered his launcher, yelling at the Gladers behind him to run. Apparently not all of Janson's guards had gone outside.

Behind the guards he saw Dr. West and Teresa, both of them with their hands behind their backs. Teresa made eye contact with him as he was forced to his knees and a gun was pointed at his head. There was so much he wanted to say to her, so much he had to say to her. Now he could only attempt to communicate that with a look.

Then there was the sound of a gun, but it wasn't the guard's gun. Instead the guard himself fell to the floor, a bullet in his chest. The others started to fall before they could open fire on the Gladers behind Thomas. Teresa even stood up, the rope falling from her hands as she jumped into the guards from behind, throwing punches and kicks. Thomas stood up and shot his launcher a few, and in a short manner the guards were all either spasming from the grenades or bleeding out from guns.

Thomas turned to see Brenda in front of the group, her gun now pointed at the floor. He had no doubt that she had been the one to save his life, and he was forever grateful. But there were more pressing matters than his personal life, so he turned to the entire group.

Teresa had untied Dr. West ("They suck at tying ropes. All it took was a few twists and then I was untied myself," Teresa had proclaimed about her sudden attack) and the scientist was rubbing gently at her raw wrists.

"I trust Ava gave you instructions for the time machine," Dr. West said, looking over the weary Gladers. Thomas nodded, and she seemed satisfied. "Good. We need to get down there. Janson killed all my other scientists, but he kept me alive. I guess he hoped I would tell him how to use it or where it was."

The Gladers followed her down stairwells and through hallways. The sound of fighting could be heard in the building now. The walls rocked with the vibrations of explosions and dust rained down from the ceiling. Dr. West looked worried, but she continued to run.

She paused for a minute and pulled out a small tablet from her lab coat pocket, checking some security feeds. Her face turned hard. "Janson knows we're coming down here for this. He's sent a team to come after us. We need to hurry."

She continues running and the others follow. She's faster than all of them, despite being much older. Then again, this is her life's work at risk. If the Gladers can't make it to the past to prevent the Flare then everything she's worked towards was all for nothing. Thomas could understand that.

They reached the final staircase. Thomas sprinted down it, barely keeping himself from falling. One of the Gladers wasn't so lucky, and they actually did tumble down, though they weren't injured beyond scrapes and bruises.

There's a huge chamber with a large doorway covering the entire wall; it looked identical to a Flat Trans, except instead of being flat grey it was a shimmering purple. There was a control computer on the opposite wall, and Thomas could see where to insert the disk drive. He didn't put it in yet. Instead he pulled out the two envelopes and pulled out the instruction sheet from the already open one. He hadn't had time to read it, and Ava wouldn't have included it if it wasn't important.

His face paled as he read it, and his heart dropped. No. This couldn't be right. He looked up and could hear the fight coming closer every passing second. Anger filled him; Ava had lied. Well, not so much lied as excluded certain truths. But it still hurt him.

Thomas returned to the group. "Um, so I figured out how to use this. We'll start the process in a minute. Time is really important, but I think it's more important that we say any goodbyes in case something goes wrong." He tried to clear his throat but there was too much stuck in it. "Yeah."

Newt was the first one who came over to him as everyone else moved, conversations started up. Some tears were shed, but not by Thomas. He just felt numb.

"What's going on, Tommy?" Newt asked, concern in his eyes. Thomas couldn't bear to look him in the eyes.

"The, um, time machine. It needs someone to stay to close the portal. Ava left specific instructions that we would need to close it so no one else could come through. And it needs to be destroyed, too. I have to stay behind." The words barely came out, and even then they came out strained.

Newt's expression hardened. "I'm not going to let you stay behind. We'll figure out a way, but you're not staying behind."

"Yes, I am." Thomas' voice was more level than he thought it would be.

"But why does it have to be you?"

"Because…because it was always meant to be me. WICKED was monitoring us for someone to be the key to the cure, but they always had this plan in their back pocket in case something happened." Thomas pulls his shirt down at the neck, revealing his tattoo from the Scorch Trials. "To be killed by Group B. That's all everything has ever been for. Minho can't stay because he's the leader, just like his tattoo says. You can't stay because you're the glue. Teresa can't stay because she's the betrayer—just like she betrayed me by not telling me she was the one to rig the explosions. We've all only ever been what WICKED has branded us for. And I've only ever been to be killed. So we should accept our fates and just say our goodbyes.

The boy in front of him was obviously not happy with this, but he stopped arguing. Thomas took in a deep breath and continued.

"You're my best friend, Newt. You always have been. We've been through a lot together, and there's no one I would have rather had at my side. You were so loyal and brave, and I can never thank you enough. And I know that whatever happens on the other side of that portal, that time machine, will be successful because you're going to be there, and you're going to help everyone. So thank you."

Newt nodded, his face expressionless. "I always knew you'd be the best out of all of us, even back in the Glade. And there's no one I would have rather followed to this point than you."

That was it. They really didn't have anything else to say to each other. That's the thing with friends; you can always talk about trivial things, but the really deep and profound things have already been said. And neither Thomas nor Newt really wanted to say goodbye.

Minho was next in line. He stood solemn and foreboding for a minute, simply looking at Thomas. Then he extended a hand. "You were a shuckin' good Runner, and an even better friend."

Thomas swallowed hard. "You too, Minho. You always made the hard choices that I could never make and for that I thank you. I trust you'll take care of the others from now on."

He shook Minho's hand and then his friend was gone. There was so much Thomas had wanted to say to him and yet nothing had come out of his mouth. There was so many things to tell, and yet he hadn't been able to say them. Deep down he knew Minho knew what he would have said, and that was the only way he was able to move on.

Then there was Brenda. She didn't say anything at first, just wrapped her arms around him in a firm embrace, her head buried in his shoulder. She was crying, he could tell, and he wished she wouldn't. He wasn't worth crying over.

When she finally pulled away she couldn't bear to look at him, choosing instead to stare at the wall behind. She was silent, so Thomas spoke first. "Hey, it's going to be okay. You're strong enough to handle anything that comes next. I know you can."

She sniffed and nodded, wiping under her eyes in an effort to stay strong. Thomas put a hand on her shoulder and managed a smile. "This is going to be better for you. You're going to be able to have a new life. You won't have to run and be scared anymore. You won't be starving and exhausted anymore. You'll have new friends, a fresh start. It'll be fine."

"But you won't be there," she said softly. "I'm going to miss you a lot. How am I expected to move on and have a fresh start when I'd rather be here with you?"

Her confession cut to Thomas' heart. "It will be hard at first," he admitted, drawing from his own experiences with loss. "Then it will get better. You'll be stronger because of it. You'll find motivation to continue on. Only the weak linger on behind, and you're not weak. And if it makes you feel better, I'd rather be with you than to stay behind."

Brenda smiled then, a small smile, but still a smile. "Thanks, Thomas. I think you're really strong, too. I'll see you again someday. I know it."

Teresa was the last one to come to him. Her blue eyes weren't wet with tears or soft with sorrow. She was too strong for that. They were icy with the strength Thomas had come to appreciate and rely on.

"Hey," he said, not sure what else to say. While he knew exactly what to say to Newt and Minho and Brenda, he was totally lost here. Maybe it was because he didn't know Teresa that well; however, he suspected the opposite. He and Teresa had a history, and maybe he didn't remember it, but they'd been together for so long that everything had been said already. There was nothing left.

Teresa didn't smile like Brenda. She didn't look pained or concerned like Newt. She didn't look hardened like Minho. Instead she looked at him with acceptance. Unlike the others, she understood what it meant to sacrifice everything. She had done the same thing back in the Scorch Trials. She had sacrificed her friendship with the Gladers and her relationship with Thomas just to make sure he lived. Now he's throwing away his life and his chance at a future just to make sure they have that chance. She had accepted that this was the way things were, and that she and the others would deal with the loss of him.

"Make sure you bring down Janson and all his people," Teresa said levelly. "Promise me you'll take them down with you, Tom."

Thomas hesitantly took her hands in his. They were so small and delicate, yet they had wrought so much damage. He remembered her bursting through doors and hallways, shooting guns and launchers and grenade launchers. He remembered her wielding shock sticks and taking hits without flinching. He remembered her dealing out hits without hesitation.

"I will," he promised, holding them tighter. "You too. Take them down before they can even start. Finish this." He let go after a moment to reach into his waistband to pull out the sealed envelope, the one with the information from Ava. "I trust you to do this. Only you."

Teresa took the envelope and tucked it into her waistband. Then she reached up a hand to touch Thomas' cheek. "You were the only one I ever loved," she said quietly. Before he could even respond to that she was gone and he was left alone.

Minho was back, and his voice was hard. "They're coming," he said. "They're on the floor above us. We need to go now."

Thomas nodded and headed over to the computer terminal, sticking the disk drive into the side of the computer and typing in the passcode. The drive began doing its work, and the time machine portal in front of them rippled. The Gladers lined up in front of it, and at Thomas' nod they stepped through. One by one he watched his friends disappear, Teresa the first and Brenda the last.

He waited a few seconds, listening to the soldier's footsteps pound on the floor above him. The ceiling still deposited flakes and dust from the explosions that were rocking the walls. Despite the chaos and destruction around him, he was at peace, a feeling he hadn't felt in forever.

Ever since the Maze Trials he'd been tired and hungry and undernourished. Weary. He would have thought that in these last moments he'd feel it all come crashing down on him, making him really give up. This was the end of his life, the end of all those missions. So why did he feel peaceful instead? Maybe for the same reason he thought he'd feel weary; this was the end, and deep down he was glad it was over. He'd lived more in the last year than more people live in their whole lives.

Thomas started to click on the program to shut the portal down. Janson's troops were even closer; he could hear their heavy footsteps on the stairs, a simple minute or two away. But there was nothing for them to find here. He was the only one, and soon even he would be gone, gone with the explosion that would wipe out the time machine and all of Janson's soldiers.

A voice caught Thomas off-guard, and he turned, looking around for a weapon. But when his eyes made contact with the speaker he stopped.

"Dr. West?" he asked, puzzled. "I though you went through the portal with the others."

The scientist came over, a small smile decorating her face. "I couldn't. If in the past the government finds the Gladers then they are more prone to listen to teenagers. Kids, really. And if they think they are crazy they'll try to help them, not lock them away. I can't go because it might jeopardise the mission."

"You should have." Thomas suddenly felt horrible. He had hoped that he could at least save her, the kind scientist that actually cared about the fate of the kids. He had promised himself he would save her. And now she was standing there, telling him she couldn't go.

"No. You should have." Dr. West gently pushed him away from the computer. "Go. I'll stay behind and shut it down. Go join your friends."

"What? No!" Thomas shook his head. "I can't. Why would you do this? Why would you do this for me? No, tell me why you have done everything you've done. The way you treated us so well while everyone couldn't care less. Why you sheltered us. Why you treated me like I was your son. Tell me."

Dr. West sighed. "Look, Thomas…I…knew your mother. Before the Flare, I knew you."

"What?" How was this possible? What were the odds of this?

"You mother and I went to college together. I majored in various science fields, and she was in statistics. We were good friends. Even after the sun flares and the disease Flare racked the world we stayed in touch. WICKED wanted me for my intelligence, but I wasn't sure I wanted to be a part of it. I foresaw drastic measures happening in the near future, and I didn't want to be a part of it. But your mother tested you for the Flare and you turned out to be immune. She called me and told me that WICKED was the safest place for you, especially if I joined and could keep an eye on you. So I agreed. I'm only here because of you, and I promised her I'd keep you safe and alive. So this is me keeping my promise to my best friend."

Thomas was speechless. He had nothing to say. So instead he hugged her quickly and when he pulled away he offered a "Thank you. I'll never forget you."

Dr. West smiled tightly. "If you make it to the past make sure you find the college me and tell me I'll regret the big hair."

Thomas grinned as he walked to the portal. This little banter was all he could do to keep the tears from falling, to keep the shock from shutting him down. "Will do."

He stood right in front of the portal, taking a deep breath. This was it. The last step. He was about to take it when Dr. West's voice came to him one last time.

"And Thomas?" She smiled at him warmly. "You were named Stephen, after your father. And your mother loved you very much."