Crashing and banging woke me up. Jason and the doctor were on the floor. I sprung up to see the last person I expected. Teresa. She was frantically pulling the wires off me.
"Teresa? What are- what are you doing here?"
"What the hell were you thinking! You were gonna kill yourself!"
"I-" I looked into her eyes, confused as to why she was crying. But she wasn't just crying. She was in hysterics. "Why did you come back for me?"
She sniffed, wiping her face dry with her sleeve. "I couldn't just leave my little sister to die, could I?"
It was like a light bulb in my brain switched on. When I first met her in the glade, and I thought we'd met before, it wasn't just a silly feeling. We had met before. I've known her my whole life.
The memories started to fade back, the bulb glowing brighter. For once, the memories weren't just out of reach. They were flowing back. Quicker than I could comprehend. Her face, but younger, her arms around me. Our mother...
"We need to go before-" She was cut off by Janson grabbing hold of her hair and yanking her back.
"No!" I picked up a knife from the trolley and jabbed it into his leg. He screamed, letting go.
I felt the floor shake beneath me. Outside the window, I could see the city burning. Buildings crumbling. They were taking the building down with us inside it.
"Come on!" I pulled her up from the floor and dragged her away.
She took the lead, knowing the building better than I did. Showing me where to go. I turned around for a split second to check behind us, and to my horror, Jason was pursuing us readying his gun to shoot.
"Teresa!" I yelled, pushing her around the corner as the gunshots went off.
We stumbled into a room with automatic doors. What I thought was some sort of sanitiser went off, blowing smoke out.
My head felt dizzy from all of the action, and my stomach was aching. Burning? A lot. I reached out to where it was hurting and looked down at my blood covered hand.
"We have to get out of here -" Teresa paused. "Y/n?"
Pulling up the bottom of my shirt to reveal a bullet wound, red trickling down my stomach. I needed to sit down, I felt like fainting.
"Shit!" She fell down next to me. Scrambling on the floor for something to put on my wound. She held some fabric against it. "Put pressure on it."
"You have to go."
"No."
The sanitiser went off again. Janson. Teresa quickly hid, and I dragged myself behind the counter I was leaning against. My energy was fading fast, I wasn't going to make it out of here. Why didn't she just save herself?
"Y/n? Teresa?" He beconned. "It's ironic that the only two left are the two sisters. Surely you've figured that out by now, Y/n?"
I could hear his footsteps. "You were willing to sacrifice yourself before Y/n. Why the sudden change of mind?"
Teresa gasped, and there was panicked movement.
"Where is she?" He growled.
"She can't cure you."
"She's an immune. Why should she get to be protected from the virus while the rest of us suffer? Why should any of you?"
I peered around the corner to see Janson poiting his gun at her, about a metre away.
"We didn't ask for this. None of us did. It's just the way we are." She pulled out a vile of blue liquid from her pocket, holding it up so he could see."This will cure you. Just take it and let us go. No one else has to die."
He let out a manichial laugh. "The only reason you've lived this long is because you're immune and were smart enough to betray your friends. Even your own blood."
I struggled to my feet, grabbing my spare knife from my boot.
You didn't deserve it. You never earned it."
"We never earned it?" Her brows furrowed."Our whole lives, we've been struggling to survive. Not just from the virus, or the scorch, or the cranks. From wicked. From you."
I limped up behind him, seizing the opportunity while he was distracted.
Teresa looked at me for a split second, and I took the permission to do it. "The only person who deserves to die is you."
I stabbed the knife into his neck. He gurgled and fell to the floor, looking up at me with wide eyes as he choked on his own blood. "That was for Newt you son of a bitch."
I kneeled down next to him and he pleaded with his eyes. No mercy, he didn't deserve it. "You were right, wicked did underestimate. So did you. I am a killer, but I'm nothing like you." I looked behind me at the two cranks behind a glass wall, trying to get out.
Janson shook his head as much as he could move it. I threw the knife at the glass and it sliced into it, cracking from all directions and shattering. Moving back into to Teresa's body, I watched as the cranks fell on him, tearing at his flesh. Unable to scream.
Teresa pulled me away into the corridor again. The whole building was on fire now.
She took us over to the basement stairs. Flames were creeping up the stairs below. The only way we could go was up. The heat was unbarable, my clothes and hair sticking to my skin. Struggling up the stairs, we made it to the top and onto the open balcony.
The flames were surrounding the whole of the building, engulfing it. We tried to turn back, but the flames had already reached the top of the stairs. There was nowhere to go. I couldn't hold myself up anymore and let myself drop. She stumbled beside me, pulling me close, looking around for somewhere to go, but there wasn't.
"It's over." I heaved.
She looked at me with a knowing expression, that this was it. There was no way out of this.
"I'm so sorry." She sobbed "for everything."
"Don't be."
She pushed the little vile into my hands. I clasped it. Sweat dripping from my hands, and pushed it into my pocket.
I began to get comfortable with the concept of my death, diving back into my memories. The flames faded away and it went cold. Teresa was holding me, like she was now, but we were in a room. On a bed, she was stroking my hair.
A loud noise brought me back. A berg emerged from the below the building.
Teresa gripped tighter onto me. Her optimism seemed to grow at the sight of the berg. "Come on!"
She dragged me up and we staggered towards the berg. The weight of my own body became heavier with every step. Just let me die.
At the edge of the building, I could see Minho on the berg. Relief came over me, knowing that he was safe. His hand was reaching out to me."You gotta jump!"
The weight of my own arm was so heavy, but I reached out as far as I could. The blow of building being shot rocked my balance, and Teresa's hold on me tightened.
"Get closer!" She yelled.
The berg was struggling but inched slightly closer to the building. I knew I wasn't going to make it to the berg unless I jumped for it. I was too tired to even consider jumping. Teresa must have known this because she shoved me hard. Minho grabbed one of my arms, and someone else grabbed the other, heaving me aboard. His muscular arms wrapped around me, pulling me into his chest as repeated over and over. "You're ok, you're ok."
I looked back at Teresa, still on the building. Vince shouted at her to jump, but a tall building beside her collapsed onto the one she was standing on. She fell to the floor with a yell. I watched her get back up to her feet, and look up at me. She didn't look scared, she just smiled. Like she was happy knowing I was safe.
By the time I realised what was happening, it was too late. The building collapsed beneath her. She fell as the gorging flames swallowed her up, taking the last family I had left.
I didn't have it in me to cry. I could feel myself slipping away. I didn't try and fight it. There was no point in trying now. I may as well just let it take me, like falling asleep.
It felt nice to finally let go.