Chapter Text
Lawrence’s hands were shaking. They were shaking enough for him to almost lose the grip on the flare he held in his hand. In the other, he clutched a dead flower, withering in his hand.
“Are you sure about this?” A man to his left was tapping his fingers on the trunk of a car, impatiently. “This isn’t the original plan.”
Lawrence gave him a look that told him exactly where he could go.
“All right, all right, I get the point.” Lawrence remained quiet as the man spoke, and kept his eyes on the dark horizon. At the walls.
The pair was standing at the edge of the rebel city, keeping their eyes on the way before them. Lawrence was leaning on the back of a truck filled with explosives that he had gotten his followers to place carefully in the back. Ready at a moment’s notice.
When he remained quiet, the man pushed on. “Lewie?” He asked, but didn’t get an answer. Lawrence only climbed into the truck the pair were standing by, ignoring his fellow completely. He knew what to do, he knew the plan. It was the right choice.
Tonight, they were making their stand against WCKD. They were breaking down the walls. Using the boy Gally and the rebels, Lawrence had a ticket to the city. Gally had worked hard infiltrating the walls, getting a way in. The boy was skilled when it came to technology, and so he had finally proved useful to him. Had gotten Lawrence the ammunition to attack, to infiltrate.
But as his friend- if that was what he was, Lawrence was blanking -had said, the plan was no longer the same. They were to act today, and they were going to act now. The initial idea had been to wait until everyone was asleep to go through with the plan, but when Gally’s friends had come along… things had changed.
He still remembered the meeting clearly, despite the Flare’s tendencies to blur his memories. The leader of the group, the brunet, had bargained.
“What is it that you think I need?” Lawrence had asked. “Time. Every last drop of it.” The boy Gally had called Thomas had replied.
The kid had not been wrong, Lawrence was out of time. Out of Bliss. So was anyone wealthy enough to afford it to begin with.
But the businessman that he was, Lawrence knew when a man was lying. Thomas and his friends would not return, would not bring him any Bliss worth his time. They did not plan to do so in the least.
If he was to be betrayed, then so would they. An eye for an eye.
He’d granted them their short visit, and it was for one reason only, but not what they thought. Not to give them a preview. No, it was to confirm his suspicions.
The tall friend that Thomas had brought, the blond, had caught his eye. And upon seeing him returning after the hard journey under the walls, Lawrence had been sure. The boy was, as well as himself, infected.
And if Thomas had blinded himself enough not to see it, he cared enough to stay with him. Even if he risked his life.
Lawrence had seen it before, that complete ignorance to the Flare’s symptoms. To the gait, the temper. Just the feel of them was off. And when people ignored the facts, it always meant the same thing.
They wouldn't recognize it until it was too late. People who love will keep thinking there’s time to spare when there isn’t.
With those facts in mind, Lawrence had changed one large detail about his plan. It was to happen tonight. When the boys were still behind the walls, as opposed to later, after a few more weeks of planning.
Whatever business Thomas had in the city Lawrence didn’t know, but he knew that WCKD was where they would be at. He knew when they would arrive. Knew when to cut their escape routes.
So Lawrence would let them enter, but he would make sure they would not return.
Two birds with one stone. That was it. He was going to cheat a cheater, but most importantly- he was going to right those who had done him wrong. Take down WCKD. Take down the city. That was still the priority. But he felt clever luring the liars into his trap. Feeling the constant threat of the Flare, Lawrence marveled at feeling of outsmarting them.
The Flare had already taken so much from him. His body, his movements and partly, his memories. He was still wondering who exactly he was standing with, who would call him “Lewie”.
So much had been taken, that he did not balk at the task before him. This plan was going to take his life, he knew that more than well. But the Flare would have killed him sooner or later, despite the few shipments of Bliss he’d gotten his hands on.
If he was going to die, then WCKD was going down with him.
“They have a name, for people like us.” Lawrence found himself repeating his speech to the rebels to himself. “They call us cranks!” He smiled with his broken lips, and finally turned to the man waiting on the ground.
“Jesper” -that was his name, he remembered now- “Get in the driver’s seat.”
The man looked nervous, and Lawrence suspected it wasn’t for the illness flowing in his veins that he trembled like a leaf when he followed instructions. The engine growled as it started.
“They are the ones who started this war. But tonight, we finish it.” The crowd had cheered when he had said those words, when he had rallied them, not long ago. Yet still Jesper was scared. He wanted to shout at the man, to scream at his cowardice, but didn’t. He knew it was the virus in his veins talking- only the Bliss keeping him from following its orders.
Instead of yelling, Lawrence pounded twice at the roof of the car, alerting Jesper that he was ready to go. The truck rolled up to the cleared pathway, and at last the people, the rebels, gathered among them, ready to cheer.
Every single one of them was armed, werther it was with a gun or a home-made shiv. And everyone was ready to fight.
He let out a final cry, a final sentence.
“To finishing this war!”
His screech was immediately answered by the crowd, and at his signal the car accelerated. They cheered like it was the last thing they were ever to do, and Lawrence didn’t need to look back to know that some had already begun running in their tracks.
But soon the cheers were drowned out by the wind in Lawrence’s dying ears. He kept his eyes open despite them watering, wanting to savor this moment that he’d waited for. He looked, and saw the car was on course, heading straight for the wall. The end destination.
Lawrence lighted the flare in his hand, and was not shaking anymore. Red plumes of smoke erupted around him, making sure to draw WCKD’s full attention on him. Finally.
The wall was closing rapidly, Lawrence started his internal reassuring chant.
Rose took my nose, I suppose.
Rose took my nose, I suppose.
Rose took my nose-