[ thomas is quiet for a few long moments, his gaze dropping slightly and shifting back and forth as he thinks. on the one hand, locking up the infected would keep both the community and the infected safe. on the other hand, thomas thinks of winston. they all knew what turning into a crank would do to a person, and winston had chosen death over letting the virus claim him. he'd chosen freedom over a prison.

if he's honest, thomas doesn't really like the sound of locking people up. brenda and jorge had chained up a bunch of cranks outside of their hideout, used them as guard dogs, and at the time, thomas hadn't really thought much of it. there really wasn't time to think about it at all, but he has time now, and the thought of chaining winston up like that just... he wouldn't be able to do it.

thomas looks up, studies majima for a moment. ]

What if nobody can help them? Wicked's been trying for years and all they've got to show for it is a bunch of dead kids in a bunch of different mazes. We— [ thomas cuts himself off for a second, because he can feel himself getting worked up, and he'd rather not do so in front of majima. he breathes out, tries again. ] We don't even know if that's what's actually happening here.

[ even if it does seem really likely. even if there's a lot of evidence to back up the theory. ]