The Death Cure

Thomas is pulled to the ground to avoid being hit by gunfire. They hide behind some crates, and Jorge says they need to start shooting back before they are flanked. Minho plans the attack and tells Jorge to scout a way to the Berg, the ship, so they can get away.

Once Jorge spots the Berg, Minho and Newt cover Jorge, Thomas, and Brenda as they make a run for the ship. Before they can make it, a Launcher grenade hits Brenda. Thomas feels helpless watching her and can do nothing to stop the electricity pulsing through her body. Minho and Newt abandon their posts when they see Brenda is hit and run toward the Berg. They help Thomas carry her to the ship.

When they reach the ship, the boys are out of ammo and the guards begin to charge, firing. Thomas tries to get in the ship but something hits him in the head. He falls and everything goes dark.

Thomas feels helpless. He cannot control his body or see. He hears the engines of the Berg. “He immediately thought they were leaving him. First Teresa and the others, now his closest friends and Jorge. He couldn’t take any more betrayal. It hurt too much” (95). His vision clears, and he sees a couple guards standing over him.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Minho and Newt tackle them to the ground, and Jorge shoots his Launcher in all directions. Thomas drags himself toward the ship. “He made it halfway. Turned to look at his friends. They were backing toward him, all three now firing. Minho had to stop and reload, and Thomas just knew he’d get shot or blasted with a grenade. But his friend finished and started up again. The three of them reached the bottom of the hatch door, so close now” (97). They make it into the ship and the doors close.

Thomas wakes up to Brenda looking down at him. She tells him they have slept for 10 hours and that the ship is now in a clearing so Jorge can get some sleep. Thomas has never been outside, so he asks Brenda to tell him about it. She explains that there are some safe cities they could go to and find jobs. She also tells him that Jorge tracked where the others went: Denver. “Thomas didn’t care so much about the location, he just knew that he had to find Teresa and the others, be reunited. He wasn’t quite sure why yet, and he certainly wasn’t ready to discuss it with Brenda” (99).

They begin to talk more about Brenda’s past, and she reveals that she met Jorge in Alaska and that he became like an uncle to her. Thomas questions why she went to work for WICKED if they killed her father, and she tells him she did it to survive. “Thomas didn’t respond, didn’t know what to say. All he knew of life was the Maze and the Scorch and the splotchy memories of his childhood with WICKED. He felt empty and lost, like he really didn’t belong anywhere” (101). They agree to go to Denver because the others went there. Brenda tells Thomas there is something even more important there.

Brenda reveals that a man named Hans lives in Denver. He is a doctor who is immune. He once worked for WICKED and knows about the brain implants. Because WICKED can track them through Thomas’s implant, it needs to be removed. They agree to consult Minho and Newt about Denver, and Brenda gets up to leave the room. Before she leaves, she kisses Thomas on the cheek.

They gather together to debate where to go, and, after a long argument, they all agree Denver is the best place. Thomas wants to be alone and goes to a quiet place in the ship. There, he falls asleep and once again dreams.

He dreams he is twelve years old and sitting across from an older man. The older man mentions the telepathy progress between Thomas and Teresa. Then the older man asks why they are there. “Because of the Flare,” Thomas responds, but the man wants him to elaborate. It is revealed that the Flare was a biological weapon released after sun flares hit the earth. “The dreaming Thomas turns and runs away, runs into the darkness” (106).