The Death Cure

The Rat Man returns with a team of doctors and names a couple of Gladers who will remain in that room for the procedure. He asks the rest to follow him. At the first room, he calls both Newt and Frypan. Newt immediately tells the Rat Man he does not want the procedure, but Frypan changes his mind and, without much explanation to his friends, enters the room.

At the final room, the Rat Man calls both Minho and Thomas. Both announce they opted against the procedure. The Rat Man stares at Thomas, apparently upset and confused by the decision. They learn the Rat Man’s real name is Assistant Director Janson. Inside the room where Minho and Thomas should have been getting their memories back, Brenda jumps out to hug Thomas. She whispers, “Don’t trust them. Do not trust them. Only me and Chancellor Paige, Thomas. Ever. No one else” (42).

Before the boys can make a run for it, the Rat Man explains there are armed guards on their way and that the boys are being watched. When the guards arrive, the Rat Man orders that the boys be brought back to their rooms so they can have time to reflect before their first tests in the morning.

The guards drag the boys down several corridors until finally arriving at a door. All three boys get placed in the same room with two bunks. Thomas tells Minho and Newt what Brenda told him back in the procedure room, but neither boy believes her words. Thomas begins to think he remembers things from before his memory was wiped, including how he thought a cure was what mankind needed. But, he tells the boys he can’t see how the few immune would be able to survive with all the sick anyway. They go to sleep after agreeing they will take a chance to escape in the morning.

That night, Thomas dreams about his mother telling him to eat his cereal, which he does to the last bite. The dream is fragmented, full of half-memories about his parents being diagnosed with the disease. He dreams about when he was sent to WICKED as a young boy whose mother did not want him to watch her go insane: “Later she tells Thomas that she loves him and is so glad that he’ll never go through what they witnessed happen to his dad. The madness took away every ounce of what made him who he was—what made him human” (52).

In the morning, the Rat Man wakes them up and tells them that despite their decision, they are getting their memories back.

Janson explains they must have their memories back because “nothing’s going to work” with them “still in the dark” (53). Newt is angry and the guards threaten him. Suddenly, Minho announces that getting their memories back makes sense, but he gives Thomas a look, motioning to the door. Thomas thinks he has a plan. In the corridor, Newt attacks the Rat Man after Janson calls them “subjects.” After the attack, Thomas tells the boys he thinks it is time to do what they are supposed to do. “It was now or never” (56).

Thomas, Minho, and Newt attack the guards. One of the guards hits Thomas with a Launcher and the boys end up failing to subdue the guards and are subdued themselves. Thomas tells Janson that he was just a kid when he was brainwashed. The Rat Man tells the guards to have the Swipe removed from each boy separately and suggests they put Brenda in Thomas’s room for the procedure. The guards bring Thomas to a procedure room and wrestle him onto a stretcher. Brenda tells Thomas he will thank he for what she is about to do.

One of the guards urges Brenda to hurry. “Brenda gave the man a stern look, but didn’t say anything. Then she gazed at Thomas and surprised him with a slight wink. ‘Once I inject the sedative, you’ll be asleep in seconds. Do you understand?’ She stressed that last word, then subtly winked again” (61). Brenda prepares the syringe and turns around to give him the injection.