The Kill Order

The Kill Order is the fourth book in the five-book Maze Runner series and a prequel to the first three books. It is not necessary to know the plot of the first three novels to understand The Kill Order, but knowledge of those books provides context for the novel’s importance to the series.

The first book, The Maze Runner (2009), features the protagonists, Thomas and Theresa, part of a group of young people who arrive in a place called the Glade at monthly intervals with no memory except for their names. There are tall walls around the Glade that open at regular intervals onto a Maze inhabited by ferocious biomechanical creatures called Grievers. Theresa is the last Glader to arrive, and after her arrival, new supply shipments cease, and the wall remains open so the Grievers can attack the Gladers on a daily basis. Thomas and Theresa lead the group in an escape attempt through the Maze. They make it through and enter a building that contains the Box—the elevator that deposits people and supplies into the Glade. Once there, they are rescued and taken to a warehouse where they learn they have been part of an experiment run by the World in Catastrophe: Killzone Experiment Department (WICKED) in order to find a cure for a virus called the Flare.

In The Scorch Trials (2010), the second book in the series, Thomas and the other survivors are now experiment Group A in a WICKED facility. They wake in a dorm-like room, as people infected with the Flare—called Cranks—break in and attack them. Theresa is missing and has been replaced with a boy from Group B. They meet a WICKED scientist nicknamed Rat Man, who tells them they must go through the Scorch—a wasteland created by solar flares—and find sanctuary. They travel through a Flat Trans—a device that allows instantaneous travel—where they find Theresa. Thomas gets separated from his friends with a girl named Brenda. His friends find them, but in the process, Thomas is shot and becomes infected with the virus. Thomas is taken away in a Berg to receive treatment, and when he returns, Theresa arrives as the leader of Group B. She tries to convince Thomas she never liked him and even kisses another boy. Later, Theresa tells Thomas that this is a test she was forced to perform by WICKED. After a fight with WICKED creatures, Thomas forces his way onto a Berg with Brenda and Jorge. The guards try to make Thomas choose between his friends, and he chooses Brenda, only to learn it was a test. Thomas wakes later in isolation and receives a telepathic communication from Theresa telling him that WICKED is not evil.

The third book, The Death Cure (2011), begins with Thomas still in isolation. He meets with Rat Man and learns that all the Gladers have been exposed to the Flare. Rat Man tells him that most of them are immune, but a few, including Thomas’s friend Newt, are infected. WICKED implanted microchips in the Gladers’ brains to block their memories, and Rat Man tells Thomas and his friends they can have the microchips removed. Thomas and two others refuse because they do not trust WICKED. Thomas and his friends escape and travel to Denver, where they learn there are many Cranks in the cities. They also learn WICKED is kidnapping Immunes. Thomas and his friends have a former WICKED employee remove their chips. Newt has disappeared, and Thomas goes to rescue him, but finds him living with Cranks because he is infected. When Thomas later sees Newt in Denver, he shoots him in a mercy killing, which Newt requested in a note. Thomas agrees to return to WICKED to have brain surgery that could result in a cure for the virus but manages to plant a device that allows the rebel group, Right Arm, to storm the complex. Thomas and the others find the Immunes who were kidnapped and use a Flat Trans to escape to a paradise-like place to wait for the infected to die out. Theresa dies in the escape. Thomas and Brenda develop a relationship.

The epilogue of the third book reveals society was destroyed by solar flares, which left too many survivors and too few resources. As a result, the virus was manufactured and used to reduce the population, but it was untested and acted in unexpected ways. WICKED used Immunes to find a cure, but when they realized a cure was impossible, they set up a safe location for the Immunes, giving them a chance to survive and rebuild civilization.