73 pages • 2 hours read
James DashnerA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Thomas hears a girl screaming after dark. Though he thinks he might be imagining it, when the other Gladers catch on and everyone stops, they hear the unmistakable sounds of “the kind of noise that made your skin crawl and made you press your hands to your ears and pray it went away” (105). Minho says the sounds remind him of Gladers who are going through the Changing, and for a second, Frypan fears that they might have to face Grievers again. Newt tries to reassure them that the dirt and air are too much for a Griever’s body to handle.
The group stops to rest and eat, and their conversations center on the Rat Man and the Variables. As the Gladers start out on their trek again, Thomas realizes that there are a lot more buildings up ahead than he previously thought; it looks like a major city that has been devastated by an apocalypse.
Thomas talks to Aris again, asking him about his experience in the Maze in detail. To Thomas’s amazement, Aris relays an experience almost identical to his and Teresa’s experience. The main difference is that fewer of the girl group died when trying to exit the Maze. Though Thomas still finds it uncanny that the two groups experienced the same Variables, Aris says he has an idea why there are two groups. His first idea is that WICKED is trying to weed out the best from both groups for some reason, possibly even to breed them. His second idea is that instead of weeding out guys and girls from both groups, WICKED wants to weed out an entire group.
When the group finally stops for a “potty break,” Thomas notices a building just a few minutes away from them, and wonders why they did not notice it before. As he and Minho observe the building, two things happen at once. The piercing screams of the mystery girl suddenly stop, and a girl appears from the building, with “long hair flowing from her shadowed head like black silk” (111).
Upon seeing the girl emerge from the building, Thomas’s first instinct is to hope that the girl is Teresa. As if reading his mind, Newt wonders aloud if the girl is Teresa. Minho suggests that they all go over to the girl in case she is laying a trap for them with Group B. Thomas, hoping that the girl is Teresa, tells the others that he will go first to assess the danger. That way, if it is a trap, not all of them will be in danger. Though Newt and Minho think it is a bad idea, Thomas does not give them a chance to say no, and heads off in the girl’s direction. Getting closer, Thomas realizes that the girl is indeed Teresa. When he is a few feet away, however, she turns and enters the building again.
Though the inside of the building is darker than outside, Thomas follows Teresa, realizing how reckless his actions are. Despite Teresa’s odd behavior, however, Thomas doesn’t think that Teresa will hurt him. Thomas tries calling out to Teresa again, but she does not respond. He thinks briefly about trying to reach her telepathically, but decides against it, and waits in the dark. Finally, Teresa lights a candle. To Thomas’s surprise, Teresa is completely clean from head to toe. Thomas thinks that she is even more beautiful than he remembers. Teresa appears to be crying, and Thomas tries to reach out and touch her, but she yells for him to stay away, which makes him feel as if he has been punched in the gut. As Teresa’s body shakes and struggles, Thomas realizes that her movements are just like Gally’s when he was being controlled by WICKED. Thomas tries to speak again, but Teresa rushes forward and hugs him, and the two kiss.
Suddenly, Teresa pulls away and tells Thomas that he and the others need to get away from her. She tells him not to argue, but to run away and get as far away from her as possible. Though shocked at her words, Thomas knows Teresa is telling the truth, and understands the willpower it must have taken for her to warn him. He tells Teresa that he will find her, and then runs away from the building.
Thomas returns to the Gladers and tells them that they have to run away, that their lives are in danger if they remain. He promises to explain everything later but, without waiting for the others to follow, he breaks out in a run toward the city. As he runs away, he thinks leaving Teresa is the hardest thing he has had to do so far, but takes comfort in knowing that she is alive. After two or three hours of running, he finally stops, exhausted. He can see the other Gladers trying to catch up with him, and Minho reaches him first, visibly upset. Minho yells at him for leaving them behind like that, and for taking off without an explanation.
Thomas apologizes, saying that the situation had been traumatizing. He tells Minho and the others that the girl was Teresa, that she was being controlled in the same way that Gally had been controlled, and that she warned him to flee. He tells the Gladers about everything, except the kiss. Though Thomas thinks that WICKED will make Teresa pay for warning them, Minho reasons that Teresa is a lot stronger than that, and that if they wanted her dead they would have killed her already. Though the sun is coming up again, Minho also states that the Gladers need some rest and so the group settles down to eat and sleep.
With the appearance of Teresa, Thomas’s resolve is tested again. Though he knows it is reckless to follow her, emotions cloud his judgment and he walks into what is probably a trap. However, Thomas feels that Teresa will not harm him. The interesting aspect of the encounter is that Thomas and the others know that WICKED can control their minds and actions, yet Thomas holds out hope that Teresa, regardless of the task she must perform, will not harm him. Indeed, Teresa warns Thomas that he and the others are not safe, and that they must flee from her at once. Thomas must do what he says is the hardest thing he has done so far, which is run away from the girl he has been trying to find this whole time. The experience is a traumatic one for Thomas, and as he runs, he cries. The short encounter is made even more bittersweet by the fact that Teresa and Thomas hugged, and kissed passionately. Both the encounter with Teresa and Thomas’s reaction highlights that fact that this is a Young Adult novel at heart, and that these are teenagers forced to deal with death-defying events. Love and hurt, as well as betrayal, are factors that sometimes outweigh sound judgment. Though Thomas wants to keep Teresa safe, he must deal with the fact that WICKED can, and is, using Teresa as a Variable against him to see how he responds.
By James Dashner