The Scorch Trials

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010

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Chapters 50-53Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 50 Summary

While leading Thomas deeper into the mountains, Teresa tells Thomas that she and Aris are a lot closer than Thomas is going to like. In fact, she can communicate telepathically with Aris and was doing so while she was in the Glade. Teresa says that Aris was a huge part of her life before the Maze, and the two always knew they would be reunited eventually. Thomas is taken aback, and notes that Teresa seems to be taking pleasure in the fact that he is speechless. Thomas refuses to believe Teresa, and calls her a liar, saying that she has been lying ever since he met her. Teresa tells Thomas that everything that happened between them has been a part of “a ridiculous test” (289), and that she and Aris are going to do what they were told to do. In the end, she says, WICKED is all that matters.

Thomas is visibly upset, and feels empty inside. Teresa then reveals that Aris is standing right behind Thomas, holding a knife. If Thomas tries anything, Aris will slice his throat. They continue walking until they reach a cave opening. Teresa and Aris talk about how Group B letting Thomas go actually makes things easier for them, and then begin to kiss. Thomas turns away, angrier than he has ever been in his life, and realizes that everything Teresa has done up until now has simply been to get him to this point.

Teresa and Aris continue whispering to each other and stealing kisses, and as Thomas notices a large rectangle of odd light inside the cave, he wonders if Teresa can see on his face just how much she has hurt him. Teresa tells Thomas that she is sorry she hurt him, but that she and Aris simply needed to get him to this point to pass the Scorch Trials. In the end, she says, it was either them or him. When Teresa says that Aris is her best friend, Thomas finally cracks, and yells that he does not care about anything any longer, though he knows deep down it is a lie. Teresa tries reasoning with Thomas, saying that he would have done the same thing to save her. Thomas, deeply hurt by Teresa’s betrayal, tells her to get on with whatever it is she is supposed to do to him.

Chapter 51 Summary

Though Thomas is finished talking to Teresa and Aris, he resolves not to die without putting up a fight, and so bides his time for the best opportunity. Teresa goes to the strange door silhouetted in green light, punches in a code, and the door opens. To Thomas, the room looks like an abandoned freezer with smoke coming out of it. Teresa takes a look inside, and Thomas can deduce that the chamber is a small room made of metal material with small holes in the walls that make a square grid around the room. Teresa tells Thomas that it is now time for him to go inside the small room. Aris tells Thomas to do what he is told and not to try anything. While Thomas walks towards the door, he tries to figure out if he can take Aris on with the knife. Just as he reaches the door, Thomas asks Aris what his best friend Rachel looked like when she bled to death right in front of him. Aris is taken aback, giving Thomas enough time to lunge at him and knock the knife out of his hand. Thomas hits Aris and knocks the wind out of him, but before he can do anything else, Teresa hits Thomas with the butt of her spear. She then hits him again, drawing blood. Thomas hits the floor hard, trying his best not to pass out. He tries to fight off both Aris and Teresa, but the two drag him into the room. As he begs them not to kill him, Thomas realizes that he has a concussion. Teresa tells Thomas that though he is making things harder for all of them and that she truly is sorry. She then thanks Thomas for being “our sacrifice” (297), and slams the door shut.

Chapter 52 Summary

Thomas loses track of time inside the room, and the ache of losing Teresa gnaws at his insides, but he refuses to let himself cry. Eventually, he hears a hissing noise in the room, and sees mist emerging from the holes in the wall. He thinks about how after all he has been through from the very beginning, his fate is to die from poisonous gas. He thinks about how “stupid” his death is after battling Grievers and surviving the Maze. Thomas begins to feel the effects of the gas, and before passing out, thinks again of Teresa and her betrayal.

Chapter 53 Summary

Thomas slips into another memory/dream. In the dream, he is sixteen, and is standing in a room with Teresa and Aris, as well as a girl he does not know. Everyone is forlorn, and Thomas finally tells them that it is time for them to go. Aris says that he will first go into the Swipe, and then into the Maze. Teresa is crying, and runs up to Thomas, hugging him. She says “It’s going to work. It’s all going to work” (300), and then Aris and Thomas leave through a door.

Chapters 50-53 Analysis

All of Thomas’s fears about Teresa betraying him are now realized. Teresa admits that she has been conspiring with Aris to kill Thomas on WICKED’s orders. Aris appears with a knife in his hand, and Thomas must do what the two say or face being stabbed to death. Teresa tells Thomas that she has actually been friends with Aris long before she entered the Maze and befriended Thomas. With every new revelation Thomas is sickened and hurt. He can barely believe that she is the same person he thought he cared for. To make matters worse, when the trio reach the place where Thomas is to be killed, Aris and Teresa kiss, right in front of Thomas. This display of intimacy adds insult to injury, and Thomas has to look away.

These chapters show both Thomas and Teresa at their lowest point. Teresa embodies the role of The Betrayer, which Thomas hoped until this point, was a mistake. Thomas gives in to despair, telling Teresa that she can’t hurt him any more than she has already done. Thomas vows not to die without a fight, and manages to catch Aris off guard just long enough to wrestle him to the ground. Teresa hits Thomas twice in the head with the spear, thereby proving herself to be the ultimate betrayer, and Thomas is thrown into a metal room while Teresa thanks him for being her sacrifice. Whatever hope Thomas held that Teresa might be trying to save him, whatever hope he had for a different outcome, is shattered as Teresa leaves him to be gassed.