Page 1 (1/2)

CHAPTER 1

It was the s alone for over three weeks Not the white walls, ceiling and floor Not the lack of s or the fact that they never turned off the lights None of that They’d taken his watch; they fed him the exact same meal three times a day--slab of ham, mashed potatoes, raw carrots, slice of bread, water--never spoke to him, never allowed anyone else in the rooah he’d begun to doubt his tracking of tiuess when night had fallen, made sure he only slept what felt like norh they didn’t seeularly As if he was meant to feel disoriented

Alone In a padded room devoid of color--the only exceptions a small, almost-hidden stainless-steel toilet in the corner and an old wooden desk that Thomas had no use for Alone in an unbearable silence, with unlimited time to think about the disease rooted inside hi virus that slowly took away everything that made a person human

None of this drove him crazy

But he stank, and for so into the solid block of his sanity They didn’t let hie of clothes since he’d arrived or anything to clean his body with A siave hi, only the dirty clothes he’d been wearing when they locked hi--he slept all curled up, his butt wedged in the corner of the roo so

He didn’t knohy the stench of his own body was the thing that scared hin that he’d lost it But for soainst his , deco as rancid as his outside felt

That orried him, as irrational as it seeh water to quench his thirst; he got plenty of rest, and he exercised as best he could in the sic told hith of your heart or the functioning of your lungs All the sa stench represented death rushing in, about to s hi toafter all that last time they’d spoken, when she’d said it was too late for Thomas and insisted that he’d succumbed to the Flare rapidly, had become crazy and violent That he’d already lost his sanity before co to this awful place Even Brenda had warned hiet bad Maybe they’d both been right

And underneath all that was the worry for his friends What had happened to the to theirthey’d been subjected to, was this hoas all going to end?

The rage crept in Like a shivering rat looking for a spot of war day caht hi uncontrollably before he reeled the fury back in and pocketed it He didn’t want it to go away for good; he only wanted to store it and let it build Wait for the right tiht place, to unleash it WICKED had done all this to him WICKED had taken his life and those of his friends and were using them for whatever purposes they deemed necessary No matter the consequences

And for that, they would pay Thomas swore this to hih histhe door--and the ugly wooden desk in front of it--in what he guessed was the lateof his twenty-second day as a captive in the white roo breakfast, after exercising Hoping against hope that the door would open--actually open, all the way--the whole door, not just the little slot on the bottoh which they slid his et the door open hi there but the s, just in case soically appeared while he slept Those things happened so with WICKED

And so he sat, staring at that door Waiting White walls and silence The smell of his own body Left to think about his friends--Minho, Newt, Frypan, the other few Gladers still alive Brenda and Jorge, who’d vanished fro Harriet and Sonya, the other girls fro to him after he’d woken up in the white room the first time How had she spoken in his ht about Teresa He couldn’t get her out of his head, even though he hated her a littleht or wrong, to Thos that had happened Every tie boiled inside hi him to sanity as he waited

Eat Sleep Exercise Thirst for revenge That hat he did for three more days Alone

On the twenty-sixth day, the door opened

CHAPTER 2

Tho, countless times What he would do, what he would say How he’d rush forward and tackle anyone who cahts were al He knew that WICKED wouldn’t let so like that happen No, he’d need to plan out every detail before he made his move

When it did happen--when that door popped open with a slight puffing sound and began to side--Tho So told him an invisible barrier had appeared between him and the desk--like back in the dorms after the Maze The tihtest hint of surprise when the Rat Man walked in--the guy who’d told the Gladers about the last trial they’d been forced on, through the Scorch Sareasy hair, combed over an obvious bald spot that took up half his head Same ridiculous white suit He looked paler than the last ti a thick folder filled with dozens of crinkled anda straight-backed chair