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"I represent a group called WICKED," Rat Man continued "I know it sounds , but it stands for World In Catastrophe, Killzone Experi about it, despite what you may think We exist for one purpose and one purpose only: to save the world from catastrophe You here in this room are a vital part of e plan to do We have resources never known to any group of any kind in the history of civilization Nearly unliy advanced beyond even the most clever h the Trials, you have seen and will continue to see evidence of this technology and the resources behind it If I can tell you anything today, it is that you should never, ever believe your eyes Or your mind, for thatbodies and the bricked-up s All I will say is that sometimes what you see is not real, and sometimes what you do not see is real We can manipulate your brains and nerve receptacles when necessary I know this all sounds confusing and a little scary, perhaps"

Thoreater understate around his head His scarcely revived rasp what it meant, but he’d first seen it on the metal plaque back in the Maze, the one that had spelled out the words that made up WICKED’s acronym

The man slowly passed his eyes over every Glader in the room His upper lip shone with sweat "The Maze was a part of the Trials Not one Variable was thrown at you that didn’t serve a purpose for our collection of killzone patterns Your escape was part of the Trials Your battle against the Grievers The murder of the boy Chuck The supposed rescue and subsequent trip in the bus All of it Part of the Trials"

Anger swelled in Thomas’s chest at the mention of Chuck He’d half risen to his feet before he knehat had come over him; Newt pulled him back down to the floor

As if spurred by this, Rat Man quickly stood up froainst the wall behind him Then he placed his hands on the desk and leaned toward the Gladers

"All of it has been part of the Trials, you understand? Phase One, to be exact And we are still dangerously short of e need So we’ve had to up the ante, and now it’s tiet difficult"

CHAPTER 11

The room lapsed into silence Thomas knew he should be upset by the absurd notion that up to this point things had been easy for them The idea should’ve terrified hi their brains But instead, he was so intensely curious to find out what theto tell them, the words had merely washed across his mind

Rat Man waited for an eternity, then slowly lowered himself back into the chair and scooted forward to sit behind the desk once more "Youyour ability to survive On the surface, the Maze Trial could be mistakenly classified that way But I assure you―this is not merely about survival and the will to live That’s only part of this experi you won’t understand until the very end

"Sun flares have ravaged many parts of the earth Also, a disease unlike any before known tothe earth’s people―a disease called the Flare For the first ti ones―are working together They’ve coht the new probleht And you’ll have every incentive to ith us, because, sad to say, each one of you has already caught the virus"

He quickly held up his hands to cut off the rus that started "No! No need to worry―the Flare takes a while to set in and show symptoms But at the end of these Trials, the cure will be your reward, and you’ll never see thedebilitating effects Not many can afford the cure, you know"

Thomas’s hand instinctively went up to his throat, as if a soreness there were the first indicator that he’d caught the Flare He remembered all too hat the woman on the rescue bus had told him after the Maze About how the Flare destroyed your brain, slowly driving you insane and stripping you of the capacity to feel basic human emotions like compassion or empathy About how it turned you into less than an anih the dorm s, and he suddenly wanted to run to the bathrooht―they had all the incentive they needed to h of this history lesson and ti," Rat Man continued "We know you now All of you It doesn’t matter what I say or what’s behind the mission of WICKED You’ll all do whatever it takes Of this we have no doubt And by doing e ask, you’ll save yourselves by getting the very cure so roan next to hi out another one of his smart-aleck remarks Thomas shushed him before he could do it

Rat Man looked down at thein the open folder, picked up a loose piece of it, then turned it over, barely glancing at its contents He cleared his throat "Phase Two The Scorch Trials It officially begins to at six o’clock You’ll enter this room, and in the wall behind me you will find a Flat Trans To your eyes the Flat Trans will appear as a shih it by five ain, it opens at six o’clock and closes five minutes after that Do you understand?"

Thomas stared at Rat Man, transfixed It aler weren’t really there The other Gladers must’ve felt the same, because no one answered the simple question What was a Flat Trans, anyway?

"I’m quite certain you can all hear," Rat Man said "Doyouunderstand?"

Thomas nodded; a few boys around him murmured quiet yeahs and yeses

"Good" Rat Man absently picked up another piece of paper and turned it over "At that point, the Scorch Trials will have begun The rules are very simple Find your way to open air, then head due north for one hundred miles Make it to the safe haven within teeks’ time and you’ll have completed Phase Two At that point, and only at that point, you’ll be cured of the Flare That’s exactly teeks―starting the second you step through the Trans If you don’t make it, eventually you’ll end up dead"

The roouments, questions, panic But no one said a word Thoue had dried up into an old, crusty root

Rat Man quickly sla its contents even more than before, then put it away in the drawer from which he’d retrieved it He stood, stepped to the side and pushed the chair underneath the desk Finally, he folded his hands in front of him and returned his attention to the Gladers

"It’s simple, really," he said, his tone so iven them instructions on how to turn on the showers in the bathroouidelines You have few supplies, and there’s nothing to help you along the way Go through the Flat Trans at the time indicated Find open air Go one hundred miles, directly north, to the safe haven Make it or die"

The last word seemed to finally snap everyone out of their stupor, all of the up at once "What’s a Flat Trans?"

"How’d we catch the Flare?"

"How long till we see symptoms?"

"What’s at the end of the hundred miles?"

"What happened to the dead bodies?"