Page 11 (1/2)

"I don’t know," Newt said "Then they "

Thouesses and see for hiainst "We won’t know till we investigate Let’s go" He whipped out his sheet, then pulled it over hihtly around his face like an old woirl I’ve ever seen," Minho responded "You better thank the gods above you were born a dude"

"Thanks"

Minho and Newt did as Thorip the sheet with their hands under it so they were completely covered They also held it out to make sure their faces were shaded Tho at Newt, then Thomas

"Kind of excited, actually," Newt responded

Thoht word, but he felt the sa steps above them went all the way to the top, like an exit fro with the brilliance of the sun Minho hesitated, but then ran up thely absorbed into the light

"Go!" Newt yelled, s Tho out a deep breath, he took off after Minho; he heard Newt right on his heels

As soon as Thoht as well have been draped in see-through plastic The sheet did nothing to block the blinding light and searing heat beating down from above He opened his mouth to speak and a raw plu to obliterate any air or en, but instead it felt like soh his memories were few and scattered, Thomas didn’t think the world was supposed to be like this

With his eyes screwed shut against the white brilliance, he bu his balance, he bent his knees and squatted, tenting the sheet entirely over his body as he continued to fight for breath He finally caught it, sucking air in and puffing it out rapidly as he tried to co the stairway had really panicked hiuys all right?" Minho finally asked

Thorunted a yes, and Newt said, "Pretty sure we just arrived in bloody hell Always thought you’d end up here, Minho, but not me"

"Good that," Minho replied "My eyeballs hurt, but I think I’ht"

Thoround just a couple of feet below his face Dirt and dust A few gray-brown rocks The sheet lay draped colowed so white it was like soy

"Who you hidin’ from?" Minho asked "Get up, ya shank―I don’t see anybody"

Tho there―heunder his blankets, trying not to be seen He stood up and very slowly lifted the sheet until he could peek out at their surroundings

It was a wasteland

In front of him, a flat pan of dry and lifeless earth stretched as far as he could see Not a single tree Not a bush No hills or valleys Just an orange-yellow sea of dust and rocks; wavering currents of heated air boiled on the horizon like stea toward the cloudless and pale blue sky

Thoe until he faced the opposite direction A line of jagged and barren mountains rose far in the distance In front of those mountains, maybe halfway between there and where they now stood, a cluster of buildings sat squatting together like a pile of abandoned boxes It had to be a town, but it was i it was fro everything close to the ground

The white-hot sun above already lay far to Tho toward that horizon, which meant that est, which e of black and red rock behind it had to be due north Where they were supposed to head His sense of direction surprised him, as if a piece of his past had risen fros are?" Newt asked After the echoing, hollow sounds their speaking haddark tunnel and stairway, his voice was like a dull whisper

"Could that be a hundred miles?" Thomas asked no one in particular "That’s definitely north Is that where we have to go?"

Minho shook his head under his sheet-hood "No way, dude I o that way, but it’s not even close to a hundred ht be sixty or seventy"

"Didn’t know you couldbut your bloody eyeballs," Newt said

"I’et a feel for stuff like that in the Maze, even if its scale was a lot s about those sun flares," Tho not to let his heart sink too much "Looks like a nuclear holocaust out here I wonder if the whole world is like this"

"Let’s hope not," Minho responded "I’d be happy to see one tree right about now Maybe a creek"

"I’d settle for a patch of grass," Newt said through a sigh

The more Thoht even have been too aze and turned toward the others "Could this be any h in the Maze? There, ere trapped inside walls, with everything we need to survive Noe have nothing holding us in, but no way to survive unless we go where they told us to Isn’t that called irony or soreed "You’re a philosophizing wonder" He nodded back toward the exit froet those shanks out here and start walking No ti the sun suck all the water out of us"

"Maybe we should wait until it goes down," Newt suggested

"And hang out with those shuck balls of"I think we’re okay Looks like sunset’s only a few hours away We can be tough for a while, take a break, then go as far as possible during the night I can’t stand another minute down there"

Minho nodded firmly

"Sounds like a plan," Newt said "For now, let’s just make it to that dusty old town and hope it’s not full of our Crank buddies"

Thomas’s chest hitched at that comment

Minho walked back to the hole and leaned over it "Hey, you bunch of sissy, no-good shanks! Grab all the food and get up here!"