Rachel Pennington

Thomas and the other Gladers were rescued, or so they think, and head to a hotel-like building with “the people with guns.” They eat pizza and stay the night there, and Thomas and Teresa telepathically communicate, as always. She gets put in a different room from the boys, and Thomas falls asleep, but he can hear Teresa trying to contact him in a dream, and desperately tries to wake himself up so he can respond to her. When he finally wakes up, she no longer responds to him. The Gladers are freaking out around him, they have been awake longer than he has. “Cranks” (people with “The Flare,” a disease that takes over the brain and causes your skin to break out with huge blisters and you basically turn into a psychotic living zombie) are shattering the windows that have bars, and are frantically trying to break into the room where the Gladers are staying. Thomas frequently tries to contact Teresa with his mind, but she never responds. The Gladers break their locked door open, and leave into the hallway. Corpses that have been long dead are hanging by the neck all throughout the hallway. Their stench is overwhelming and Thomas has to fully focus on his thoughts to not release everything he had for dinner the night before. The boys go to Teresa’s room, but instead of her being there, a boy named Aris is there. He explains to the Gladers that he was stuck in a maze with a bunch of girls. He was the only boy. In the maze Thomas was in, Teresa was the only girl. Everything was the same except switched around. The Gladers notice something on Aris’s neck. A black-inked tattoo with the words “Property of WICKED. Group B, Subject B1. The Partner” etched into his flesh. All of the boys soon realize that they have tattoos as well, tattoos that they didn’t have the night before. They were tattooed during the night while they were sleeping. Which is probably why it was so hard for Thomas to wake up. They were all probably drugged when they were given the tattoos, and Thomas could not get himself to awaken. Newt’s tattoo says “The Glue,” while Minho’s tattoo says “The Leader,” and Thomas’s tattoo says “The person that will be killed by Group B.” Thomas is confused and scared, when a loud ringing goes off. The same ringing that would go off in The Glade when a new arrival came to them. Thomas only recognized the sound because it was the sound that echoed across The Glade when Teresa arrived.