“All of it has been part of the Trials, you understand? Phase One, to be exact. And we are still dangerously short of what we need. So we’ve had to up the ante, and now it’s time for Phase Two. It’s time for things to get 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 him. Not to mention the stuff about manipulating their brains. But instead, he was so intensely curious to find out what the man was going to 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. “You may think, or it may seem, that we’re merely testing your 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 experiment. The bigger picture is something you won’t understand until the very end.

“Sun flares have ravaged many parts of the earth. Also, a disease unlike any before known to man has been ravaging the earth’s people-a disease called the Flare. For the first time, the governments of all nations-the surviving ones-are working together. They’ve combined forces to create WICKED-a group meant to fight the new problems of this world. You are a big part of that fight. And you’ll have every incentive to work with us, because, sad to say, each one of you has already caught the virus.”

He quickly held up his hands to cut off the rumblings that started. “Now, now! 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 the… debilitating 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 well what 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 animal.

He thought of the Cranks he’d seen through the dorm windows, and he suddenly wanted to run to the bathroom and scrub his hands and mouth clean. The guy was right-they had all the incentive they needed to make it through this next phase.

“But enough of this history lesson and time-wasting,” 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 what we ask, you’ll save yourselves by getting the very cure so many people desperately want.”

Thomas heard Minho groan next to him and worried about him throwing out another one of his smart-aleck remarks. Thomas shushed him before he could do it.

Rat Man looked down at the messy stack of papers lying in 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 tomorrow morning 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 shimmering wall of gray. Each of you must step through it by five minutes after the hour. So again, it opens at six o’clock and closes five minutes after that. Do you understand?”

Thomas stared at Rat Man, transfixed. It almost felt as if he were watching a recording-as if the stranger 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. “Do… you… under… stand?”

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 two weeks’ 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 two weeks-starting the second you step through the Trans. If you don’t make it, eventually you’ll end up dead.”

The room should’ve erupted into arguments, questions, panic. But no one said a word. Thomas felt as if his tongue had dried up into an old, crusty root.

Rat Man quickly slammed the folder shut, bending 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 matter-of-fact one would think he’d just given them instructions on how to turn on the showers in the bathroom. “There are no rules. There are no guidelines. 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 them speaking 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?”

Question after question, a chorus of them, all melding into one roar of confusion. As for Thomas, he didn’t bother. The stranger wasn’t going to tell them anything. Couldn’t they all see that?

Rat Man waited patiently, ignoring them, those dark eyes darting back and forth between the Gladers as they spoke. His gaze settled on Thomas, who sat there, silent, staring back at him, hating him. Hating WICKED. Hating the world.

“You shanks shut up!” Minho finally shouted. The questions stopped instantly. “This shuck-face ain’t answering, so quit wastin’ your time.”

Rat Man nodded once toward Minho as if thanking him. Perhaps acknowledging his wisdom. “One hundred miles. North. Hope you make it. Remember-you all have the Flare now. We gave it to you to provide any incentive you may be lacking. And reaching the safe haven means receiving a cure.” He turned away and moved toward the wall behind him, as if he planned to walk right through it. But then he stopped and faced them again.

“Ah, one last thing,” he said. “Don’t think you’ll avoid the Scorch Trials if you decide not to enter the Flat Trans between six and six-oh-five tomorrow morning. Those who stay behind will be executed immediately in a most… unpleasant manner. Better off taking your chances in the outside world. Good luck to all of you.”

With that he turned away and once again started inexplicably walking toward the wall.

But before Thomas could see what happened, the invisible wall separating them started to fog up, whitening to an opaque blur in a matter of seconds. And then the whole thing disappeared, once again revealing the other side of the common area.

Except there was no sign of the desk and its chair. And no sign of Rat Man.

“Well, shuck me,” Minho whispered next to Thomas.

CHAPTER 12

Once again, the Gladers’ questions and arguments filled the air, but Thomas left. He needed some space and knew the bathroom was his only escape. So instead of heading to the boys’ dorm, he went to the one Teresa, then Aris, had used. He leaned back against the sink, arms folded, staring at the floor. Luckily, no one had followed him.