OK hey everybody! This is my first fanfic so bear with me if it's horrible. Let me clear a few things up first. This is pre-maze runner. The world is still destroyed and the Flare is raging. The maze is being built currently and the Creators are searching for Candidates from around the world to use in their experiments. Their search takes them to a small town in Mexico…

"Rosalina!" I heard an all too familiar voice call my name over the crowd in the flea market. I grinned, turning to find Jorge smirking, holding a book up to shade his eyes." What are doing out at this hour, chica? The sun is getting dangerously high."

"You worry too much, Jorge." I checked my watch. He was right. Especially here, so near the equator, we couldn't afford to be out in the middle of the day. I followed Jorge through the market, pulling my long auburn hair up into a ponytail in a feeble attempt to keep the back of my neck cool as the sun neared its zenith.

We ducked into the cool interior of a house, one that now belonged to Jorge, his older sister, and me. The previous owner had been taken away when the "government" had found he had contracted the Flare. The Flare. The name still sent shivers down my spine. I had seen too many people slowly slip past the Gone for it not to. People I was close to. I had watched my own mother chew off her own fingers, had watched her attack my little sister. That had been it for me. I couldn't watch her slow, painful decent into madness. I had run out of that madhouse as fast as I could, and had ended up here. Jorge had found me, sniveling and crying, and had taken me in. That was where-

"Rose!" Jorge snapped his fingers in front of my face, snapping me out of my memories. "You need to stop thinking. Can't be good for you."

"You need to stop thinking, hermano. Before you get all three of us killed." Felicia, Jorge's older sister, walked in the room. "Now please tell me one of you two idiotas found something edible out there."

"Well, I hope this counts." Jorge shook a canvas bag, and I heard the clink of metal against metal.

"What is it?" I asked, snatching the bag away from him. Peering inside, I saw at least a dozen metal cans. I pulled one out, looking at the label.

It was blue, with yellow writing in Spanish that claimed it was some sort of meat. Sausage, by the looks of it. "How much of this crap is there?"

Jorge shrugged. "As much as I could snag before the storeowner realized it was gone."

Felicia laughed. "At least it's better than the dirt we've been eating for the past week."

Jorge snagged it back. "If you two ladies are done gawking at it, I'll cook it up."

"Does anyone else find it funny that the guy is the only one who can cook?" Felicia laughed, catching Jorge in a headlock.

"At least my cooking doesn't give people food poisoning, hermana." Jorge said, twisting his way out and sauntering over to the stove. He turned the dial to turn it on. It clicked, but no fire came out. Nothing happened.

"The power finally went down this morning," Felicia explained, leaning against the counter. "They think the power plants finally gave out."

"With no one to run them, it was only a matter of time." I chipped in.

"It was a really long time, though. I would've thought they'd go boom weeks ago." Jorge said, ginning, rummaging around in the drawers for something.

I shook my head, smiling. "Boom? I don't think anything would go boom. The reactors would rust up, sure. Nothing would explode, though. Not even nuclear reactors would default to explosions and they're the most volatile."

"You're too smart for your own good, chica. I didn't understand half of that."

"Which is why you aren't in charge. Then everything would go boom." I grinned at him as he gave up on his search through the drawers, grabbing the knife he wore in his belt and stabbing it into the top of the can. He sawed around the outside, then took off the top. Grabbing three spoons, he set the can on the counter. "Lunch is served."

"It's a masterpiece," I laughed, taking a spoon and fishing out the packed-in sausage. I looked at it for a moment, wondering if it tasted as horrible as it looked. Desperately hoping not, I shoved the spoon in my mouth. After not having eaten properly in nearly a week, the stuff tasted like heaven. The three of us devoured it, laughing and making fun of each other like a real family.

"I'm going up to the roof!" I called through the house, heading out the back door. Dully, I heard Felicia called back as I shut the door behind me. Dusk had finally fallen, the temperature dropping nearly thirty degrees. I clambered up a pile of boxes and other junk we had piled back here as a makeshift staircase. One of my favorite things to do was just to sit out here, alone with my thoughts.

I watched the people as they walked back and forth down the streets, each minding their own business. No one stuck their nose into others' affairs here. Not anymore, anyway. Everyone had their own problems. The Flare had taken over everyone's life, even those like us, who didn't have it. We had heard about safe houses, places you could go and be promised that you would never catch it, but somehow I didn't believe that. I had thought my home was safe. I hadn't known until too late how wrong I was.

Besides, getting there would be a problem. We were nowhere near the worst part of the Scorch, but traveling across even this stretch of desert to the north would be a certain death sentence. The lightning storms alone were enough to make me stay here, to risk the Flare. With my luck, I'd be the first thing to get hit. I smiled to myself dryly. My luck. I had the worst luck of anyone I had ever met.

Suddenly something caught my eye. A boy was running, and a rather cute one at that. I stood up to get a better view, watching as he sprinted through the crowds, looking over his shoulder every couple steps. Searching the crowd behind him, I saw that he was being followed by four men in long white coats, gas masks over their faces. He turned a corner, disappearing from sight. The men following increased their pace so they wouldn't lose him.

Curiosity winning out over common sense, I dropped to the ground, jumping off the building and rolling to my feet. I sprinted after the boy and the men following him, elbowing my way through the crowd to do so. I ran into the alley to find the boy, doubled over, hands on his knees, breathing hard. He looked up as I stopped a few feet in front of him.

His eyes were a light greenish-blue, contrasting with the dark skin around them. His black hair was cropped short, and was plastered to his head with sweat. He was wearing a loose tan t-shirt and shorts. He leaned against the wall, his breathing beginning to return to normal. "They gone?" He asked, not taking his eyes off me.

"Who?"

"You haven't seen 'em? Creepy dudes with white coats and weirdo masks."

"Oh. They're coming this way. Almost here," As I said it, the kid stood up, putting a hand on the wall to support himself, and gestured with his head towards the mouth of the alley. I turned around, and sure enough, there they were. The four of them fanned out, preventing us from running the way we came. From the looks on their faces, they weren't afraid to cause a little collateral damage with a fifteen-year-old girl. These people had come before, and every time they killed whatever was in their way. In this case, me. There was only one option. Out the other side of the alley.

"Follow me!" I yelled, grabbing the kid's arm and pulling him after me. We shot out of the other side of the alley, weaving through the crowds. After a minute, I let go of his arm, confident that he would follow me. He did. I took right turn, cutting through a strip between two buildings, and emerged on the other side, not daring to slow down. I sprinted up the street, turning right and left, trying to shake the men that were no doubt following us.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity of running, I turned into an alley that dead-ended, leaning against the back wall and closing my eyes, trying to catch my breath. "No way they followed us that long." I panted. I sank greatfully to the ground. The kid sat too, his face covered in sweat.

The sun had sunk nearly all the way below the horizon, swathing the alley in shadow. "Thanks for that," The kid panted, smiling. "I'd probably be dead, if you hadn't come along. Some luck for me, eh?"

I smiled. "Yeah. Why do they want you anyway?"

"Some experiment. They want me to be a part of it, I don't. I'm now a liability." He spat the word. "They want me dead. I would tell you to leave so they don't hurt you, but… I think we lost them."

"I hope we lost them." I gestured to the brick wall behind us, "otherwise we have absolutely nowhere to go."

He shrugged. "It'll take them hours to find us. We'll be gone by then."

"We'll?"

"I assumed you were alone, and we could travel together. Safety in numbers. You are not, then?"

I shook my head. "No. There are two others. My family. If you have nowhere else to go, you could stay for a while…"

He considered, then finally shook his own head. "No. I would not want to impose. Besides, I am only passing through here. I am heading north as quickly as I can."

"North is nothing but desert for miles. There could be something beyond that, but crossing the desert… Not to mention they round up all the Cranks around here and throw them in the abandoned cities just north of here. Look, stay here for the night, amigo. If you still feel you need to, you can leave in the morning."

"I'd be much obliged. Thank you." He pushed himself to his feet, reaching out a hand to help me up. I took it, dusting my pants off.

We turned to leave, and as I took a step forward, the four men in white coats fanned across the mouth of the alley. "Oh, mierda," I muttered.