Holly stepped inside the Flat Trans right after Chuck with Newt following just behind her. She looked around and blinked, wasn't too sure if her eyes were open or not. The Flat Trans was engulfed in total darkness that she had to stretch her arms to the sides to feel the cold metal walls for support. From a distant she could hear Minho's voice all the way from the front, which was around an eleven people distance, saying that they have to keep walking forward. And that's what all of them did. No one talked but the rustling footsteps and heavy breathing echoed across the darkness. They had been walking for most likely ten minutes now and the Flat Trans didn't seem to have an ending or any source of light.

Holly kept on walking and sucked on a deep breath. She blinked several times hoping that she'd somehow see something but, it was pitch black. The more she walked, the heavier she felt. The darkness was eating her up and made her feel claustrophobic and dizzy. She felt uneasy as if the walls were closing onto her and would eventually crush her to her death. And at that moment, she felt two hands over her shoulders that came from behind. She knew all too well that it was Newt's.

"What's wrong?" he asked and made the gladers go ahead of him.

The darkness wouldn't let Holly see his worried face but, she could hear it from the tone of his voice that he was. She didn't realize that she was breathing heavily already and felt her head spinning.

"I-I couldn't breathe" she gasped for more air as she spoke. "And my head is aching"

"Newt, is that you?" It was Thomas' voice. "What happened?"

"Holly doesn't feel well" Newt answered.

In pitch blackness, the older guy crouched down and pulled Holly to his back. He wrapped her arms around his neck and without any hesitation lifted her up for a piggyback ride and thanked Thomas when he volunteered to carry a few of his belongings. Once everything was settled, he started to walk along the darkness and caught up with the rest. Holly clung to him tightly, resting her chin over his shoulder with eyes closed and heavy breathing.

"How are you feeling?" Newt whispered and could feel his breathing getting heavier as well.

"Dizzy but I'll be fine in a few minutes" she replied softly and felt guilty after hearing his tired voice. "I'm sorry for being a burden"

"Nonsense, you're not. I just hope we get out of this bloody darkness as soon as possible"

"Good that"

They continued to walk for what felt like miles and none bothered to start talking and decided to save their energy. Minho was still taking the lead and would curse from time to time, wondering where the end of the Flat Trans was. Newt started coughing as the air they were breathing thickened and became dusty. Holly patted his back and suggested him to put her down since she was feeling better. But Newt declined her offer and continued to move forward.

"I'll just carry you until we find the exit. No arguments" he said simple as that.

Once again, Holly rested her head on his shoulder and listened to the rustling footsteps and heavy breathing of the gladers. All of them were tired and thirsty. They had been walking for miles now without any signs of doors or where the hallway would actually lead them. Newt suddenly stopped on his track when a loud shriek filled the air. As it died down, gladers started buzzing everywhere wondering who it came from. He turned around when he realized that the scream came from behind and he and everyone else heard Thomas trying to calm the glader down.

"What's going on back there?" Minho shouted from the front.

Thomas was silent for a moment. It was pitch black so he really didn't understand what just happened. He had no idea what he felt but he definitely knew that the young boy that shrieked wasn't breathing anymore and had no head. As much as possible, he tried to explain what he experienced. He tried helping the boy from jerking around and all of a sudden, the boy fell silent. He reached for the boy's head but instead, felt a big metal ball that has rolled off the dark hallway. Newt was listening to Thomas intently when he suddenly felt something hard bumped the tip of his foot. With Holly on his back, he carefully bent down.

"Something bumped my foot" he said softly. "Would you try touching whatever it is?"

Newt kept a firm grip on Holly as she reached her hands forward, blindly searching on the ground for whatever Newt felt. Her hands moved closer to Newt's feet and felt a smooth metal spherical object almost the shape of a ball. It was bigger than a basketball and when she tried lifting it, it didn't even reach an inch away from the ground for it was heavier than a bowling ball. She made a disgruntled face when she felt that the ball was sticky and wet. She let go of the ball and gasped when she recognized the rusty smell of blood.

"I-its blood!" she shouted and held onto Newt tightly again as he bolted right up.

Without another second to waste, Thomas ordered everyone to run as fast as they could to get away from whatever catastrophe was happening in the dark. Newt tried to run fast with his limp and could hear a loud thud echoing from all sides. More of the metal balls were dropping on the floor in big numbers. Holly felt terrified as the loud thuds got louder and heard another shriek when it killed another boy. She covered her head with a hand and the other one covering Newt's, hoping that it could somehow shield them.

They ran for more than three miles now and Newt got startled when he bumped against the group of gladers that stopped in front of him. Holly wriggled off of Newt's back until she was standing on her two feet and held his hand tightly. All of them were panting and wondering why they had stopped when there were gigantic metal balls trying to break their skulls like eggs. Minho finally reached the end of the Flat Trans and felt a steel ladder right in front of him.

He climbed up, followed by the gladers and bumped his head against the ceiling. He tried feeling the dark ceiling with one hand and realized that it was some sort of manhole with a handle. He grabbed a hold of the handle and with all his strength pushed it upward. Everyone groaned and shouted as a blinding hot light flashed before their eyes that Minho had to close the hole again. It was good that they had found their exit but bad that the heat could burn them alive.

Holly clutched onto the steps of the ladder and blinked several times to get rid of the flashes of white spots that were floating around her. She understood now why the second trial was called the Scorch. From the name itself, the outside was as hot as a million ovens turned on and if they tried going out they would be toasted cookies. Newt left Holly for a while and ascended the ladder to reach Minho so they could think of a plan. As they did that, a silver blob from the ceiling dropped down and attacked Winston.

Winston's shrieks and cry for help was deafening and terrifying that the gladers were wondering what new terror was going on in the dark. Minho pushed the manhole slightly so that a bit of light entered the creak. The glader continued to scream and they found a silver looking blob attack him as if it was alive and trying to eat his face off. Thomas went down the ladder and tried his best to help him. But every time he tried pulling it away, the blob melted between his fingers and went back to the glader's face.

Thomas didn't give up and with more effort; he finally got the blob off Winston's face and threw it down until it completely disappeared. To everyone's surprise, the silver blob did a horrible damage to the former keeper of the slicers. He was trembling, traumatized over what happened, and his face was completely scarred. His hair was gone as if it was burned and left the top of his head covered in blisters and wounds. Thomas couldn't look at him; neither could anyone and felt disgusted.

Holly scurried down the ladder and quickly went to Winston's aid not minding his hideous injury. She opened her backpack and pulled out one of her shirts deciding to use it as a bandage. While she was busy wrapping the shirt over Winston's head Minho, Thomas, and Newt had finally come up with a plan. As the three leaders, they were going outside to check how badly the heat was. Newt suggested that since the blankets they were using for the food were too big, they could use half of it to cover themselves up as protection from the sun. Thomas showed them how to do it and when the three of them were settled and looked like a bunch of ghosts, they quickly made a run for it. As soon as Minho, the last of three, was out Fry Pan quickly closed half of the door so they wouldn't get burned alive but at the same time have a little light in the dark while waiting for their leaders' return.

Holly finally finished mending the traumatized boy's head and was about to close her bag when she saw the black notebook resting on top of a few of her food and clothes. She looked around and realized everyone was tired and terrified with just happened, their minds focused on the arrival of their three leaders. While no one was looking at her direction, she took it as a chance to peek at the notebook and read a few tips that could be useful to them. At the top right of the page, she saw something written in bold capitalized letters and was encircled with red ink.

Don't get caught outside with thunder and lightning if you don't want to be burnt bacon! Get out of the scorch as soon as possible!

That was the tip present Minho had written for her.

Thunder? Lightning? How can there be any of those when it's as hot as gazillion ovens? Holly thought.

She quickly stuffed the notebook deep in her bag and zipped it close when Thomas suddenly peeked from the manhole. He looked pretty tired and sweaty as if he had just finished running a marathon. He instructed everyone to use their blankets as shawls already and quickly head outside to follow their lead. With the help of Chuck, Holly gave Winston a hand with his shawl and made him go up the ladder first. She fixed her own shawl over herself and slipped the backpack behind her again then made her way up, squinting at the welcoming heat of the sun.