"The sun destroyed our world, scorched the earth until it all became like this." Teresa stares out the window at the barren desert. A tumbleweed blows past the window, bouncing off the ground; strong winds sweep sand to and fro. "Then a virus followed it - the Flare."
"The whole world is a desert?" I inquire. What once was a peaceful desert turns into a nightmare. Trees, grass, everything - is it all gone? A pit of despair rocks my insides. My eyes glide across the horizon, searching for some sign of life in the distance.
Shifting her gaze from the window, she nods in affirmation.
Thomas shakes his head. "W-what virus?"
"The Flare killed a lot of people," Teresa's voice quivers and her eyes become glazed. She leans towards Thomas. "When you were stung by the Griever, that was like the flare but on a smaller scale. We're trying to find a cure - that's what the maze is for."
"I don't care what it's for!" Gally snaps, smashing a glass beaker against the ground. "Get us out of here, now!"
Teresa's lip curls in disdain, but she doesn't react. Calmly, she proceeds to speak, "I can open that door," her hand stretches to a door at the end of the room. "It leads further into the compound."
"Do it," Thomas affirms.
Walking towards the door, she begins pressing buttons on a nearby keypad. After a few short moments, the door swings open.
Hesitantly, some of the Gladers begin migrating through the entrance. Newt combs his hand through his fluffy hair, tilting his head towards us. "C'mon then, beats standing around here."
"What are we gonna do with that shank?" Gally refers to Teresa.
"She can come with us," I respond. "She might be useful."
Newt leads the way through the door, followed by Gally, Thomas, Chuck, Teresa and I. A wide corridor leads down further and further. Blaring white lights flicker on and off, giving it an eerie appearance. Gladers disperse down different rooms stemming off from the hallway.
"What virus?" I interrupt the silence. "You mentioned a virus - the Flare. What is it?"
A glimpse of sadness rests behind her icy blue eyes before being quickly whisked away. "Over time, it rots the brain, turning the host insane, violent even."
"Why are we not infected?" I ask.
Teresa pulls her hair back into a low ponytail. "You're immune to it - most of you are. That's why you're here, your DNA is the secret to a cure - to saving humanity."
The corridor leads to a junction with three different exits. "What's down here?" Thomas questions, motioning straight ahead.
"Labs, storage, some sleeping quarters and offices," Teresa answers nonchalantly, standing at the entrance.
Heading further down the corridor, Thomas continues, "Is there a way out?"
Gally rolls his eyes. "I don't know, Thomas. Why don't you go ask your girlfriend?"
"What are you talking about?" Thomas retorts, "I'm the one who got us out of there. At least-"
"Can it, will ya?" Newt shakes his head in disapproval. "Both of you - we've got to find a way out of here."
We continue roaming the corridor, searching down different rooms and passages for an exit. The group withers down, becoming smaller and smaller as we split up to cover more ground. Thomas, Teresa and Chuck head off, leaving me with Gally and Newt.
"What was that all about?" I nudge Gally's arm.
"What?"
"With Thomas," I continue, "acting like he klunked in your breakfast or something."
"I don't trust him," Gally states bluntly.
Newt shrugs. "Seems alright to me - got us out of that buggin' maze."
"I'm not buying it." Gally shakes his head. "Maybe him and Teresa are working together. Who says he's not still with her?"
"Newt's right; Thomas helped us escape out of the Maze. He's earned our trust," I comment.
"What happened here?" Newt interrupts me as we enter the next room. The same white lights flash intermittently, illuminating the interior. Tanks of water line the far wall filled with stagnant water. Shattered bottles blanket the tiled floor; a deep blue liquid creeps across it, soaking into my boots.
"What is that?" I groan, immediately recoiling my leg from the strange liquid.
A limp corpse dressed in ragged clothes is sprawled over the ground; his dark, black blood seeps into the spilt liquid. A metal handgun rests in a holster on his thigh. Reaching down to him, I swipe the gun from the holster - Newt's eyes shoot open in surprise.
"We might need it." I shrug uncomfortably. "Let's go - there's nothing else in here."
"I'll catch up." Gally wanders over to the glass tank of water at the end of the room.
"What is it?" Newt questions.
"Not sure," he responds, "this place - it feels familiar."
"Don't be long." I take a final look before turning back out the doorway; Newt follows along behind me. The hall twists and turns, leading us further into the compound.
After a brief moment of silence, I begin to speak, "What happens when we get out of here?"
"Hm?" he grunts.
"Teresa said that everything's destroyed," I answer. "I keep thinking about where we go from here - what our life will be like outside of this place."
"Best not thinkin' about it," Newt replies. "Besides, we can't trust her."
"You think she's lying?"
"She's not exactly been truthful with us so far, has she?" Newt pauses before continuing, "We don't know what's waiting for us out there, but it beats whatever's in here."
"You're right," I admit. "Whatever life for us there is out there, at least we'll be free - our lives could finally be our own, rather than monitored on a computer."
As we walk, the hallway leads into another section of rooms. Each room has four metal bunk beds with two bedside tables. They are all exactly the same, scarily so.
"This must be where they lived: whoever put us here I mean." The squeaking of a rocking light interrupts me.
"What's that up ahead?"
"Wha-" my words trail off to silence as my eyes lock onto a door at the end of the corridor. It reaches from one end of the wall to another. Metal locks and rivets run across it, locking it in place. "This must be the way out - it's too big to be anything else. It looks like it might be locked. Either way, we should go back and tell the others, maybe Thomas or Teresa can open it."
"No, not that," Newt points to something else; worn shoes poke out of one of the doors, a dark liquid oozes around them.
I lightly jog up to them to get a closer look. As I approach, a horrific realization dawns on me: it's not just shoes, it's a person - soaked in blood.