Chapter 6

The words hit Thomas with the same force that the bullet did back in the Scorch. He stumbled backwards a little in shock – quickly pulled towards Brenda again in an instant.
"What did you see?" Thomas asked, his voice slightly shaken.

"Too many things to discuss at the moment. I need you to get Minho to call a gathering urgently" she responded, her voice matching his. She let go of his waist and walked out the door behind him – leaving him alone.

Thomas had reluctantly done as she had asked. He had rushed out of the hospital after her, but she was already out of sight. He made straight for Minho with the request.

"Why the hell would she want to be involved in one of them?" Minho demanded. Thomas quickly told him all that he knew.

Leaving out the fact that they had kissed – of course.

Minho's expression was blank. He didn't utter a word either; he just nodded and headed away in another direction.

The evening had fallen, with the sun slowly slipping out of the sky – the moon bouncing up to take its place. Too many hours had passed already since the meeting earlier and there was now just over twenty-four hours until the council members were due to attack the forest. However they were once again huddled around the campfire – clearly agitated by the unexpected request from Minho.

Brenda was amongst them – she didn't belong here, but Thomas assured Minho that she needed to discuss the information that she had with everyone.

Jorge was still missing from the group.

Brenda stood on top of the same log that Minho had stood on earlier, and began to speak.

"I'm sorry you all had to be called here so suddenly, but you can wipe the klunk expressions off your faces because this is important"

Several members shifted in their positions – they clearly weren't comfortable being spoken down to by a woman.

Thomas, for some reason, found it hot.

"You see when I went through the changing I had my full memory. So I didn't need to recall any of my past memories like everyone else did. So somehow…I ended up seeing into the future"

A chorus of gasps rang out around the campfire – Brenda paused for less than a second – and continued.

"And this is where it gets serious. I didn't see us all dancing around in the summer meadows, laughing like we had no care in the world. I didn't see Minho with Sonya, or any of the other couples roaming around. I didn't see myself and…"

She paused to look over at Thomas, but quickly looked away before anyone noticed

"My point is. We do not have the future of happiness that we are hoping for and that we believe is our destiny. Instead of seeing us enjoying our lives – I found myself staring at a graveyard. With each and every one of our names painted on different ones"

"That's not a point – we will all die eventually!" shouted out Frypan. He was worn out after cooking dinner for everyone – and was still groggy from being woken up by Minho.

Brenda pressed onwards.

"Yes Frypan but that wasn't the thing that struck me. What struck me was that marked on our gravestones was the date on which we died – just like any other gravestone. Except the dates…not only was each one a week after the one before it, but the first one started on the date that's tomorrow – December 19th"

The council broke into uproar.

As far as everyone was concerned there was no chance of him or her being in danger. Chancellor Paige assured them that they were going through the Flat Trans to a paradise. They were all immune – with no risk of someone catching the Flare. It was obvious that they were meant to restart the population, the concept that some Gladers seemed to be already getting on with…

"Slim it!" Minho roared – instantly sending everyone into silence.

It was Thomas who decided to break it.

"Okay so…putting aside the fact we are all, for some reason, in danger. Did you happen to see who dies first?" he asked – rising up to walk towards her.

Minutes passed before she responded. She didn't speak – instead she nodded, and pointed her finger towards Minho.