Hello!

I am soooo sorry for the late updates lately! I haven't gotten super far into the story's plot yet, and I'm still having trouble transitioning from the Maze Runner to the Scorch Trials. Hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently as I get more into the storyline. Here's chapter 3 for you!

- Plerfstacks :)

Chapter 3

Anna was on edge as the Gladers walked through the pitch-dark hallway leading who-knows-where. They had formed a disorganized line, with some people single-file and some standing next to two or three people. Minho was in front, and Anna and Newt followed behind him.

Anna felt her hand being grasped by somebody else's, and she instinctively whipped her head to the side before realizing that for one thing, she couldn't see anything, and for another, she knew that the person standing next to her was Newt. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, unsure whether he'd made that gesture for her benefit or his own.

Suddenly, a very loud commotion broke out somewhere behind Anna. There was a loud clanking noise, and a noise of surprise, and then the same voice crescendoed until it was screaming. Anna let go of Newt's hand and tried to fight her way over to whoever was yelling, but apparently Thomas got there first. He was shouting at the boy who seemed to be being attacked by something, and after a second, his shrieks subsided and were replaced by a strange noise sounding a bit like a bowling ball rolling on the floor.

"What's going on?" Anna asked urgently. Thomas, breathing heavily, scrambled to his feet.

"I don't know," he said, his voice tinged with something like insane panic. "There was a big metal ball, and a ton of blood, and—and—"

"Spit it out, why don't you, Tommy!" Newt shouted. Thomas inhaled shakily.

"His shucking head. It was eaten by a big metal ball."

"Excuse me?" Minho asked. "How could an inanimate object eat someone's head?"

Thomas didn't reply, but Anna heard someone yell from about ten feet down the hallway,

"I found something!"

Anna turned towards the voice.

"What?" she pressed. "What did you find?"

The boy walked over to Anna and shoved the object into her arms.

"That thing," he replied. "I don't know what it is."

Anna buckled under the unexpected weight of the thing, but regained her balance as she began to analyze the round sphere that she was holding. It seemed to be about the size of a human head, if human heads were perfectly round. It was slick with something sticky that absolutely reeked, and Anna felt her stomach rise into her throat as she realized that it was blood. She looked around, though she couldn't see anything.

"It's a metal ball," she confirmed. "I guess this was what that creepy guy meant when he said dead and sliced. Be careful."

With that, the Gladers kept walking, despite the new threat of head-eating metal balls. As they went, two more of them were eaten by the awful things, and Anna didn't even stop to investigate, though she felt like a horrible person for leaving the dying people lying on the ground.

After a long while, Anna heard a thump from in front of her as Minho cursed loudly.

"What happened?" Anna asked.

"We've reached the end," he said flatly.

"How can you bloody know that?" Newt asked. Minho gave an exasperated sigh.

"Because I just broke my legs on a staircase, that's why. I'm gonna go up."

Before Anna could say anything, the sound of Minho's shoes thumping on the stairs filled the silence, and she waited with bated breath for him to reach the top.

"Here it is," Minho called down to them. Without warning, the brightest light that Anna had ever encountered shone down on the Gladers, who all yelped in surprise and pain as their eyeballs were fried. Minho shut the door.

"Shuck it," he said breathlessly. "That was a door."

"Good observation, Minho," Anna deadpanned, trying to blink the spots out of her vision. "Open it slower this time."

Minho opened the hatch just a crack and held it open with a donated t-shirt from one of the Gladers.

"We should go up and see what's up there," Newt suggested.

"Yeah," Anna agreed. "I'll go. Newt, Minho, Thomas, you come with me."

Wrapping themselves in sheets to protect themselves from the sun, Anna, Newt, and Thomas ascended the staircase. They met Minho at the top, and he opened the door for them to get through. Anna was once again blinded by the light, but she'd gotten used to it by now, so it was less painful than last time. Minho climbed through the hatch, and Anna followed close behind. Once all four of them had gotten up to the surface, Anna looked around them, shielding her face with one hand.

"It's really hot up here," Thomas noted.

"It is the Scorch, isn't it, shank?" Minho pointed out. "Let's get back down and get the others up here."

Anna, Minho, Thomas, and Newt climbed back down into the tunnel where the other Gladers stood. Anna was about to tell them to start climbing up when a loud commotion began to erupt from the back of the group. By the sliver of light that the door let into the tunnel, Anna could see the Gladers moving backwards from a strange silver blob of something dripping from the ceiling.

"What the shuck is that?" Anna asked in alarm, watching the silver goop grow bigger and bigger until it was hanging like a raindrop above them. Suddenly, it fell sideways (completely ignoring the laws of gravity) and landed directly on Winston. Chaos broke loose, with Winston writhing on the floor trying to get the thing off of his face. Thomas had pushed through the horde of people and was practically wrestling the silver stuff in order to get it off of Winston. There was nothing Anna could do but watch as the two boys tussled with the blob of silver gel for almost a minute. Thomas finally managed to pull it off of Winston's head and throw it far away where it couldn't hurt anyone, but by this time Winston's face was irreparable. By the looks of it, the silver stuff had tried to weld to his face, and now that it was gone, he was covered in blisters and his hair had been burned off. Anna cringed empathetically at the sight of the very traumatized boy sitting up against the wall, but after he had a minute or so to recover, Anna figured that they had to keep moving.

"Alright, someone help Winston up. We need to go up to the surface."

Once they'd managed to get all of the Gladers up onto the sand of the Scorch, Anna turned to face the group.

"You guys packed water, right?" she asked. A couple boys held up hastily-made plastic-bag canteens. Anna nodded. "Good. Don't lose those. Let's start walking, I guess."

Anna realized very early on that she had made a stupid decision. The Gladers, though paired up underneath sheets, were still practically baking in the hot sun. Anna herself felt like she was slowly being charbroiled by the heat waves radiating through the sheet that she shared with Newt. They didn't talk to each other much, simply because it took too much effort. Instead, Anna and Newt walked silently side-by-side and tried not to pant in the heat.

"I've had enough of this," Anna coughed after about three or four hours. "We're stopping to take a break."

"Good idea," Newt replied hoarsely. Anna ducked out from under the sheet, which wasn't helping much anyway.

"Guys, we're taking a break. We'll stay here for twenty minutes or so, and then we'll keep going for a while, at least till it gets dark."

A murmur of relief emanated from the exhausted Gladers as they collapsed in the sand. Anna sat down on the ground beside Newt and tried not to focus on how hot and thirsty she felt.

"I'm starting to wish we were still in the Glade," Anna confessed. "At least it wasn't seven hundred degrees."

Newt gave a small smile and nodded his head.

"Yeah," he agreed. "At least we had running water instead of bloody plastic bags."

"At least we had some idea of what the shuck was going on."

Newt nodded again wistfully, but then he looked over at Anna, as if struck by some thought.

"But now we do know what's going on," he said. "We need to go get the cure for the Flare. We know that for sure. In the Glade we had no idea what the solution was."

"Yeah, good point," Anna sighed. Then, after a moment, "I guess we need to get going now."

Newt groaned, but stood up.

"C'mon guys," Anna said resignedly. "Get up. We should go."

The Gladers got up and began walking again without complaining, (which Anna considered a small miracle, considering how awful she knew they all felt), and they didn't stop till nightfall, when the sun dipped low in the west and the temperature dropped to about half of what it had been before. The Gladers definitely weren't cold, though, by any stretch.

Anna walked up to join Minho and Newt, who were the only ones still awake, despite how exhausted they all were. Minho let out a low whistle as he looked at Anna.

"Shuck it, look at the ginger," he said, his eyes wide. "You look like you've been dropped in a deep-fryer."

"Don't rub it in," Anna muttered. "My stupid red hair. I'm the only one who burned alive."

Newt glanced at her, assessing her sunburn.

"Gosh, Anna," he said after a moment. "That doesn't look fun."

Anna sighed.

"How come us redheads have it so tough?" she griped. Newt gave a gentle smile.

"Hey, it'll probably be gone by tomorrow morning," he assured her, trying to rest his hand on her shoulder.

"Ow," Anna said, cringing away from his touch. Newt pulled his hand away, frowning apologetically.

"Sorry," he said. Anna sighed and nodded.

"I'm gonna go to bed," she said. "See you shanks in the morning."

Anna discovered a few minutes after she tried to fall asleep that it was near impossible for somebody as sunburned as she was to sleep on a sandy sheet. She tossed and turned for what felt like forever before she got up painfully and went to see if anyone else was still awake. Nobody seemed to be, so Anna clumsily navigated her way over to where Newt was fast asleep on his sheet. Trying not to wake him, Anna climbed in next to him and settled her head on his arm. Newt was much less coated in sand than her original spot had been, and Anna had almost managed to doze off when she heard her name being mumbled from beside her.

"Anna?" Newt was murmuring sleepily.

"Sorry," Anna replied. "There was sand on the ground and it was annoying so I came here."

Newt gave a soft laugh, his breath ruffling her hair.

"You're welcome to stay," he whispered, his voice trailing off groggily as he seemed to nod off once more. Anna said nothing, but instead snuggled her head into the crook of Newt's elbow and shut her eyes.

The next morning, Anna woke up and realized two things: One: that her awful shucking sunburn had only gotten worse, and two: that she'd been drooling on Newt's arm while she slept. Anna hastily used her wrist to wipe away the small spot of moisture before Newt woke up, so that was one problem solved. She decided to ignore her blistering skin for now, and focus on getting the Gladers across the Scorch and to the small city that Anna could see in the distance. She sighed and stood up, her entire body screaming in protest.

"Mmm," Newt mumbled as he began to stir. Anna smiled down at him as his brilliant blue eyes opened slightly.

"Morning," she murmured, crouching beside him and stroking his long blond hair.

"Good morning, Anna," Newt replied. "You okay?"

Anna shrugged.

"Well, my skin still feels like it's gonna fall off, but otherwise I'm peachy."

Newt paused for a second.

"I don't know whether you meant for me to laugh or feel sorry for you," Newt admitted. Anna grinned.

"I'd be okay with either."

Newt returned her grin and stood up. Anna straightened into a standing position as well, and the two Gladers looked at each other for a moment, unsure what to do next.

"I guess we'd better get going," Anna said after a moment. "We shouldn't waste time."

"Yeah," Newt replied.

Before either of them could try and rally the Gladers, Anna felt a hand press down on her shoulder from behind.

"Hey, guys," Minho said, letting go of Anna and stepping forward. "You lovebirds never talk to meanymore."

"What don't you understand about don't shucking touch the poor sunburned redhead, Minho?" Anna muttered.

"Sorry 'bout that," Minho replied. He didn't sound very sincere. Anna gave a small laugh and turned to face him.

"We need to get up and go," Anna said. "We should get to that city as soon as possible. Otherwise we might all shucking roast to a crisp." She looked over to see that most of the Gladers had already gotten up and were walking around.

"Hey, guys, we need to go," Anna called. "We shouldn't wait till the sun comes up."

Two minutes later, Anna and the rest of the Gladers started walking towards the city in the distance. It seemed to be about a two days' walk away, and Anna wasn't looking forward to that. She was barely managing not to complain loudly and obnoxiously as it was. Anyway, she was only restraining herself for Newt's sake, as the two of them shared one sheet as meager protection from the sun.

The rest of the day was boring. Anna and Newt shared little conversation as they trekked through the Scorch, and the speck on the horizon that was their destination didn't seem to get much bigger as they progressed. The Gladers took two or three breaks for food and water and the like, and Anna was impressed at their lack of complaint at having to hike all day through the sand.

By the end of the day, Anna was beyond exhausted, and could tell that Newt was too, despite the fact that both she and Newt denied it on multiple occasions. Anna had reached the point where she wanted to collapse on the sand about half an hour before she actually stopped, and then it wasn't for her sake. Anna could tell that Newt wasn't doing so hot with his limp and all, so she (not so reluctantly) caved.

Anna spent another uncomfortable night lying on the sand, but her skin was less blistery and nasty by then, so it was bearable. Almost.

The next morning, Anna woke up completely caked with sand. Her sheet was uselessly sitting under the massive pile of grit that had clung to Anna during the night. Anna sighed and brushed it off as well as she could, telling herself that the gritty sand would help her get rid of her sunburn. She roused the Gladers and got moving in about five minutes, not wanting to lose any time sitting around. In the last few mercifully cool hours of dawn, Anna and the Gladers covered quite a bit of ground. When the sun eventually came up, the idea of making it to the city that day seemed almost plausible. That said, Anna wasn't too excited about slogging through the hot sand for another six or seven hours. Anna gritted her teeth, though, and managed not to complain as the Gladers went on their merry way to the city in the distance.

Six hours, twenty pounds of sand, two ten-minute breaks, and three lost sheets later, the Gladers arrived at the city (or at least within a five-minute's walk of it). Anna was planning to keep going for those last five minutes, but out of the corner of her eye she saw a guy sitting close by. She decided to go investigate, and led the group over to their mysterious new friend.

"Um, hello," Anna called. The guy didn't look up. Anna tried again. "Hellooo?" She decided to assume that he was listening, so she went on. "Um, hi. We were just going to go into that city, there. You look like you might be informed on this subject. We could use some advice. On pretty much everything."

Anna quit babbling when the guy looked up at her for the first time. His face was tanned from the sun, and by the looks of it he was seventy or eighty. Or older.

"You're not safe here," he rasped. "There's a storm coming."

"Um, a storm?" Anna asked. "Like a sandstorm?" If she was being completely honest, it didn't look like it was possible for rain to fall in this awful dry desert. The man didn't seem to hear her.

"A storm. A storm's coming." His eyes wandered so they were looking up at the sky, which Anna just noticed had become gray and cloudy.

"It's too late," he spat. "Too late."

Almost as if he'd caused it to happen, a loud clap of thunder resounded through the hot air, causing most of the Gladers to jump in surprise. The sun's blinding light had turned to a shroud of near-darkness. Anna only had time to gape at the new change in scenery before the first bolt of lightning cracked through the air, exploding into the ground just ten or so feet away from the Gladers.

"Run!" Anna shouted, and she didn't have to tell them twice. All order that they'd previously had dissolved all at once, and was replaced with chaotic running and screaming.

Anna lost Newt and Minho in the frenzy, and at first she looked around frantically for them. She eventually forgot all about Newt and Minho, however, because the deafening noise of the lightning and the yells of the Gladers drowned out all other thoughts. Once or twice somebody who'd been running next to her was blown to bits right before her eyes, and Anna fought the urge to vomit as she avoided looking at their mangled bodies.

The lack of rain made it easier to see where she was going, but not much so. Once Anna found herself stumbling and nearly falling, only to be hauled up by somebody behind her.

Through the noise, Anna vaguely heard somebody saying her name somewhere to her left. She turned to see Thomas standing a couple yards away, waving at her frantically. He seemed to be barely supporting somebody who was leaning heavily against his side, and as Anna came closer she could tell that it was Minho. He looked a wreck. His skin was covered in blisters and his clothes were singed and ripped. Anna didn't even ask what had happened; she just took Minho's other arm and motioned for Thomas to keep moving. Finally, they made it to a small shack on the outskirts of the city, and Anna and Thomas ducked inside before anything else could happen. The two didn't speak to each other, partly because their relationship was still lukewarm, and partly because they were shell-shocked. What remained of the group joined them in the little house after a moment, and nobody spoke to one another as the rain finally began to fall outside.

A/N: I can confirm that redheads sunburn really easily, as I am a redhead myself. ;)