Chapter 43 Chapter 43: The Girl Who Appeared out of Nowhere

It was a long time before Thomas fell asleep again. He had no doubts that it was Teresa, not the slightest doubt.He felt her presence, felt her emotion just as they had spoken to each other before.She was with him, even if only for such a brief moment.And when she left, it felt like opening that great void inside him again.It was as if in the days since her disappearance a viscous fluid had slowly seeped in, filled the space, and when she came and went like this, it was sucked out all at once. What does she mean anyway?Something terrible was going to happen to him, but he needed to believe her.He couldn't organize his thoughts to figure out what the words meant.And as bad as her warning was, his mind kept spinning on those last words, the ones about them getting back together.Is that some kind of false hope?Or does that mean she thinks he'll get out of those troubles and have a happy ending?Reunite with her?The possibilities raced through his mind, but they all seemed to run into a frustrating dead end.

As the weather got hotter and hotter, he tossed and turned, all kinds of thoughts lingering.He was almost used to Teresa's disappearance, and it made his stomach quiver.Worse, he felt as though he had betrayed her by making Brenda his friend and becoming so close to her. Ironically, his first instinct was to reach out and shake Brenda awake and tell her about it.What's wrong with that?He felt so frustrated and stupid it made him want to scream. All too well for anyone trying to keep falling asleep in the sweltering heat. He finally fell asleep when the sun sank slowly halfway below the horizon.

When Newt shook Thomas awake that evening, he felt better.Teresa's brief visit in his head now seemed like a dream, and he could almost believe it had never happened. "Did you sleep well, Tommy?" Newt asked. "How's your shoulder?" Thomas sat up, rubbing his eyes.While he may have slept less than three or four hours, it was sound and undisturbed.He tried touching his shoulder, surprised again. "It feels good, actually...a little pain, but not too much, I can't believe I was in that much pain before." Newt looked around at the Gladers who were about to leave, then turned back to Thomas. "It feels like we haven't talked much since we left that dormitory. I guess we don't have much time to sit down, drink tea and chat."

"Yeah." For some reason Thomas thought of Chuck, and all the pain over his friend's death came back to him.This made him once again hate those behind the scenes.He thought of Teresa's words again. "I don't think WICKED is going to be that good." "what?" "Remember what was written on Teresa's arm when she first woke up? Or did you know about it? It said WICKED is good. I just find it hard to believe." His words There is a palpable sense of irony. A weird smile appeared on Newt's face: "Well, they just saved your life."

"Yeah, they're saints." Thomas couldn't deny that he, too, was confused.They had saved his life.He knew, too, that he had worked for them, but what that meant, he had no idea. Brenda, who had been tossing and turning in her sleep, finally sat up and let out a big yawn. "Good morning. Or good night, whatever it is." "Live another day," Thomas replied, before realizing that Newt probably didn't know who Brenda was.He really didn't know what had happened to the group since he got shot. "I guess you two have had enough time to get to know each other? If not, Brenda, this is Newt. Newt, this is Brenda."

"Yes, we've known each other." Newt reached out and shook her hand mockingly, "But thanks again for making sure this coward didn't get killed while you were partying." An imperceptible smile flashed across her face. "Party, yeah, I especially like that part of our noses that people want to cut off." A look flashed across her face, part embarrassment, part desperation, "I guess it won't be long before I'm One of those lunatics." Thomas didn't know how to respond to this sentence. "It is likely that you are in a much better condition than us, remember—"

Brenda held him back. "Yeah, I know. You guys are going to lead me to that magic cure, I know." Then she stood up, and the conversation was clearly over. Thomas looked at Newt.The latter shrugged his shoulders, then sat down on his knees, leaned over, and whispered, "Is she your new girlfriend? I'm going to tell Teresa." He secretly smiled and walked away. Thomas sat there for a minute, overwhelmed by it all.Teresa, Brenda, his friends.The warning he had received, the Flare, the fact that they only had a few days left to cross that mountain range.WICKED, whatever awaits them in safe haven and in the future.

It was too much, it was all too much. He has to stop thinking, he's hungry, and that's something he can handle.So he got up and went to find something to eat, and Frypan didn't disappoint. They set off just as the sun had just dipped below the horizon, making the orange-yellow land look almost purple.Thomas felt cramped and tired, longing to let off some heat and relax his muscles by walking. Those mountains slowly became jagged shadows, growing taller as they approached.There are no gentle hills at the foot of the mountain, and the flat valley continues until the ground rises high into the sky and becomes a cliff and a steep slope.Everything is ugly brown and lifeless.Thomas hoped that when they got that far, a bright avenue would suddenly appear.

No one spoke much as they advanced, Brenda stayed close but kept quiet.She didn't even speak to Jorge, and Thomas hated it.How could everything between him and Brenda suddenly become so awkward.He liked her, probably more than anyone else besides Newt and Minho.And, of course, Theresa. Newt approached him after nightfall, the stars and moon as their only guides.They're bright enough - you don't need much light when the ground is flat, just head for the looming rock wall ahead.The crunch of their footsteps echoed in the air as they stepped on the ground. "I was thinking," Newt said.

"Thinking about what?" Thomas didn't really care, just glad someone could talk and keep his mind off the ground. "WICKED, you know, they broke their own rules on you." "So what?" "They said there were no rules at all, that we had so much time to get to that safe haven and that's the way it is, there are no rules. People die this way and that, and then they come down in that monster flyer and save your life. It's Unreasonable." He paused, "I'm not complaining... I'm glad you're alive and well." "Wow, thanks." Thomas knew that was a good point, but he was tired of thinking about it.

"And then the city was full of those signs, which was weird." Thomas looked at Newt, barely seeing his face: "What, are you jealous or something?" he asked, trying to make a joke so as to ignore the fact that those marks must be an important one. thing. Newt laughed and said, "No, you guy. I just really want to know what's going on here, what's going on." "Yeah," Thomas nodded, agreeing, "the lady said very few of us were good enough to be test takers. And she did say I was the best test taker, and they didn't want me to die of Something that wasn't planned by them. But I don't know what that means, it seems to have something to do with that thing about the Killzone model." They walked on for a minute or so, and then Newt spoke again: "I don't think it's worth our headaches. What's supposed to happen happens." That's when Thomas was close to telling him what Teresa had said in his head, but for some reason the timing still didn't feel right to him. He remained silent, and eventually Newt walked away slowly, and Thomas walked alone in the dark again. A few more hours passed, and there was another conversation, this time with Minho.There was a lot of back and forth between them, but in the end they didn't really say much of substance, they were just passing the time, rehashing the same old tunes that they had thought about a million times in their heads. . Thomas's legs were getting a little tired, but not too much, and the mountains were getting closer.The air is much cooler, which feels great.Brenda remained silent, far away. They continued on their way. When the first rays of dawn turned the sky a deep inky blue, the stars began to blink away, and a new day was approaching, Thomas finally worked up the courage to approach Brenda and talk to her, Just talk about anything.Now those cliffs were looming, and dead trees and large scattered rocks jumped into people's sight.By the time the sun broke the horizon, they had reached the foot of the mountain, Thomas was sure of that. "Hey," he said to her, "how are your feet?" "It's okay." The answer was short, but then she spoke again, perhaps trying to make amends, "How are you? Does your shoulder look okay?" "I can't believe it's going to be so good, it doesn't hurt at all." "That's good." "Yeah." He racked his brains, trying to find something to say, "So, uh, I apologize for all the weird things that happened, and...for all the things I said. My head kind of Delirious, a mess." She looked at him, and he could see a little softness in her eyes. "Come on, Thomas, you don't need to apologize at all," she said, turning her gaze straight ahead again, "We're just not the same. Besides, you have that girlfriend of yours, and I shouldn't have wanted to kiss you in the first place." your." "She's not really my girlfriend." He regretted the words again—not even knowing how they came out of his mouth. Brenda said angrily, "Don't be stupid, and don't insult me. If you're going to reject this one—" She paused and gestured to herself, sweeping her hands from head to toe, with a sneer on her face smile, "Then you'd better find a good reason." Thomas smiled—all the stress and insecurity melted away. "Got it, you're probably a lousy kisser anyway." She punched him on the arm—his good one, luckily. "You're dead wrong. You've got to trust me on that." Just as Thomas was about to make some jokes, he suddenly stopped halfway, motionless, while he was walking.Someone behind him almost bumped into him, stumbling to his side, but he didn't know who—his eyes were glued to the front, and his heart stopped completely. The sky was much brighter, and the front of the steep mountain slope was only a few hundred feet away.Halfway there, a girl seemed to appear out of nowhere, popping out of the ground and walking towards them very fast. In her hand she held a long wooden arrow with a large, dirty blade stuck into the end. It's Teresa.