Chapter 56 Chapter 56 Safe Haven

The wind became stronger, whistling and swirling. Thunder rumbled through the darkening sky, giving Thomas an excuse to break free from Teresa's arms.He decided to hide his knot again.Time is running out and they still have a long way to go. With the best of his acting talent, he gave Teresa a smile and said: "I think I get it - you guys do a bunch of weird things, but you're forced to, and now I'm Still alive. That's what it is, right?" "That's the way it is." "Then I won't think about it anymore, we need to catch up with the others." The best way for him to successfully get to the safe haven is to cooperate with Teresa and Ares, so he will do this, He could think about Teresa and everything she had done later.

"Just do what you say," she said with a forced smile, as if she sensed something wasn't quite right.Or maybe she was reluctant to face the Glademen after what had happened. "Have you finished your work there?" Ares called, still facing the other way. "Okay!" Teresa replied, "don't expect me to kiss you on the cheek again, I think my lips have mold now." Thomas almost couldn't spit out the words.He set off again down the hill, before Teresa tried to hold his hand. It took another hour to reach the bottom of the hill, and as they got closer the slope became flatter, allowing them to pick up speed.At last the sharp bends were all over, and they trotted the last mile to the flat and desolate barren land that stretched as far as the horizon.The air was hot, but the overcast sky and wind made it bearable.

Thomas still couldn't see the slowly converging Groups A and B ahead of him, especially now that he had lost his commanding vantage point and the air around him was dusty again.And those boys and girls still followed their respective teams and walked towards the north.From his vantage point, it seemed as if their steps could stir up a gust of wind. Thomas' eyes were stinging from the dust flying in the air, and he kept wiping them, which only made it worse, feeling like the skin around the eyes was going to be scratched.As the clouds in the sky overhead continued to thicken, the whole world became darker and darker.

After a short nap, food and water—their remaining supplies were dwindling rapidly—the three of them took a moment to observe the other two groups. "They're going there," Teresa said, pointing forward with one hand while shielding her eyes from the wind with the other. "Why don't they run?" "Because we have three hours to the deadline," Ares replied, looking at his watch, "unless we're completely mistaken, the safe haven should be only a few miles away on this side of the mountain, but I didn't see anything." Thomas didn't want to admit it, but the hope that they hadn't seen something just because of the distance was fading away. "From the way they sloshed, it was obvious they hadn't seen it either. It wasn't there—they had nothing to run to but the desert."

Ares looked at the gray-black sky and said, "This weather looks really bad. What if we have another thunderstorm like that?" "If something like that happens, we're better off staying in the mountains," Thomas said.Wouldn't that be the perfect end to all this misery, he thought.While searching for some safe haven that never existed in the first place, he was struck by a few bolts of lightning and charred. "Let's catch up with them first," Teresa said, "and then we can figure out what to do." She turned to look at the two boys, put her hands on her hips, "You two are ready ?"

"Okay," said Thomas, trying not to sink himself into the abyss of fear and worry that threatened to engulf him.All of this has to have an answer, it has to. Ares just shrugged in reply. "Then let's run," Teresa said.Before Thomas could answer, she was already running, and Ares followed closely behind her. Thomas took a deep breath.For some reason everything now reminds him of the first time he ran into that maze with Minho.This worried him.He exhaled that breath, and ran after the other two. After running for about twenty minutes, with the wind forcing him to exert twice as much effort in the maze, Thomas spoke to Teresa aloud in his head.I think I have recently recovered more memories, in my dreams.He always wanted to tell her, but he didn't want to say it in front of Ares.A test, above all, to see how she responded to the things he remembered, to see if he could find any clues as to her real intentions.

real?she replied. He could feel her shock.Yes, a strange, accidental thing, when I was a little kid, and... you were there too.I saw how WICKED treated us a few times, shortly before we went to that glade. She paused before answering, perhaps out of fear of asking the questions he would ultimately have to answer.Do those memories help us?Do you remember many things? Most of the things, but not enough, not enough to really make a lot of sense. What do you see? Thomas told her about every little memory—or dream—that he had seen in the last few weeks.Telling about seeing his mom, about overhearing conversations during that surgery, about himself and her spying on the WICKED members, hearing things that didn't make much sense, about them testing and exercising their minds Electric sensing capability.And, finally, about the time when they said good-bye before he went to the glade.

So Ares is there too?she asked, but before he could answer, she went on, of course I already knew that.All three of us are part of the plan, but everyone is going to die, and there are replacements, and all this stuff is weird, what do you think that means? I don't know, he replied, but I feel like if we have time to sit down and talk about it, we can help each other remember it all. Me too, Tom, I'm really sorry, I know you've had a hard time forgiving me for a long time. Are you any different? No, I'm kind of accepting that, in a way, it's worth losing what we might have had in order to save you.

Thomas didn't know how to answer this. Even if he wanted to talk more, they couldn't.With the howling of the wind, the flying of dust and debris in the air, and the continuous rolling of the clouds, the sky is getting darker and darker, and the distance to other people is getting closer... There is no time. So they kept running. The two groups ahead of them finally met in the distance, and Thomas was even more intrigued that it didn't seem like an accidental encounter at all. The girls of group B had come to a point and stopped; then Minho - Thomas could tell he was coming now, it was a relief to see him safe and sound - and the Gladeers changed direction and headed east After walking for a while, I met them.

And now, just half a mile away, they all stopped in an airtight circle around something that Thomas couldn't see, and they all looked at that thing. What happened there?Teresa asked in Thomas's head. have no idea.he replied. The two of them, together with Ares, quickened their pace. It took only a few minutes to cross the windswept, dusty plain before they reached where Groups A and B were. When they finally arrived, Minho had stepped out of the large group and stood facing them.His arms were folded across his chest, his clothes were filthy, his hair was greasy and his face still had burn marks.But somehow he was smiling.Thomas couldn't believe how good it felt to see that smug smile again.

"It's time for you sluggish fellows to catch up with us!" Minho shouted to them. Thomas stopped in front of him, bent down to catch his breath for a few seconds, then straightened up again. "I thought you were going to fight these girls to the death, after what they did to us. Oh, after what they did to me, whatever." Minho glanced back at the group of boys and girls who were now mingled together, and then turned back to look at Thomas. "Well, first of all, they have better weapons, not to mention bows and arrows. Besides, some chick named Harriet said it all. We should be the ones who should be surprised-you still talk to them Together." He gave Teresa a nasty look, then Ares, "Never trust either of those two traitors." Thomas tries to hide his mixed emotions: "They're on our side, trust me." In a contorted, backed-down way, he's actually beginning to believe it, and the thought makes him sick at the same time. Minho laughed sarcastically: "I knew you would say that, let me guess, it's a long story?" "Yeah, very long story," Thomas replied, before changing the subject, "Why did you all stop here? What is everyone looking at?" Minho stepped aside and swept him with his arm: "Go and see for yourself." Then he shouted to the two groups of people, "Get out of the way!" Several Gladiators and girls looked back, then slowly moved sideways until a narrow gap was formed in the crowd.Thomas saw at once that the object that had caught everyone's attention was a rather unassuming stick poking into the barren ground.An orange ribbon hung from the top of the stick, fluttering in the wind.The thin ribbon was still printed with words. Thomas and Teresa exchanged a look; then Thomas leaned forward to take a closer look.He hadn't even squeezed in there before he could see the words printed on the ribbon, black letters on an orange background: