Scorch Trials Pt 8: James Dashner Should be Kicked

So... I didn't finish the book. In my defense, I'm working a shit-ton of hours, so I have very little time for reading. That combined with the fact that this book is increasingly fucking frustrating mean that I won't be done until next week.

Anyway, here goes nothing.

Chapters 49-55

Thomas is all about not being murdered by Group B. He's hella stoked about it. Only, not really because he's never happy about anything. This poor fucking kid. Anyway, Teresa is still gone, which is good because she's shady as fuck. Thomas briefly considers ditching Group B to try and find the Gladers. He doesn't but he thinks about it. He gets the low down on Group B's mission from Harriet, who is super helpful and seems genuinely nice. I'm thinking of her of a less sarcastic Minho, which makes me happy. Basically, they were told that they need to kill Thomas in order to get into the safe zone. That's not all though. Harriet tells Thomas that every interaction he has had with Teresa since hitting the Scorch has been a lie. She tells him that when they met in the shack outside the city, she was lying to him. It was a trick to give him a false sense

Teresa is a big, betraying liar. Not acceptable.

of security. Basically, Harriet pulls the rug out from under Thomas and Teresa's entire relationship.




Afterwards, Thomas starts walking with Group B toward where they were told the safe zone would be. Teresa is still gone, having stomped off after the group decided to not kill Thomas. When they are walking down the mountain, they get near a group of trees. Teresa is hiding in the trees and Thomas, who is at the back of the group, is the only one to notice her. He approaches her and she acts like her old self, so he thinks he's safe with her. Apparently, Thomas is the most trusting person in the world. Either that, or he's a complete fucking idiot. Either way, bad choice.

Yep, everything is still terrible.

She leads him into the trees where she starts telling him about Aris. She tells him that she knows Aris really well and that they were familiar before the Maze. She tells him that they can speak telepathically, like she and Thomas can. Thomas is hurt by this and thinks it may be a trick from WICKED. This is about when Aris
appears behind Thomas with a knife. Excellent. Because when things are bad, why not make them worse?

Teresa tells Thomas that she and Aris were is a relationship before the Maze and that he is her best friend, not Thomas. Teresa leads Thomas and Aris to the place where Thomas is to be killed (yeah, that's still happening). There is a special room built into the mountain for this specific purpose. It seems this whole damn thing is a set up for Thomas. When they arrive at the room, Teresa and Aris flaunt their relationship to hurt Thomas. She betrays him in every way. She really is The Betrayer. They force Thomas into a smaller room filled with mysterious spouts. He puts up a fight, but they eventually get him in. The close the door behind him and leave him for dead. Gas begins to fill the room and Thomas is put to sleep.

He has another one of his dream/memories. This one is right before he enters the Maze. He is standing with Teresa, Aris, and another girl. They are all saying goodbye to one another. It's not super informative or helpful. I guess it's just to prove that they did, in fact, know each other before the Maze.

Then, he wakes up. He's still in the closed room. He has no idea how long he has been out. He pounds on the door and is met by Teresa. She acts like she did back in the Maze. She's all apologetic and explains that WICKED made her do it or they would have just straight up killed Thomas. I don't know if I believe that. It seems like this whole thing is set up specifically for Thomas, so why would they kill him? Anyway, she tells him that it was all a trick to get him into the room. She then tells him that the part about being able to speak to Aris telepathically wasn't a lie and on top of that, she could talk to him while they were in the Maze. So she has been hiding things from him LITERALLY THE ENTIRE TIME. She tells him that he had to feel betrayed by her in order for everything to work the way WICKED wanted it to. Well, it fucking worked. He feels betrayed. I feel betrayed. This whole fucking book is betraying me.

Finally! He has learned to not trust someone.

They begin walking toward where the safe haven should be. They see the two other groups far ahead of them. There is no safe haven to be seen, even though they should be right near it and the deadline in approaching. At one point, Teresa kisses Thomas, but he feels nothing.

Analysis

Jesus fucking Christ. Teresa. What the fuck? Trying to figure out what she's all about is like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle, only half of the pieces come from a different puzzle. She's so confusing. Let's discuss.

Teresa is either the most loyal friend or the most loyal servant of WICKED. Either she will betray them for Thomas or she will betray Thomas for them. Her whole ruse is supposedly in order to help Thomas survive. She trusts WICKED far more than anyone else in the novel. She does exactly what she is told to do, which makes one wonder why she trusts them so much. What exactly does she remember from before the Maze? I would like to read a version of this series from her perspective.

The real question is, which version of Teresa is the real one? Is she The Betrayer or is she Thomas's loyal friend? That is yet to be seen.

Until next time, happy reading.