Death Cure Part 4: Why Does Everyone Want to Shoot Thomas?

Hello and welcome back to another exciting installment of The Death Cure (read that in your best game show host voice). Let's jump right in, shall we?

Chapters 15-20

When we last left off, Brenda had made the observation that an unusual number of weapons were missing from the weapons depot. Minho suggests that it is simply because the guards knew something like this would happen and they were switching out their pistols for Launchers, which are less lethal. Brenda disagrees, telling the group that Launcher are standard equipment and there would be no reason to get more. She then brings up the oh-so-joyful fact that Cranks have broken into the facility before. They come to the assumption that this is what happened this time.

Everything about the Minho-Newt relationship is tragedy.

Newt then returns to the depot, after having left because of an argument with Minho (as you may remember). He then promptly gets into a fist fight with Minho. Minho reacts to tragedy with sarcasm, which is something I can sympathize with. He's being a dick to Newt because he doesn't want Newt to die, something else I can sympathize with. This isn't sitting well with Newt because, well, he's slowly losing his mind. Thus, conflict.




Newt leaves again and Thomas comes up with a plan. Minho and Brenda are to start gathering weapons and ammo while he goes to retrieve Newt. He finds Newt sitting against a wall in the hallway. He talks to Newt about how they need to get out. Newt then says, "I know something's started in my head. I don't feel right. But you don't need to worry your buggin' panties off. Give me a second and I'll be find. We'll get you guys out of here and then I can deal." Newt knows he can't be saved. His only priority is getting the others to safety. He's losing his mind and he's still a doll. What a guy.

Newt then tells Thomas that he has something to do before they head out to look for the others. He turns and goes back down the hallway, away from the depot. He doesn't tell Thomas what he is doing, just that he'll be back in a minute.

Thomas rejoins Brenda and Minho, who are armed to the teeth. Thomas straps on two launchers and some pistols, stuffing ammo into his pockets like candy. These kids got really good at this really quickly. The Bliss is then brought up for the first time in this book. Brenda tells them all that the quicker the brain works, the quicker the disease spreads. This is why Newt is deteriorating so quickly, his mind works at an increased

The Bliss seams super creepy, to be honest.

level. The Bliss is a drug that slows brain function and makes you not care about anything. This will probably be relevant later.

Newt comes back again. He pulls Thomas aside and gives him an envelope. He tells Thomas not to read it until the "time is right." An over used convention, but whatever. Thomas agrees and the gang sets out to find the other Gladers and Group B.

Their search is largely uneventful. They wander around for a while finding nothing but empty rooms and empty hallways. They eventually happen upon a large room with a broken window. Inside the room is all the missing guards, who have been tied up and laid side by side. Weirdly deliberate for Cranks, no? Brenda suggests they untie one and question him. Thomas immediately vetoes this, saying that it might be a trap. Brenda responds with, "Fine. Just thought we could get some information." The boys are, yet again, rejecting information. They don't care anymore about facts, they only care about each other.

They more on to the Berg hangar, looking for Jorge. They find him collapsed behind a large and conveniently placed crate. He had been knocked unconscious. They ask him what happened and he tells them that it wasn't Cranks, but Teresa and the others. They had taken over the WICKED facility and kidnapped a pilot  to fly them to safety. Without Thomas, Minho, and Newt.

"They left us behind." Thomas is in shock that their friends, people they have fought to save, left without

I have a feeling I'm going to be using a lot of .gifs like this.

them. "They left us here for WICKED to do whatever they want with us." Dicks. And after all the time the gang spent searching for them. The boys agree that the larger group left them on purpose. Only Brenda seems to think that they may have looked for the gang. If you hadn't noticed I will be referring to Thomas, Newt, Minho, and Brenda as 'the gang' from now on. It's just simpler.

Brenda turns around just in time to see a stream of guards coming into the hangar. Great. Wonderful. One hell of a firefight breaks out. The guards fire on the the gang, the gang opens fire in return. The gang seems to be much better shots than the guards. They hit a few with Launchers while no one on their side sustains any injuries. I'm suddenly reminded of Storm Troopers and their inability to hit a goddamn thing. They set out for the Berg to make their escape. Brenda is hit with a Launcher grenade and goes down. Thomas tries to wait for the electricity to dissipate while under heavy fire. Minho comes to help, not waiting for anything. They drag her to the Berg, where they cargo ramp is open. Halfway up the ramp, Thomas gets hit in the back with a Launcher grenade because of course he does. He falls back down to the hangar floor. There are two guards on him, who are tackled by Minho and Newt who are being covered by Jorge and his Launcher which shoots fire grenades instead of electricity grenades. How awesome is that?

They then drag Thomas into the Berg and take off. A while later, Thomas wakes to see Brenda standing over him and everyone else asleep. Thomas and Brenda discuss what needs to happen next. She tells him that they have landed and that Jorge has made it so that WICKED can't find them using the Berg tracking system. She then tells him that they know where the others went. They are in a far off place known as Denver. She tells him a bit about what the world is like now. How their are quarantine zones, but they are not super effective. People who are immune to the Flare are highly paid to guard the quarantine zones. They talk about how she and Jorge met (in Alaska), about Thomas's mom, and about Chuck. He reveals to the reader that "Chuck was the most vivid reason that he despised WICKED. How could any good coome from killing a kid like Chuck?" They then determine that they need to go to Denver and meet up with the others. Brenda then add another interesting little tidbit. There is something else important in Denver that they need.

Analysis

Oh, shit. I'm going to talk about information again. Bear with me.

The flat out rejection of knowledge after two complete books of fighting for knowledge is a really important shift. It means that the gang have decided that there are more important things in the world than knowing facts. They have chosen to forego facts in order to protect themselves and their friends. They no longer care about the 'why,' they just want to make the horror they are experiencing stop. Nothing matters but safety. To use a tired cliche, they have bigger fish to fry.

What do you guys think? What does the rejection of information symbolize for you? What do you think this will all mean in the greater scheme of things?

That's going to be it for now. Leave your thoughts, questions, or anything really in the comments.

Until next time, happy reading.