p The book starts off with Thomas and his friends known as Teressa, Newt, Minno,

Frypan, and Winston escaping the maze from the first book. They end up in a facility run by a

man named Mr.Janson. Janson tells the Kids that the facility they are in is protecting them from

the virus outside, the zombie-like creatures caused by the virus, and another organization called

the W.C.K.D. Thomas snoops around and finds out that the facility they are in is also working

with the W.C.K.D. After learning the truth about how they were being lied to, he and his friends

grouped escape but not without being noticed. Mr.Janson sends scouts out looking for them.

The kids find themselves out in the scorch, which is earth after the virus hit. They find

themselves being chased by a group of cranks, the zombie-like creatures caused by the virus.

In the attack Winston gets infected and by the time morning comes Winston asks the group to

leave him so he doesn’t turn on them. As time passes and nightfall comes Thomas sees off in

the distance lights and concludes it must be civilization. They met a group of survivors led by A

woman named Brenda and a man named Jorge. Once the group tells Brenda and Jorge that

they escaped from W.C.K.D. and are looking for a rebel group called the Right Arm. The two

leaders of the survivors agree to take them to the rebel group. As they leave, the survivor camp

gets raided by the W.C.K.D. and the new group escape by the skin of their teeth. Once they

arrive at the right arm they find a defector from W.C.K.D. and explain how W.C.K.D. is creating/

extracting a cure for the virus unethically, therefore she defected from the organization. Later

that day W.C.K.D. raids the Right Arm and leaves Thomas and a couple other survivors. When

he discovers they captured his friends he swears to destroy W.C.K.D. and free his friends.

I would say there are two main personality traits Thomas has throughout the books, and

they are inquisitiveness and he is caring. The reason he is inquizitive is because after

Mr.Janson “saved them” from the maze Thomas instantly goes searching throughout the
complex. Doing this he stumbles onto W.C.K.D. research center. He is caring because he

helped his friends through the maze to escape to freedom. He also swore to free them at the

end of the book.

In my mind there wasn’t much of a life lesson in this book. If there was one thing you

could take from this book is always keep on guard and protect yourself and those close to

you.The ending helps to explain this perfectly with thomas swearing to get his friends back after

being ambushed. There are other small things in the story to help with this theme to, like

Winston sacrificing himself for his friends' safety. Also Thomas and his group searching for a

cure after Brennda was bit.