"You ready to go babe?"

"Hmm? Oh, ya just a sec." I reply, trying to stuff Kay back into the sling I'd made for her. She'd climbed out a few minutes before, chasing after someone's untied shoelaces, and now I was having trouble getting her back in. We were all set to leave the city, ready to head on to the next. After having found water but no food, we had decided that checking out the next city was probably our only option.

"Yep, I'm ready." I announce, finally having recaptured Kay.

"Everyone follow me!" Minho calls out, grabbing my hand as we take off jogging. We'd waited till dusk to start traveling, as walking in the afternoon sun would have been suicide. Even with the sun barely peeking over the horizon, the heat is still nearly unbearable. It had been one thing when we'd had the shade of the buildings for protection, but now out in the open, it was something totally different.

"So do you think there will be any more cranks in this city?" Newt asks thoughtfully, walking along a few steps behind us.

"Probably, I mean we can see the fires from here." I reply then snort, "heck, according to Ratman I can guarantee you there will be, since we're all cranks anyways."

"Shuck it, Sky why do you have to be so logical?" Newt says, "it's bloody depressing."

"Sorry." I say, shrugging. "Still something about that just doesn't add up to me."

"What do you mean?" Minho asks, joining our conversation for the first time. I smile a bit when I hear his voice, I had missed it. I even missed his stupid sarcastic jokes, not that I would ever admit that to him.

"Well, if we really do have the flare, why haven't we had symptoms before?" I say, "Ratman said they gave it to us before the maze right? So shouldn't we already be insane?"

"Hmm, I didn't think about that." Minho says, looking sideways at me, "But maybe we are already crazy."

"Maybe...." I say, my mind reeling with possibilities and scenarios. "But I doubt it."

"Ya I kinda do to." Newt chimes in, "do you think WICKED lied to us?"

"WICKED? Lie?" I scoff, mockingly rolling my eyes. "no! they would never."

"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't be the craziest thing to happen."

"Not by a long shot." I reply, thinking back to the disappearing bodies and bricked up windows, and of the griever hole, hidden in mid-air. Thoughts of the maze bring back a wave of sadness, and suddenly I've lost all desire to talk.

We walk for hours, using the distant fires to guide us through the darkness. I shuffle through the sand, doing my best to keep up with Minho. His long strides make more of a difference here than they ever did in the maze. In the maze I would simply sprint faster to keep up. That isn't an option here,  you try sprinting in sand and see how it works out for you. So by now, I was tired, hot and -after not eating for two days- very, very, hungry. Still we trudge on. We're only a few miles from the city, when we catch sight of two figures running towards us.

"Everyone stop." Minho yells, pulling me closer to him. "Make a circle." The gladers obey, forming a tight group behind us. We wait anxiously for the two figures to reach us, nervously anticipating their motives. Are they cranks coming to attack us? Or other people coming to warn us?

As they approach I can make out what appears to be a man and a woman, covered from head to toe in ragged clothing, their faces shielded by strips of cloth wound tightly around their heads. The first figure, the man, walks up to us, surveying our group. "Where did you come from?"

"From that way." Newt says, turning to point to the city we had just left.

"From the city?" The man asks nervously. His constant fidgeting, gives me the impression of extreme uneasiness.

"Yeah, well no, we stopped in the city, but originally we came from further back." I answer, earning glares from Minho and Newt for telling the truth.

"Impossible." The man mutters, shaking his head. "Impossible, no one comes out of scorch."

"Well not really impossible, considering we just did it." I reply, rolling my eyes.

"You, you are cranks?" The other figure, the woman asks, walking circles around our group. She looks us all up and down, like an animal sizing up the competition.

"some guy told us we have the flare, so yeah I guess." Minho answers, never once taking his eyes off of the circling woman.

"No matter, if not already you will be, city full of them." The woman warns, then looks at the sky, which is beginning to lighten with the first rays of morning sunlight. Her eyes widen, "storm coming, no good, no good." With that, her and the man scurry away, back towards the city, shuffling their way through the blowing piles of sand.

"Well that's encouraging." Minho says flatly.

"It's not like we have much of a choice." Newt replies. I nod in agreement, we have to find food.

"Alright potty break!" Minho says, turning around to face the other gladers. I turn too, and that's when I notice it. Enormous black clouds loom on the horizon, the edges of their billowing tops barely illuminated in the early morning light.

"Um maybe stopping isn't such a good idea." I say, pointing at the menacing shapes.

"It will be fine, it's just rain, if anything, we can refill our water bottles." Minho replies, starting to walk away from me.

"Did you not hear what the lady said about the storm?"

"Did you not notice she was kind of insane?"

"But still...." I trail off, not wanting to start another argument. Our relationship, though fixed, was still fragile. The wounds on both sides were still very sore, and we were both being very careful not rip the bandages off.

"We'll make it quick ok." Minho says, his voice softening in compromise. I nod and sit down in the sand, taking a drink of my water before offering some to Kay. The kitten drinks some, then insists on hiding behind me.

"What's wrong?" I ask, reaching around and pulling Kay back into my lap. The kitten meows as I place her back into the sling. "You sense the storm too huh?" I ask, standing back to my feet.

"Minho we need to go." I say, walking over to him and tugging on his shirt sleeve. By now the storm has gotten closer, and is almost on top of us.

"We will Sky, we will." He says, "Just wait until–"

He's cut off by a massive bolt of lightning, which strikes the ground just a few feet away from our group, ending in a loud clap of thunder.

"Still think I'm overreacting?" I ask, raising my eyebrows at him.

"Everybody Run!!!" He says ignoring my comment. "Head for the City."

We take off sprinting towards the buildings, which due to the increasing gusts are now barely visible through the windblown sand. The sky grows darker with each passing second, making it harder to see the rest of the group. I run beside Minho, Newt and Thomas, praying we can make it in time. Lightning strikes all around us, deafening blasts that nearly blind me with their intensity. They strike so rapidly and in so many places that they all begin to blur into one big glowing wall of white on either side of me. This is no ordinary storm, whatever happened to the Earth must have really screwed up the climate to produce a storm like this.  I begin to panic when I realize I have lost sight of Minho and Thomas, but  I'm helpless against it, it's all I can do to keep running towards the buildings. I hear someone scream behind me as they fall, lightning burning them to the point of no hope. I don't turn around, there is nothing I can do, nothing but hope the scream doesn't belong to someone I am close too. That is what we have been reduced to, the sick hope that whoever died, isn't someone we love. Not pity or sadness that someone died, but happiness that is wasn't someone 'important'. It's terrible, and as much as I hate it, I can't help myself, I am glad that I know Minho and Newt are in front of me, even though I can't see them. In fact I can't see anyone.

Suddenly I'm thrown to the ground, when a large bolt of lightning strikes far too close. It burns my arm, searing the skin until it blisters, my sleeve catching fire. I roll around on the ground, desperately trying to put it out, and screaming in pain as the white hot sand grinds against my raw skin. Finally the fire goes out. I roll onto my back, laying inside the hole created by the blast, and moaning in pain.

The last thing I see is a blinding white light. Then only darkness.