Maze Runner: The Scorch Novels & Stories

It moved like a snake wearing a man’s skin. The fourteen reverent mimics scattered in terror. The Spine team closed ranks instantly. Solin fired a tracer round. It passed through the creature’s shoulder — harmless. Riven activated pulse-shift. The creature accelerated. The battle was chaos. It moved between shadows, slipped through structural beams like water, struck from angles that made no physical sense. It wasn’t bound by mimic rules. It wasn’t even bound by space. Marra went down — slashed across the ribs. Cael fired three burst rounds and hit nothing.

The armored SUV groaned as it tore through the frozen mud of the Rogue Lands, the tires spitting gray slush against the skeletal trunks of dead pines. Inside the cabin, the air was a pressurized vacuum of silence, broken only by the rhythmic ticking of the engine and the low, wet rattle of Kael’s breathing. Phoenix sat in the passenger seat, her eyes fixed on the thermal scanner. The scent of Rain and Burnt Pine—Kael’s scent—was currently underscored by the cloying, acidic smell of the necrotic poison in his marrow.

I ran my hands through his hair screaming his name. "Yes.. yes.." I groaned as he grabbed my ass. He turned my body around and started to thrust my body from the back. He squeezed both of my breast hard and he released himself inside of me. He turned my body around and kissed my lips hard. "M.I.N.E" He smirked.

The stench of harsh chemicals and rot hung heavy in the air. My flashlight cut through the gloom, revealing Marco in the heart of the factory. Chained and suspended, he was a bloody mess, barely clinging to life, with a massive tank looming beneath him. There was Rosa, perched on a chair with a red remote in her grip. At the sound of my approach, she looked up, her face a grotesque mask of scratches and fresh blood, her smile twisted and ghastly. "So, you've come, Elena. Looks like you couldn't abandon your old flame after all."

Every breath felt like swallowing needles. As they neared the bunker, the ground began to teem with movement. Not soldiers, but "Scavengers"; mechanical hounds with multi-lens eyes that scurried over the rocks, hunting for biological heat signatures. "Down!" Lucian shoved Maya into a shallow crevice just as a Scavenger leapt over their heads, its metallic claws clicking against the stone. The machine paused, its head rotating 360 degrees. A beam of violet light swept over the rocks, inches from Maya’s face. She held her breath, her heart drumming against her ribs. The twins suddenly gave a sharp, synchronized kick.

The surrounding warriors shrieked in terror, scrambling backward into the mud, their hands flying to their weapons as they looked at the smoking trench floor. Marcus sat crouched in the center of the scorched stone, his broad chest rising and falling in shallow intervals. The permanent lightning tracks across his skin were now raised, angry red scars that whistled in the cold wind like an old pipe. The tiny, desperate speck of Alpha gold at the center of his pupils was nearly gone, drowned out by the unblinking silver of the parasite.

Jace whirled, dragging me with him as another scout lunged from the shadows, blade raised. The scout’s blade came down in a silver arc. Jace caught it mid-strike, claws sparking against the runes etched into the steel. His growl rattled through the trees as he twisted, snapping the man’s wrist and hurling him into the ground. Tyler buried his knife in another scout’s throat, dragging it across with brutal precision. Black ichor hissed on the blade as the body crumbled to dust. I barely had time to breathe before the last scout lunged at me, faster than the others. His blade nicked my arm, the sting searing. Pain snapped my control. The runes under my skin flared like wildfire. Silver flames

“If it’s a blessing then it’s not a misfortune and if it’s a misfortune then it’s unavoidable” Apart from the people watching the scene in the temple’s main hall a few others were also watching secretly, the king was watching from his palace through a magic mirror while all five utmost exalted elders were in another room within the temple also watching through a magic mirror, despite the difference in location they all had one thing in common and it was their stunned expression. Sword-saint Predator was feeling amazed at first when eight runes lit up but couldn’t help but feel a bit worried when ten runes lit but then all of a sudden twelve runes lit up and now he didn’t know if he should la

"I don't need a car for a mountain pass, Austin. Stop stalling." He let out a shaky, hysterical laugh. "You don't get it. This isn't a drag race. It's a Shift-Run. The forest is rigged. Silver wire, pressure plates, spring-loaded spikes. The first one to the summit gets the prize. The others... well, the crows need to eat." Behind him, four massive wolves stepped into the moonlight. Their fur was matted, their eyes bloodshot with the use of enhancers. They weren't there to race. They were there to hunt.

--- ### The Shadow of the Moon As we walked toward the doors, leaving the warehouse behind, I looked up at the sky one last time. The violet moon was fading, returning to its dull grey color. But as the light died, I saw something moving across its surface. A massive, black shadow. It looked like a hand reaching out to grab the Earth. "What is that?" I asked, pointing upward. The Scavenger woman didn't look up. She kept walking into the snow. "That's the **Collector**," she said. "The machines realized the power spike came from here. They’re sending a 'Maintenance Crew' to fix the leak."