The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials Novels & Stories

The ground was scorching, and I tried to get up, but my back was broken, and I could not move. I could only watch as the sun cooked me. That kind of terror, most people could not handle it. Then, to make things worse, I saw Gavin and Jennifer eat me like I was a dried-up roast lamb. Snapping out of it, I realized my back was drenched. I put down my chips and gulped down a bottle of Earl Grey tea to calm down.

I nodded slowly, trying to memorize every word. "The second day is the Trial of the Labyrinth," Earth continued, her voice dropping lower. "It is a massive underground stone maze beneath the pack. It is filled with deadly traps and silver-tipped spikes. But the real danger isn't the maze itself, Tamara. It's the other contenders. In the labyrinth, there are no rules. Attacks from behind are expected." "And the final day?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly.

“What is it?” She looked at him. “A maze.” Kai groaned loudly. “Of course it is.” The wall suddenly split open. A dark corridor stretched ahead. Covered in rust. Dripping water. Low whispers echoed from inside. Tess grabbed Lena. “I don’t want to go.” Lena looked at her. “We don’t have a choice.” The white screen flashed above them. COMPLETE THE MAZE OR REMAIN BURIED Noah looked offended. “That feels unnecessarily aggressive.”

The scent of damp earth and decay wafted out, heavy with the weight of forgotten terrors. Athena's healer senses flinched, detecting the echoes of past traumas. "This trial will push us to our limits," she warned. Eira's hand tightened on her bow. "I'll go first." Ryker's gaze locked onto the passageway. "We'll face this together." Tristan's voice trembled. "What's waiting for us in there?" The Emissary's voice whispered, "Your deepest fears." With a deep breath, the team stepped forward, into the heart of the Trial of Courage. The doorway slammed shut behind them, sealing them within the darkness.

The ground beneath us shifted, revealing a series of challenges designed to test our resolve. The first trial tested our courage. We found ourselves in a dense thicket, where shadowy figures lurked, their eyes glowing with malevolence. Nathanial and I fought side by side, our bond unbreakable as we faced the shadows. Each strike, each parry, only strengthened our determination. "You have faced your fears," The Keeper's voice echoed as the shadows dissipated. "Now, prove your wisdom." The second trial transported us to a realm of illusions, where reality twisted and turned in a disorienting dance. We navigated through a maze of shifting paths and deceptive mirrors, relying on our wits and ins

I woke up with a scream and was glad that it was just a dream, but the next second I was surrounded by fear once again after realizing where I was, I was lying in the middle of the altar. The altar emitting the smell of corruption and humidity, the moon hanging in the starry sky, I clearly saw the surrounding moss-crawling stone pillars carved with countless strange runes.

“The chosen must bleed. The chosen must walk alone. But when the night is darkest, the moon shines brightest.” I shook my head. “I’m tired. I don’t want to shine. I don’t want to be chosen. I just want peace.” No answer. Only silence. Only my sobs. --- Morning came again. The pack gathered in the yard. They whispered as I walked past. Eyes like knives. The fossils called meeting. Elder Rowan’s voice carried. “She has passed two trials. One remains. The final trial. If she stands, she is Luna true. If she falls, she is gone.”

I pressed my lips into a thin line, gaze locked onto the fog ahead as I started running and all four of my teammates matched my pace as we finally entered into the darkness. This wasn’t just a trial. This was going to be the hardest survival test of my life. Up ahead, sharp movement caught my eye. But when we reached ahead no group was there, it was as if they had disappeared. There was only a torch in a tree. “There is something in that branch,” Finn pointed at the tree. Tucked between the branches of an old pine was a scroll. Dante stepped forward and pulled it free. As he unrolled it, a pen shimmered into existence beside the parchment, hovering mid-air before falling into his hand.

She always did. But the next trial... It wasn’t just a test. It was a graveyard of futures. I crept behind the obsidian ridge, crouched low, my body trembling—not from exhaustion, but from the vision I’d intercepted through the flames. Morwenna’s third trial had begun, and I’d seen it: her scream, my corpse, her blood staining her hands like guilt she couldn’t wash off. It was only a vision, but this place had a cruel way of making fear prophecy.

I suddenly drop the stone to the ground, followed by my arm and body, as I kneel in a fetal position. "NO! I exclaim. I will not do that! It will be up to him to decide. Destiny will decide! YES!" I grab some wooden logs and stones and start building a labyrinth with several exits, all of which lead to fire and only one to safety. The scorpion, slowly and hesitantly, begins to walk along it. Suddenly we see the scorpion disappear behind the stones slowly, while the fire grows in intensity. We all remain a good twenty minutes in silence looking at the fire and wondering if the scorpion had met the fire, or if it would have suddenly appeared from some exit.