I only own my OC's. Every other character belongs rightfully to James Dashner.

There was no way to survive once you got the Flare. There was no hope for you. You either kill yourself, or slowly watch yourself go mad. Not to mention, the planet was scorched by the sun. Over the years, the world has crumbled as if it shouldn't have existed in the first place. The cure that scientists were searching for never happened. Everyone should've seen that one coming. The world had lost hope in everything. The world had given up as soon as they found out there was no cure, or no way to survive. The world was sick of losing their family, so they gave up. They sat there and let the world tear them to pieces.

Everyone except for Asa.

Deep down she knew she wouldn't last much longer, but that did not stop her. For 2 years, her and her friends Lexia and Elina have survived on their own. They've managed to keep themselves alive for that long. Asa was a natural born leader; smarter than anyone they've ever met. Although her hair was impossibly white, her eyes were an icy, shocking blue. Tattoos littered her tan body in random places, but came together nicely. Different images of flowers, quotes, and nautical tattoos stained her canvas. She didn't have much clothes, but who did? She mostly just wore a cut-off white tanktop, dark cargo pants, and black combat boots. The powerful vibe she gave off made her look like a goddess regardless.

She was on her own at first. She learned not to trust anyone, not even the cranks. She knew that first level cranks still had some of their humanity, but didn't want to chance it. Some of them, though, were bad people. Some of them had slowly let themselves lose grip on their humanity.

Those were the ones who had to die.

If she wanted to stay alive, she had to kill. She had to travel alone, and kill. She didn't take it upon herself to kill everyone, though. Just the cranks who have gone insane. If she didn't kill them, they'd kill her. They'd rip her to shreds and eat her. She couldn't die; she had to live. She had to fulfill her one purpose, to track down WICKED.

Elina came with her not too long after. The poor girl was surrounded by rock bottom cranks. After Asa helped her, Elina begged to take her along and teach her how to defend herself. Asa reluctantly agreed, keeping in mind how much baggage the girl would be. She was beautiful. Her olive skin was clear and smooth. Her brown hair was a little past her shoulders, and her brown eyes gleamed with sarcasm and mischief. Asa couldn't help but smile at the girl. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed so much everytime she's around her. Soon after they started traveling together, they became best friends.

They traveled together always. They would make a camp from place to place, and gather food on the way. They stuffed their backpacks with everything they could find that looked remotely useful, and they always had their backpacks with them. They didn't travel light, because they couldn't afford to.

It was a matter of months before they stumbled upon Lexia. She yelled for help when she saw the two girls walk by from the top floor of an abandoned building. After putting their heads together and got her down, Lexia requested to travel with her saviors. Asa strongly opposed against it, it was already hard enough traveling with two people.. Lexia was a small girl, shorter than both of the girls. She had red hair and green eyes. She had a shy nature, but knew everything about a bow. After Elina talked her into it, Lexia joined their team.

The girls have been together ever since. They became closer than anticipated, and heavily relied on each other. Over the 2 years they've survived together, they developed a sister bond. They never left without one another. Little did they know, it was a matter of time before things started flipping upside down.

Rat Man waited for an eternity, then slowly lowered himself in the chair and scooted himself foward to sit behind the desk once more. "You may think, or it may seem, that we're merely testing your ability to survive. On the surface, the Maze Trial could be mistakenly classified that way. But I assure you, this is not merely about survival and the will to live. That's only a part of this experiment. The bigger picture is something you don't understand until the very end.

Sun flares have ravaged many parts of the earth. Also a disease, unlike any known before known to man, has been ravaging the earth's people; a disease called the Flare. For the first time, the goverenments of all nations, the surviving ones, are working together. They've combined forced to create WICKED, a group meant to find the new problems of this world. You are a big part of that fight. And you'll have every insentive to work with us, because sad to say, each one of you has already caught the virus.

The Rat Man's words played over and over in the glader's minds. Phase two has begun, with only 19 of them left. They lay scattered on the ground, with the heat forcefully burning their faces. Thomas tried desperately to open his eyes. He did so successfully, but had a heavy squint. When he partially opened his eyes, he saw all three girls staring down at him, all with bows pointing straight to his skull. Thomas tried to speak, but his throat was almost completely dried up. Instead, he raised his hands slowly. He looked over to see two of the girls nudge Minho and Newt with their foot.

"Up you go, strangers." Asa yelled, accent thick and full of authority. Gladers were groaning as they tried to shield their faces from the blistering heat. Their skin was already turning red from the blistering sun. Asa pointed her bow at Minho. "You're the leader. Tell me what you know about WICKED, and I may let you live." Elina looked all the gladers over. "We should get them back to camp, Asa. By the looks of it, they won't last long anyway." Minho motioned to Elina. "Listen to the girl, shank," Minho started. "We're hungry and dehydrated. If you want any info out of us, now isn't the time." Asa scoffed. "I'd rather leave them for dead and find someone else. We don't need leechers, we need information." Thomas knew he had to do something. There were 18 others who needed help badly. He knew without their help, they'd never make it to the cure. "We know about WICKED." This caught Asa's attention. She froze in place and stared at him. "What do you know? Tell me before I-" Elina cut her off. "Scare them and make them shit their pants after we get them fed. Hungry, boys?"

The boys tried desperately to block the heat with their sheets. If anything, it made it worse. "How the shuck do you walk in this klunk?" Minho asked Elina. She shrugged lightly and looked up. "It's something you have to try and adapt to. Have you never been outside or something?" Minho chuckled. "It's a long story." Elina raised her eyebrows for a brief moment before pressing on. "Camp's this way. We have plenty of food and water, for now. When we get low, we take what we can and find a place elsewhere. We've been doing this for about 2 years."

"So let me get this straight. You shanks have survived in this heat for 2 shuckin' years?" Minho asked. Elina nodded before Asa sighed in frustration. "No more damn questions. After you get fed, I expect you to tell me anything I want to know. Are we clear?" The boys looked at each other before looking at Minho. "Crystal," he replied with a smirk.

The girls led the 19 boys into the warehouse where they had set up camp. Newt, who had stayed quiet for the most part, spoke up finally. "How did you manage to find a bloody food warehouse?" Asa replied in a cold tone. "Because we look for one, that's why. Wouldn't you?" Newt stared at her for a second before looking away and wiping sweat running down his face away with the back of his arm. Asa walked ahead into the warehouse, and Lexia turned to the gladers. "Please pardon Asa. She's really a nice person." Minho scoffed, and Thomas smacked him in the back of the head. "I mean it," Lexia explains. "Circumstances have made her cruel, I'm afraid."

When the gladers entered the warehouse, they looked all around them. Homemade tents were pitched in random places, all looking handmade from pieces of clothing and blankets. There was extra bedding in the middle of the tents. "We gather everything we can, and bring it back to wherever we're at. For now, this is our camp." Elina explains. "Lexia, why don't you go whip up some food for us? We'll help these boys with their burns." Lexia nodded before leaving the room.

Newt and Minho sat on the ground next to each other, both trying to cool off and grasp the situation. "So, we all have the bloody Flare, and we have limited time to make it somewhere and find the cure?" Minho nodded. "Yep, appears that way." Newt motioned to Asa. "What about the girl? Are you going to tell her what she wants?" Minho shrugged. "It's not like WICKED asked for silence, am I right? Yeah, she's a fiesty shank, but she won't scare me into telling her anything." Newt raised his eyebrows. "You sure about that, slinthead? You seemed a bit scared when they found us." Minho rolled his eyes.

Asa and Elina walked around to the boys and draped tea soaked rags over their burnt limbs and face. When they got to Minho and Newt, Minho raised his eyebrow. "Tea?" He questioned. Asa bend down in front of Newt. "If you're gonna complain, blister. I could care less," she retorted. Newt sent a smirk his way before Asa put a rag over Newt's face. "The tea takes out the heat and cuts the redness. It's Asa's method." Minho looked at Elina, then at Asa. "What's your story, anyway?" He asked Elina. She shrugged in response. "Basically, I was getting attacked by rock bottoms, and Asa came to my lovely rescue. She had a cape and everything, I swear." Asa smiled at Elina. "A cape?" Asa questioned. Minho snickered and shook his head. "So you can smile. That's nice to know." Asa's smile turned into a glare. "Shut it."

After the tea sat on their skin for awhile, Asa and Elina headed down the hall to help Lexia. Thomas took a seat next to Minho and Newt. The gladers talked amongst themselves about the trip to get the cure. Thomas stared off in the distance. Would they still help us if they knew we had the Flare? Before he could overthink it, the girls came in with several cans of pork and beans with forks. "Eat up, gents. Plenty to go around," Elina exclaimed over the chatter. "Water is in the pump in the back. Try not to go too overboard and make yourselves sick."

After stuffing themselves, the gladers settled all over the ground to get some rest. "I can't thank you guys enough for helping us," Thomas told Lexia. Lexia smiled awkwardly and nodded. "It's not a problem, really. Sorry, I kind of suck at talking to people." Thomas smiled at her. "You're doing fine right now. What's the deal with Asa anyway? Why is she obsessed with WICKED?" Lexia's eyes darkened and she looked down. "She's tried for years to track them down." Thomas glanced at Asa, who was currently sharpening a spear. "Why? Why would she want them so bad?" Lexia twiddled her thumbs. "It's not really my place to tell, but I know she won't. She's originally from Russia. Before the world turned bad, she was adopted by a small family in the United States. The family was pretty average; a mom, a dad, and a son. The son, her brother, was her rock. He was her best friend who always protected her. He didn't let any of the kids bully her." Thomas nodded. "What does that have to do with WICKED, though?" Lexia sighed and rubbed her eyes. "When Asa was 6, her brother was snatched from her by WICKED. They took him from her family, and from her. She wants him back, or better yet, needs him back. She knows there's a possibility he's dead, but she still wants to find WICKED and get him back. Also.." Thomas looked at her. "What?"

"She's also hunting them down to get the cure, because I have the Flare."