The group headed across the dusty land, heading in the direction of the run down city. It was still quite far away, but they had walked far in the time Mara had re-joined her friends. The building they had left Teresa was only just visible from where they walked.

Mara struggled to walk the whole way; she had used up most of her energy running the day before. It was going to take time for her to heal, but she knew that she would never get the time she needed. They had too much to do; surely if WICKED had prepared this second phase to be as bad as the Maze they weren't going to get much rest.

The Gladers walked in pairs, only just covering each other from the scorch above them with white sheets. Newt walked beside Mara, checking that she was okay to keep walking pretty much every few minutes. It was sweet that he cared so much, but there was only so much care Mara could take.

Every so often they would stop and take break, eating and drinking to replenish themselves. Some of the packs which had been carrying supplies became available to use as protection from the sun, so some Gladers started to walk alone. Despite that, Newt stayed by Mara's side, walking in time across the acres of land. He hadn't really spoken much, but he kept glancing over at her every so often and from Mara's peripheral vision she could always see the smile across his lips, and it made her happy. Even though they were in the middle of nowhere, walking towards what was phase two of WICKED's stupid plan to save the world, seeing even a trace of a smile on his face made her happy.

They kept walking, closing the gap between themselves and the city. It didn't seem that far away now, maybe they'd get there tomorrow or the day after, but surely it wouldn't take long until they got there. Knowing that made Mara think; she had only been walking for a day, but they had been walking longer. How long had they been out in the scorch? All she had been told was that they had two weeks to get through the most likely to be crank filled town and over the hill behind it, and it had already been a few days.

That town seemed like a bad idea, there was something off about it and Mara also didn't feel like being attacked by cranks, but she had heard some of the Gladers talking about the low amount of supplies. They had to go through the town to find water and food and possibly a bit of shelter.

The journey was agonising; heat beat down on them and spread across her body, squeezing out sweat like a sponge squeezes out water until nothing is left. Her stomach rumbled and squealed in hunger, but it wasn't anything she hadn't felt before. Teresa had hardly fed her when she was locked up, the most she had was a rotten apple a day, and that hadn't exactly settled her tummy.

When night finally came, it was cool and a slight breeze wisped its way through the air. It was refreshing and pleasant on Mara's skin, contrasting with the intense heat she had been walking through all day.

Minho eventually decided to stop and let everyone get some rest at midnight. The wind was more intense as it whipped and lashed around them and the town was closer than ever.

Not long after they stopped, Mara and Newt found a slight dip in the ground and settled into it, their heads at the top and feet at the bottom. They slept together, letting the other Gladers sleep separately with their own covers from the night.

It took longer for Mara to fall asleep than Newt, who had his arms and legs intertwined with hers. She looked over at the other Gladers sleeping peacefully, all except Thomas. He was lying there, looking up at the sky, an image of glee on his face. Mara couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking.

He seemed to fall asleep within a few minutes, but Mara found it harder. She was exhausted, but her body didn't want her to sleep. The winds around her seemed to get more violent, hurling through her body and sending an awful chill up her spine. Everything around her was darkening, becoming twisted and terrifying.

She looked over at Newt, who was staring back at her with black demonic eyes that weren't his own. He looked monstrous, yet he was still wrapped around her body and clinging to her skin. Mara tried to wriggle free, but his grasp was too tight. He didn't move, he just lay there and stared at her in what looked like pain.

Eventually, she stopped trying to get away from him. He was in pain, she was sure of it. His skin was broken and scars lined his forehead. Blood stained his cheeks and forehead, and his lips were a pale shade of purple. All she could see was the boy Teresa had shown her; the boy who was ill and turning into a crank, and it terrified her.

Everywhere she looked, all she could see was him.

She clamped her eyes shut, but he was still there. He was hurt, in pain, and she didn't know how to stop it. His mouth opened and closed but no words came out and Mara couldn't work out what he was trying to say.

Go to sleep, Mara. Teresa's voice shrieked, making Mara jump out of her skin. Her voice was laced with craziness, almost as if she was a crank too. You've got a busy day ahead of you. Wouldn't want to waste your sleep worrying about poor Newt, because there's nothing you can do. He's already dead.

Shut up! I hate you, and so does everyone else. He may turn into a crank, but at least if he does there will be people who actually care about him, unlike you. So go back to being in a coma, you were liked much more when you were. Mara threw the words through her head, full of anger and pain. It was a side of her she had never seen before, like a switch of her emotions had been flicked and her anger had been let loose.

Everything went silent. Newt disappeared from inside her head and Teresa's voice faded into oblivion. For a while Mara just laid there and stared up at the sky, trying to lull herself into a deep sleep. She needed to sleep, she needed to clear her head and get away from the reality of her life.

It took a while for her to calm herself down, but she finally felt peaceful lying under the stars. The wind calmed and things seemed to go back to normal, or what seemed normal. Mara didn't even know what normal was anymore, something bad happened nearly every day, and it was always something different.

Her mind finally decided to let her rest, pulling her to sleep, and pulling her into another dream.

She was about ten years old, sitting in a chair and leaning over a white round table, drawing on a piece of paper. The sketch was of her mother- her real mother- with the sea behind her, her hair flowing gently in the breeze. It looked like her, it was a close match to the woman she had seen in her dreams, her mum.

The room she was in was large and full of people. It was dark, lit only by a single lightbulb hanging from the centre of the ceiling. People roamed the room, passing her by as she sat at her table alone. Others sat around tables similar to hers, all in large groups and talking among themselves. As she looked closer, she recognised some of the people around her. The Gladers. They walked around, chatting and laughing, completely ignoring her.

There were girls too, walking around, talking to the Gladers. Who were they? There were just as many of them as there were Gladers, the same age. Mara remembered what Thomas said; two mazes. The girls were the ones in the second maze, the ones with Aris.

Mara looked around at the crowds, and spotted one particular table. Her friends all sat together, along with a few girls she didn't know from the second maze. They were all happy together, but none of them noticed her, sitting alone and separated from everyone else. She was just there, just another stranger they passed during the day.

"Hey, Mara." A girl called out, coming from their table. She looked up at the girl and felt the eyes of each boy and girl on that table looking straight at her. "You drawing yourself some friends?"

The girl laughed, and so did some of her friends, but Minho huffed and Alby rolled his eyes. It hurt. Why were they being like that? At least they weren't laughing with her. But it still hurt.

"Ignore them."

Mara looked up to see Newt holding two sandwiches. He sat next to her and handed her one of his sandwiches. She smiled as a thanks, then placed it on the table next to her drawing.

"You're really good at drawing." Newt said, pausing before he spoke again. "You look like your mum, you know."

"Thanks." Mara smiled, but the girl was bothering her. Why was she being mean to her? They were just kids. Mara didn't know why they hated her, she didn't know why the people she knew as friends were letting someone bully her.

"Stop thinking about them. They're just intimidated because you're Paige's daughter." He told her. She looked up at him and sighed; he was right. Why would they want to be friends with her when her mother was responsible for them being locked away as scientific guinea pigs to cure the rest of the world? "You know what, come with me."

Newt stood up and grabbed Mara's hand, dragging her to her feet. "Where are you taking me?"

"I'm going to introduce us. Maybe if they really met you they'd stop being mean." Without a choice, he dragged Mara over to the group of children, who all looked back at them, waiting for one of them to speak. "I'm Newt. Have you seen Mara's drawings? They're pretty amazing."