Thomas the Boy that can Outsmart anyone Else. Cal B.

Thomas figured out a way to analyze the map information.  The maps that were burned were decoys and Thersea helped Thomas figure the real maps that had multiple codes on them. The codes were random words that could be imputed to a computer. 

Thomas and the Gladers headed off in to the maze and came across a small bunch of Grievers.  Thomas was unfortunately stung and went through the changing.  He admitted that he was forced to help the creators create the maze and that he could get everyone out.  

He tells everyone that they share a telepathic link. He also knows the way out of the Maze is over a cliff face.  This cliff face is where the Grievers enter and exit the maze and the computer where they could input the code is there.  Everyone set out to the maze with the Gladers against the Grievers.  The Grievers got some Gladers, but Chuck, Thersea, Thomas, and about 20 others were able to make it to the dark hole where they could input the code into the computer.  The few Gladers left, entered an elevator and shot down into a bunker.  There the Gladers cam face to face with the creators, separated by a piece of glass.  A woman came to greet the Gladers. She tells them they have done well. She has a young boy with her. The boy is Gally. Gally drew a knife and throws it at Thomas. Chuck steps in front of the knife, giving his life to save Thomas. Thomas is crushed. He had promised Chuck he would find a way out and get Chuck back to his family. He attacks Gally, nearly beating the boy to death.  soon after the Gladers are exported to a bus where they will go to the next stage.  A woman grabbed Thomas and said that they are being saved from the Flare, a large disease that will kill humanity and human kind.  They are here to see who is the smartest, and who can stop the disease.  The bus reached a building where the Gladers were sent and locked in.  The bunker had bunks and a small area for relaxing.  While everyone was asleep Thomas decided to go out by entering the codes into the computer and go out into the world where the flare took place.  Thomas saw a storm in the distance and knew that if he invented a blower that would input carbon dioxide and nitrogen into the air, the storm would rise and disappear.  Thomas ran back into the bunker where there was another computer on the other side.  He needed materials and that was what he got.  After the codes he entered a huge area that was similar to the Glade, but only there was many things on the walls and in the field.  Thomas got the Gladers up and they went to work.  The machine was now complete.  With the storm approaching, they blew the new particles into the air, and the storm disappeared.  The bus came back and Thomas was greeted by the creators.  The creators were political officials and gave Thomas the role of the leader, making Thomas the ultimate person the the society.

Blog # 10

Higgin

The Puzzle of Life

Teresa and Thomas are running towards the griever hole while people around are still fighting and protecting them. Thomas finds Chuck, Newt, and Alby then motions them to follow. The group of five remained together weaving their way through the struggling Glader’s fighting for their lives. Occasionally there would be a scream of someone who was close to death and had given up on him/herself. Every time this would happen Thomas flinched and reached out to Teresa in his mind for someone to talk to yet not out loud where people would be offended. She would try and comfort him for small seconds but was more focused on surviving and getting into the grievers hole to end what they had started. As they were approaching the cliff a group of about ten grievers stopped in front of them. They all had weapons and were ready to fight when suddenly tons of Glader’s came out of what seemed to be nowhere and ambushed them. The Grievers didn’t react at all then just were standing there as if they didn’t know what to do. One by one they were slain. After the path was clear Alby, Newt, Teresa, Thomas, and Chuck started jumping into the hole.
                When they dropped into the griever hole there was little light besides the flashlights they had. There was a distant glowing object in front of them. They were all wading in some kind of liquid. Thomas’s first thought was that they were in the Grievers waste area. Then he realized by the feel and the easiness of him wading through it was only water. The room they had dropped into smelled like rotten mold. Chuck almost passed out from the smell but got somewhat used to it after a little while. After they had rested on the rocky shore to the water for only a minute, which seemed like hours, they started jogging towards the glowing object. It wasn’t long before all of them were there. There was a computer that had a blank page on it. Teresa thought to Thomas “Let’s put the code in quickly!” Thomas knew it had to be done. Thomas asked Chuck, Alby, and Newt to watch him and Teresa’s backs while they typed the code in. They put the words in FLOAT, CATCH, BLEED, DEATH, and STIFF. After Thomas enters those words he tries the last word PUSH. The computer doesn’t let another word go in but something in the wall starts to shift. There is a space in the wall that comes out. Alby yells “Everyone into the hole.” They all follow thinking the same thing. When they enter the room they see Gally lying on the floor.

Before they try anything with Gally they examine what kind of room they are in as the door shuts behind them. From what they can tell there are 6 little rooms coming out of this one room. Each one has a different word on it.  Thomas goes to one of the doors, and then suddenly Gally sits up quickly and looks at Thomas. “You!” Gally exclaimed! “It was you!” Then he lunged at Thomas with a knife that was in his hand. Lucky for Thomas he had a weapon that he used for the fight above so he fended Gally off with it. After struggling for a few seconds Thomas got the upper hand he deflected one of the stabs Gally threw then smacked the knife out of his hand. Then Thomas pinned him on the wall before he could dive to get it. Thomas said “What have they done to you?”

Gally responded “I survived the night and found this place and have been living here running over the memories I got from the changing. Then it hit me, the reason we are all in trouble is because of you and this girl. You were one of the creators of the maze and are just trying to gain trust to turn on us once we escape!”

                Everyone was not sure who to believe anymore. They knew that Gally could have been changed since he was in this place but they also knew he went through the Changing. Alby spoke out and said “Gally you are crazy Thomas would die for any of us just as Teresa.” He then looked at each of them and they each nodded. “Get him locked in one of these doors but check it out before locking him in.” Soon after Newt and Thomas went in the room and came out with a letter. It was an F. The door had the word Stiff on it. The other doors around the room had words from the code as well. This couldn’t have been a coincidence.  The other letters that were found were S-E-T-E-L. This was another clue for another puzzle.

The Maze Finder

Corrie

Thomas and the brave enough gladers who went along with the plan were about to reach the griever hole. When they turned the corner they found themselves in front of a horde of grievers. "Oh bloody hell they expected us" said Newt angrily staring at the grievers. Thomas and the gang knew what they had to do just get to the hole and it will all be over. Suddenly for what seemed as no apparent reason Alby ran like a mad man straight at the grievers he managed to defeat a few knock a few into the hole and then fall down himself. Now the rest of the gladers began to scramble to fight and get to the griever hole and not die. The battle lasted for about a half an hour, and after that time all the grievers were dead or fell down the hole, and there was only one thing left to do jump into the hole.

At the bottom was something unexpected aside from all the dead griever bodies and Alby's corpse. Ahead were two large doors almost like the ones in the Glade. "Well what are we waiting for we just going sit here or bloody get out of here" and with Newts words everybody ran for the doors, and once through they all made a discovery. It appeared that they were in a another place like the Glade only sort of different. Then the gladers heard a voice "Ah welcome we see you finally passed the test gladers. But the time for fun and games is over welcome to your next trial in another maze with even more deadly creatures. Don't worry you will still receive supplies but, newbie's will come every 40 days instead of every month. Now we know what you must be feeling like right now oh why are we still here, why are they so cruel, where is the next exit, how will we find it, why is the guy talking to us wondering all these things out loud to us". "Pfffffff he has the last one right" whispered Teresa". "Now since you guys took approximately 2.36 years to do the first maze we set the bar you could say lower. You now have about a year and 139 days till we decide were bored and deem you all fail or we will pull the whole two person thing and then everything falls apart scenario again, it just worked on you to move your butts out of there".

Everyone Stood there listening to the person's rambling and when he finished he said a few final things. " Remember this always watch your back and be prepared this time around because here we hired and trained youth like you to attempt to murder you guys just like this young man just accomplished while I distracted you." Just then everybody turned around and they saw the dead body of one of the med-jacks that survived. The gladers all gasped in horror at this sight and became very angry. "Now now children anger will only solve nothing you must learn to move on or you won't be able to exit your next trial remember that very well it just might help or not who knows certainly not I". After saying that he laughed and then silence broke out among everybody. The gladers were now faced with another maze harder and with less time to do so and on top of that they had people waiting to murder them. Thomas may have just solved the maze but he just found another one.

A boy and his maze (Filled with monsters and people). Richard

  Only Thomas and Chuck remained. The rest of the team had escaped out of them maze. After fending off a few more Grievers, Thomas and Chuck ran towards the exit. They were almost to the exit, but a shadowy figure blocked the way.
  "Who is that?" said Thomas. Suddenly, lightning hit the ground where the shadowy figure's cape lay. The lightning revealed the figure to be no other than Gally! Gally's cape was set on fire.
  "Darn it, this happens every time!" yelled Gally. He took off his cape and threw it away.
  "Anyways," Gally said. "I can't let you guys leave this maze. Really, I can't. I would get in a lot of trouble if I did. So, I'm going to have to kill you guys. Right here, right now." Gally reached behind his back. He grabbed a weapon and pulled it out in front of him. It was several nuclear warheads, rigged up into an oversize rocket launcher.
  "This may be a bit 'overkill', but I never want to have to see your ugly faces ever again." said Gally. He aimed the nuclear warheads at Thomas and Chuck. He pulled the trigger, and a mix of multiple Hydrogen and Atomic bombs headed in Thomas and Chuck's direction. A griever decided to walk in front of Thomas and Chuck. The nukes hit the Griever and impaled him, getting Griever slime all over Thomas and Chuck. The bombs exploded on Thomas and Chuck. A massive explosion erupted around them and swallowed up Thomas, Chuck, and Gally.
  All that remained was a giant crater. A giant crater with Thomas and Chuck inside.
  "I guess it turns out that Griever slime is explosion and radiation resistant!" said Chuck. All that remained of Gally was a pile of radioactive slop. Thomas and Chuck high-fived each other. They ran towards the exit and jumped through the portal. Little did they know that the radiation caused severe changes to the portal's location. Thomas and Chuck fell into a pit of frequently changing walls with the occasional elephant or refrigerator flying past them. They fell for what seemed like hours. Finally, they saw an exit. Before they knew it, they were standing on the ground of Glade. The grass was as green as the day Thomas arrived in Glade.
  "WHO IS THAT?!" Yelled someone from a distance. Thomas and Chuck stood there, still covered in goo. Thomas was approached by Thomas.
  "What? It's me? Who covered me in slime?" said Thomas. Chuck came because of the commotion and found himself covered in slime, too.
  "Why is there another of me?" said Chuck. "This is obviously a work of the creators to deceive us! We must kill these clones!!" So, the slime covered Thomas and Chuck fought the other Thomas and Chuck. They fought for at least an hour. The slime-covered Thomas and Chuck managed to defeat the regular Thomas and Chuck! With one final move, slime-covered Thomas killed the regular pair. Thomas and Chuck were in relief. Then Chuck got an idea.
  "Hey, what if those were our past selves. If we killed them, wouldn't we cease to exist because they died?" said Chuck. Then all the sudden, Thomas and Chuck disappeared. The Glade society, left without a hero, was forced to starve to death and get eaten by grievers.

The Deceiver

Buck

Thomas had just finished escaping the maze with his friend Chuck.  They were sliding down the tube which lead to the outside world, or so Thomas thought.  The tube seemed to last forever.  It was made of a metallic substance, and it was slimy.  It reminded Thomas of a Griever.  He was reminded of it even more when he flew from the end of the tube and into a room so dark that even death would be lost in it.

“Chuck?” Thomas called.  There was no response. 

“Chuck!” Thomas cried, searching for his beloved friend.  Suddenly, a horrible scraping sound of metal against metal screeched through the room.  Lights flickered, the floor shook, and all Thomas could think about was Chuck.  Before he could think too long, however, the room was flooded with light. As Thomas’ eyes slowly adjusted, he could see the silhouette of a large metal figure.

“A Griever?” Thomas first thought.  Although the shape was similar, it was no Griever. It was much larger.  As Thomas’ full vision returned, he could see that the figure had a human-like face.

“What did you do with Chuck?!” Thomas exclaimed.  Before his question was answered, Thomas flew across the room and banged against the solid rock wall.

“I AM Chuck,” replied a dark, rash voice.  The voice continued with a laugh.  “There are no creators.  There is only ONE, and I am HE!  I removed your and all of your kind’s memories.  I then became known to you as Chuck--your timid friend.  I was so weak and insignificant that I was able to gain your trust.  But all of you were deceived.  Instead, I shall annihilate all of you!  The world will be completely swarmed with my Grievers, and I shall continue to be the King.”

“Why us?  What did we ever do to you?” Thomas yelled in desperation.  He knew it was virtually impossible to get out of this alive.  Perhaps he could at least get the answers that his forgotten memories failed to give him.

“Why you?  Why you?  All of you were the ones who tried to take out me, The Griever King.  All of you tried to change MY world.  All of you, that is, but Teresa.  She is my minion.  Surprised?  No matter!  Enough talk!  It is time to vanquish all of you from my world!”

Thomas closed his eyes and prepared to die.

“I am no minion of yours!” Thomas knew that voice better than anyone. He opened his eyes and saw Teresa, but she was not the only one.  Thomas looked at the tube from which he came.  What he saw brought a look of astonishment, and then a huge smile, to his face.  All of his friends from the Glade were there, ready to fight.

 

Yey or Nay?

Maze Runner- Cal, Buck, Andrew, Corrie, Langton, John, Richard

The members of our group felt there were many positive aspects of The Maze Runner. One item we liked was the social structure presented in the book because it was similar to the social climate of a school or business.  Even though the society in the book was dystopian, it was not much different than the societies of today.  For example, in the book, there were different social structures.  This was illustrated by the sections in which people worked.  Each section had a leader, who was known as “the keeper.”  This is not dissimilar to the social structures of today’s world.  A school is a good example.  Each school has different classes, which can be considered sections, and each section has leaders.  The same is true for a business.  Each business has different departments in which employees work.  In each department, there are department heads or supervisors who lead the department.  Thus, we could readily identify with the social structures of the book.

A second aspect of the book we liked was the author’s descriptions of the characters and the Glade. Through the descriptions, it was easy for members of our group to relate to and like many of the characters.  For example, Cal related to Alby because he felt they both possessed leadership abilities.  Buck related to Minho, because he felt they shared the qualities of strength, intelligence, and creativity.  Higgin related to Chuck because he felt they both did not always “fit in,” but they tried to be good friends and put others before themselves.   Through the descriptions of the characters, we felt we “knew” them.  The same is true about the Glade.  Through the descriptions of the Glade, we felt we knew how it looked and what the characters faced while inside it. This made the book easy to follow.

Another aspect of the book we enjoyed was the fact that the author ended every chapter with a "hang," which made us want to keep reading. This kept the momentum of the book going and held our interest. 

While the above describes the ways in which we liked the novel, there were also some aspects of it we disliked.  First of all, several of us felt the book began very slowly, and it took a while for it to spark our interest.  Another negative aspect of the book was that a few of our favorite characters died, which left us disappointed.  Even though we enjoyed the fact that the chapters ended in a “hang,” we didn’t like the fact that the book also ended that way.  This gave us no resolution or closure.  Instead, we found we will have to read all of the books in the series in order to reach the end.  That was another disappointment.

Overall, the members of our group enjoyed the book.  We liked the characters, the plot, and the action.  Based on those aspects, we would recommend it.  However, we would caution prospective readers that, if they want the story resolved at the end of the first book, they will be disappointed.  To gain closure, they will have to read all of the books in the series. While this wouldn’t bother some readers, it would bother others, as it did many of the members of our group. In addition, the book is better suited for male readers because it deals with interactions among males almost exclusively, and it focuses on strength, athleticism, and male relationships.  While this may interest some female readers, we didn’t feel it is the type of book typically read by adolescent females.