Maze Runner

ALSO BY JAMES DASHNER

The 13th Reality series

The Journal of Curious Letters

The Hunt for Dark Infinity

For Lynette. This book was a three-year journey,

and you never doubted.

CHAPTER 1

He began his new life standing up, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air.

Metal ground against metal; a lurching shudder shook the floor beneath him. He fell down at the sudden

movement and shuffled backward on his hands and feet, drops of sweat beading on his forehead despite

the cool air. His back struck a hard metal wall; he slid along it until he hit the corner of the room. Sinking

to the floor, he pulled his legs up tight against his body, hoping his eyes would soon adjust to the

darkness.

With another jolt, the room jerked upward like an old lift in a mine shaft.

Harsh sounds of chains and pulleys, like the workings of an ancient steel factory, echoed through the

room, bouncing off the walls with a hollow, tinny whine. The lightless elevator swayed back and forth as

it ascended, turning the boy’s stomach sour with nausea; a smell like burnt oil invaded his senses, making

him feel worse. He wanted to cry, but no tears came; he could only sit there, alone, waiting.

My name is Thomas, he thought.

That … that was the only thing he could remember about his life.

He didn’t understand how this could be possible. His mind functioned without flaw, trying to calculate

his surroundings and predicament. Knowledge flooded his thoughts, facts and images, memories and

details of the world and how it works. He pictured snow on trees, running down a leaf-strewn road,

eating a hamburger, the moon casting a pale glow on a grassy meadow, swimming in a lake, a busy city

square with hundreds of people bustling about their business.

And yet he didn’t know where he came from, or how he’d gotten inside the dark lift, or who his parents

were. He didn’t even know his last name. Images of people flashed across his mind, but there was no

recognition, their faces replaced with haunted...