The Fever Code

The Fever Code

Author	James Dashner
Cover artist	Phillip S
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Maze Runner Series
Genre	Young adult, dystopian future, science fiction
Publication date	September 27, 2016[1]
Pages	384
Preceded by	The Kill Order
Followed by	The Maze Runner

The Fever Code is the second prequel (Second Chronologically) to The Maze Runner series by James Dashner. Dashner said that he always wanted to write about how the rest of the Gladers got to the maze and the events prior to Thomas entered the box. The book is set in a time before The Maze Runner and after The Kill Order. The novel is written from the various points of view of the Gladers. The book primarily focuses on the training that Thomas and the others undergo before being sent into the Maze, however also explores the relationships between the gladers before they underwent the 'Swipe', the "Purge" that is briefly mentioned in The Death Cure and the lives of the Gladers in Thomas' absence, as he is working with WICKED at the time. The book ends with the final moments of Thomas entering the Box ready to be sent to the Maze, leading to the beginning of "The Maze Runner". The book was released on September 27, 2016.^[2]

Summary

As a prologue, WICKED soldiers arrive and try to take Newt's sister, Lizzy. However, their parents refuse, and as a result, are killed. Without alternative, they bring in Newt to test his killzone (his brain), though he is not immune.

In the present, we are introduced to Stephen, who is renamed as Thomas by WICKED. Thomas is only five years old and, under the care of WICKED, he meets Teresa. They soon meet Newt, Minho and Alby in hiding, and Newt reveals that his sister had been renamed as Sonya and is a part of Group B. They then start exploring the complex everyday. The three (Newt, Minho, and Alby) take Thomas and Teresa into the outside world, only to be caught and thrown into the "Crank pits" (except for Newt, who is taken to be tested for the virus, as he is not immune), where they encounter the founder of WICKED, who is nearly past his sanity, who writes on a chalkboard: WICKED is good.

The experience really gets through the kids. They don't have any of their secret meeting in the maintenance room for a while, but then Teresa manages to hack WICKED’s security systems and allow the friends to meet. Teresa and Thomas, along with Aris and Rachel are then recruited to build the maze. On one of their meetings, Thomas and Teresa stumble upon Charles, who becomes the little brother that they never had, and is nicknamed Chuck. Pretty soon, the secret meetings are back in business. But Minho was planning to escape WICKED, hating the fact that they were treated like lab mice, and allied with Gally to form a plan, though no one agreed to leave.

The day after WICKED found out that Minho tried to escape in front of Thomas, they unleash a Griever on Minho, to show him that anyone who tried to escape and got caught would be harshly punished. After the horrifying experience, Thomas goes back and directs all his attention to building the Maze. Shortly, the Maze is complete. Which means his best, and only friends are going to get sent into the labyrinth that he himself built. Right before they are sent in, Thomas and Teresa go to say their goodbyes. Their friends interrogate them with questions of why only THEY are going in, and not them. Not being able to answer truthfully about the Maze being his project and all only makes their friends more suspicious, eventually angry. Chuck does not go with the first batch and for a long time Chuck, Thomas and Teresa remain friends.

Thomas begins to watch his friends through the "beetle blades", and sees one of the boys, George, suddenly go crazy and try to kill his friends, only to be killed by Alby. Dr. Ava Paige reveals that the Grievers have a virus similar to that of the Flare, and among the Box of supplies, place the cure for it, though the cure is at its early stages, explaining what happened to George.

Randall, one of the officials, is found outside the WICKED complex, infected with the Flare. Dr. Paige then summons Teresa and Thomas and reveals that she suspects some other people at WICKED have the Flare, so she sends Thomas, Teresa, Aris, and Rachel (as immunes) to kill them. Then we are introduced to Jorge and Brenda, who indirectly reveal that the Gladers will have to go through the Scorch. Thomas soon now feels that a cure would never be possible, and as such, believes that his friends are suffering unnecessarily. He believes he can rescue them and run away. Later, Thomas comes up with an idea, along with Teresa, to insert the elite candidates into the maze with their memories intact so they can rescue the Gladers. They inform this plan to Dr. Paige without telling her about their true motives; Dr. Paige approves this plan. However, as Thomas prepares to be sent into the Glade, Dr. Paige explains how it was her idea to give WICKED staff the Flare because they wanted to end experimenting after the Maze Trials and she didn't. Dr. Paige then has Thomas' memories removed, despite their earlier agreement. Thomas believes that Paige has betrayed him and Teresa. Thomas's emotions are then shown as he sees his memories being erased.

In the epilogue, however, it is revealed in a letter that Dr. Paige declares Aris and Teresa to be the final candidates. Also another letter by Teresa shows that she knew they would be doing this to Thomas. However her memories would be intact and she would be reporting information to WICKED from the Glade like Thomas had suggested. She believed in WICKED and she would enter with 'WICKED is good' written on her arm. She believed her friends would one day thank her. Thus in the end we learn that Teresa and Aris had their memories intact. Teresa had mentioned in the 'Scorch Trials' that she could communicate with Aris and it is revealed that it was WICKED's plan, as Teresa and Aris had their memories all the time.

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