The Kill Order

Content Warning: This guide contains discussion of violence, disease, and mental health conditions.

Theresa watches through glass as Thomas is prepared for the Glade, and a Swipe is implanted inside his head. Theresa cannot believe that Thomas, her best friend since early childhood, will not remember her when he wakes. Not only that, but the next time he sees her, she will be in a coma. Theresa is angry but believes WICKED will eventually find a cure through the sacrifices of people like herself and Thomas. She also knows it is too late to go back. She watches as they take Thomas to the Box—an elevator that will take him to the Glade. She remembers assuring him they are doing the right thing. As she walks away, she hears the door close on Thomas’s fate.

Thirteen years earlier, a man named Mark wakes in a dormitory, instantly aware of the snoring of the man beside him. He tosses a shoe at the man and wakes him. The man, Alec, makes a half-hearted threat, telling Mark he was once a soldier. Mark dresses and heads out in search of his friend, Trina. As he walks through the small settlement, he notes the scrawniness of the people and the orange hue in the sky, both reminders of the solar flares that came without warning a year ago.