Free The Rule of Thoughts by James Dashner Page A

Sarah was already stepping around, positioning herself to charge. Left , Michael reminded himself as he reached out and took Sarah’s hand. After a solid squeeze, he let go and crouched down, blood pumping.
    “Now!” Sarah yelled.
    Michael ran for the tree with a burst of adrenaline. He’d only taken two steps when a blinding white light flashed and an invisible force knocked him backward, slamming him into a tree, where he collapsed to the ground.
    Spots of color swam before his eyes. Grunting, he forced himself to his feet. His chance of spotting the stranger was slipping away. His back ached, his head spun, a spell of dizzinessenveloped him in a rush behind his ears. Shielding his eyes, he stumbled forward.
    Gradually his vision cleared, though the forest tilted and swayed beneath his feet. He made it to the oak tree where the stranger had been hiding, ran his hand along its rough bark as he rounded the trunk, straining to see anything in the forest beyond. He caught a glimpse of a woman running in the distance, long hair trailing behind her as she dodged from tree to tree.
    Michael turned away—there was no chance of catching her. She’d gotten too far already. The pain in his back lit up, lancing down his legs. Stumbling, he searched until he found Sarah lying on the ground. Not moving. There was blood on her head, but her chest was moving up and down. Just enough. They’d never found out what happened if she died in the outskirts—she’d probably be fine, but he didn’t want her to leave him, not even for a minute.
    Michael collapsed to his knees. He wanted to scream in frustration, but he pressed it down.
    That woman. Her voice. Her hair. Something about her.
    He knew her. From somewhere, he knew her.

Sarah came to a few minutes later.
    She groaned and shifted, then groaned some more. Michael was sitting on the ground right next to her, his back against a tree. He hadn’t known what to do other than wait it out. He figured she’d either die and disappear, and he’d follow her back to their Coffins, or she’d wake up eventually.
    Finally, she propped herself up next to Michael. She rubbed her head and let out one last achy moan.
    “You okay?” Michael asked.
    “I’m sure there’ll be a big honkin’ bruise when we go back to the Wake, but I’ll be fine.” She shifted to look at him, still tenderly touching her sore spot. “So … what happened? You’ve got it all figured out, right?”
    He scoffed. “Of course I do.” Which really meant that he didn’t. “I did see her running into the forest. I could barely walk, though, so I didn’t bother chasing her.”
    “I think you mean you didn’t want to leave me alone,” Sarah said. She pointed toward the large oak where the flash had gone off. “So some lady follows us, spies on us, sets off fancy fireworks to cover herself as she runs away—why did she warn us? Doesn’t that seem a little weird to you?”
    “I guess it means she didn’t want to hurt us. But …”
    “What?”
    The last piece of the puzzle had just clicked into place for Michael. “I recognized her voice. And then something about the way she moved when she ran away.”
    “And?”
    “I think it was Agent Weber from the VNS. But how in the world did she find us here?”

    That was enough of a bombshell that Sarah simply suggested they climb up the ladder and get more comfortable in the tree house.
    “So you’re sure it was her?” Sarah asked once she was sitting on an ugly, beat-up beanbag. Bryson had chosen the delightful seat ages ago during the coding phase.
    Michael sat at the table, gaze fixed on the window, thinking.
    “Pretty sure,” he answered. “Especially the voice. You gotta remember, the first time I met her was in Lifeblood Deep , but then she came to my apartment—Jackson Porter’s apartment—right after I woke up there, and she lookedbasically the same. I guess it makes sense that she designed her Aura to look the same as in the Wake since she