The full plot of The Maze Runner follows Thomas from his arrival in the Glade to the survivors' escape and rescue, and it ends with more questions than answers. Thomas arrives in the Glade, where the boys have built a small society under their leader Alby. He learns that only runners may enter the maze, because the walls shift each night and Grievers hunt there after dark. He bonds with the young Chuck and clashes with the hostile Gally.
Against the rules, Thomas follows Alby and the runner Minho into the maze. Alby is hurt, and Thomas protects him through the night.
The next day a girl named Teresa arrives in the lift, which has never carried a girl before. She carries a note saying she is the last one to arrive. Thomas notices a pattern in the maze and works out a possible route, and the boys fight Grievers as the group tries to run the maze at night to reach the exit he has spotted.
Several boys die during that run. Thomas and Minho find a way to kill a Griever and examine it. They then reach a doorway in the maze wall and escape through it into a lab full of dead scientists. A recorded message from the organization WCKD explains that the boys were part of a test while a deadly disease spread across the world.
Gally, who has turned on the group, shoots Chuck, and Minho kills Gally. Armed soldiers then rescue the survivors by helicopter, though the rest of the story is left unresolved.
