The Kill Order: Prologue–Chapter 13

by James Dashner
After surviving a disaster that nearly wipes out humanity, Mark and Trina fight to save others from a threatening virus. This prequel tells the story of how the world of the Maze Runner series came to be.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 13, Chapters 14–26, Chapters 27–40, Chapters 41–54, Chapter 55–Epilogue

Here is a link to our lists for The Maze Runner by James Dashner.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. destruction
    an event that completely ruins something
    Before death and destruction made it necessary to steal children—along with their memories—and send them to a place as terrifying as the Maze.
  2. ravaged
    having been robbed and destroyed by force and violence
    They lived in a world ravaged by heat, after all.
  3. devastating
    wreaking or capable of wreaking complete destruction
    The sky was blue with a hint of that burnt orange that had haunted the atmosphere since the devastating sun flares had struck without much warning.
  4. brutal
    able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
    The coolness Mark had felt upon waking up seemed like a joke now—he was already sweating from the steadily rising temperature as the brutal sun rimmed the sparse tree line of the mountain peaks above.
  5. divine
    being or having the nature of a god
    There was a longing in many of the eyes he saw, like people truly thought they were being saved by some divine power.
  6. emerge
    come out into view, as from concealment
    Five people had emerged from the darkness of the Berg, dressed in outfits that sent a chill racing down Mark’s spinal cord.
  7. trance
    a state resembling deep sleep
    Everything around them was erupting in chaos—shouts and panic—yet Mark had fallen into a trance, watching the strangers with their odd outfits and their menacing weapons come out of the Berg as everyone else in the crowd finally woke up to the fact that these people weren’t there to save anyone.
  8. projectile
    a weapon that is forcibly propelled toward a target
    The projectiles kept coming, landing all around them, and Mark and Trina and Lana shuffled as quickly as they could, awkwardly carrying Darnell between them.
  9. barrage
    the heavy fire of artillery to saturate an area
    Mark felt utterly helpless—there was no way to shield himself from the barrage.
  10. recoil
    the backward jerk of a gun when it is fired
    His hands jumped with the recoil, but he saw the red mist, a spray of blood in the air; a body tumbled off the ramp and crashed into a group of three people below.
  11. suffuse
    become overspread as with a fluid, a color, or light
    Fear suffused Mark as he held on, squeezing his fingers so tightly they turned bone-white.
  12. contagious
    (of disease) capable of being spread by infection
    A label below the symbol said:
    Virus VC321xb47 Highly Contagious 24 Darts, Extreme Caution
  13. possess
    enter into and control, as of emotions or ideas
    Mark’s attention was fully on the man in the green suit now, and a sudden gray tinge washed over the man’s face, as if he’d been possessed by some ghostly presence.
  14. absolute
    perfect or complete or pure
    They are in absolute, complete darkness. People are beginning to scream. The brain isn’t wired to be plunged into such darkness without warning. It’s just scary.
  15. slaughter
    kill a large number of people indiscriminately
    Pure terror, like people being slaughtered.
  16. sear
    become superficially burned (also figurative)
    Trina turns, grabs his hand, a look of terror on her face that he thinks may be seared into his mind forever.
  17. smolder
    burn slowly and without a flame
    Twisted and bent, it smoldered and smoked, though there was no sign of fire.
  18. debris
    the remains of something that has been destroyed
    Half an hour later, Mark was back inside the Berg, kicking through debris, only now he was walking on a wall instead of the grated floor.
  19. queasy
    feeling nausea
    The Berg being on its side was disorienting—it played tricks on his mind and upset his already queasy stomach and throbbing head—but he was as determined as Alec to find something to tell them who the Berg belonged to.
  20. holocaust
    an act of mass destruction and loss of life
    It obviously wasn’t functioning from the old GPS satellites—they’d all been destroyed in the radiation holocaust of the sun flares.
  21. ambush
    the act of hiding and waiting to make a surprise attack
    “You know what we saw on that Berg? The boxes of darts? There’s no way those people went to all that trouble to do a flyby flu ambush.”
  22. stench
    a distinctive odor that is offensively unpleasant
    Mark and the old soldier were about a mile away from the village when the stench of death hit them like a fresh wave of unbearable heat.
  23. distraught
    deeply agitated especially from emotion
    If we go up there and start hugging people and crying and attempting things that make no sense with people who have no chance—all because we’re distraught ... it’ll just hurt more folks in the long run. You understand? We need to think long-term.
  24. mortician
    one whose business is the management of funerals
    Mark was horrified. He shouldn’t have been—he’d seen more dead people in the last year than a hundred morticians of the past would have seen in a lifetime.
  25. carnage
    the savage and excessive killing of many people
    He pressed the cloth tighter to his nose and mouth and forced himself to look away from the carnage.
  26. quarantine
    place into enforced isolation, as for medical reasons
    As soon as more people started getting sick, she quarantined him.
  27. ferocity
    the property of being aggressive or forceful
    “My heeeeeeaaaaaad!” Darnell shouted in one long, drawn-out wail of such ferocity that Mark stepped back again.
  28. vigilant
    carefully observant or attentive
    “Then we need to be vigilant,” the man said.
  29. venture
    proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
    But fear had struck deep, and no one dared venture out of their home.
  30. symptom
    a sensation associated with a particular disease
    “They woke up and showed symptoms within two or three. I really think if anyone is still alive and symptom-free right now, they’re clear.”
  31. tentatively
    in a hesitant manner
    She touched the side of her face, tentatively, almost as if she was worried about what she’d feel there.
  32. abandon
    forsake; leave behind
    “We can’t just keep abandoning people,” the Toad said, glaring at Mark.
  33. unbearable
    incapable of being put up with
    The thought that a virus might be slinking its way through his system ... it was unbearable.
  34. effect
    a symptom caused by an illness or medication
    “Darnell and Misty prove that whatever this is doesn’t necessarily take effect right away.”
  35. stumble
    miss a step and fall or nearly fall
    “Go!” the girl shouted, almost making Trina stumble backward. “Go before the things in my brain jump out and bite you. Go! Go!”
Created on Thu Apr 28 10:14:24 EDT 2016 (updated Mon Sep 10 16:53:56 EDT 2018)

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